Thule – EnRoute Strut Daypack – REVIEW

As you may well have guessed from some of the posts on this blog, I like to go walking on and around mountains…one of the key pieces of equipment that is required when out is a backpack to hold essential items that you may require throughout the day.

I was kindly sent the Thule EnRoute Strut Daypack to review and it’s come at the right time as I was considering changing my current day pack once I returned from Everest Base Camp.

When the pack arrived, my initial thoughts were that it looked quite small (19 litres) and not capable of holding the items I would normally take hiking… however, those thoughts were too hasty…

I added items like, waterproof jacket, thick hooded jumper and a couple of thinner base layer type tops and was surprised that they all fitted in nicely, with room to spare for snacks.

The daypack also has separate compartments, most notably the Heat-molded, crush proof SafeZone™ compartment which protects your sunglasses, iPhone, portable electronics and other fragile gear.

It also has another zipped area on the front of pack, although if main compartment is full, then this leaves little room left for this smaller compartment.

Which leaves 2 side pockets for drinks and anything else you need to hand and a very handy bottle opener on front!

But one of the main features of this pack is that it within the main compartment, there’s padded areas where you can store your laptop and tablet safely.  I successfully (just) managed to fit my laptop (14.1″ x 9.7″ x 1.7″) in and was still able to fit all the other items I had already packed.  Now obviously taking a laptop hiking is not a common accessory, but this will come in very handy should I wish to take these items on an aeroplane for example.

The pack is made from Nylon and doesn’t state whether it’s waterproof or not, but from reading a few reviews, others have tested the bag and found that the main compartment remained perfectly dry, but the safe zone compartment did have a little leakage…so on this I would need to buy a waterproof cover to ensure the whole pack remains dry.

Overall, I’m really pleased with the Thule EnRoute Strut Daypack, you can check out their other packs and colours at www.thule.com

I was kindly gifted this item for review purposes, however all opinions are my own.