The North Face: Warm, Solid on Planes, Trains, or Foot
We’ve been doing some holiday traveling here, as our writers and editors head back to families across the country. Some of us packed light, using only essential craft supplies. Some packed mainly camera equipment. Others went either lighter or heavier, using our previously tested North Face gear, which continues to hold up quite well.
For those in between though, we recommend our latest bag- the North Face Longhaul 26. They also offer a smaller model (the 21) and a larger one (the 30), but this one was not too big, not too small, and perfectly sized for a couple heading out for a weekend trip. It’s a very nice, sturdy, wheeled carry-on, available in three color choices (black, cardinal red, or taupe). Ours was the red, and stood out nicely among the other bags, allowing friends and family to spot us easily. North Face gear is often stylish, and this bag continued the trend-
The all-important wheels were quite stable and nicely tracked for grip, and handles are all over- top, side, bottom, and even in front. The pull-out handle is handy, and we were able to load the bag fully and wheel it smoothly, and balance it despite unbalanced loading. The handles do take away some pockets though; there are still two external accessory pockets that are sizable, but we would’ve liked more. There is a nice wet/dry compartment, and bungee compression straps to wrap it all together. Overall, it’s a decent balance between size and weight, price and durability, and style versus functionality. At between $220 and $250, it’s a bit more expensive than we would’ve liked to see, but it is one of the better general-purpose wheeled carry-ons that we’ve tried.
Next up, we’ve seen North Face sleeping bags before and tried plenty of other gear, but this was our first time checking out their footwear. The Men’s Snow Sneaker is a fascinating shoe, taking serious winter tread and reasonable padding and fitting them onto an attractive and comfortable sneaker. Offering PrimaLoft Eco insulation and weatherproof suede, the shoe was warm- not as warm as some boots, but quite warm for a sneaker. It also features a waterproof membrane, and light puddles and snow didn’t have much effect, but rain certainly managed to soak in a bit.
Once again, we were pretty pleased by the style- this is a sneaker that most anyone could wear, and can go with a fairly wide variety of clothing- even office workers could manage nicely as it looks fairly professional. Only the tread and North Face logo give it away. Available in two different color schemes, ours was the black and Indian clay combination (that went nicely with the Longhaul); a coffee brown and yellow fennel is your other choice. We should point out that the picture above is different from the one on the official site- there is a red line on the sole that isn’t in the North Face images at all. The shoes also have an interesting heel that feels a little thicker than normal sneakers, and results in additional traction as you can’t help but put a bit of extra weight down. At $110, they are in the same price range as other similar footwear, and we were quite happy with every aspect. North Face, known for many of their other products, surprised us with these excellent shoes, perfect for winter conditions of all kinds.
