Backpacker Magazine – Online Exclusive

Deuter Kid Comfort III Kid Carrier

Our favorite toddler-hauler

by: Joel Nyquist

Tags:
• Gear
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• Family camping
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Having a baby will change your life, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get out and do what you love. In fact, it’s all the more reason to get out there and introduce your kids to the outdoors, and the earlier the better. You might not be able to thru-hike the AT or do the Fourteeners Grand Slam right away, but with a carrier like the Deuter Kid Comfort you can be out on the trails as soon as the child can hold his head up.

The VariQuick suspension is the same robust one that Deuter uses on other top-notch packs (it can carry 40 pounds of total cargo (child plus gear) and quickly adjusted from one couple’s 5’2” mom to 6’3” dad. That let them swap out every hour while hiking through Virginia’s Civil War battlefields and apple picking in Pennsylvania. Thickly padded straps for adult and child alike guarantee a comfortable ride, and are easily adjustable as your child grows.

There are multiple storage options for both adult and kid gear, but if you can get a partner to come along it’s nice to throw all the gear into the non-child pack! The soft washable chin pad won praise among our littlest testers, and there are also nice extras like an attached teddy bear for the kid and a small rearview mirror that really does let mom seem like she has eyes in the back of her head. $289; 7 lbs. 10 oz.; deuter.com

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