Gear Review: Osprey Poco Plus

I’ve been counting down to this day. Babies aren’t supposed to sit in hiking child carriers until they are six months old and have good head and neck control, so The Guy’s definitely been cramping my trail style. He’s a huge baby (90% for weight and height), so carrying him in a ring sling or ergobaby carrier on trail has been killer on my back. So for Christmas – now six months old – we were gifted a shiny new Osprey Poco Plus by my father. Let the games begin.

[Side note: Thrillbilly was accepted into the highly-competitive Physician Assistant program at UT Memphis, so we are moving! As we were selling our home, there were back-to-back showing that required me to head out with The Guy and pup Moka in tow for a few hours. Even though it was quite chilly, it was a perfect time to take the Poco for a test drive.]

The carrier is easy to set up, in theory. I did a dry run at home, of course, which is how I discovered that the buckles for securing the side arms of the child cockpit are nearly impossible to buckle without throwing all of your strength into getting the damn things to connect. It makes me feel good that the connection is not weak and The Guy would be stuck in the very comfy and padded cockpit, but I struggled to get them buckled during the dry run. Thrillbilly was able to do it faster, but it still took effort.

Having experimented with the Deuter Kid Comfort in the store during the decision-making, I can attest that it’s easier to load your kid into the Poco. Once you’ve got those impossible-to-connect arms connected, you just slide him in. We had already adjusted the seat height to fit, which is another nice feature since it can grow with him. Once he’s in, I wrestle him into the adjustable double halo harness. Those buckles are much easier to connect. I make sure his chunky little legs are sticking out of the leg holes, and then he’s set. There are also adjustable stirrups, but he is too short for those so we just removed them.

The carrier itself is the standard comfort of all the Osprey packs – a lightweight aluminum frame, airspeed back panel, adjustable torso (which is great for switching back and forth with Thrillbilly), padded fit-on-the-fly hipbelt with decently-sized pockets, and the other creature comforts that make me love all my Osprey packs. It comes kitted out with an upper mesh pocket, a zippered splash pocket, and an external hydration sleeve (a must-have for summer hikes because I am NOT contorting myself to reach a Nalgene with the incredible tiny hulk on my back).

The Poco also has a huge lower zippered compartment, which was a major consideration when selecting this pack over the Deuter. I want to take The Guy backpacking for an overnight in the spring, so having the storage there is key. While other child carriers also come with kickstands, this is the easiest to pop up and truly makes a secure seat on the ground – no fears of this monster tipping over. The lift handle is also beefy, so I had no problem hoisting the carrier onto my back.

There are also some kiddo-focused features. There are cord loops to hang toys or pacifiers from, a super nifty built-in sunshade, and a washable drool pad, because babies are disgusting creatures who slobber over everything.

Things I will do differently on future hikes:

Make sure the trail is dry: The trail I chose was the Warner Woods Trail at Percy Warner Park. It rained few days before we hiked, and while large portions of the trail was dry, there were several long muddy spots. I slid around a bit, and with the carrier was thrown off-balance a few times. I never slipped or veered too far to the side, but I had nightmare visions of falling and The Guy getting hurt.

Bring a friend: It dawned on me that if I did somehow get hurt, The Guy would be stranded with me, helpless. Having a grown-up buddy that could help us is key. Also, whenever I wanted to check on him to see if he was OK, I’d have to really crane my neck around to even see his little hands; I couldn’t see his face at all. I started using the selfie mode on my phone to check that he was still smiling or – for most of the trail – napping.

I’m glad we decided on the Poco, and even though the price tag is a bit hefty – $330 – parenthood has taught me that comfort and convenience are almost always worth the money. Anything that can help us have happy trails is most welcome!