Fjällräven Räven 20 Review: What to Know Before You Buy

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Recently, I was on the hunt for a new backpack for everyday use and to take on my travels around the world. It needed to hold all my gear, be high quality, and be useful in a variety of contexts and situations. That was when I first came across the Fjällräven Räven 20.

If you, too, are looking for a new backpack, then this review will help you get an inside look into the Räven 20 to help you decide if it is the best backpack for you!

Picture of a girl wearing the Räven 20 backpack in gray

The Fjällräven Räven 20L

Click here to purchase the Fjällräven Räven 20 now!


Important Features of the Fjällräven Räven 20 Backpack

If you’re anything like me, there’s a lot of things you need to consider before purchasing a new backpack. So let’s take a look at some of the most interesting and useful features of the Fjällräven Räven 20 to help you decide!

1. Size

The Räven 20L backpack measures 18″ x 11″ x 8″ (45 x 27 x 20 cm), so it is the perfect compact size to carry everyday essentials with you on a commute or day outing as well as using as a personal item on a plane. As the name suggests, it holds 20 liters. If you find this is not the right size for you, however, this style also comes in a smaller size and a larger size as well.

2. Comfort

The Räven 20 comes with padded shoulder straps to ensure comfort in carrying, as well as a foam frame to help hold the weight of the backpack and pad your back while using it. Overall, it is quite comfortable to carry even when loaded down with a lot of weight from camera equipment or other items! It also comes with a handle with a leather grip to make grabbing your backpack easy.

3. Compartments + Laptop Sleeve

There are four main compartments/divisions on the Räven 20: a main compartment, a front compartment, a fleece-lined pocket, and a front zippered pocket. You will also find two open side pockets designed for bottles or other items you may want at hand.

Main Compartment

The main compartment is the largest and has lots of room to pack your bulkier items. This is also the compartment that contains a padded laptop sleeve, which fits laptops up to 15 inches. Inside this main compartment there is also a small zippered pocket which is the perfect size to hold items like a passport or small wallet and keep them separated from the bulk of your items.

Front Compartment

The front compartment opens to reveal a compartmentalized section with three small pockets for organizing, as well as a mesh zippered pocket. This section is quite small so don’t expect to put large items in here…but it is perfect for smaller items like pens and pencils and other knickknacks you want to keep organized and separated.

Fleece-lined Pocket

On the top of the backpack near the leather handle you will find a small pocket. Opening it reveals it is fleece-lined, which makes this the perfect place to put items you don’t want to scratch like sunglasses or a phone.

Front Zippered Pocket

The front zippered pocket is surprisingly roomy even though it is sleekly designed to blend in with the backpack. Be aware, though, that when you fill the backpack to capacity some of this space may disappear because the positioning of the design as more a part of the body means the space may be partially taken up by the items you have in the other pockets.

4. Locking Capability

Sadly, the Räven 20 is not designed with easy locking capability. This is particularly unhelpful for those who love to travel and would be using this backpack in places where pickpocketing happens frequently.

There is a workaround, though, if you decide to remove the cord that the zippers are threaded with. This leaves a hole in the zipper where you can lock two zippers together by using a set of combination locks like these.

5. Materials and Quality

The Räven 20’s material is heavy duty and built to last. It feels like a canvas material and is made from recycled polyester and organic cotton. Because it feels so durable, I expect it will last for a very long time and be very hard to accidentally rip! The zippers, padding, interior pockets, and all other features also seem to be high quality…so this backpack is a great investment!

6. Colors and Aesthetic

This Fjällräven Räven 20 backpack comes in a variety of colors, so there is sure to be one that will suit you. It is a unisex backpack, and overall I find it to be a somewhat outdoorsy pack but with a sleek and modern twist. Because of this, I think it would fit in well for commutes, day outings, hikes, and a variety of other situations. I find it to be a very pleasing aesthetic on the whole!

Close up picture of a gray Räven 20 backpack

Fjällräven Räven 20L Review: My Personal Experience

As mentioned above, I was recently on the hunt for a new backpack for travel and for use in my everyday life.

I was drawn to the Räven 20 because of its blend of the familiar backpack shape with a sleek design (mostly due to the inline nature of the front zippered pocket). And I was also drawn to this backpack because of the variety of pockets for organization (I’d been using a JanSport Superbreak backpack for over 10 years…which is lovely and durable but has absolutely no organization strengths).

So I really love these features of this backpack! There is just enough organization to keep items in their place while still maintaining a sleek look. It is comfortable to carry because of the padded shoulder straps and foam frame, which makes it a winner for everyday adventures.

However, I have learned that as much as I love it for an everyday backpack it is slightly small for my needs as a travel backpack. This is mostly because I carry a lot of camera equipment for all my blogging needs when I travel, so when you add in a camera body, 2-3 lenses, a travel tripod, and a GoPro and accessories…the backpack doesn’t quite zip up.

This is mostly because it’s a structured backpack and doesn’t have much give and take, which I love for everyday needs but just doesn’t work when I try to convert it into a carry-all travel backpack. I did try the next size up—the Räven 28—but found that it swallowed me whole and was also a little too large to fit personal item restrictions on most airlines.

Ideally, I’d love for Fjällräven to come out with a Räven backpack design that falls somewhere between the 20 and the 28. Maybe a 25L? But that’s just me with my desire to use this for double duty as an everyday backpack and a travel backpack that will carry all my equipment.

For now, the 20L will work for most adventures. And like I said, for most everyday purposes and for those who don’t carry around a ton of camera equipment it should work great! It’s comfortable to carry. It’s sleek and yet a little outdoorsy. And it has a cute fox logo (which, let’s be honest, is a large part of the reason why I wanted this backpack in the first place 😉). So really, what more could you need?

Check the price of the Räven 20 or read more reviews from Räven 20 owners!


Wrap Up: The Best and Worst Features of the Fjällräven Räven 20

To help summarize, I’m including here what I believe are some of the best and worst features of the Räven 20 so you can see these features at a glance.

Best Features

  • Small size (perfect for everyday use and as a personal item on planes)
  • Comfortable straps and structured foam frame
  • Laptop sleeve
  • Organization compartments
  • Quality material
  • Multitude of color options

Worst Features

  • No lockable zippers
  • Structured nature restricts how you can pack large items inside the main compartment
  • Slightly small for carrying a lot of gear when traveling

Fjällräven Review: Final Verdict on the Räven 20

For use as an everyday backpack, I’m in love! I think it’s perfect for a variety of purposes and in a variety of situations.

But if you, like me, have a lot of camera gear or other equipment that you’ll be toting on a regular basis then you may want to keep looking and check out some other backpack options that may work better for you. (Like my current favorite backpack for carrying my camera gear!)

However, if you are the type of person who wants the space to carry quite a few things with you (but not the whole camera store) on your everyday adventures while still looking stylish, then this is the perfect backpack to choose!

Click here to buy the Räven 20 or read more reviews!



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Looking for a new backpack for travel or for every day?  If you're thinking about buying the Räven 20, this post will show you all the best features and help you decide if it's the right one for you! | #backpack #review #travel

4 thoughts on “Fjällräven Räven 20 Review: What to Know Before You Buy

  1. Brenda says:

    This was such a helpful review! Thank you so much💜 one question, what color is the color that you purchased for this backpack?

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