Customer Reviews

The North Face Recon Daypack - Men's, TNF Black, One Size

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The North Face Recon Backpack is a well organized and designed day pack that will serve you great on hikes, campus, or as your E.D.C. bag.

Following is my breakdown of the Recon:

The main compartment is padded and capable of holding a hydration bladder along with a fair amount of room for a day hike. If you utilize the Recon for school or work it is capable of holding a 15 inch laptop where the hydration bladder would normally be positioned. Inside the main compartment is a mesh zippered area that will hold a wallet and other small items such as snacks, small pair of binoculars, fire starting equipment, first aid supplies, pens, pencils, calculator, etc.

The second compartment has a lot of organizational spaces for pens, business cards, 3x5 notebook, wallet and has a key holder. The compartment is a decent size and well organized.

On the outside of the pack is a small water resistant zippered pocket that can hold small items that you may need to get to in a hurry such as a wallet, headlamp, flashlight, gloves, hat, etc. Below this pocket is a large front mesh pocket that can be secured and used for items you will need fast or to place any wet items so they do not have to go into the pack.

On the side of the pack are mesh pockets that are made to hold water bottles. They will securely hold 16.9 fluid oz (500ml) water bottles. You can fit 32 oz. Nalgene bottles but they are more difficult to secure even when utilizing the cinch cord.

The back panel is padded and ventilated but you will still sweat. If using this pack for hiking I would avoid a cotton shirt and go with something like Under Armor to wick away any moisture. The shoulder straps have some padding called FlexVent(tm) shoulder straps and tend to be a little firmer than I like but not enough to be a deal breaker. The shoulder straps each have a D ring and one of the straps has a little expandable pouch that will hold items such a cell phone, multi-tool, flashlight, or a snack. The bag comes with a hip belt that can be stowed away if you desire and chest strap that aid in stability and comfort. All of the buckles are durable. The zippers are well made and very durable. All zippered areas have coverage flaps to minimize rain entering into the bag. The bag comes with side compression straps and straps on the bottom of the bag to attach items such as a jacket, sleeping bag, etc.

Overall, this is a very nice low profile bag. If you use it as a small E.D.C bag you will not stick out at all. There is no "military look" to this bag. It is functional, durable and very well made. I highly recommend the North Face Recon.

I love this backpack. It will hold 2 thousand page textbooks, 2 one inch binders, and my MacBook Pro. The straps and back are designed so it's easy to carry around.
Broken down:
The side pockets are designed to hold water bottles. They're mesh. There's a bungy cord thing that lets you adjust the size to fit your bottle.
The front mesh pocket is designed to hold whatever! I usually put the book we're reading for lit and my graphing calculator in there. There's a buckle at the top which is perfect for clipping a lunch box or a lanyard to.
The top outside pocket is where I put pens and pencils, it's really convenient and easy to access. I usually put my cell phone in there also.
The first big front pocket has an organizer for pens and pencils and electronics. It has a place to clip your keys also.
The back pocket has rooms for book and a back pocket that I use for my laptop.
I love this backpack. It's cute, versatile, and easy to haul around my 5 million text books and papers. Highly recommended.

I had been dying to replace one of my backpacks that I use to take to the office. It really didn't have great support and it was getting a little old. This North Face Recon backpack did the trick - perfectly. This is a fantastic medium sized backpack that is perfect for the office commuter, the hiker or even a great overnight/weekend bag. There are plenty of storage locations and it has built in padding and great back support.

Features:

One large back netting compartment with two smaller side netting compartments. Great for beverages.
One small zippered pocket that is perfect for small electronics or car keys.
The first large zippered section is full of storage spaces for small to mediums sized items of every shape and size. Counting the storage possibilities in the middle pocket section would reveal at least 10 areas/pockets to put things of varying sizes and shapes.
The large main pocket is perfect for a 15 inch or less laptop and work folder or even articles of clothing. This section also has a divider pocket that could even accomodate a pressed shirt while other clothes remain in the main section.

Once I actually transferred all of the contents of my old backpack to this one, I was relieved that I had made this long overdue purchase. This is a perfect light to medium sized backpack. Probably not sufficient for an extended camping trip, but pretty darn close.

When I first got this bag around 5 years ago I didn't want to spend too much money on a backpack for college, but after being recommended this bag from a friend I decided to fork over the money to get it. Looking back at it, it was one of the best investments i've made in school. This bag is still going on strong and in great condition, I love the organizer and side compartments for water/drinks (esp helpful so you can bring your own fluids for school instead of buying overpriced things on campus). Where I think I really got the most bang for my buck, is on trips no matter if it was a little weekend trip or traveling by airplane this bag is built with great quality. It was fit clothes/toiletry's/laptop and keyboard without any problems for far away trips. For school the bag is great because of the amount of compartments help you keep things separated and i could fit 4-5 LARGE (300-400 page) books inside the bag. Now on to the drawbacks.

Cons---The waist buckle broke about a year ago on a trip to chicago (still works but a piece of the buckle is broken)
My older model the front zipper is covered by the buckle, so you always need to do undo the buckle before getting to the zipper (TNF fixed this for the new models)

So in the end great bag for the price but only if you intend to keep it for a extended period of time, so you get a great return on your investment.

I have used this bag for about 200 miles of hardcore trail hiking and it has performed very well in various different weather conditions. The bag provides ample space with average comfort. As usual with North Face, no disappointments.

As a college student, I generally take around about ten to fifteen pounds of materials with me all across campus each day, so a backpack is very important to me. With the recon, I'm able to literally put all of my books, notebooks, and my laptop in it without even a remote space issue.

The front pocket on the Recon is really handy for keeping track of little things, and the side pockets are useful for keeping things such as pens, headphones, or whatever else you need at a moment's notice. The bungee clips on those pockets work really well, and the bungee doesn't seem to get stretched out too much.

The back pads as well are really well designed. Prior to his bag, I used a Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag for my daily usage, but that ended up being too small to be practical, so I got the much larger Recon. However, what I never knew was just how comfortable the knapsack was itself, and that was a major boon to its usage.

Also, the laptop compartment is perfect, because though it has no padding itself, it is designed to use the back padding of the backpack, and it never lets your laptop touch the ground, preventing damage from that side as well. That pocket was a major selling point to me, an it is more than spacious enough to take my Apple MacBook Pro MD313LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION) with great ease.

I now use this pack as my daily pack for going to work and for business trips. It is relatively compact, but fits my MacBook Air (13") and iPad perfectly well. There is a place for papers, business cards, pens, etc. The mesh area up front snaps securely closed and is perfect for snacks, my camera, or plus my kindle. I really like the way the pack rides. Very high and tight, but adjustable. Weight feels evenly distributed. The pack never feels like it's sagging. I have a Siwissgear pack as well, but much prefer this Northface pack. Great buy.

The North Face Recon Backpack is a well organized and designed day pack that will serve you great on hikes, campus, or as your E.D.C. bag.

Following is my breakdown of the Recon:

The main compartment is padded and capable of holding a hydration bladder along with a fair amount of room for a day hike. If you utilize the Recon for school or work it is capable of holding a 15 inch laptop where the hydration bladder would normally be positioned. Inside the main compartment is a mesh zippered area that will hold a wallet and other small items such as snacks, small pair of binoculars, fire starting equipment, first aid supplies, pens, pencils, calculator, etc.

The second compartment has a lot of organizational spaces for pens, business cards, 3x5 notebook, wallet and has a key holder. The compartment is a decent size and well organized.

On the outside of the pack is a small water resistant zippered pocket that can hold small items that you may need to get to in a hurry such as a wallet, headlamp, flashlight, gloves, hat, etc. Below this pocket is a large front mesh pocket that can be secured and used for items you will need fast or to place any wet items so they do not have to go into the pack.

On the side of the pack are mesh pockets that are made to hold water bottles. They will securely hold 16.9 fluid oz (500ml) water bottles. You can fit 32 oz. Nalgene bottles but you must use the bungy cinch cord to keep your bottle secure.

The back panel is padded and ventilated but you will still sweat. If using this pack for hiking I would avoid a cotton shirt and go with something like Under Armor to wick away any moisture. The shoulder straps have some padding called FlexVent(tm) shoulder straps and tend to be a little firmer than I like but not enough to be a deal breaker. The shoulder straps each have a D ring and one of the straps has a little expandable pouch that will hold items such a cell phone, multi-tool, flashlight, or a snack. The bag comes with a hip belt that can be stowed away if you desire and check strap that aid in stability and comfort. All of the buckles are durable. The zippers are well made and very durable. All zippered areas have coverage flaps to minimize rain entering into the bag. The bag comes with side compression straps and straps on the bottom of the bag to attach items such as a jacket, sleeping bag, etc.

Overall, this is a very nice low profile bag. If you use it as a small E.D.C bag you will not stick out at all. There is no "military look" to this bag. It is functional, durable and very well made. I highly recommend the North Face Recon.

Nice. I wanted something smallish to use as a day pack. I find myself using the outer pockets more than the large inner pocket, especially the mesh. Where I work there is a security checkpoint, so it's nice to be able to throw keys, wallet, and phone in the mesh outer at the last second. It's cool on my back when worn with one shoulder, it's got the mesh backing so I imagine it'd be comfortable if I had to wear it on a bike or something.

Stylish, well sized, excellent quality you'd expect from North Face. I also like the rigid inner portion on the mesh side of the main compartment, it makes it easy to slide in behind the seat of a car.

My only annoyance is no keeper straps or bands, you just have this excess in each of the straps that just kind of flops around.

Had one for 7 years, it was perfectly serviceable but it was stolen. I was devastated, but the new one even has some nice refinements. Great to know they're always improving a near-perfect product. 5 stars is not enough for this backpack. I swear I don't work for Northface, but this backpack really is all that. The front mesh pocket is endlessly useful, the side pockets now have elastic pulls to tighten them, and the capacity is endless. Very comfortable to wear and carry, even when its heavy. great for school, commuting, travel, etc.