Osprey Exos Professional 55 Backpack Evaluation

The Osprey Exos Professional 55 Backpack is a ventilated and adjustable-length ultralight backpack that weighs 33.2 oz. It’s principally an ultralight redo of the heavier Osprey Exos 58 Backpack, that’s 11.8 ozlighter-weight utilizing recycled materials with just a few minor adjustments to the design. Regardless of the burden discount, the Exos Professional 55 stays a fairly vigorous and dynamic backpack that’s responsive and enjoyable to hold. Nevertheless, using thinner materials signifies that this pack goes to be considerably much less abrasion resistant than the heavier Exos 58, which is one thing to contemplate for those who’re tough on backpacks.

Specs at a Look

• Weight: 33.2 oz (dimension S/M)
• Stripable prime lid weight: 2.6 oz
• Quantity: 55L
• Closure: Prime lid
• Adjustable Torso Size: Sure
• Ventilated: Sure
• Hydration suitable: Sure
• Pockets: 6, plus the principle compartment
• Body: Inner aluminum perimeter body
• Torso: S/M: 17″ – 20″ (L/XL 21″-23″ additionally obtainable)
• Hip Belt: S/M: 28″ – 50″ (L/XL 30″-50″ additionally obtainable)
• Bear canister compatibility: BV500 or Garcia Backpacker’s Cache match horizontally or vertically in the principle compartment. They may also be held in place underneath the floating prime lid pocket.
• Supplies: 100D Nylon x 200D UHMWPE ripstop w/DWR therapies made with out PFAS
• Most really useful load: 30 lbs

Who’s the Exos Professional 55 For?

When you already personal the heavier Osprey Exos 58, switching to the Exos Professional 55 is a straightforward strategy to shave near 11.8 ozof pack weight whereas retaining the backpack really feel and a lot of the options you’ve grown used to. The Exos Professional 55 can also be choice for individuals who need a lighter-weight ventilated backpack however don’t wish to hand over the comfort of a prime lid pocket or the exterior attachment options discovered on extra standard multi-day backpacks. When you can swap to a extra minimalist roll-top backpack just like the ventilated Zpacks Arc Haul Extremely 60, doing so can require a reasonably large change in the way you pack and work together together with your backpack through the day. Whichever manner you select to go, Osprey and Zpacks are nonetheless the one pack producers to supply ultralight, ventilated, and adjustable-length backpacks.

How is the Exos Professional 55 completely different than the Exos 58?

The Exos Professional 55:

1. Is 11.8 ozlighter weight than the Exos 58 (might range relying on sizing).
2. Doesn’t have a second pocket underneath the highest lid.
3. Doesn’t have separate sleeping pad straps on the entrance of the pack.
4. The entrance stretch pocket has material loops alongside the perimeters that can be utilized to hold gear.
5. The entrance stretch pocket has much less mesh and extra strong material for higher sturdiness.
6. The left-hand hip belt pocket is open and never zippered.
7. The adjustable torso size is secured utilizing small dowels as an alternative of bigger plastic discs.
8. There’s a silicone print on the base of the suspended mesh to stop slippage.
9. The sternum strap solely has three positions as an alternative of a sliding rail adjustment.
10. The shoulder straps are much less padded.
11. The shoulder straps solely have 1 hydration hose keeper, not two.
12. There’s no stow-on-the-go trekking pole holder.
13. Makes use of thinner (200d) material in high-wear areas.

Backpack Group and Storage

The Osprey Exos Professional 55 could be very completely different from most ultralight backpacks as a result of it’s configured with a floating prime lid as an alternative of a dry-bag fashion roll prime. With a single massive prime zippered pocket (with key fob), the floating lid enables you to sandwich further gear between the lid and the highest of the pack’s important compartment so you possibly can carry further technical tools or provides that received’t match inside your pack. Prime lids are an incredible characteristic, particularly when you want to carry cumbersome gear like bear canisters, rope coils, foam pads, or tent our bodies that received’t match into the principle compartment of your pack. The highest pocket additionally gives helpful entry to hats, gloves, snacks, and navigation gear and is indispensable for cold-weather use.

When you don’t want the highest lid on the Exos Professional 55, you possibly can take away it to save lots of gear weight. This reduces the burden of a small/medium Exos Professional 55 by 2.6 ounces bringing it all the way down to a decent 30.6 oz (1 lb 14.6 oz).

There’s a nylon flap underneath the highest lid that’s completely connected to the pack, what Osprey calls a FlapJacket, that covers the drawstring opening of the principle compartment. Once you take away the highest lid, the FlapJacket is used to guard the principle compartment from the rain in its stead. The rear of the FlapJacket clips into the identical rear straps and buckles utilized by the highest lid so that you’re not left with any further straps or buckles to get in the best way. When it’s not wanted you possibly can stuff it into the principle compartment or into the interior hydration pocket.

Whereas the Exos Professional 55 additionally has good open storage within the type of aspect and entrance pockets, the principle compartment is the place the majority of this pack’s capability is. With over 3350 cubic inches of room, you possibly can put a ton of drugs and meals inside. Being a mainstream backpack producer, Osprey computes the quantity of their packs utilizing trade norms and solely counts coated and zippered storage once they calculate backpack quantity. In case you are evaluating the quantity of the Exos Professional 55 with a pack from a cottage backpack maker, bear in mind that they usually add in open and closed pocket volumes so the Exos Professional 55 will really feel fairly a bit bigger and maintain significantly extra gear.

Whereas the principle compartment curves inward to accommodate the form of the ventilated body close to its base, the principle compartment is so massive that the pack continues to be straightforward to pack. Nonetheless, as a result of it’s ventilated, you’ll wish to place the heaviest objects as near your again and hips as doable. Apart from a hydration pocket, grasp loop, and prime compression strap, there’s nothing contained in the Exos Professional 55 important compartment like a sleeping bag compartment to interrupt up the seemingly cavernous area. Nonetheless, it’s straightforward to see inside the principle compartment as a result of evenly coloured material panels assist channel mild to the pack’s inside. I’d nonetheless suggest packing the Exos Professional 55 with a pack liner for moisture/rain safety (See 5 Ultralight Pack Liners In contrast.)

Osprey included hipbelt pockets on the Exos Professional 55 however they’re barely completely different than these on the present Exos 58. The left-hand pocket is now open on prime and doesn’t have a zipper. I assumed I’d hate that, however it’s really fairly helpful for stuffing trash into. The precise-hand pocket continues to be zippered and huge sufficient to suit an iPhone X into together with some snack bars.

However the pockets are sewn onto the hipbelt in such a manner that the again of the pocket has to have the ability to curve when it wraps round your hips…which is an effective strategy to break a SmartPhone display screen. I’d advise towards placing something equally outsized and rigid into them.

That is the results of the truth that Osprey retains the hipbelt wings on the Exos Professional 55 and Exos 58 brief, in order that they wrap across the again and sides of your iliac crest (hipbone) however don’t prolong extra ahead to the entrance like different backpacks. They nonetheless present efficient load-to-hip weight switch, however I personally choose longer hipbelts as a result of it means the hipbelt pockets are positioned in entrance of my torso and never alongside the perimeters or again of my hips. You do get used to the shorter hipbelt rapidly on the Exos Professional 55 and Exos 58, however it’s a completely different strategy to hipbelt size and pocket placement than on backpacks from different producers.

Along with the principle compartment, the Exos Professional 55 has two stretch-side mesh pockets that can be utilized to retailer water bottles. The mesh will not be sturdy sufficient for off-trail journey and I’d suggest you keep on trails with this pack in an effort to preserve the pockets from tearing. Every pocket is bolstered with strong material on the underside for higher sturdiness and has a holster-style opening minimize in entrance, which helps you to place bottles sideways so you possibly can pull them out and substitute them when on the transfer.

You can even pack a tall bottle and screwed-on filter within the aspect pockets, however they aren’t reachable when carrying the pack and tall bottles fall out of the holster pockets for those who attempt to relaxation them there.

There may be additionally a big stretch stuff-it pocket on the entrance of the pack which is beneficial for carrying objects that you really want quick access to, with out requiring that you just cease and open your backpack. I can’t dwell with out a stretch pocket like this and use it to stuff mild layers or snacks that I need simply accessible through the day. It’s additionally place to stash a moist rainfly, so you possibly can simply pull it out to dry whenever you cease to admire a view.

Backpack Body and Suspension

The Osprey Exos Professional 55 is a ventilated suspended mesh-style backpack. Breathable mesh is suspended in entrance of the again panel making a ventilated area behind your again that’s designed to evaporate sweat earlier than it might probably soak your shirt. The mesh is tightly stretched throughout the 360-degree aluminum body which additionally serves to anchor the hip belt and cargo lifters. The aluminum body on the Exos Professional 55 is the key sauce that “makes” this pack. It’s tremendous light-weight and stiff, offering nice load switch to the hips, so you possibly can load up this pack and nonetheless get a really comfy carry. The carry is definitely fairly wonderful, even with a full load.

This new Exos Professional 55 additionally has an adjustable torso size with 4″ of adjustability that could be very light-weight and easy to make use of. This can be a enormous profit for brand new backpackers who’ve much less expertise sizing and becoming a brand new backpack. You lengthen or shorten the torso size, the gap between your hip bones and your C7 vertebra, by shifting the shoulder strap harness up or down because the place of the hip belt is fastened. That is achieved utilizing a easy dowel and ladder system which slides up and down alongside the observe on the again of the backpack.

The shoulder straps and hipbelt are each coated with a stretchy mesh material that’s smooth and helps wick moisture to stop rubbing and chafing. The shoulder straps are evenly padded and have one elastic hydration hose keeper strap on the entrance. Nevertheless, whereas the shoulder straps are comfy, you’ll be considerably challenged to connect accent pockets to them, one thing that’s more and more common with backpackers and day hikers alike. The identical could be stated for the evenly padded hip belt.

Not like the Exos 58, the sternum strap on the Exos Professional 55 can solely be positioned at three places. To regulate it, you want to push the plastic buckles connecting the sternum strap to the shoulder straps by way of small wire loops to reposition them increased or decrease. It takes a little bit endurance to do that however it’s not tough and makes for a really safe anchor.

Sizing

The Exos Professional 55 is available in two sizes S/M and L/XL when it comes to torso size, whereas the hip belt size is sort of equivalent throughout each sizes (28″-50″ vs 30″-50″), as an alternative of radically completely different, making it a lot simpler to get a hipbelt that matches you no matter your torso dimension.

Exterior Attachment Factors and Compression System

The Osprey Exos Professional 55 has two compression straps on both sides of the pack. The highest strap is anchored on on the prime nook of the entrance stretch pocket and runs to the body slightly below the entrance load lifter, whereas the underside strap is configured as a Z crisscrossing over the aspect water bottle pocket earlier than attaching to the again of the hip belt pocket  I’m not an enormous fan of the Z-style threading sample as a result of I believe it makes it tough to strap cumbersome gear like snowshoes or a folding pad to the aspect of a pack. I discover two horizontal-side compression straps to be optimum as an alternative.

However one factor that’s lacking from Exos Professional 55, however is offered on the Exos 58, is a pair of sleeping bag straps for attaching a folding foam pad, like a NEMO Switchback or a Thermarest Zlite pad to the underside of the pack beneath the entrance stretch pocket. That is very tough to do with the decrease Z-Model aspect compression straps as a result of they’re not lengthy sufficient to simply match over considered one of these folding pads. You are able to do it, however it requires plenty of effort and makes it very tough to place something into the entrance stretch pocket as a result of the pad is tightly compressed towards the pack. I’d suggest rigging up your individual elastic wire loops for attaching a pad to the gear loops operating alongside the entrance stretch pocket as an alternative.

You can also’t thread the aspect compression strap by way of the aspect water bottle pocket on the Exos Professional 55 and it might probably solely run on the skin of the mesh pocket. It’s because the hipbelt pocket is the anchor for the underside aspect compression strap…which is a screwy strategy to design it as a result of that compression strap will pull the hip belt off your hip if you want to tighten it. These capabilities are finest decoupled.

However don’t let the Z-style straps (that are detachable by design) deter you from rigging up two horizontal compression straps as an alternative. One of many nice issues concerning the Exos Professional 55 is the distribution of drugs loops across the perimeter pockets, the pack bag seams, and even the highest lid, making it straightforward to rig up your individual customized compression system with an additional wire lock and a few guyline or a bit of webbing. If I used the Exos Professional 55 frequently, I’d most likely take away the aspect compression straps off and substitute them with my very own wire and cordlocks.

Likes

• Light-weight and high-capacity (55 L)
• Dynamic body that makes masses really feel lighter
• Giant bear canister suits horizontally
• A light-weight perimeter body gives nice load switch and management
• Frivolously coloured material strips enhance important compartment visibility
• Numerous exterior attachment factors throughout the pack

Dislikes

• Tough to connect accent pockets to the shoulder straps or hipbelt pockets.
• Tough to tug tall objects out of aspect pockets whereas carrying the pack.
• Z-style aspect compression straps are awkward to make use of with cumbersome gear.
• No sleeping pad straps.

Comparable Ventilated (Suspended Mesh) Backpacks

There aren’t many light-weight (sub 3 pound) ventilated backpacks obtainable right now, with or with out adjustable torso lengths.

Zpacks additionally has a number of fashions which are very aggressive with the Exos Professional 55 together with the Zpacks Blast 55 (See our Zpacks Blast 55 Evaluation) and the Zpacks Arc Haul Extremely 60 (See our Zpacks Arc Haul Extremely 60 Evaluation.) Whereas each of those packs are a lot lighter than the Exos Professional 55, they’re additionally rather more costly. However, if you need a ventilated backpack with an adjustable torso size that’s arrange like an ultralight roll-top pack, they’re the one sport on the town.

Advice

The Osprey Packs Exos Professional 55 Backpack is a top-loading backpack with an adjustable torso size that’s straightforward to suit and configure for a lot of completely different sorts of mountaineering and backpacking journeys. Weighing simply 2 kilos 1.2 ounces, it boasts a bolstered perimeter-style aluminum body and ventilated suspension that gives wonderful consolation and management for masses as much as 30 kilos. If you’d like a big however ultralight (55L) hydration-compatible backpack with an actual body and a prime lid, the Exos 55 Professional is a superb selection that’s designed for multi-day backpacking, thru-hiking, and part mountaineering.

The factor that I like much less about this pack is the best way it forces you to pack a sure manner in terms of carrying water bottles, including accent pockets, or strapping gear to the skin of the backpack. I choose extra flexibility on this regard, however that’s my private desire. Regardless of that, I may see being completely completely happy utilizing an Exos Professional 55 for a long-distance or section-hiking backpacking journey, notably in scorching and humid climate the place a ventilated suspended mesh body is a big win.

Disclosure: The writer owns this backpack.

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