One of my most popular reviews here at RMK was the 2015 North Face Surge backpack. I decided to write up another review of a North Face pack that has some of the same features but a much different look.

This review was made possible by Andrew Sporrer from Ace-Outside who was nice enough to send the pack over for review. Check out his blog for some gear reviews and other outdoor related pieces.

In addition, this review was a combination review by Kameron Strunk and myself.

Tech Specs:

Fabric: 900d polyester, PVC coating

Size and Weight: 25.5 liters, 2 lbs weight, 17” laptop sleeve

Compartments:

Laptop Sleeve is 10.5” x 13.25” x 1” *** (This refers to the Fleece sleeve inside the Laptop compartment, the compartment itself can hold a 17” or larger laptop)***

Main Compartment is 20” x 12.5” x 6”

D-door Exec Compartment with Tablet Sleeve

Quick Access Accessories Compartment

Selling Points:

Obviously, it's North Face, the forerunners of backpacking and some of the first to use rip-stop nylon and other military grade materials in their rugged lightweight pack designs, heck they did rugged better than the U.S. Military to the point that they took over some of the military’s contracts for tents and survival gear. Anyway enough about that, the Kaban is made of 500d Cordura, 420d Nylon, 900d polyester, PVC coating, 1680 Ballistic Nylon; The definition of lightweight, water-resistant, and rugged. The final feature that sold me was the simplistic design, 4 pockets one of which is the laptop compartment and 2 bottle holders. - KS

Layout & Design:

Perhaps the best part of the pack is it’s to the point construction, too often the hybrid packs of today try to incorporate elements of all the different pack types and end up falling short of doing anything well. What I mean is they try to incorporate elements of EDC, Travel, Backing, and or Hiking and don’t deliver in any of the categories. This is where the Kaban shines, at 25.5 L it’s too small to backpack but makes it a great fit for hiking when coupled with the Flex-Vent suspension and sternum strap. The Cordura and PVC coating make it at home in any element. The lie-flat laptop compartment and TSA friendly design makes airport security and travel a breeze. The top load main compartment and D-door front compartment make it excellent for EDC. This is by far the best multi-function pack I’ve used thus far. - KS

Now on to the review. First off, the Kaban comes in at a very reasonable price of around $100-$120 on Amazon right now. For all of the features the Kaban packs in, along with the build quality that price is completely justified. The Kaban comes in many different colors however, I opted for the all Black version to help keep the pack low profile as I will be using it to carry my tech/EDC which includes my laptop, DSLR, hard drives, and other not so cheap pieces of my kit. The pack is on the average size with a compacity of 25.5L. I find that right around 25L is the ideal size for any of my EDC packs.

Features

"Best Laptop Sleeve On A Pack"

The main reason why I loved the NF Surge so much was the ability to carry my laptop while making me feel reassured nothing was going to happen to my work machine. The laptop pocket on the Kaban is the exact same and hands down my favorite laptop sleeve of any pack I have used to date. The laptop compartment lays completely flat to help zip through airport security and help with super easy access. North Face claims the sleeve can hold up to a 17-inch laptop however, the fit is snug with my 13 Macbook pro so in order to fit a larger laptop, the user must put the laptop into the compartment instead of the fleece sleeve.

Pictured below is a 15-inch laptop outside the fleece sleeve.