Baby backpacks

[MarcusBrody]

Does anyone have experience with baby backpacks for hiking? I'm looking to buy a framed backpack for carrying my little guy around.


What I'll use it for:
95% of the use will be morning walks with the dog. We go out and let the dog run in the woods while we walk around for an hour or two. The terrain is hilly single track, but nothing technical. I also do some trail maintenance (mostly raking the trails), so arm mobility is somewhat important. Aside from that it will go on less frequent longer hikes and maybe some easy skins if my wife isn't looking.

Right now I use a Tula soft carrier (sits on the front, baby facing you). I like it for shorter times, running errands, etc., but I feel it in my neck later in the day if I wear it too long, esp. if I'm doing things like raking while wearing it.

What's important to me:
Adjustable for different heights, but esp. for tall people. My wife is 5'4", I'm 6'2". I'll be wearing it most, but she'll want to wear it from time to time. The most important thing though is that it efficiently transfers the weight to my hips. I sometimes have a hard time with daypacks in this regard as the torso isn't long enough.

Sleeping position for him. He loves to sleep in a carrier. I'd like something that he could do so in without his head lolling all over the place. This is the other reason I want to get something besides the Tula. Now his head can just loll back. When he was smaller, it was supported.

Ease of putting the baby in. I won't be pulling him in and out tons of times, but I'd like to make it somewhat easy.

Weight. As with everything, lighter if of course better.

Some storage reachable with the pack on. I really like hip belt pockets, but I'd like at least some storage I could get to in which I could stash a dog leash/collar remote/etc.

Integrated sun shade would be nice.


Things I don't care about:
Huge amounts of storage/hydration compatibility. On my morning walks, I don't carry anything for the baby (diapers/food/etc). It would be nice to have some for the longer hikes, but I don't want to be carrying around lots of extra weight every day for storage I need twice a month.



Seems like the Osprey Poco and Deuter Kid Comfort series are the standard choices, but the newer Thule Sapling series looks good too.

Anyone have any experiences good or bad?

[ill-advised strategy]

[MarcusBrody]

Unfortunately, mine isn't meaty enough.

[alias_rice]

I put a lot of miles on the Deuter Kid Comfort. Worked good for me.

[BCMtnHound]

We have used a ergo baby and a kelty basecamp. The ergo with the little one on the back was the best for x-country skiing as they are closer to the centre of gravity, but I run hot so a vapour barrier was necessary at temps over -10C. The kelty is minimalistic but enough adjustment, seems light enough to me, and stands on its own frame to fit the grom in for taking on and off. I am your height, even proportion between torso and legs.
As for the neck support, not sure what frame carrier will do well. The ergo was great for this but I would try and use a neck pillow if my little one was likely to fall asleep in the kelty.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I have a Poco. Great features, but difficult to get the hip belt to sit comfortably for me. If it's not adjusted perfectly it can be uncomfortable.

[MarcusBrody]

We have used a ergo baby and a kelty basecamp. The ergo with the little one on the back was the best for x-country skiing as they are closer to the centre of gravity, but I run hot so a vapour barrier was necessary at temps over -10C. The kelty is minimalistic but enough adjustment, seems light enough to me, and stands on its own frame to fit the grom in for taking on and off. I am your height, even proportion between torso and legs.
As for the neck support, not sure what frame carrier will do well. The ergo was great for this but I would try and use a neck pillow if my little one was likely to fall asleep in the kelty.

Did you find that the weight was better distributed to your hips when the Ergo was on your back? I should probably try this though the Tula says 12 months for back carry (my son is 9).

I noticed that some of the frame packs had built in/attachable neck pillows.

[BCMtnHound]

The ergo belt was a little higher than perfect for me, but certainly at under 12 mo there was no issue with weight displacement during demanding activities. I had our daughter on my back exclusively with the ergo until about 2.5 yrs, but she was a bit smaller than whatever average weight toddlers are at that age. I didn't use the kelty until she was almost 3, mainly because her limbs getting longer and she was getting in and out more than what was convenient with the ergo/back carry.

[bigwaterbird]

We have an older generation Poco Premium and love it. We were shopping around for one that fit both of us (6'2" and 5'4"). Tried the newer Poco AG packs and found the hip belt very uncomfortable; digs into my hips when bending over/sideways. Seems like this is a common complaint by many people. The older one does not. Ended up finding the older gen model on EBay. It also has an extendable hip belt, which is nice, and enough pockets to carry needed items, but not too many. Sunshade included, not an accessory. The rain cover is pretty slick too.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

We have an older generation Poco Premium and love it. We were shopping around for one that fit both of us (6'2" and 5'4"). Tried the newer Poco AG packs and found the hip belt very uncomfortable; digs into my hips when bending over/sideways. Seems like this is a common complaint by many people. The older one does not. Ended up finding the older gen model on EBay. It also has an extendable hip belt, which is nice, and enough pockets to carry needed items, but not too many. Sunshade included, not an accessory. The rain cover is pretty slick too.

I have the same pack. Not a fan of the hip belt design. The rest of the pack is great.

[Mazderati]

Does anyone have experience with baby backpacks for hiking?

No participation trophies here. Make those little bastards earn their keep.

[ski-wpk]

How about this?!

Seriously though, we have the Osprey and its great. Good weight distribution, comfortable for kid#1 (now 4) though not a ton of reachable storage while on and not super supportive for a sleeping kid's head. Kid#1 has never complained about that though.

[Game Over]

We have a Kelty Journey 2.0 and could not be happier with it. I think it has everything you are looking for.

http://www.backcountry.com/kelty-jou...2-0050569451e5

[FatKidFromFL]

Poco plus Gets my vote. I've put hundreds on miles on it (no joke). The suspension and frame are one of the best on any pack I've ever used. The optional rain cover is practical. We have had my daughter in seriously inclement weather and she has slept right through it under the fly.

I often use a combo of poco plus on my back and an ergo up front. 4 year old goes in back and the 1 year old up front. Great for mountaineering-training.

Im 6'3, 205 for size comparison.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

These days it's hard to get my 2 year old to stay in the backpack. He demands "I want to climb the mountain!" so I take him out, then, after a few steps, he sits down to looks at rocks or wanders off trail to check out animal poop.

[ulty_guy]

Had the poco plus and used it heavily w both my kids. Also agree that the hip belt dug in for me (5'11") but I just kept it unbuckled. Worked better for my wife, 5'2" and slim. Otherwise was a great pack that was comfy for the kids, extra storage, not too heavy, and durable.

[Sirshredalot]

I've got the Poco and have had good luck with it. Not a lot to add to what others have mentioned.

[Danno]

The Deuter always seemed like the gold standard, but there are lots of packs that have similar features. I had one made by Kidde that was really nice.

[MarcusBrody]

Thanks for all the info. I might try our soft on my back and see how it works. I'd somehow forgotten about that option but I can see why it would be better for keeping the center of mass close. Hopefully it would at least serve me until I got to a place where I could try on and compare the different frame packs.

[LightRanger]

I craigslisted both of ours. An older Kelty and a Deuter KC2. The Deuter is head and shoulders above the Kelty. Lighter, fits better, easier to get the kid in and out with the side opening, and most of all folds down a lot flatter to fit in the car. We have twins and camping trips require a lot of shit. Only downside to the Deuter, IMO, is the harness for the kid is a bit futzier.

I've always thought the Ospreys were sweet, but I'd rather spend $80 on a used Kid Comfort II than $300 on an Osprey that I couldn't find used. (Yes, I can afford it, but choose not to.)

My $.02.

[ryan b]

Check out the phil and ted's escape:

http://www.babygearlab.com/Baby-Back...nd-Teds-Escape

Smaller company from new Zealand, cheaper then the others, clean easy to adjust design and with the comfiest seat for the kid. It includes a basic rain shield (plastic that attaches to the front of the sunshade) but we bought the full coverage pack cover rain shield from osprey for ours as well and it works fine.

Our kids head does lol around if she falls asleep unless you can keep her leaned far enough back she's in the adjustable pillow. I'm not sure any of the packs are much better there though.

Lots of people love the osprey but it seemed less comfortable for the kid (and less adjustable for bigger kids) when i looked at it at rei.

[AK47bp]

Loving the Poco

[MarcusBrody]

I bought the Thule Sapling today. I stopped to browse the packs at EMS and they had it marked 50% off, which put it at the same price point as the nicer packs on Craigslist. I think it was a mistake as it's not marked down anywhere online (including EMS) and it didn't wring up as on sale, but they honored the discount and gave it to me for $140. I was pretty pleased.

I'll report on who it works/holds up. I like that it has little waist belt stash pockets. I like those for all my packs but particularly for ones like this that I'll be using when I take my dog out as it gives me a place to stash her leash/ vibra-collar remote.

It's this model, not the Sapling Elite with the detachable extra pack:

[406]

Check out the phil and ted's

Our kids head does lol around if she falls asleep unless you can keep her leaned far enough back she's in the adjustable pillow. I'm not sure any of the packs are much better there though.

We also have the Phil and teds. The wife uses some baby sized airplane pillow to keep babies head from bobble when she sleeps.