Teton Sports 55L Scout Review

The Teton Sports 55L Scout is one of the most affordable backpacking backpacks that we would recommend taking on the trail for an overnight trip. It has wide shoulder straps and a large cushioned hip belt, tons of exterior pockets, and will fit a variety of people. It's also made of durable materials and costs a lot less than competing models.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The Scout isn't the most comfortable backpack, but it's comfortable enough to get started on your backpacking journey. We found this pack was more comfortable if we kept our pack weight below 20 pounds. If you keep your pack weight to a minimum, then this is comfortable enough for short overnight trips.

This pack has very wide shoulder straps. At over 3.5 inches wide, these are some of the largest shoulder straps we've tested. Some people like the feel of extremely wide shoulder straps, and they do disperse the weight across your shoulders more, but we'd prefer it if they weren't quite as wide. The shoulder straps have a relatively thick amount of padding as well. They also have 3-D spacer mesh inside the straps for comfort and breathability. We wish the shoulder straps were slightly thicker, but we found they were just thick enough to be tolerable.

The Scout's hip belt is also extremely wide. The well-padded hip belt is 6 inches wide, again one of the widest we've seen on a backpacking pack. It also has a very well-padded lumbar support cushion at the bottom of the back panel. The wide hip belt and lumbar support feel like they should be more comfortable than they are. Unfortunately, the result is less like a hug and more like wearing an ill-fitting corset.

The Scout has a cushioned back panel with air channels to allow your back to breathe while wearing it. It also has a full-length frame that consists of two aluminum struts. This frame does an okay job of transferring the load onto your hips. This isn't the most comfortable pack overall, but the frame does a little bit to help disperse the load across your back.

Ease of Use

The Scout is relatively easy to use overall. It has more pockets than most packs and even has a sleeping bag compartment with a zipper opening.

The Scout has a lot of pockets. It has large zippered mesh hip belt pockets, a floating lid with external and internal zipper pockets, and three side zipper pockets. Two of the side zipper pockets are on the right side of the pack, and the left side has one larger zipper pocket. These pockets are useful for storing small items that you want to access without unpacking the main compartment.

The sleeping bag compartment makes it easy to access your sleeping bag on chilly afternoons without unpacking. It also has a floating lid with an external zipper pocket. When you open the lid, there's another zipper pocket on the inside as well.

The Scout has a small water bottle pocket on both sides of the bag. These pockets aren't the biggest, but they're just large enough to each hold one Nalgene bottle. You'll likely have to ask a friend to grab them if you don't want to take the pack off since they're in a hard-to-reach spot.

Weight-to-Volume Ratio

The Scout is one of the heaviest packs we tested. It is also about average in volume, so it has one of the highest weight-to-volume ratios. All those extra pockets and zippers add up, making for a very heavy pack.

When empty, this model feels like you may have left a piece of gear or two inside. The external fabric is heavy, and there is a lot of it because of all the pockets. We continuously think we've left something inside this bag, but after rooting around, we remember it's simply that heavy.

If you're just getting started backpacking, then weight might not be a huge concern for you. But, we did find the Scout was more comfortable with less weight, and the actual weight of the pack when empty means that you have to be more vigilant with packing light.

Adjustability

The Scout has an adjustable shoulder harness, so you can fit this pack to various torso lengths. This is ideal for growing children or for sharing the pack with people of different sizes.

The torso length adjusts with velcro and webbing sewn into the shoulder harness and back panel. This system is relatively easy to use and allows you to fit the pack to people with 15 to 20-inch torsos. To adjust the torso length, simply slide the velcro strap through the webbing on the back panel to the length where the hip belt sits over your hip bones.

The hip belt fits a girth range from about 30 inches to over 60 inches. The padded section doesn't extend, so if you have a wider waist and hips, you're only extending the webbing of the hip belt, but this is still a very wide range of hip girths.

Should You Buy the Teton Sports 55L Scout?

The Scout is very affordable, but it makes some sacrifices in comfort and weight to be as cheap as it is. There are definitely better options available if you plan to go backpacking more than once a year. But, if you're just starting out with backpacking and not sure if you'll even like the activity or you only get out very infrequently, then this pack is worth considering. It costs less than most backpacking packs and will get the job done in a pinch.

What Other Budget Backpacking Packs Should You Consider?

If you're looking for a great pack to get started with backpacking and want awesome comfort and ease of use for not much more money, check out the Decathlon Forclaz MT500 Air 50+10. If you want a lighter option for backpacking, check out the Mountainsmith Scream 55.