Deuter Kanga Kid
This pack is truly a cool tool. It's the size of a daypack, yet zips open into a child carrier backpack. It’s so cool because it's small enough to use as your everyday diaper bag, and then when your little one's legs get tired (or you get tired of chasing your little one), you can put her in the pack.
I highly recommend Deuter’s Kid Comfort II for hiking with a toddler on board, but frame packs are about as portable as strollers - not very. The Kanga Kid, however, can really go everywhere with you. It has an internal frame (more of a shaped metal wedge) and a lumbar belt, so it's strong enough to hold a child up to about 30 pounds (total recommended capacity, with cargo, is 33 pounds) without killing your shoulders.
We bought this pack when my son was about six months old. It got a bunch of use until he was about 18 months. Included in that time were a few short impromptu hikes and innumerable trips to the grocery store. Use started to taper off mostly because my son preferred walking when we went out. He’s tall for his age and after about 20 months was too tall for the Kanga. Smaller kids could maybe push it up to two years. But the Kanga was really golden when he was just starting to walk (at about 1 year) and would get tired and need to be carried when we were out on the town. Since I used it as my diaper bag, and therefore always had it with me, I never had to worry about going back to the car for a stroller. I just packed him up and kept on going. It’s not easy to get a child into this pack without the help of another adult, but I managed to do it.
Kelty’s TC 2.1 is a very similar design, though I haven’t used it for comparison. Both companies have a number of backpack styles at parallel price points with comparable features and quality construction. I’m tall, and have found Deuter packs, both the Kanga Kid and the Kid Comfort II, fit me well.
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Deuter
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Marmaduke
I have the Kelty TC 2.1. I like it a lot, but not as much as I'd hoped.
Being a Kelty, it is a great pack. It does a fantastic job of letting you carry a lot of weight with minimal effort. It holds an astounding amount of gear. The zip-off mini pack can serve as a diaper bag on it's own. The main compartment can swallow our usual diaper bag, making it easy to take at the last minute (don't need to repack everything)
My son loves riding in it because he is up higher than with most soft/light baby carriers like the Ergo (which we have and love) or the Moby Wrap. This is true of most, if not all, frame pack child carriers.
On the down side:
Because it has a big aluminum internal frame to support the child carrier, it's still bulky when zipped down. I wouldn't use it as an every-day diaper bag.
Like all child frame packs I've used, it is not simple to load a child into it. You have to make sure both legs get through on the correct side of all the straps and sometimes the shoulder straps get stuck under the kid and have to be retrieved. It takes a minute or two to load a child compared to 10 seconds with an Ergo.
Overall, it's a great bag for short and medium hikes with young kids, but probably won't replace your everyday diaper bag.
Chris
We have a Kanga Kid and it has been fantastic! We have used it extensively in many places (mall, airport, trails, skiing, zoo, etc.).
We found it worked well for us when traveling through airports. In that case we used it as a diaper pack and would put our little guy in the kid carrier when he was tired or we needed to hustle. At our destination we could just use it as a kid carrier/diaper pack and not have to worry about bringing a stroller along. The Kanga Kid s definitely in the top 10 of our most used baby gear items.
It did take a little while to figure out the best way to load him up. However, after a short trial period it became a piece of cake. Definitely make sure to try it out at home before heading out.