I’ve had two Jansport daypacks-- the first lasted about 7 years of high-school hauling abuse. Someone then surprised me with a new Jansport, which has lasted <counting fingers> another 8 years. The zipper’s starting to go, but otherwise it’s fine.
For travelling, I use a Mountain Equipment Co-op bag called the Orbit (or Orion, I can’t remember the real name). My friend Janis has been hauling hers around Asia, Europe, and North America for 5 years, living from its contents for months at a time, and looks like it just came off the shelf.
I’ve had a Gregory daypack for 13 years. That thing’s amazing.
I own Kelty external frame and North Face internal frame backpacks. The Kelty got me through 6 years in Colorado with no problem. The North Face has a top cover that doubles as a fanny pack. I actually use the fanny pack more. No complaints about either.
I have 3 mutant JanSports that are holding up fine. I don’t think I’d take one backpacking though.
I love my Dana Designs backpack. It’s been to the Canadian Rockies, Wyoming’s Wind River Range, Southwest Utah and all over New Zealand. It’s a great pack.
I really like the Lowe Alpine I use for backpacking, but I also like the Lowe Alpine daypack I stole, from my partner, to replace my Kelty. Lowe contours the edges of the padded shoulder straps so it makes for a comfortable fit. I found with my Kelty that the square cut of the shoulder straps dug into my shoulders, which made it painful to wear with any kind of weight in it. I wouldn’t say Kelty was the worst, but that it really didn’t work for me. Also, if it’s a backpacking pack you’re looking for, the Lowe Scirocco I own is made for people of shorter stature (women in particular), so it fits my frame well. Mr. kjorsty had a Gregory for well over a decade. He replaced it this last year with a new Gregory pack, which seems very well designed for backpacking.
Even if you’re just looking for a daypack, it doesn’t hurt to put some weight in it and wear it around the store for 5-15 minutes to see how it fits and wears on your body. It’s a lot like looking for shoes. Good luck looking for a pack.
I forgot to check where the OP’er was based but just about any gear I have purchased from Mountain Equipment Co-op has been pretty well bullet proof.
My daypack has survived 7 years of university and 3 years in the real world, and it has not been babyed at all. Also last year I bought a Serratus “Orion” from them which has not had a chance to prove itself yet in terms of age, but certainly caused me to fall in love with it in terms of ever-lovin’ function. Having owned a couple of so-so travel packs (spalding, coleman etc) this item was a revelation and a pure joy to travel with …
Don’t know if MEC sells outside of Canada but dollar for dollar I think you would have a hard time doing better (and I happened to have been in an REI store in the NW suburbs of Chicago shortly before I bought this pack, so I have some idea what was out there last year at least and what it was worth…
