Review: Osprey Exos 46

Osprey has been an independent backpack manufacturer for 35 years. In that time, the company has managed to refine their products to the fine forms you see today. Earlier this year, the company came out with its new ultralight Exos series packs. The Exos comes in 34, 46, and 58 liter sizes. At 2 pounds 5 ounces for the 46 liter pack that we tried out, this is anything but a heavy pack.

The Exos comes with Osprey’s AirSpeed suspension system. This suspension system uses an aluminum frame and a mesh panel to keep the pack from resting against your back. The end result is quite a bit more airflow between the pack and you back. Thus, your back will stay dry on hot summer hikes.

The ‘BioStretch’ harness that the company uses for a hip belt cradles your hips and actually stretches around your body for a snug but comfortable fit. In our testing, this hip belt held the pack in place and didn’t result in any sore spots.

Technology aside, this pack is famous for one thing. It is one of the lightest weight packs for its size on the market. Osprey has gone to great lengths to reduce the weight of this pack and you can see these details throughout the design. The hip belt uses a minimum of foam to shave a few ounces of weight. The shoulder straps use die cut foam to reduce weight and to provide a bit more breathability. Even the webbing for the compression straps and the buckles used on the pack are miniature versions of what you normally see on packs of the same size.

The Exos 46 may be an ultralight backpack, but Osprey did see fit to include quite a few nice details. One of my main complaints with the majority of backpack designs in the market today are the design of hydration systems. It seems to be impossible to comfortably route a hydration bladder through a pack that will stay in one place for an entire hike. Osprey has addressed this problem in the Exos. The company fitted plenty of options for routing the tube from the pack to the shoulder strap. This was a much appreciated feature when we were testing the Exos.

Another nifty feature is a place for your gel packs on the left shoulder strap so you no longer have to stop and take off your pack to get to your gel supply. The hip belt also has some easy access pockets for other small items you may need while on the trail. Further, the stretchy outside pocket is extremely convenient for holding larger items that you may need access to in a hurry, be it a helmet or a rain jacket.

Lightweight does mean a couple trade-offs though. I wouldn’t fill this pack up with 50 pounds of gear as the lack of padding is going to make your body ache the day after a hike. However, this may not be a problem in real life. The people that are looking to shave a pound off their pack are going to be the same people that shave weight everywhere else in their gear. Thus, the pack should be down to the 20-30 pounds the company recommends for the 46 liter size.

The only real complaint I have with this backpack is that it looks a bit messy if you aren’t using all the external straps. I’d like to see an easy way to detach or tuck in straps that aren’t currently being used. A simple pocket for an unused ice axe loop or for the webbing used to secure a sleeping pad goes a long way towards cleaning up the look of the pack and reducing the chance that the straps will be caught on a stray branch while hiking.

So, is this a good pack? In my mind, this is one of the best ultralight packs on the market today. If you’re in the market for an ultralight backpack and know their limitations, I’d certainly add the Exos to the top of my list. At $179 for the 46 liter version, it’s not the cheapest backpack on the market. However, the Exos is a high quality pack that is very well designed.