Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsOverhyped, over-designed, stiff and cheap feeling
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024
There's some clever design on this pack, like the magnetic flaps that hide the straps but mostly it's a bunch of zippers and unnecessary features everywhere while the actual organizational components of the bag are pretty basic and lackluster. I didn't particularly care for the materials either, everything is incredibly stiff and doesn't look nor feel high quality as the price would suggest.
The harness is comfortable, I will give it that, but so is the harness for my Thule Aion backpack, which I was comparing this to after falling for the hype and video reviews. I ended up getting all the various packing cubes and organizers from Peak Design as well and they're really the only way to organize this bag but it's unfortunate they don't fit well in other bags since they're sized for the PD bags.
I kept trying to convince myself I liked the pack, but I really didn't and ended up returning all of it. The pack is just way over-designed with a bunch of useless features like side access zippers; so I can do what, pull a packing cube out? What's the point of having a locking main zipper when the side zippers don't lock? How many locks do I need to attach? The only compartment with any organization built-in is inside the exterior zippered compartment, which isn't the worst, but if you expand the pack fully anything delicate in here gets smashed.
The divider flap between the main compartment is nice, the pockets on it aren't very useful though and I don't need to access them from both the exterior and interior of the pack. Overdesigned. Same with the hidden zippered pockets on the water bottle holders - what exactly is this for? Meanwhile things like the laptop and tablet compartment are very basic and all of the exterior materials are very stiff, scratchy and at least to me, look and feel kind of cheap. I didn't think it was a very attractive looking backpack nor particularly functional when all was said and done, especially for $300, closer to $600 with all the cubes and organizers.
I can see this being more useful for professional photographers with the camera cubes and built-in tie downs, but for carry-on travelers I think there are much better packs out there for less money and the whole experience left me very underwhelmed with the 'kitchen sink' design approach and lackluster materials.