Here’s our review of the Osprey Fairview 70 backpack. This article features the brand’s female-tailored pack, so check out our Farpoint 70 review if you’re looking for the male equivalent.
The Osprey Fairview 70, sister backpack to the men’s Farpoint 70, is one of the most popular backpacking solutions for travellers.
With a 70L main pack and detachable 13L daypack, this bag is a great all-in-one option if you’re looking to travel South East Asia, Europe, South America, and beyond.
Its lightweight (2.0kg) and technical design is enough to get any backpack geek excited – so let’s take a deep dive to see what the pack is really made of. Here’s our review of the Osprey Fairview 70.
The Fairview is a sturdy combination of two packs. We’ll start by reviewing the outside of the main pack, which has two carry options.
The first is to use the Fairview’s harness to carry the bag on your back, hassle-free. A pair of sturdy shoulder straps, typical sternum strap, and chunky waist strap help to make the bag comfortable to wear for long distances.
Alternatively, tuck the harness into the pack’s zipped pouch and unfold the Fairview’s travel cover, which is perfect for checking your bag on a flight. In the meantime, you can use the bag’s grab handles for throwing your belongings into overhead lockers or carrying your luggage between buses and taxis.
A single, sturdy grab handle at the top makes lifting lightwork whilst another located on the side allows the pack to be carried similar to a big ol’ 70-liter briefcase.
Moving on, the 13-litre Farpoint Day meets most expectations of what a typical daypack should be. Externally, you will find a single zip compartment and additional top stash, as well as a pair of netted compartments designed to hold a water bottle or two.
A pair of quality shoulder straps and a sternum strap keep the pack where it should be and a small but mighty grab handle is perfect for throwing the bag into those narrow overhead bins.
We only have a couple of gripes about the Fairview’s daypack. To start, you might find the daypack to be very small if you’re looking to use it as your only travel carry-on. It will easily pack a book and a few snacks, but add a laptop and camera kit into the mix and you might be struggling. We’d also love to see full water bottle pockets on this pack, as the current netting can only hold around 500ml bottles.
Most Osprey Fairview users choose this pack for its ‘piggy-back’ ability – meaning you can join the daypack onto the main pack for easy travel days.
You can attach the Fairview’s bags together in two ways, which means you can choose the combination that suits your travel style the most.
The most popular transit method is to use the perimeter zip and additional compression straps to ‘piggyback’ the smaller pack onto the larger one. Alternatively, you can clip the daypack to the harness of the main pack, forming a ‘kangaroo’ configuration that keeps any valuables close to your chest.
The two options make carrying your travel essentials a breeze, wherever you may be.
This huge 70-litre main pack and additional 13-litre daypack make it easier than ever to pack all your essentials. The 70L pack is perfect for backpacking beginners or those who prefer to travel with home comforts, while the Fairview 55 might be more your style if you like to travel light.
The main pack has a U-shaped zip opening and a pair of compression straps to make sure your belongings are snug. The body is basically one large pocket, making it easy to add your favourite packing cubes, but you will also find a secondary zipped mesh pocket to the left.
Opposite this, another zip-secured mesh pocket lines the front of the bag. This is great for storing laundry, dirty shoes, or just about anything else you can think of. There’s even a small section, found inside the harness cover, to store ID information, although luggage tags and/or identifiable marks are always encouraged.
The daypack is built for essentials and with just 13-litres to play with, you will need to pack lightly when heading out for the day. There’s a 15″ padded laptop sleeve that takes priority in the main compartment, complete with a zip pocket, which is perfect for keeping documents, hard drives, or cables. The zip-secured top stash is perfect for keys, sunglasses, and headphones.
The Osprey Fairview uses bluesign® approved 450D recycled twist dobby polyester. For those of us that aren’t technical wizards, that means that it’s made of really tough stuff. It’s also a major improvement on the 210d Nylon used in the previous variation of this pack – we’re loving the brand’s recent moves towards sustainability.
Osprey also offers three backpacking-friendly colours to choose from – Black, Night Jungle Blue, and Winter Night Blue. We believe the latter to be a really good choice as the colour stands out against the crowd but won’t show dirt as easily.
We’re personally huge fans of the way that the bag looks and although it can look a little clumsy when arranged in the “piggyback” configuration, overall it’s a very purposeful pack.
After a testing period of 5+ months across 6 different countries, we can safely say the Fairview 70 works very well.
It’s been thrown around in Japan, chucked onto overnight buses in Thailand, and navigated the chaos of Vietnam without a hitch. There are zero rips, marks, or failures in either of the packs and both remain in top condition.
The large pack has enough space to pack all the essentials alongside some creature comforts and, with the ability to combine the two bags together, it makes for a great travel companion.
The daypack is great for taking on day trips, out to explore a new city or to the beach with the laptop sleeve proving incredibly useful. However, the netting without the elastic is near useless when items are inside the pack and we often opted to carry our water bottles instead of packing them.
Although the party piece of the packs is the ability to join the pair together, it does take some getting used to. If you’ve packed the main bag a little optimistically, it can be very difficult to “piggyback” the day pack.
When the pair are joined, the depth of the pack is noticeable and it’s easy to find yourself off-balance and/or in the way. This isn’t too much of a problem when in transit, but walking long distances through tight spaces can be tricky.
The Osprey Fairview 70 is one of the best travel backpacks for beginners and is a great recommendation for those looking to test the travel waters. It’s cost-effective, offers two bags in one, and has more than enough space to allow for a packing error or two. For new backpackers, Osprey Fairview will do nothing but look after you!
If you’re looking to buy the perfect travel backpack, you’re bound to be full of questions about your shortlisted choices – check out our FAQ below to see the most common questions about the Fairview 70.
The Osprey Farpoint range is the travel backpacks ergonomically designed with the male frame in mind whereas the Fairview range is designed for female body types.
Ultimately, the packs are the same with subtle differences in the harness positions for maximum comfort.
Unfortunately, the main 70L pack is a little too large to fit as a carry-on in the majority of airlines – especially budget ones that we travellers like to stick to!
However, the beauty of the Fairview range is the detachable 13L daypack which can be unzipped from the main pack when required and used as a carry-on.
Ultimately there is no “best” backpack and each come with their own pros and cons.
However, for the average backpacker trying to squeeze their life into a backpack – we would advise choosing the Fairview 55L. Thanks to its smaller size, you’ll be less tempted to pack unnecessary items, keeping uber convenient and efficient when on the move.
After travelling South East Asia for the best part of 6 months with a 70L backpack, we would recommend opting for a smaller example.
However, for beginner travellers, the larger size is great for getting to grips with long-term travel. It’s also the best choice if you’re planning on bringing back space-sucking souvenirs.
If you have any other questions about the pack that we’ve missed off our list then please get in touch with your query and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!
