TL;DR: REI Co-op Trail 25 takes #1 with 96 positive mentions and zero negatives. Tom Bihn and Aer dominate the top 10. Full rankings below.

Ran sentiment analysis on 36,248 comments from 5,574 threads on Backpacks. Fine tuned RoBERTa model (96% accuracy) scores each comment, ownership mentions weighted higher. Bayesian scoring means products need volume AND consistent positive sentiment to rank.

What stood out:

• REI Co-op Trail 25 at #1 - budget pick with perfect sentiment (96 positive, 0 negative)
• Tom Bihn appears twice in top 5 (Synik 30 at #3, Synapse 25 at #5) - cult following is real
• Peak Design Everyday has the most mentions (1,232) but lands at #13 - heavily discussed, opinions split
• Fjallraven Kanken at #24 despite massive popularity - style over function sentiment

How scoring works:

• Sentiment model: Fine-tuned RoBERTa, 96% accuracy on 38k training samples
• Ownership weighting: "I've carried this daily for 3 years" counts more than "I heard it's good"
• Bayesian scoring (like IMDB Top 250) - needs volume AND sentiment consistency
• All top 25 hit A grade (85%+ positive sentiment)

Limitations: Sarcasm mis-classification, Reddit skews enthusiast, doesn't capture how packs fit different body types.

Data:

• 36,248 opinions analyzed
• 5,574 threads
• Source: Backpacks
• Top 25 all rated A grade

Full rankings with 15+ products ranked + better filtering for price etc: https://dharm.is/outdoor/backpacks

Disclosure: Site uses affiliate links. Rankings are purely sentiment-driven - no paid placements or editorial picks.