My Outdoor Products Backpack Review: Why It’s Underrated!

I bought an Outdoor Products Backpack for a long hiking trip I was doing without any prior knowledge of it’s benefits, and it ended up being such a great (accidental) purchase that I decided to write this review on it.

Now the specific product I am talking about is called the Outdoor Products Hydration Backpack (as there are many other options called that) and I’ve taken it on many hiking adventures, which include the trip I mentioned above, and dozens of others for years after.

It provides me with so much comfort and compactness that it’s hard to describe in one sentence how much more it adds to my hiking experiences and adventures. And so this review will do that job.

Quick info on the Outdoor Products Backpack:

• Full name: Outdoor Products Trail Break 18 Liter Hydration Pack.
• Company: Outdoor Products.
• Price: $30-$40.
• Colors: Black and Green.
• Rating: 5 out of 5.
• Do I recommend this backpack? Absolutely. I bought this backpack on a whim (I’ll explain in a bit) but as I began to see more and more of it’s features, the value of this backpack ended up being far higher than it’s small price and I’ve been using it for over 5 years now on my trips, and plan to continue using it for as long as possible. It really is underrated and highly recommended!

How I got my hands on the Outdoor Products Trail Break Hydration Pack:

Like I said earlier, the decision to get it was all on a whim. I was about to start a massively long road trip with a friend (over 3,000 miles of travel over 2 weeks) and before it began, we needed to get the right supplies for it.

And so we stopped at a Walmart to get all of those supplies. While there I realized we needed more than just food, we needed a backpack too because during that trip, we would be exploring tons of places that required a lot of hiking to, including:

• Arches National Park.
• Canyonlands National Park.
• Drive across the other Mighty 5 National Parks in Utah.
• The entire Oregon Coast.
• Exploring some of the best places in California (including the coast, Redwoods and famous cities).
• Exploring the whole Washington Coast.
• And more (now you see how this trip ended up being 3,000+ miles).

How and why I chose the Outdoor Products Backpack (instead of the many other backpacks on the shelves):

While browsing the backpack selection in Walmart, I found 2 that I felt were ideal for this trip:

1. One was the Outdoor Products Trail Break.
2. And the other was the Outdoor Products Backpack (with a hydration pack).

I actually ended up getting both of them, but in terms of use, the Outdoor Products Backpack ended up being the main one I used for my hikes. At the same time, while the trip was happening, I started to be more and more surprised at just how amazing and useful this backpack was and I’m about to provide you with a list of that:

Here is what you get with the Outdoor Products Backpack (pros):

• It has a hydration pack (I didn’t know about this originally).
• It has a rain coat too (I also didn’t know about it until I started using it more).
• I fit at least 2-3 times more than I thought I would in it (drone, some clothes, food, Lifestraw, electronics, wallet, etc…).
• It has 3 buckle straps for extra comfort (you can use them around your waist to have less bounce when you run).
• There’s at least 11 pockets of space if you include 2 on the sides for water bottles.
• There’s a 2 liter hydration pack included.
• Very resilient backpack (I’ve used it for years now).
• Overall on the surface this backpack looks small, when in reality it fits as much if not than a regular sized backpack would.

Overall, I just bought this backpack just to have extra space to put my most important stuff in and it ended up giving me so much more and given it’s low price, I’m shocked at how much it provides for that low cost.

Here is an example of how much I can fit into the Outdoor Products Backpack:

Cons:

• Honestly, the only thing I could consider here is it you’re a serious trail runner and want to have an even lighter backpack on you. In that case, I’d get that type of backpack vs this.

Where I’ve used the Outdoor Products Hydration Backpack on:

The first time I really got to experience the uses of this backpack was on the Coyote Gulch hike. I was in the middle of the dessert with my friend and we had to walk through some really barren areas with no water and leave our car in the middle of nowhere.

I was obviously worried what would happen if anyone tried to steal the car or our stuff inside, but I made sure to take the most important essentials with me and this backpack fit them all in easily! I still remember the day I was loading it up with all the products I wanted to put in and genuinely being surprised at much more I could put in because of all the extra space it had than I never thought was there:

You see this backpack expands as you add more, leaving more room for more stuff to be added and with the hydration pack filled up, that also played a major safety role in this hike we did.

2) The Catskills:

When I came back home from my trip, one of my first major hikes would be in the Catskill Mountains and of course, this backpack just had to come with me! While hopping on rocks and doing some serious trail running, this would be the time I would make full uses of this backpacks buckle straps which really made running with this backpack very comfortable.

3) Delaware Water Gap:

Literally yesterday I used this backpack on a famous Delaware Water Gap hike and once again, it delivered well. I loaded it up several huge bottles of water, and the essentials. Once again, for the hike I did here (The Mount Tammany trail), it over performed (I wasn’t surprised by that given all the previously positive experiences):

4) Sombrio Beach Hidden Waterfall trail:

Over a year ago, I traveled to Vancouver Island and explored a hidden waterfall region on Sombrio Beach and this backpack and on this hike discovered that the backpack had a rain coat stored in there. It was just another cherry on top of an already awesome backpack!

Overall, I must have done at least 12 hikes with this backpack on and I can tell you it adds no extra stress or worry for me. It’s very comfortable and a convenient thing to wear.

5) Multiple hikes at Harriman State Park (100+ miles):

There’s anywhere from 5-10 hikes I’ve done at Harriman State Park (maybe 100 miles of hiking so far) and I’ll tell you what, this backpack came in handy even more during hot days when I hiked here which was brutal to do, but I was able to carry so many more supplies to compensate for this experience and I sometimes wondered if I used a smaller backpack (like a trail running one) under these conditions, it’s likely I would be in serious danger.

6) All of my hikes in a recent road trip to Minnesota (50 miles):

I visited the North Shore of Minnesota (drove there from NYC) and everywhere I stopped and hiked along the way, I used this backpack at, including:

• Finger Lakes.
• The Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
• All of the hikes I did in North Shore.
• Hikes I did in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
• Hikes I did in Hocking Hills State Park.

7) Hikes in the Hudson River region:

This includes:

• Bull Hill Short Loop.
• Breakneck Ridge.
• Giant Stairs Palisades.
• Every hike I’ve done in the Hudson River Valley.

Conclusions on the Outdoor Products Hydration Backpack:

To put it mildly: I love this backpack. As an extra accessory to house your most major products and gear, it’s a perfect fit for that. And added to it, all the other major space and benefits it holds, this is really an awesome backpack, especially for it’s price.

Since I wrote this review, at least 4-5 years passed and I still carry it with me on every single road trip I do. I don’t always use this backpack depending on the type of hike I’m on, but I’m always keeping with me as either a main one to use on a trail or a plan B backpack if there’s a situation for it.

The bottom line is that this remains one of my top recommended hiking backpacks so far and I have not had the need to “upgrade” it since it’s still so useful to me. I am confident it will also be an extremely useful backpack for your hikes as well!

Update! For some strange reason, this specific backpack is no longer available (alternatives):

There are many types of Outdoor Products backpacks and I cannot seem to find the exact same one I used. However, I have looked around and found a 2nd option that closely looks like the one I use, is from the same Outdoor Products brand, has very similar pros (including a lot of space and comfort) and has great reviews. Here it is.

I will keep looking for the specific one (it’s most likely going to be available through Wal-Mart, although Amazon has Outdoor Product backpacks too). If I can find the exact model I used, I’ll update this post.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about this backpack or can recommend similar and even better ones, I’m more than happy to hear which options you recommend (specifically in the Outdoor Products brand).