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Boreas Bolinas Review

Boreas Bolinas

First Impressions

Boreas is a small outdoor gear company located in San Francisco and staffed by former designers from The North Face, Eddie Bauer and Jeremy Jones. The company’s packs and duffels have a distinct bullet-like shape to them. The Boreas Bolinas pack serves as a perfect example of that approach. Its wide roll-top narrows rapidly towards the tail which ends in a round, almost pointed, bottom. Although available in a range of colors, ours arrived in an understated black with blue accents, quite striking actually.

Features

Of all the daypacks in this test, the Boreas Bolinas was the largest capacity by far. The Bolinas delivers approximately 50 percent more capacity than the Sierra Designs Summit Sack and 20 percent more than the Outdoor Research Dry Peak Bagger — this of course makes sense since the latter two products were designed primarily as lighter-weight specialty offerings.

In keeping with that larger capacity approach, the roll-top opening of the Bolinas is voluminous. The good news: that wide mouth gives easy access to nearly 1900 cubic inches of carrying capacity. The bad news: when rolled closed, the pack boasts some impressive ears (the ends of the top jutting out from the sides of the pack). We solved the issue by tucking them under the compression straps located at the upper sides of the Bolinas.

Inside the pack, you’ll find a deep padded sleeve that can hold either a laptop or a hydration bladder. There’s also a more shallow pocket for accessory items, keys or your mobile phone.

On the exterior of the Bolinas, Boreas located three additional small pockets along with stretch panels that help the pack expand with increasing loads.

Specs
Materials: 210 denier nylon with stretch panels
Capacity: 1892 cu in
Weight: 2 lb 4 oz

Adding to the utility of the Bolinas is its unique suspension system. Dubbed Super-Tramp by the company, the system employs an aluminum stay that encircles a mesh back panel. Pull the adjustment strap taught and the back pushes away from the wearer for greater ventilation. Loosen the strap, and things hue more closely to the wearer for better load carrying.

Additional ventilation is provided via cutouts on the padded shoulder straps and closed-cell foam back panel.

Fit

The Bolinas boasts a range of belts, buckles and load lifters making it by far the most adjustable of the packs in our test. The suspension system is quite comfortable and the simple waist belt was a nice addition, although on a pack of this size we expected something a little more substantial with potentially a belt pocket or two.

Final Verdict

Boreas nailed it with the Bolinas pack. It’s large enough to go all day, has the built-ins we’ve come to expect from similarly sized packs, and includes must-have features like accommodations for hydration, pockets and more. If you’re in the market for a solid daypack with a roll-top, look no further than the Boreas Bolinas.

Thanks for reading another outdoor gear review from GearGuide. And thanks to Boreas and ECHOS Communications for providing product for this review.

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