 This Product
Osprey Renn 65 | |||||
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| Awards |  Best Bang for Your Buck |  Best Overall Backpacking Backpack for Women |  Most Versatile Women's Backpacking Pack | Best Organizational Systems | |
| Price | $190.00 at REI Compare at 4 sellers | $194.93 at REI Compare at 3 sellers | $199 List $138.93 at REI | $165.72 at Dick's Sporting Goods | $246.50 at Amazon Compare at 3 sellers |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | A comfortable, roomy, durable pack that is friendly on your wallet and your body while you hike | This women's pack is comfortable and well-designed, including near-effortless adjustment options, a trampoline mesh back panel, and a removable brain | From ultralight overnights to meandering multiday excursions, this lightweight and affordable pack can be adjusted to adapt to different types of demands - all in an extremely straightforward way | Full of neat features, cavernous pockets, and a well-padded back panel segmented by an airy, mesh chimney making it great for warm hikes in the backcountry | A well-cushioned, but somewhat heavy pack that is chock full of useful pockets - all of which are intelligently placed for optimal organization |
| Rating Categories | Osprey Renn 65 | Osprey Eja 58 | REI Co-op Flash 55... | Big Agnes Garnet 60... | Deuter Aircontact C... |
| Comfort (40%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (25%) | |||||
| Weight-to-Volume Ratio (20%) | |||||
| Adjustability (15%) | |||||
| Specs | Osprey Renn 65 | Osprey Eja 58 | REI Co-op Flash 55... | Big Agnes Garnet 60... | Deuter Aircontact C... |
| Advertised Volume | 65 L | 55 - 58 L | 55 L | 60 L | 60 + 10 L |
| Measured Weight | 3.6 lb | 2.7 lb | 2.7 lb | 3.8 lb | 4.9 lb |
| Overall Weight-to-Volume Ratio | 0.89 oz/L | 0.79 oz/L | 0.79 oz/L | 1.01 oz/L | 1.12 oz/L |
| Volumes Available | 50, 65 L | 38, 48, 58 L | 55 L | 60+7 L | 45+10, 60+10 L |
| Sizes Available | One size, extended fit one size; adjustable torso | XS/S, M/L, adjustable torso | XS, S, M, adjustable torso | One size, adjustable torso | One size, adjustable torso |
| Organization Compartments | Lid, side pockets, hip belt pockets, main compartment | Lid, mesh side pockets, front stretch pocket, dual zippered pockets on hip belt, main compartment | Lid, double side pockets, front pocket, hip belt pockets, shoulder strap phone pocket, main compartment | Lid, hydration bladder pocket, 2 stretch mesh side pockets, a front quick-stash pocket and a front zip pocket with key keeper | Lid, mesh side pockets, front stretch pocket, zippered top pocket, inner stretch compartment, bottom compartment with zippered divider, internal valuables pocket, dual zippered pockets on hipbelt |
| Measured Volume (main compartment) | 40 L | 45 L | 45 L | 50 L | 50 L |
| Access | Top, bottom | Top | Top | Top | Top, panel |
| Women's Specific Features | Women's specific fit | Women's specific fit | Women's specific fit | Women's specific fit | Women's specific fit |
| Hydration Compatible | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rain Cover Included | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Sleeping Bag Compartment | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Bear Can Compatible | Yes - Vertical and Horizontal | Yes - verical and horizontal | Yes - Vertical | Yes - Vertical and Horizontal | Yes - Vertical and Horizontal |
| Main Materials | 600D polyester | 100D high-tenacity recycled ripstop nylon | 100D robic ripstop nylon; bluesign approved | Recycled high-tenacity Mipan regen robic nylon | 235D recycled polyamide |
For a budget-friendly backpack, the Renn 65 will appease veteran and novice backpackers alike. Its awesome weight-to-volume ratio and exceptionally comfortable back panel make for a women's backpack that we recommend to anyone looking to take an uncomplicated approach to backcountry life. Recent updates to the Renn have made it even more user-friendly and versatile at a competitive price.
The exceptional comfort and rugged suspension system of the Renn are noticeable from the moment you strap this pack onto your body.
The adjustable Airspeed Suspension system allows torso adjustments while maintaining the full mesh back for plenty of air movement. Unlike most packs, laden with pillowy pads and rigid cushioning down the back panel, the Renn only offers taut mesh. The airy mesh sits flush against your back as you hike, but your gear sits slightly away from your body. Osprey has redesigned the shoulder girdle, stripping back some of its bulk, allowing for an even more comfortable shoulder feel.
This is where the suspension system shines bright. Typically, packs that force the load close to your body prevail, but the lateral load-hauling architecture of the Renn allows the trampoline back panel to function well beneath heavy loads. The wider main compartment acts with the suspension system to distribute weight across your hips. The result is a suspension system that keeps the sweat at bay while making loads feel light and airy. The Renn's suspension system outperforms some of the pricier packs we tested and feels well-balanced beneath light, medium, and heavy loads.
This pack truly shines in its ability to distribute weight laterally instead of vertically. That makes the Renn extra suitable for smaller framed people since the pack's height doesn't tower over you when fully loaded. It feels like your pack weight is hugging you instead of pulling you backward. The lower center of gravity aligns with how most women naturally carry weight, adding stability on uneven trails.
The shoulder straps offer ample padding and don't squeeze together, making it an excellent option for women with broader shoulders or bigger busts. The hip belt is a simple design, just dense foam padding covered in a softer mesh material that we found extremely forgiving for different hip sizes and angles. The padding doesn't extend to provide cushion for wider hips, but the webbing can accommodate curvier bodies. With recent updates, the hip pads have become thicker, wider, and longer, allowing the hip belt to accommodate a wider variety of body shapes with ease. The lateral weight-holding design means that the load rests heavier on the sides and backs of the hips. Since it doesn't pull back at all, the webbing didn't pinch in or put too much pressure on the lower abdomens of our curvy testers. Both beginners and seasoned female backpackers will benefit from having the weight distributed low around your body instead of just stacking weight up your spine.
The updated Renn boasts a few new bells and whistles, figuratively speaking. The addition of external straps and loops adds versatility to the exterior of the Renn without overcomplicating it. Osprey kept the slanted water bottle holsters and the dual-entry main compartment. The result is a streamlined pack that provides the basics and is easy to use while in the backcountry.
The main body of the Renn has an optional flap to create a sleeping bag compartment at the base. It also has two sets of vertical clips on the exterior, so you can attach a tent, closed-cell sleeping pad, or whatever you want on the outside. Aside from these straps, the Renn doesn't offer much external storage beyond the standard. The lack of external storage means that we found ourselves opening the lid and drawstring to get into the main compartment throughout the day. The pack's large, blank front panel led our testers to wonder why Osprey left such a blank canvas that could have been a large, stretchy pocket for our extra layers. Ultimately, the simplicity of the design won us over as we dialed in organizational systems to suit this blank slate of a backpack.
The lid on the Renn isn't removable, but the straps extend enough to allow you to move it out of the way when you need to access the main compartment. The vertical straps that attach the lid also act as an external compression system, helping to secure your load for optimal weight distribution. The brain isn't super flexible, and its opening is a bit stiff, making it difficult to over-extend this compartment to fit extra gear. The zipper is long, though, spanning the full length of this compartment, which aids in accessibility. The Renn's hydration reservoir sleeve is wide and deep enough to fit the largest of bladders, and the large, dual side pockets allow you to carry anything from 40-ounce water bottles to extra food or even a tent. The mesh pockets both have vertical slits and horizontal ones, allowing you to grab your water bottle without removing the backpack. The wide hip belt features two deep pockets for stashing various small items. While the pockets are deep, they are a little too short to fit most smartphones, though an iPhone mini fits with room to spare. The oval shape is restrictive, and the textile lacks stretch, so large phones are hard to wedge in.
The Renn weighs 3.7 pounds and has a 65-liter capacity, making its volume-to-weight ratio better than many others we tested. The Renn doesn't handle ultra-heavy loads quite as well as other packs, but most packs made for enormous loads weigh a few pounds more when empty. Most packs built for heavy lifting are lined with much more padding, making the backpack heavier, bulkier, and sometimes more complicated.
The width of the Renn is its crowning glory in this metric. From the moment you open the drawstring of the Renn and start feeding gear into its gaping mouth, it becomes obvious that this style of pack is different from the rest. Full-sized bear cans can fit horizontally, which isn't the most common feature among this size of pack. The lateral load-carrying style helps secure the weight in the right place and helps it feel less cumbersome as you move. Call us old-fashioned, but we appreciate that the back panel exists without fancy swivels. Even when fully loaded with gear, we love the sensation of hiking without a swivel in the shoulder padding, which often causes us to list to one side.
The adjustability of the Renn 65 has been upgraded, and our testers are so here for it.
Gone are the days of hoping you adjusted your pack correctly at home while it was empty. Osprey incorporated an easy-to-use system with five set adjustment points. To adjust the height, you simply remove the bilateral clips from their security points and slide the shoulder padding up or down. This is an easy adjustment to make on the trails, providing an element of versatility and surefire comfort to the Renn. Unlike many of the higher-priced models we tested, the hip belt has no adjustability beyond tightening the webbing itself. While the range allows users between 26 and 48 inches to fit in the hip belt, the padding will end up behind the iliac crest for women with larger hips. As previously mentioned, the weight distribution allows this to be fairly comfortable, but we understand that curvier women might prefer a pack with adjustable hip padding.
If you want a back-to-basics backpack that is super comfortable, perfectly priced, and going to be with you for the long haul, look no further because the Renn is all of those things. Trail nerds who want ultralight packs will find this pack to be too heavy and spacious, while super-haulers may prefer a pack with an overbuilt suspension system and padding to match.
