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Osprey Sirrus 36 Backpack
The Osprey Sirrus 36 Backpack is made for women and provides the ultimate comfort for ladies who love to hike. It's fully adjustable, extremely well ventilated, durable and comes with amazing storage options. If you're looking for a backpack for life, this is it. View Latest DealOsprey is one of the leading backpack manufacturers the world over and has built its name by providing quality functional backpacks for hiking. Their mission is to “create innovative, high-performance gear that reflects their love of adventure and devotion to the outdoors”, and they do this very well.
In this article, we are going to take a dive into the Osprey Sirrus 36 backpack. This backpack is specifically designed for women and it is exceptionally comfortable and durable. Here we take a look at the newest model.
Below, we get into all the dirt details to see how the Osprey Sirrus 36 performs in regards to materials, durability, carrying comfort, accessibility, organization, and more.
The Osprey Sirrus 36 is made for climbing mountains, which is a tough job for a backpack. In order to survive, it’s going to need to be made of some serious materials that have been stitched together well.
Luckily, Osprey has excelled in this department with the Sirrus 36 making it out of durable fabrics and with fantastic build quality.
The Osprey Sirrus 36 is made from a few different Ds of nylon packcloth. The body is made with 210D while the accent and base use 420 HD nylon packcloth. If you know your denier ratings then you’ll know how tough these materials are.
The higher the D count the thicker the materials and therefore the more durable it is. The combination used in the Sirrus 36 makes for a seriously tough bag that’s going to handle anything your alpine activities can throw at it.
Nylon is water-resistant and the Sirrus 36 will protect your gear from the odd light shower or due but it is not fully waterproof. Water will get in there if it’s exposed to hard rain or left somewhere wet for a while.
Luckily the Sirrus 36 comes with an in-built removable rain cover (it’s under the bottom of the backpack) to protect your gear from any heavy downpours or adverse weather you may meet on the mountain.
Osprey Sirrus Rain cover access at the bottom
The buckles and zippers are top quality. They don’t catch, are easy to use, and will last. Osprey knows how to make this work!
If your backpack isn’t comfortable to wear then it’s pretty worthless. No one’s going to use something that adds pain to their journey and therefore carrying comfort is one of the most important things to consider when buying a new backpack.
The Sirrus 36 is specifically designed for women and has been made to fit a lady’s shape. It’s very comfortable when fully loaded and here’s why.
A comfortable backpack fits you well, and considering the Sirrus 36 is already designed for women, it does a pretty good job of being snug to your back. But, it takes it one step further and comes in two sizes to fit your body size.
Once you find your size, the Sirrus 36 will sit nicely on your back and hips to ensure you’re comfortable carrying it on the trail.
Osprey is one of the best backpack manufacturers in terms of ventilation and they didn’t miss a trick with the Sirrus 36. We all know the feeling of a sweaty backpack and good ventilation and breathability is key to staying comfortable on a long hike.
The Osprey’s AirSpeed™ ventilated stretch mesh back panel is excellent at keeping you cool. It uses one piece of mesh that stretches from the back panel to the hip belt. There is a nice gap between the bag and your back, ensuring you get a lot of air to keep your cool.
The hip belt and shoulder straps are covered with the same mesh to ensure they are also very breathable too.
Overall, the Sirrus 36 is awesome at making sure you don’t overheat, no matter how much you exert yourself.
The back panel is well-padded and fits nicely. This means nothing inside the backpack will dig into your back and that you’re supported while carrying a heavy load.
The shoulder straps are wide, well-padded, and adjustable. This allows you to find the perfect fit and means your shoulders won’t be put under strain due to the straps digging in.
The sternum straps are also excellent and do well at removing strain from your shoulders.
Hip belts are the most important straps on a backpack. They help take the weight of the load and redistribute it evenly so one part of your body isn’t put under strain.
The hip belt on the Sirrus 36 is thick, well-padded, and amazingly comfortable. It makes hiking up steep trails with a heavy load easy as pie.
If you love to be organized, you’ll want a backpack with enough storage compartments to keep your gear tidy and easily accessible. The Sirrus 36 has a great array of storage options, and here they are.
The main compartment is large and will hold quite a lot of gear. It can also be expanded into the sleeping bag compartment by removing the divider if you want more space.
You can access it from the top or through a full-length side zipper. This makes packing and finding your things much easier, as it allows full open access.
The sleeping bag compartment is found at the base and is accessed through its own zipper. There is a removable divider separating it from the main compartment. This is a very useful addition and it can also be used to keep wet or dirty items separate from your main luggage.
There are two inner pockets, one is the water hydration sleeve in the main compartment and the other is a small zipper pocket under the lid that’s ideal for valuables and your keys. Yes, there is even a key clip there (you can see it in red in the image above).
But, don’t expect too much from this pocket. It is hard to get to, clumsy to access, and not huge. But, for your wallet, keys and other stuff like that, it makes sense to use the space.
The Sirrus 36 features 5 external pockets, the most useful of which are the hip belt pockets. On each side of the hip belt is a zippered pocket that is ideal for storing snacks, your phone, a small camera, and more. They are the most convenient pockets a backpack can have and we’re glad they’re in the Sirrus 36.
On both sides of the Sirrus 36 are mesh pockets that are ideal for water bottle storage or when used in combination with the compression straps are great for tent poles or trekking poles.
On the front of the bag is a vertical zipper pocket, it’s not very stretchy great for opening wide and finding things while your backpack is on the ground. It’s not huge, but I find such pockets great for all the small stuff you don’t want inside the pack. If you overpack it, it will also intrude in on the inside a little I found, so don’t overdo it.
The final pocket is the top pocket. It’s an easy-access zipper pocket that’s great for maps, flashlights, a compass, or anything your need to access with ease. I was not overly impressed with it’s size, as its a bit narrow, but it’s useful enough for things you need while on a hike.
Overall the Sirrus 36 has got excellent storage options with great accessibility.
External attachment points are really useful for carrying extra gear like tents and sleeping mats that don’t fit in your backpack easily.
The Sirrus 36 is pretty good when it comes to external attachment points and here are the details.
The Sirrus 36 features stow on the go trekking pole attachment points. These are found on both hips and you can go from using them to storing them quickly, to ensure your hands are free when you need them
There is one ice axe attachment point on the front of the bag so you can store it easily.
There are compression straps on the sides and base. The side ones are great for slotting in tent poles while the base ones are there for tents or sleeping mat storage. The base compression straps are also removable so you don’t have to carry them if you don’t need them.
The Osprey Sirrus 36 is fairly priced in our eyes at around $170. Considering all the quality materials, strong build, and great design, you’ll have a backpack for life.
It’s also covered by the Osprey guarantee, meaning they’ll fix it for you, forever. So you truly get a backpack for life.
With a rating of 90 out of 100, the Sirrus 36 has done exceptionally well against our rating system. There isn’t a category it doesn’t excel at. If you’re looking for the best women’s backpacks around, this is one of them.
If you spend a lot of time hiking and trekking around nature, the Osprey Sirrus 36 is worth the investment. It’ll be your hiking companion for life, and you truly will fall in love with all its awesome features.