Hiking is a popular leisure activity as a balance to everyday stress and hectic life. Outdoor enthusiasts and mountain sports lovers are not the only ones who regularly set off to enjoy the tranquillity of a hiking tour in harmony with nature. To ensure that your time out in the countryside is a success, it is particularly important to have practical and functional equipment. You should place the highest demands on your hiking rucksack in particular and only settle for maximum quality. In addition to robust materials and high-quality workmanship, tatonka hiking backpacks offer you well thought-out features that provide you with optimum support on demanding hiking tours.
Before you decide on a specific model, you should think about what you want to use your backpack for. Do you prefer short day trips or do you like to go on longer hikes? The more precisely you know your own needs, the more precisely you can specify your requirements for a hiking backpack and make your purchase decision easier. You should also bear in mind that, in addition to unisex hiking backpacks and hiking rucksacks for men, there are also special hiking backpacks for women.
First of all, you should think about the packing volume. According to the motto “The more, the better!”, many hiking enthusiasts tend to opt for a backpack model with the largest possible volume – often unnecessarily.
For day trips where your luggage is limited to rainwear, provisions and drinks, a hiking backpack with a volume of 20 liters is ideal. This will also help you avoid unnecessary overpacking, as extra storage space encourages you to carry unnecessary luggage. Take a look at our Hike Pack 22 or our Hike Pack 20 Women, for example. If you want to be particularly light on your feet – especially in summer – a hiking backpack with 15 liters might be enough for you, for example our lightweight Active Pack 15 (available from spring 2025).
If you prefer two to three-day hikes or short hut tours, a hiking backpack with a capacity of 30 liters is a sensible choice. In addition to your basic hiking equipment, you can also stow a change of clothes, sleeping bag and wash bag in it. A hiking rucksack of this size is also suitable as a family hiking backpack if one parent has to carry extra equipment for the children. Even if you like to go hiking in autumn or winter and have more clothing and equipment with you due to the weather, a backpack with approx. 30 liters is a good choice. By the way: With a large hiking rucksack, compression straps help you to secure your luggage and compress excess volume.
However, if you want to be out and about for longer than two or three days, for example on a week-long hut tour or crossing the Alps, you will need a touring backpack in which you can stow a change of clothes, hut sleeping bag, hut shoes and wash bag in addition to your hiking equipment. For long-distance hikes or trekking tours where you will be hiking with a tent, stove and food for several days, choose a trekking backpack.
Hiking rucksacks are usually equipped with ventilated carrying systems, so-called mesh back systems. During moderate exertion, a ventilated system ensures that moisture from perspiration evaporates quickly, making it comfortable to wear. During strenuous hikes, it ensures the body’s natural cooling function – after all, the “purpose” of sweating is to keep the body at an optimum operating temperature and thus efficient, even during strenuous activities.
However, with a ventilated system where the rucksack does not rest on your back, the load is not quite as easy to control. On steep and demanding mountain hikes or via ferrata tours, a hiking backpack with a back system that can be firmly attached to the back is therefore often the better choice.
Below we present the different back systems of Tatonka hiking rucksacks.
Tatonka hiking backpacks with the Frame Vent carrying system are a very good choice if you are looking for a comfortable and uncomplicated hiking companion. The flexible mesh back fits snugly against your back, offers excellent ventilation and follows your every move. You don’t need to make any additional adjustments to the system. Simply put on your rucksack, feel comfortable and set off on your hike!
If you are a power hiker and enjoy hiking in challenging terrain, we recommend our hiking backpacks with the X Vent Zero carrying system. Hiking backpacks with this system do not require a stretched mesh. Only two X-shaped fiberglass rods lying open on the back of the pack in combination with straps that can be continuously tightened and loosened keep the pack away from your back. The minimal contact surface on the back (approx. 60% less than with a “normal” mesh back) ensures outstanding ventilation, while at the same time our hiking rucksacks with this system are particularly light. The highlight, however, is that the rucksacks have a light back padding and can be worn close to the back with just a few hand movements (loosening the straps) in order to optimally control the weight – for example on mountain or via ferrata tours.
Our hiking rucksacks with this system are also equipped with a RECCO reflector, which makes it easier for professional rescuers to find you in an emergency.
Although ventilated carrying systems for hiking backpacks have proven themselves for the vast majority of tours, in some cases a backpack that you can fix close and firmly to your back is the better choice. A contact back system is the best way to control the weight of your backpack. Our hiking backpacks with the Vent Comfort contact back system have ergonomic back padding with a ventilation channel and can be fixed firmly to the body with hip and chest straps. This allows the greatest possible freedom of movement without the rucksack slipping. Hiking rucksacks with this system include the Norix 28 Women and Norix 32.
In addition to carrying comfort, additional features make your tours easier. Good hiking backpacks have several (insertable) pockets and gear loops to store equipment in a practical way. A special holder for hiking poles proves to be particularly practical – well stowed away and yet always ready to hand. A pocket on the hip belt stows your smartphone or sunglasses, for example.
We also recommend preparing a hydration system for a hydration bladder, which is stowed inside the hiking backpack and has a special opening that leads the tube to the outside. This allows you to drink without having to take off your rucksack. Last but not least, an integrated rain cover protects your luggage even in bad weather.
A high-quality hiking backpack is no bargain – so you can rightly expect it to be made of durable materials and have a high-quality finish. Tatonka hiking backpacks are made from tear-resistant polyamide fabrics that are waterproof thanks to a multiple polyurethane coating on the inside of the fabric. The fabrics are also impregnated to repel dirt and water; this impregnation is PFC/PFAS-free. Please note, however, that although the fabrics are waterproof, water can penetrate the backpack seams and zippers. For this reason, most Tatonka hiking rucksacks are equipped with a rain cover.
Tatonka backpacks are produced fairly in our own SA8000-certified production facilities. You can also see the high social standards for yourself through our Open Factory program: every Friday you can visit our Mountech Co. Ltd. factory in Ho Chi Minh City during ongoing production.
Our supply chain is also transparent: with our online tool Traceability by Tatonka, you can track the path of your purchased Tatonka backpack from material purchase to delivery.
Tatonka, the outdoor manufacturer from Dasing in Bavaria, Germany with decades of experience in rucksack construction, offers you highly functional rucksack models that leave nothing to be desired:
And last but not least, you are buying a hiking backpack from fair production, whose manufacture you can trace every step of the way. See for yourself!
