Review of Osprey Poco baby carrier

If you like hiking and you have a child, well, the good news is you can keep hiking. I did a lot of research online before our kid arrived about the best heavy duty child carrier. I wanted something that could conceivably support an overnight camping hike. The Osprey Poco gets a lot of love online, and deservedly so.

This thing transformed my life, because it showed me you can take your kid anywhere.

I wouldn’t have been the first person to worry that imminent parenthood would be the end of my outdoor adventures. For me, that was a major factor in how long it took me to come around to the idea of having a child at all. Trying to psyche myself up for it – once it became, let’s say, something of a foregone conclusion – I spent some time on youtube seeing what other parents did. I found a great video, which sadly I can no longer find, by a guy who took his one year old out into the wilderness using this pack. As he said, “camping with a one year old is a lot of work, but a lot of fun”. If I had to nominate one thing that put me on the right mental track for everything that’s happened since, I’d say it was that guy and his video. To you, sir, I say thank you.

So now that I have a bit of experience with it myself, I write this for other potential parents who might be in the same place I was, three and a half years ago.

Trying it on at the shop. Child age: 10 months.

The Pack
Carrying a heavy load any distance requires a good harness and especially a decent waist belt. There are different designs around, some with more padding on the waist than others. Padding is good but more important is how the pack sits on your waist and whether it does a good job of distributing most of the weight on your hips, rather than your shoulders. This becomes even more important with a baby carrier because most of the weight is higher up than ideal, which increases the load’s tendency to bear down on your shoulders.

The centre of gravity is higher up than on a normal hiking pack. Child age: 12 months.

Not my Monster Truck. Child age: 13 months.

The Osprey Poco is essentially a normal backpack, with strong frame attached to a trampoline-back harness. Instead of a normal cargo area – the “sack” in a “rucksack” – it has a seat and safety harness for a child. The pack is rated to a total load of 20kg, so depending on the weight of your child, you might be able to use it through to age three or maybe even four. Our kid is pretty small, and at three still weighs under 15kg. Eventually, of course, height will become an issue too, but the seat can be lowered.

The Poco comes in a few variations, and the one I have is a few years old and a superseded model. The current one seems broadly similar, though. This one is the Poco Plus, above the Poco and below the Poco Premium. The plain Poco doesn’t have as much storage capacity at the bottom; the Premium has a detachable daypack high at the back. For me, that detachable pack seems to make the centre-of-gravity problem even worse, while the plain Poco doesn’t have enough carrying space. So the Plus hits it right in the Goldilocks zone.

The harness is quickly adjustable so you can easily switch from one person to another. Child age: 13 months.

For sunny and windy weather, and also if you’re hiking through trees, the fold-out screen that covers your kid’s head is a great feature. When you don’t need it, it tucks easily away in the back of the pack. You just need to be careful clipping it or unclipping it at the sides, because that mesh is elasticated and if the clips slip out of your hand it’s possible – though it’s never happened to me – it could hit her in the face.

Photo: Uncle Dima. Child age: 1 year 10 months.

The pack has the following storage compartments:

large zippered compartment at the bottom
two unfastened elasticated pockets on either side at the bottom
two smaller mesh pockets on the side at the top
a stretch pouch on the back, mid way up, fastened with one clip, and
small flat zippered pocket behind it
zippered pockets on the waist band, one either side
zippered pocket on the left shoulder strap
space for a hydration sleeve or Camel Bak (not included)

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The pack would be a lot easier to use if it had more attachment points or webbing for strapping on extra gear, but you can do that yourself as I did using velcro straps.

This is one way you can fit a tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag onto the pack.

How is it in real life?

There’s no getting around the fact that as your kid gets bigger, she gets heavier, and you get slower. Especially uphill. You won’t hike as fast as you did before, but if you find your pace you’ll still have plenty of stamina and endurance and cover a good distance.

Nap time

When the kid is little, she’ll sleep quite a bit. This looks uncomfortable but she seems fine with it. On many hikes she’s enjoyed the scenery during the morning and slept soundly for several hours after lunch. If you have a few miles to get done, consider trying to cover most of the distance in the afternoon (or whenever your kid tends to sleep).

Child age: 13 months

Child age: 1 year 4 months

Child Age: 2 years 3 months

Child age: 1 year 6 months

Interaction

The pack puts the child’s head immediately behind yours. You can speak normally without turning your head and she can hear you.

There is plenty of scope for interaction between passenger and camel. Child age: 16 months

Child age: 1 year 4 months

Heavy loads

Of course there are easier and more comfortable ways to carry heavy loads – 20kg or above. In fact, this pack is only rated to a total weight of 20kg and while I doubt it would fall apart if you hit 20kg and added “just one more diaper” I personally would struggle to get very far carrying more than that in this thing.

This is how you can manage to carry everything you need for an overnight camping trip.

Child age: 2 years 2 months

But there are times when you need to carry more than you can realistically hump with this, whether because of weight or because of volume. The camping trip I dreamed off since seeing that guy’s clip on youtube was one such occasion. I dealt with it by using a “chest rig” (or “battle bra”) to which I attached relatively cheap military surplus ammunition pouches. Though it looks a bit strange, let’s face it, by the time you’re Daddy to a toddler you don’t have time to care what people think about how you look. And, to be honest, I secretly think it looks kind of cool. So there’s that.

You can read more about how it went right here on Journeys, &c. or watch the video…