My 5YO daughter and I were preparing to take a short backpacking trip during her spring break. This being her first time camping like this, I wanted to get her outfitted properly.
When looking for a pack that could fit her, both the REI Tarn 40 and deuter Fox 40 came highly recommended. So, I bought one of each–the Tarn from REI, and the Fox from Amazon (because my local REI didn’t have them in stock). Having no intention of keeping both of them, as soon as I had them side-by-side, I did a thorough compare and contrast.
Both packs were built very well. I tested all the buckles and all the straps. The buckles felt secure and the straps both loosened and cinched smoothly.
I practiced repositioning the shoulder straps. (The Tarn was easier to adjust than the Fox). Both adjusted to a max torso length of 19 inches (by my measurement).
The Tarn weighs 2 lbs, 10 oz. The Fox weighs 2 lbs, 12 oz.
After packing each bag, the Tarn weighed in at 11 pounds, and the Fox was 11.2 pounds. So, the math says her gear weighed just under 8.5 pounds.
The deuter pack comes with a lifetime warranty. If the bag is ever damaged, you can send it off to them and they’ll fix it, free of charge (except for the cost of shipping, I suppose). REI has an excellent return policy. You have up to one year to return something and get a full refund. So, I guess if something were to happen to the bag after a year, you’re left *literally* holding the bag.
The Fox had a bottom flap (like most packs have) so you can access things in the bottom without having to unpack your whole bag. The Tarn didn’t have this feature, but it does have bottom straps where you could strap a sleeping pad or a tent if you wanted.
I love the emergency tid-bits deuter prints on the bottom of the brain. The Tarn has the 10 Essentials. Both good information. (As an aside, Osprey puts Leave No Trace rules inside their packs.)
The Tarn has a bunch of gear loops on the front that could come in handy. And both the Fox and Tarn had the standard front and side webbing pockets. And both packs were roughly the same price.
I have a deuter pack and I love it, so I admit I started out partial to the deuter pack. But ultimately, the REI Tarn 40 was the winner by a nose.
What helped me make the decision was the placement of the side cinch straps on the deuter. The straps are on the outside of the webbing, which means if there’s a bottle in that pocket, you can’t really cinch it all the way.
To contrast, on my deuter pack (see left image), there are cinch straps in the same place, but they are under the webbing. Meaning, I could cinch it down all the way, and still have full capacity of that side webbing/pocket.
Maybe there’s an intentional reason for that particular design on the Fox, but I’m not sure what it is. It was annoying when I was packing the bag and went to put a bottle there after cinching everything down. 🤔 I had to get a little creative and I made it work, but I’d rather things be easy; I don’t particularly want to circumvent the design of a piece of gear.
So again, a tough race. I’m certain either pack would be a great investment. But this little one also really loved the color of the Tarn. And I gotta agree. I love both green and blue, but that indigo blue is pretty dreamy.
The next blog post will report back on how the this little miss did on her first backpacking trip at Dinosaur Valley. Stay tuned!
Leave a Reply