Customer Reviews The North Face Surge Backpack

I use this for hiking and traveling bag on airplane great bag plenty of room for all your things

Love all the compartments. Very durable. Great for travel.

Extremely comfortable and roomy enough for multiple textbooks, binders, and a laptop. Overall amazing backpack.

I swear this backpack has survived more than it should have. I have been through four years of college, through Europe, through the Tetons, on planes, bikes, up mountains, to the beach, down rivers...literally everywhere, and this backpack has come with me. I have the old design, so I can't vouch for the new one, but I figured I should write a review and say how much I love this thing. I assume the new design is just as great. There are no holes, no tears, every strap has stayed in place, every zipper still works, it's the most durable thing I have, and I am pretty rough on my backpacks. So yeah, definitely would highly recommend this backpack to anyone who wants something that will survive for a long period of time. Hopefully this thing will go for another four years.

After buying the new updated Recon version and having some issues, I returned it and bought this series. I absolutely love it. First, the only bad this is that it is a little heavy. I carry a laptop, pens/pencils, a notebook, and two small books and it is on the heavy side. Thats why I like the recon because I would be able to take it from school to the trail. I wont be taking this one thats for sure, but it does do well with what I actually need it for, school. Now on the good stuff. It has a very protective laptop sleeve. It protects it from all sides and even the bottom, so if I want to drop my bag after a long day, my laptop is protected. The main bag is roomy, way more roomier than the recon. I find that odd because the recon is 30 liters and this one 31, wheres all the room going in the recon. It has sufficient room in the top compartment for pen/pencils and many more items. The stash pockets in the front are also roomy and convenient. This is perfect bag for school or office work.

This is my first North Face backpack. I have been using the latest 39L Jansport Odyssey which to me is a roomy, and comfortable bag. Having said that, first things first. This bag has some weight to it when it's empty. It's 3lbs. The Odyssey weighs less and can pack more. However the construction of the Surge and durability is superior. I can cram all of my heavy textbooks in the main compartment and not have to worry about them tearing the bag up over time. I also love the feature about the laptop compartment. You have a very nice padded sleeve it fits right into and like a glove. Along with that you can also fit any sized tablet on the other side of your laptop! You have a nice front pocket (The inside being fleece lined) that will hold a few things like sunglasses, anything fragile or valueable that you don't want damaged. The two side pockets are awesome and roomy! The handle in the middle of the bag is another great feature. Moving to the back of the bag- The straps are constructed with a comfortable padding material that won't dig into your shoulders or make you sore from my experience. The flexvent back panel is a nice upgrade to what the Jansport Odyssey uses. It's a lot more comfortable on the back when you have a full load that your carrying. And a additional note, the side water bottle pockets on this bag are the best on this backpack out of any that I ever worn. All in all, I bought the red one and it is stylish and well made. It is kind of unfair to compare a bag that is bigger than this one but, looks, durability, comfort, organization, zippers, fabric, handles make this bag a winner over the Odyssey. Lastly to do a true comparison I bought the Router Transit (41 Liter) Backpack to compare the (39 Liter) Jansport Odyssey and I'm sure I'll have no problem picking the winner there. Great job on this one North Face!

This backpack is not only stylish but very comfortable. I use this backpack everyday to work. It's so spacious that everything I need fits. I have back problems so the padding on the back is amazing !

Everything so far is great about it. I'm not as big of a fan of the zipper color, but that's just a preference. As far as the backpack goes, everything is what it says it was!

Pack is well laid out. Very comfortable. Protects laptop and tablet well. Plenty of space. Only had is a couple weeks but seems well built and durable.

I love north face backpacks. I bought this backpack because of all of the pockets/zippers and how big it is. It is versatile in that it can expand and contract with the straps. There is plenty of padding for delicate items, and the side sleeves are great for water bottles. There is also a well padded laptop sleeve. The back padding is very comfortable, and you cant beat the lifetime warranty

excellent customer service, when you say lifetime warranty, you really mean it. appreciate your loyalty to your customers. thanks a lot

I recently purchased the New Surge Backpack (black). This is a great bag to transport a laptop and any additional items you need. Also, I am using this as a carry-on bag when flying, fits perfectly under the seat.

Replaced my previous basic Targus backpack with this for my short weekend travel get-aways and or as my "personal" item on longer flights. Very deceptive size and easily holds 4-5 days of clothes. Lots of usable pockets and compartments to keep things organized. Seems durable and well manufactured. Love the grab handle in the middle of the front part of the bag. One only wish is that the main compartment would open up a bit more, as in the zippers would go down further. Would make it a tad easier to load the bottom of the pack.

It can fit two 15 in laptops is the designated pocket. It has thick padding to separate them as well as thick back padding. Double front buckles, and side straps to compress the bag so it is not flopping around when you don't have it full. Feels secure when riding on the motorcycle. I have taken this backpack on a mountain bike trip. I went down, landed on the back and it did not tear anything. The outside pocket, on top, that is fleece lined, fits my phone, samsung buds, and go pro. The side water bottle pockets stretch and hold things firmly. My only con is the top handle feels weak when it's loaded up, however, the main back handle can be man handled. Overall, I love this back, and it is a great purchase. I picked this up for much cheaper at an outlet store in the US

I carry two laptops and a travel external monitor which all fit very snug; wouldn't be able to fit much else. I had to remove the laptop sleeves for those to fit. The laptop compartments have decent padding so I feel confident leaving them in there without their travel sleeve, but I still haven't had the backpack long enough to truly see how reliable those pockets really are. The zippers are very hard to open/close. This could be that the backpack just needs to be broken in, but quite frustrating. Doesn't stand up on its own, tho I hear the newer model of this backpack has that feature. A good amount of pockets, some are padded for electronics. I do like the design, very sleek. Check out the newer model and compare to this one as they're both very different to see which one you would like more.

I got this bag after much research. I wanted pockets and this backpack has them. I wish the front pocket was full depth, but I can live with that for now.

Alot of compartment and excellent quality. The part for the laptop to bug that's the part I don't like much.

Have only had it a few weeks. Used it for one overnight trip. Was able to pack everything I needed in it, so it was all I had to carry on the 4 flights for this trip. Due to the semi rigid backer piece, it was difficult to get it to completely fit under the airplane seat in front of me; it didn't actually fit, but just enough that I wasn't bothered by the flight attendants. Seems durable and looks good.

The backpack has a great design and tons of space and convenient pockets and zippers! Looking forward to using it. Laptop sleeve fits my 16.5" laptop and provides great support and sturdiness.

Use to transport my laptop and books for school. Wanted something that will transition well to a motorcycle pack. I made the right decision. This thing will do just about anything. Wouldn't recommend for white collar office setting, but that's not me

I use this backpack every day for all kinds of things. I fill it with books and my laptop, chargers, and iPad for school then turn around and fill it with clothes and snacks for hiking.

other than the shoulder strap partially coming loose its been a good edc bag. I commute to work and am also in college still. I've used it for luggage, hiking, edc, shopping, school and even as a range bag at times for pistols. I keep it synched down during normal use and it stays compact enough to be used in city's. when fully loading it it holds as much as I would want it to internally but really needs more synch straps I've had it since the end of 2018 I believe.

Hello. I purchased this bag approximately 3 months ago- so I've had some time with it. A great bag with one exception. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but the bag doesn't sit upright. It's temperamental. You have to find the perfect angle to lean it on for it to stay upright. It's super comfortable. But I guess with the hardened piece of plastic that is in the back cushioned area- makes it difficult to put the bag down anywhere Without it toppling over. Perhaps it's the way I'm using it- but my previous bag didn't have this issue. Moving forward I will research bags a little better- but other than that- I've learned to live with it. I love the comfort, the look, the many little compartments and, especially the fleece padded pockets.

I love this backpack. I got it for my first semester of college. I am now a junior in college and it has not given up on me. Even when I carry around my massive textbooks, it doesn't feel too bad on my back as I would with other backpacks. It has a lot of space which is nice. I just don't understand why it's not waterproof. Like it has a hiking whistle which has no use to me, but why include this and NOT be waterproof? I just want everyone else to know this as I thought I'd be okay walking through campus getting rained on and when I got home I realized all of my stuff got ruined. Still recommend though. Maybe just buy a waterproof spray and you're set.

I use this bag every day for my college needs, as well as my airplane carry-on. The bag overall is great. It looks good, it has very functional pockets. Overall it feels durable and very high quality. However, I do find it a little uncomfortable on my shoulders. Maybe I'll get used to it, maybe not. Another small thing is that I find it annoying to lean against a wall or a desk, as it falls forward very easily. It has a fairly stiff design which is a positive when it comes to your laptop, but a negative in terms of portability, storage, and general comfort. Overall, not a bad bag!