Osprey Raptor 10 Review

A former Editors' Choice winner, the Osprey Raptor 10 remains a favorite, but is now edged out by competitors. The pack has great organizational design and is in the mid-range on weight. The Raptor is a great all mountain pack for long rides and runs.

Ease of Drinking

When things get thirsty, the Raptor 10 has got you covered. The pack is supplied with an Osprey's Hydraulics 3.0 Liter LT water bladder, providing miles of hydration. The bladder's TPU film construction is food grade quality. It contains no phthalate, BPA, or lead. It's durability appeared to be on par with CamelBak's products and shouldn't be an issue with some caution and common sense…but, don't poke it with sharp things.

The Hydraulics 3.0 LT bladder is held in place with a small quick connect buckle to keep things upright and prevent folding.

Another safeguard for keeping things in place is the Hydrostatic Backerplate which is a stiffening plate that is attached to one outer side of the bladder. The plate provides a bit more shape and support and makes the bladder easier to handle and stuff into the hydration compartment.

The bladder has a complete top opening which makes filling up easier, especially with the Pour Shield, which provides more structure to the opening. It's also quite easy to fill from a trickling stream, where a CamelBak Crux bladder struggles.

Fill the bladder, fold the top over once, and slide the “Slide Seal” across the top of the reservoir like a zip-lock bag, and you're done. We were curious how effective this was and filled up our Hydraulics 3.0, hanging it upside down overnight. This is now tried and true technology, but we wanted to ensure it worked as well as expected. In the morning, not a drop had leaked. Thumbs-up for the Slide Seal closure! The drinking tube is not too soft, not too firm, the flexibility is, well, just right.

At the end of the tube, Osprey installed a Hydrapak Blaster bite valve, which has a magnetic clip. The magnetic's polar opposite is on the sternum strap to, in theory, keep the tube accessible yet stationary when not in use. In practice, it worked most of the time. A few times, and most often during vigorous body movement, it became dislodged, and we had a flopping tube to deal with. The magnet on the bite valve can attract dirt particulates, depending on the soil composition in your environment.

The Hydrapak Blaster valve gives you an average flow rate. It's a little tricky to find the best place to bite Hydrapak valves. It takes a few tries. Rotate the valve 90-degrees to shut it off.

Ease of Filling

The Raptor 10's hydration bladder, a Hydraulics 3.0 Liter LT, has a wide opening that makes filling up an easy task.

Like the Platypus Duthie A.M. 10 and the Deuter Compact EXP 12, the bladder in the Raptor opens completely for easy fill-ups. Additionally, the Pour Shield makes things easier, especially in shallow sinks, etc.

The 3-liter reservoir has its own compartment, which keeps it separate from areas of the bag that may store your water-sensitive items in the unlikely case of a leak, or possibly user-error spillage.

Access can be gained by an easy opening direct access zipper that is routed over the right shoulder strap and up over the top of the pack itself, making fill-ups no problem. After topping off the bladder, fold the top flap and clamp the Slide Seal shut. Once you've secured that, go ahead, tip it upside down, shake it around, and be pleasantly surprised when you don't see a single spilled drop! This system makes filling up an easy task no matter where your adventures take you.

Comfort

The easiest filling, drinking, and cleaning hydration pack also needs to be comfortable, and the Raptor 10 delivers.

The pack is built around a flexible Atilon foam, a dense closed cell foam that is found in some impact clothing. Osprey claims this allows for better weight disbursement and dynamic movements while wearing the pack and we agree. Our testers found the Raptor 10 does move with you when twisting and reaching, no matter what the activity.

A mesh, covered ridged foam back pad kept our backs cooler and drier even on long and sweaty climbs. Our testers did prefer the breathability of the Platypus Duthie A.M. 10, although by a narrow margin. The Raptor 10 was a close second. Osprey utilizes breathable mesh to aid cooling on all surfaces that contact your body, including a supportive air mesh hip belt and well-ventilated shoulder straps, which is Osprey's Biostretch harness system. Our testers were in agreement on the overall carrying comfort of the Raptor 10, for both lighter and heavier loads.

Storage

As we started opening the zippered compartments of the Raptor 10, we were immediately impressed by its design. We knew the pack was likely to score high in this category and after testing, our hunch was confirmed.

Even before opening the pack, we noticed some well thought out storage features like the external stretchy mesh pocket on the back and the fresh but simple LidLock helmet carrier at the top of the pack. The waist belt also has stretch fabric, zipper-secured pockets on both sides, perfect for small items.

When you start to explore the pack, the first pocket we came to was a conveniently located small zipper at the top of the pack. Lined with a soft material, the front stash pocket is ideal for storing goggles, sunglasses, or smart phones. Inside this pocket is an interior mesh pocket with a key clip integrated.

Moving on to the larger main compartment, we found a relatively simple clamshell opening storage space with room for clothing, food, etc., as well as two nylon sleeves that worked perfectly for securely storing our air pump and shock pumps. A small mesh stretch pocket rounds out the main compartment for keeping smaller items more easily accessible.

The storage feature that makes the Raptor 10 stand out for mountain bike riders is at the bottom of the pack. As you look at the pack, there is a small zipper that is horizontally oriented, in the lower part of the pack. Zip it open, and you'll find an ingenious detachable tool roll.

The roll keeps all of your on-the-trail bike maintenance necessities neatly organized for quick access. Integrated into the roll is one larger zippered mesh compartment, a second that looks similar but has a sewn-in divider for keeping smaller items like patch kits or chain tools and parts separate. There are are also two elastic straps in between the pouches for storing longer, thinner items. Aside from the general usability of the tool roll for riders, another benefit of this design is in the removable nature of the roll. Simply pop the stretch the keeper loops over the tabs, and you can remove the entire roll which makes using your pack for non-wheeled fun a little easier. For anyone who uses their hydration packs for a mix of uses and dreads stripping out bike gear, this design is bound to make your day!

Weight

We weighed the Raptor 10 and found it comes in at 1 lb 14.4 oz, the same as the Platypus Duthie A.M. 10.

This puts the Raptor in the middle of the field of our larger packs for weight. For its technical abilities and organization, we're ok with a little more weight on our backs to achieve its high performance.

Ease of Cleaning

Yup, pretty darn easy, although not as effortless as some of our other test packs.

The hydration bladder is easily accessed through the “Direct Access” zipper, unbuckle the small keeper buckle, and lift the bladder out with the integrated handle.

We're not sure why, but unlike the Osprey Syncro 10, the pack does not include the “QuickConnect” tube attachment system with this version of the Hydraulics 3.0 bladder. This makes cleaning more difficult than the models with added quick disconnect, especially when it comes time to clean the drinking tube. Other than that one drawback, the rest of the cleaning process is easy. Reaching a full hand and brush/sponge inside the bladder to scrub it down is a cinch.

Best Applications

We liked this pack for multiple uses, from hiking to riding, but this model stands out for mountain bike riders. It comes complete with organization features specifically aimed at trail riders and their gear, the Raptor 10 provides a comfortable and stable ride for hours in the saddle. The fact that we were able to remove some of the rider-specific goodies easily makes it even more appealing!

Value

For the “one and done” function of this pack, at $140, the Osprey Raptor 10 is a bargain. We used the pack while spring skiing, day hiking, and mountain bike riding, and were pleased with its performance for all of our test activities. If you're looking for a pack with more frame support, the Platypus Duthie A.M. 10 may be a better choice. As with all Osprey products, this product is backed by their lifetime “All Mighty Guarantee,” which will cover the product for “any damage or any defect of the pack.” If they can't repair it, they'll replace it. No product reviewed has a better warranty than that from Osprey.

Conclusion

If you're an hours-in-the-saddle mountain rider who likes to keep your pack contents organized, like all the bells and whistles, and occasionally strip things down for hiking or trail running, the Osprey Raptor 10 has you covered.