Patagonia Chacabuco 32L Pack Review
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Whether you’re heading out for a hike or taking the daily adventure to work or school, the Patagonia Chacabuco 32L Pack is a great option. We’ve had the pleasure of testing this pack out the past 3 months through our daily city life as well as our weekend getaways to the mountains.
For the city dwellers that are looking to sport a backpack that matches their outdoor lifestyle, the Chababuco is just that. I am currently finishing up grad school and I also work in the city a day or two a week, so I like to be able to use a pack that has a sleeve for my laptop, enough room to carry workout clothes, books, files, a lunch, and any other items that I may need during the day. With a 32 liter capacity, it’s pretty easy to carry all the items mentioned and then some. As for pockets, there are two expandable side pockets that can hold a water bottle and a travel coffee mug which is fairly standard for me and a lot of people who need to stay hydrated. I am someone who wears sunglasses every moment that contains daylight, so I really enjoyed having a fleece lined sunglass pocket. This is also nice if you want to store other items that scratch easily such as a cell phone or camera. The Chacabuco has a front compartment that has lots of little pockets in it if that is your thing, I tend to just throw everything in it and forget about the little pockets, but to each its own.
As for hiking and taking the pack on adventures, there are a lot of features that we mentioned above that cross over. Some of the features that you can use for outdoor use include the use of the laptop/hydration sleeve for hydration bladders. There is also a neoprene covered hole to slide a hose through so you don’t have to run it though the zippered compartment. This helps with keeping the pack more water tight and keeps the main compartment from unzipping.
Whether you are looking to cinch the pack down or add more to the outside of the pack, Patagonia has you covered with the Chacabuco. For starters, there is a bungie cord on the outer of the pack that is adjustable. This comes in handy for when taking jackets on and off during varying weather conditions. Another choice for outside the pack storage, the Chacabuco includes compression straps at the bottom of the bag. This can be useful if you want to carry a camp chair, trekking poles, or anything else that you might not want to carry so you can free up your hands.
Although we did find the pack to meet 99% of our needs, we did find one possible flaw. The shoulder straps tend to slip over time so your load might be uneven over time. This hasn’t been a big problem for us as all we had to do was pull the straps every so often to even the load.
Outside the straps slipping from time to time, we found the Patagonia Chacabuco 32L Pack to be a nice outdoor lifestyle daypack for those looking to multitask a school/work bag with your outdoor needs.
For more information on the Chacabuco 32L Pack and other Patagonia products, visit www.patagonia.com or www.rei.com/patagonia.
