When it comes to exploring with your little one, having a comfortable and reliable child carrier is essential. Osprey is my go to choice for personal packs; both for day trips and multi-day backcountry trips, so when it came to finding the right pack for Aspen they were our first choice. 

Osprey offers several options designed to make hiking with your child both comfortable and enjoyable and after extensive testing of all three models (nearly 300 hikes in under 3 years) we’ve put together a comparison to help you decide which of Osprey’s three packs, the Osprey Poco, Osprey Poco Plus, and Osprey Poco LT will best suit your family’s needs.

Overall comparison:

Which One Should You Choose?

• Osprey Poco: Choose this if you need a well-balanced carrier with good storage, comfort, and features for day hikes.

• Osprey Poco Plus: Opt for this if you’re planning longer hikes or multi-day trips where extra storage and comfort are crucial.

• Osprey Poco LT: Go for this if you’re looking for a lightweight, travel-friendly option for shorter hikes or urban adventures.

Each of these Osprey child carriers offers something unique, so your choice will depend on your specific needs. Whether you’re gearing up for a short walk in the park or a multi-day hike in the mountains, Osprey has a child carrier that will help make your adventure safe, comfortable, and enjoyable for both you and your little one.

For the majority of hikers I would say the above comparison is sufficient and if you are only going to get ONE pack then I would consider the above pros and cons.

For our lifestyle and hiking goals each pack served a purpose for various stages of our toddlers lives and different hiking circumstances. With the amount that we hike and the distance we travel having more than one option made sense for us, also knowing that we planned on having a second child there wasn’t much downside to having multiple packs.

If we were to pick just one I would likely pick the Poco Original. 

Other considerations that factored into what pack we chose on any given day:

The first pack we got was the Poco Plus, when we first started hiking with Aspen in the pack around 5 months I was still recovering and the amount I could personally carry for long days was limited, Matt carried Aspen as well as most of our gear. We had a lot of gear for Aspen that winter between warm layers, feeding and changing gear. Breastfeeding wasn’t super successful for me that pregnancy so we brought bottles and our jet boil even for small day hikes. 

As time went on and my recovery progressed I was able to carry more and could carry a bigger pack of my own which made the extra capacity of the Poco Plus less necessary, however, that being said we also started doing more solo hikes with Aspen and when I was out by myself I still preferred the larger pack until we got a little bit more dialed on our gear and till Aspen weaned off bottles around 1. 

We didn’t get the Poco Lite until she was around 2 years old, which some people might consider old for this pack; however, at that age travel was becoming a lot more practical and having a lighter packable pack was great for helicopter and plane trips. Also as her weight increased, having a lighter pack was a nice trade-off. You may have noticed that all three packs have the same capacity so this pack is the one we’ll be able to use the longest.

As she’s started walking more on our hikes it’s been nice to have a lighter pack along for when we inevitably need to pick her up. We find she’s less likely to sleep in this pack as she used to lean up against the sun shade in the Poco and Poco Plus which isn’t an option with the design on this pack but she’s slowly stopped napping as well so that hasn’t been too much of an issue.

Overall they’re all great packs and we found them all very comfortable so you can’t really go wrong!

Tell us in the comments, which one would you pick?

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