Video Review: Gregory Border 25L ($150)

Introduction

If you are a loyal reader, you know my current goal: see if there is a pack out there that beats my current favorite - the ECBC Lance reviewed here. Recently, I did find a pack by Dakine (the Gemini 28L) that might not have outright knocked the Lance off its perch, but it at least found a spot beside it.  As I concluded in the review of the Gemini (posted here), it has a different feel and look when compared to the Lance that makes it a good alternative – it’s like having a dark grey suit versus a seersucker suit. 
You need them both!  I would guess that I will use the two packs in a 60:40::Lance:Gemini way.

ECBC Lance

Dakine Gemini

The Gregory Border 25L has a sportier look when compared to the more business-like Lance and Gemini.  This does not mean I could not imagine using it (after all, most of the packs I have reviewed tend towards the sporty, campus look rather than the urban, business traveler look). What is most important is that a pack has the features I am looking for.  So, how does the Border 25L do in this regard?  Read on to find out.

First, let’s begin with my video tour of the bag below:

And now onto “The Good,” “The Bad,” and “The Indifferent” for the Border 25L.

The Good

The exterior of the Gregory Border 25L

- Computer compartment.  The Border has a computer compartment that is separate from the main compartment; an essential feature in my mind. You should not need to fight through all you other stuff every time your need pull out or put back your computer. What's more, the Border's computer compartment is TSA friendly meaning that you do not need to remove your computer when you go through airport security.  Additionally, the Border has an extra vertical pocket in this compartment that can hold an iPad or file folders that need to stay flat. 

- Sunglasses pocket.  The Border has one and I need one.  Keep in mind that even if you do not wear glasses/sunglasses, this is a great spot for your cell phone as it is protected and in an easily accessible place.

- Frame sheet.  It's not the perfect implementation, but there is a frame sheet just behind the back padding.  A frame sheet does two things: it allows the pack to maintain its shape better than foam alone (or nothing at all) and it distributes the weight of a pack across your back better.

- Piggy back option.  If you tilt the pack on its side, you can slide it onto the handle of your rolling luggage as you move through the airport. It's not the perfect execution (explained below), but it can come in handy.

- Loops in shoulder straps. I attach my key card to the shoulder straps of my packs because I constantly need it to get into buildings on campus.  The Border's loops provide the perfect anchor point for my key card lanyard.

- Sporty and youthful looking.  Gregory (and for that matter Patagonia and The North Face) create packs that look athletic and rugged.  Clearly, they are playing to their base here as most folks who think of Gregory first think of their excellent multi-day technical packs (the kind you use when hiking the length of the Appalachian Trail). 

- Zippered side pocket.  Instead of going for symmetry and providing two water bottle pockets, Gregory decided to make one of them into a zippered side pocket for your wallet, cell phone, keys, or anything else you want to be able to grab without having to go into the main compartment of your bag.  I think this is brilliant.  After all, who needs TWO water bottle pockets?  If I am hiking and need more water, I will use a water reservoir (which can fit nicely into a vacant computer compartment).

- Thoughtful mix of fabrics.  Gregory uses a stretchy polyester for the water bottle pocket, a tough nylon throughout most of the pack, and a sturdier nylon for the bottom of the pack that comes in contact with the ground. 

The interior of the Gregory Border 25L

The Bad

- Shoulder straps.  The Border’s shoulder straps look promising.  They are shaped, have good padding, and articulate at the top (where they connect to the pack).  Unfortunately, they also dig into my rib cage.  I have had decades’ worth of experience using technical and non-technical packs so I know how to adjust the shoulder straps to fit my body.  No matter what I did, I could not get the Border’s straps into a comfortable configuration.  If you have watched the video, you know that I do not have an unusually shaped body.

- Limited interior organization.  This is odd.  However, it is not the first time that Gregory designed a pack that did not have a good organization panel (see the Gregory Sketch review here).  You can see in the photos that the organization panel consists of one medium-sized zipper pocket, one medium-sized slash pocket, and two small-sized slash pockets. I suppose if they had included a few pen slots, it would have been serviceable. As it is, there are simply not enough pockets for me to organize my stuff.

- No external access organization panel.  This is a missed opportunity given that Gregory does have a panel pocket on the front of the pack.  This would have been a perfect place for an organizer panel.  When you need you a pen, wallet, cell phone, you don't want to have to dig into the main compartment where your binders, notebooks, and folders are inevitably blocking the organizer panel.

- Mesh covering on interior pockets.  The strangest design decision I have ever seen!  Mesh pockets are great since they allow you to see what is in a pocket at a glance.  Gregory stitched mesh panels onto the front opaque covers of the interior slash pockets. I keep thinking that these mesh panels somehow open up at the top and are actually pockets.  But they are not.  The mesh is just for decoration.  Strange.

- Deep zipper cover. Zipper covers are terrible because they make it hard to unzip a zipper.  The benefit is that they offer some degree of weather proofing. Burton has deep zipper covers over all of their zippers on their packs because, I suppose, you use the pack when skiing and boarding where snow and rain are a permanent part of the activity.  Gregory has a zipper cover over only ONE pocket; the sunglasses pocket!  This is illogical.  If Gregory was worried about weather proofing, then they should have had zipper covers over ALL the zippers.  But they only have a cover over one pocket.  That means that this was done for looks only. That was a bad decision since I use the sunglasses pocket on my packs all the time. Fighting with a zipper cover makes me sad.

- Dark maroon interior. Wow.  This was a really bad decision. Interiors of packs are naturally dark.  When you have a lot of stuff in your pack, it is a challenge to find your SD card in the bottom of your pack.  It is even harder then the lining is made of a dark material.  Make the interior yellow or light grey and you make the user’s life easier.

- Tips over.  Unless you have an dumbbell in the bottom of the bag, it cannot stand up on its own when your computer is in the computer compartment.  The base is simply too narrow front to back.

- Cheap feeling zipper pulls, balky side pocket zipper, no spine channel, and no waist belt.  No need for me to explain all this.  I already feel like I have beat up this pack enough.

The Indifferent

 - Handle.  The handle is stitched down in such a way that it is hard to grab when you are in a rush.  However, it is stout and perhaps when the pack gets broken in a bit more, there will be more of a gap for my fingers to slide into.

- ID pocket.  There is an ID pocket in the computer compartment. 

Conclusion

It is rare when I am surprised by a pack that I have ordered online.  I usually look very carefully at the specs and look at every photo and video so I know that a pack is in my ballpark in terms of its functionality.  (Typically, if there are several independent review videos, I don’t bother buying the pack since the point of my blog is to do reviews for packs that have not received a lot of attention yet.)  In the case of the Border 25L, I was fooled. It really did not measure up well.

It’s funny.  Gregory is one of the best pack design companies in the world and yet they struggle to make fully functional crossover commuter packs.  I really think they need to hire me.

I will be sending back the Border 25L tomorrow – this is rare as I typically keep every pack I buy or give them away if I can’t imagine using them.  In this case, I do not want to subject a friend to this pack.  Ouch.