Best daypacks for hiking

REI Co-op Flash 22 Pack

The cheapest and by far the lightest pack in this table, and the one both CleverHiker and OutdoorGearLab hand their budget award to. It is a simple frameless top-loader with a thin foam pad in the back that slides out to sit on, and it compresses small enough to ride inside a bigger pack as a summit bag. What you give up is support and weather protection: there is no frame to move weight onto your hips and no rain cover, so it is happiest with a jacket, lunch and water rather than a full winter kit.

Osprey Daylite Plus

Osprey's crossover bag: a 20-litre pack with a padded laptop sleeve and enough organisation to work as a commuter bag, which is why CleverHiker files it under town-and-trail rather than as a serious hiking pack. The die-cut foam back panel and light frameless build keep it cheap and comfortable with a small load. Push much weight into it and the lack of a frame shows, and REI lists it without a rain cover, so treat it as an everyday pack that hikes rather than a hiking pack you also commute with.

Deuter Speed Lite 21

Deuter's fast-and-light line, built around a single Delrin hoop that gives the bag shape without much weight, and a detachable waist belt for when you would rather carry nothing on your hips. It is the lightest framed pack here, and the panel zip means you are not digging down a tube to reach the bottom. Deuter recommends loads of two to five kilograms, which is the honest limit: this is a pack for moving quickly with a layer and food, not for hauling.

REI Co-op Trail 25 Pack

The comfortable budget option: an HDPE framesheet, generous foam-and-mesh padding, a U-shaped panel zip and a rain cover in the box, all for a hundred dollars. OutdoorGearLab picks it as the trail-to-town pack and CleverHiker calls it the cushy budget choice. The padding is also its drawback, as OutdoorGearLab found the same generous back padding cuts breathability, and at nearly two pounds it is heavy for its size next to the lighter packs here.

Osprey Sportlite 25

OutdoorGearLab's most versatile pick, and the lightest way to get Osprey's adjustable harness, a padded hipbelt with pockets and a full panel zip. It is frameless, which keeps the weight down but means the load rides on your shoulders once the bag is full. OutdoorGearLab also found the interior got very wet in their spray test, and no rain cover is included, so plan on a liner if you hike where it rains.

Osprey Hikelite 26

The cheapest way into a suspended mesh back panel, which is the single feature that most changes how sweaty a summer hike feels. A steel perimeter wire tensions the mesh away from your back, a rain cover is included, and the whole thing still weighs under two pounds. Osprey rates it for five to twenty pounds, so it is a genuine day-hiking pack rather than a load hauler, and the hipbelt is plainer than the ones on the Talon or Stratos.

Osprey Talon 22

CleverHiker's overall pick, and the pack most often described as the balance point between weight and support. An aluminium peripheral hoop and a moulded foam back panel with airflow channels hold it close to your body rather than off it, which suits scrambling and biking better than a trampoline back does, and Osprey rates it for ten to thirty pounds. Two zippered hipbelt pockets and a panel zip make it easy to live out of. It is not the lightest at this size, and there is no rain cover.

Gregory Citro 24 H2O

The hydration pick: it ships with a three-litre reservoir, which is a fifty-dollar accessory on most of the other packs here, and hangs it behind a suspended mesh back panel. CleverHiker gives it their hydration award and says it moves weight onto the hips well. The catch is that it is a top-loader with no front panel zip, so reaching the bottom means unpacking, and it is heavier than packs of the same volume that leave the bladder out.

Gregory Zulu 30

The load hauler of the group, and CleverHiker's pick for carrying weight: Gregory rates it to forty pounds, more than double what the ultralight packs here will take before they sag. A perimeter wire frame tensions a suspended mesh back, the torso length adjusts, and a U-zip opens the whole front. The price is that it weighs over three pounds empty, which is a lot to carry on a short summer walk, and it is bigger than most people need for a single day out.

Osprey Stratos 24

The most ventilated and most supportive pack here, and CleverHiker's four-season pick: a LightWire perimeter frame tensions a mesh trampoline back panel so the bag never touches your shirt, and the torso length adjusts to fit. A rain cover is included, which is unusual at this price. It is also the second heaviest in the table at nearly three pounds, and a suspended back pushes the load away from your spine, which is worth knowing if you scramble or ride with your pack on.

Black Diamond Distance 22

A running vest that grew into a daypack: the harness wraps the chest with vest-style straps and pockets you can reach without stopping, and the whole thing weighs the same as the sixty-dollar REI Flash. Black Diamond aims it at moving fast over technical ground, and CleverHiker gives the smaller Pursuit in the same family their scrambling and fastpacking award. It carries light loads beautifully and heavy ones badly, there is no hipbelt to speak of, and it is the most expensive pack here per litre.

NEMO Persist 30L

NEMO's big, feature-heavy day pack, built entirely from recycled polyester as part of their take-back programme, with a spring steel loop frame, an adjustable torso and wide cushioned shoulder straps that carry zippered pockets of their own. OutdoorGearLab flags it as the durable, feature-rich option in this size class. It is the heaviest pack in the table by a small margin, and REI measures it at thirty-one litres rather than the thirty in the name, so it is a lot of bag for a short walk.

Hyperlite Mountain Gear Daybreak 22

The outlier: a Dyneema Composite Hybrid pack that weighs nineteen ounces, sheds water without a cover and costs more than any other bag here. A quarter-inch foam pad is the whole back panel and Hyperlite rates it to twenty pounds, so the appeal is fabric and weight rather than suspension. Buy it if you want a light, genuinely weatherproof shell of a pack and can live without a frame or a padded hipbelt; skip it if you want your load carried for you.