Gear review: Lowe Alpine Airzone ND 24L rucksack

So I have quite a lot of outdoor gear but I've never really done a review on most of it. I like to ensure I've thoroughly used it and worn it in before I leave any kind of review on anything - in all weathers, lots of environments and multiple trips! So the first thing I'm reviewing is my latest rucksack. I had a really small (maybe like 14L?) deuter rucksack that I got years ago and which has been really handy on all our walks and day trips but come April last year, I decided I needed to invest in a bigger rucksack.

I'd started doing longer walks and hikes and this means you need more room to carry more water and food and also to carry more kit in case of variable weather (one thing I always carry is my bothy bag which is an essential bit of kit but more on that another time)! So 14L just wasn't big enough any more and after hunting around for a bit, I set my sights on a Lowe Alpine rucksack. I'd seen quite a few in outdoorsy stores here there and everywhere and they looked really sleek and colourful.

This is DEFINITELY not the main reason you should select a rucksack but I am a bit of a magpie consumer and like colourful shiny things but I didn't just buy one willy nilly! I think it retails for around £75 on the Lowe Alpine website, which is obviously quite pricey but I hasten to add you do get what you pay for and investing in decent outdoor kit means it will last you years, so best to do the maths and spend a bit more to ensure it won't need replacing in a few months.

I got it for around £45 when there was a sale on in Millets and I also had a 10% off discount with my vectis card from work. It's always worth shopping around and comparing different sites. I shop mostly in GoOutdoors, Cotswold Outdoor and Millets but tend to use amazon and google shopping to compare prices a fair bit. Sometimes you might see a cheaper price elsewhere online but I'm a bit wary of buying from random sites that look a bit dodgy even if it's £30-50 cheaper. Always best to buy from somewhere reputable where you can get your money back or it's easy to exchange and return things if something goes wrong.

They have it in quite a range of colours but I quite liked the navy blue with the contrast teal colour on the writing and logo. So I don't think there are any bad points about this backpack at all! Call me easily pleased if you will.

The typical things that I take on a hike are: my hydration bladder (I usually carry a minimum of 2L of water...if it's a hot day, I'll take 3L to make sure the dogs have enough too), lunch and snacks, dog treats, poo bags, waterproof jacket, fleece jumper or bodywarmer/extra layer, bothy bag, buff, hat, suncream (yes I have pasty pale celtic genes and burn at the mere mention of that big ball of light in the sky regardless of temperature), sit mat, map, compass, tripod, phone, keys, [sometimes purse], antihistamines (never go anywhere without them) and a plastic bag to clean up any rubbish I find or generate. I sometimes take a flask of tea with me but tend to do that in colder weather so haven't for a while...although writing this blog is making me wonder where my flask is and want to take it out on a hike with me so I may well pack it next weekend!

Top pocket with clip for securing keys.

There are loads of pockets and zips in the rucksack so you can separate things off you need to. I tend to keep my purse and keys in the top zip on the outside so they are easily accessible by either me (or whoever else is hiking with me to save taking the whole pack off) and there is a nifty little clip inside to clip your keys to so you don't have to worry about losing them! I'm always really paranoid about losing the keys to the car or the van (although really I should be paranoid about locking them INSIDE the van as I've done once before) so this is a reassuring feature!

Inside zip pocket with SOS signals on.

When you open the backpack there's another zip compartment on the flip side, so I tend to use this for tissues/antihistamines or anything else you want to keep a bit drier or tucked away. The main pack is separated into two compartments. There's a roomy main section and then an elasticated section you can pull out which I tend to put my hydration bladder in as it has a toggle to attach to to hold it in position. My new hydration bladder seems pretty good and I've used it a fair few times now (blog post probably to follow with a review on that) but ever since my old one punctured and leaked all over the bottom of this rucksack when we were about to climb Ben Nevis, I tend to get a bit paranoid and wrap it in a bag for life just in case it does leak! So far so good though, I may get over this fear soon. If I don't have a bladder with me and am doing a shorter hike I tend to use this section to stow the map and my sit mat in. It also has a hydration compatible hole in the side of the rucksack so you can feed your water tube through for easy access as you're walking.

Inside the main pack.

Front straps, mountain whistle and hydration bladder tube tucked under to stop it moving around!

These pockets are really stretchy so easy to squeeze extra things in!

There are really roomy side pockets either side which easily fit all the other essentials you need to pack in. Mine fits suncream and 2 cans of pop or 2 x 500ml bottles of water easily. I sometimes stuff a hat or buff in here too (if you're wondering what a buff is, you need to invest in one for walking, it's a super versatile piece of head gear which will keep you warm!). There are adjustable straps across the side pockets so you can tighten them. If I've been wild swimming, I'll sometimes tighten them to allow my microfibre towel to hang and dry on the hike back down which is handy, or use it to keep my octopus tripod in position if I've packed it to make sure it doesn't fall out.

I always clip on a few mini carabiners as they're handy for attaching things like our fold flat water bowl for the dogs.

There's an adjustable elastic toggle to contain your trekking poles. I only tend to take one pole with me most of the time because I'm usually walking both dogs which makes it hard to use two even with them tethered around my waist. They secure easily and I've never had them fall off or move around annoyingly like on my other rucksack which didn't have a dedicated trekking pole slot.

There's a medium sized zip pocket on the main back section of the rucksack which is easy to access when it's off and handy for storing lots of smaller items you may need to access quicker while hiking without opening the whole pack. By far my favourite part of this rucksack are the two 'bumbag' style pockets which are on the lower straps which clip around your waist...not only do these adjust to give you a great bit of lumbar support and stop the pack moving around on your hips while you're hiking, it's great to store essential things you want to access whilst on the walk.

The best addition ever...and there's one each side!

For me, it's usually vaseline or lip balm, my phone and poo bags / dog treats for the dogs! Although on longer hikes I tend to use one to stow jelly babies and sweets for an energy boost. You definitely don't want to confuse the two and accidentally eat the dog treats! There's also a strap across the chest to distribute the weight a bit more evenly and allow for a better fit and the back provides good ventilation with a mesh so you can get sweaty and not have to worry about being too caked in sweat because your backpack isn't breathable!

It has a raincover which unzips from the bottom and is attached with a bit of velcro so it doesn't come off that you can pull out and cover your pack with to keep things dry. I've used this rucksack in some really heavy rain now and although it's pretty good, it's worth bearing in mind that even the best raincover will leak in continued bad weather, especially at the top of the pack. So it is worth investing in a small dry bag to keep anything you definitely want to keep dry, dry. I say this but haven't actually invested in one yet...I tend to just get all my kit wet (I do have a large dry bag I use for wild camps but that's a bit too big to fit in this pack)! Practise what you preach, Fiona. I'll add buying a small dry bag to my list of outdoor kit!

The rucksack also has a built in whistle on the front chest straps and inside the zip compartment at the top you'll find the mountain distress signal - both the call for help and the answering signal. I haven't had to use it yet although once when hiking with Fi, Tim and Mark were well ahead of us so I did test the whistle...but they weren't really paying much attention, so hopefully if you ever do need to use it you'll be doing so in the vicinity of some more caring and vigilant walkers!

At the bottom there are clips for your trekking poles to insert into but as mine aren't particularly pointy and don't really fit through these, I tend to just push them through the big loop and tighten the toggle at the top to keep them in place.

All in all, I'm really impressed with this rucksack and love taking it out on hikes. I even take it out on walks where I don't need as big a pack [much to Mark's dismay - not sure why when he isn't even carrying it!]. I think the best thing for a woman is that the "narrow definition" means that the rucksack is narrower than a standard men's one so it fits your shape a lot better and makes it more comfortable. I feel the fit with this rucksack is much better than the other (unisex) one I use and even with the most scrambly hikes, it doesn't jiggle about too much or feel irritating and uncomfortable even when I'm walking for over 5 hours.

The 65L backpack I have is Lowe Alpine as well and I'm pretty impressed with that too so far but as I haven't worn it out backpacking as much, I'm not going to review that yet. So this is the first piece of Lowe Alpine kit I got and I am really happy with it! I'd definitely recommend it as a great daysack for hiking and use it weekly. I'll be looking out for more gear by these guys again.