REVIEW – The backpack market is littered with bags that look good, can carry a laptop/Tablet, and have pockets for phones and water bottles. Solo makes a good many models, some of which we’ve shown here at the Gadgeteer. I have been using this latest one, the Draft, for a month or so, and am ready to give you my report.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

What is it?

A three-pocket bag for daily carry, the Draft throws a lot into the mix with internal organization, including padded laptop pocket, tablet sleeve, and space for several pens, business cards or headphones. A raincoat, umbrella, or jacket can easily fit rolled into the main space alongside your other items.

Specs

• (from the website)
• Fully padded 15.6″ laptop compartment
• Internal iPad®/tablet pocket
• Multiple front pockets
• Mesh side pockets
• Internal organizer section
• Padded back and backpack straps for added comfort
• Sports zipper pulls
• Smooth nylon fabric
• Ultra-lightweight

What’s in the box?

• Just the pack

Design and features

The Draft is a slim urban backpack for daily carry. Nothing about it screams “expensive” or “tourist.” The vertical zipper is nicely recessed so that there is a bit of fabric included in the pocket beyond what pokes out into the interior. The horizontal pocket at the base has even more room, with actual extra fabric included to make it bump out from the main body of the bag. You can’t fit a jacket or biking helmet into this, but it is plenty of room for a small tripod, an extra lens, or, as I do, your bag of meds and personal care items.

I like the t-bar zipper pulls. They let you grip the zips fully, whether you have gloves on or not. They also look pretty neat.

The two net drink pockets on each corner are perfect for a can or bottle, but can also hold your AirPod charger, your small camera, or a flash unit for your main camera. That stretchy net stuff is really adaptive. I have almost decided this would be the One Bag for me, but then, I got a couple of others from Julie the other day, so we’ll have to see if I come back or stay with the new units.

What I Like

• Slim, yet roomy design
• Front pockets actually have dimension
• Pockets for full-sized laptop and full-sized tablet

What needs to be improved

• Can’t find any real faults

Final thoughts

In the end, the choice of a backpack is extremely personal, so we can’t choose for you. But if you’re looking for something that will let you commute with the bare minimum, plus a few things like chargers, a jacket, or a nice set of headphones, you’ll want to at least check this one out. At $50, it’s not a bad choice to have in your closet.

Price: $49.99
Where to buy: Solo New York and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Solo.

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Solo New York Draft backpack review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 11, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Convertible bags are great, but they also present a tricky design challenge to make sure the bag works in both vertical (backpack) and horizontal (messenger) mode. Today we’re looking at Lululook’s take on the convertible backpack/messenger bag. There are ‘s a lot of interesting  design happening here. How does the whole package come together? Let’s have a look!

What is it?

It’s a canvas backpack that converts to a messenger bag.

Hardware specs

• Cotton canvas with leather accents
• Molded plastic hardware
• 12” by 18” by 7”

Design and features

The Lululook Canvas Backpack is a convertible backpack/messenger that’s all about urban style. Tan is the primary color in my tester, but there’s some well-balanced use of earth tones in the trim & hardware (plus some leather hits) that provide visual interest. It’s a good looking piece of carry.

The exterior seems pretty well put together for a bag at this price point. Soft cotton canvas is the primary material, with cotton webbing used for straps throughout. Rugged plastic hardware and chunky zippers (not YKK, unfortunately) add to a build that feels fairly substantial. The interior fabrics are an issue, however, as we’ll see below.

The design is built around a simple 12” by 18” by 7” box shape. The backpack straps are hidden behind a zippered panel on the rear of the bag that rolls up and velcros to the top of the bag when in use. See below for the walk through:

It’s a clever solution that, when combined with the low-profile backpack straps, gives you a nice option for stashing those straps without adding a lot of extra bulk. Those straps are also comfortable despite the light padding.

You’ll find two pockets on the front face to organize your goods. That leather flap unzips on three sides to reveal a monstrous pocket that runs almost the full height and width of the bag. There’s also a horzontal pocket below it that’s plenty big enough for power bricks and such.

This presents one of the challenges I have with this bag design. See how those zips have to get under that rain hood at the top of the bag? It’s really tough to make that zipper turn those corners under the grommets without a fight. Maybe the zips will loosen up over time, but I found it really hard to get into this compartment.

This leads to the second issue I have with the front pocket: not only is it huge and tough to get into, but the pocket is backed by nothing but a thin piece of fabric. There’s a thin fabric divider in this space, but it just gets in the way. I dropped a 9″ by 11″ textbook in there… you can’t see it, can you?

With no internal support, that space just turns into a big floppy black hole. Big items get lost, and small items vanish into the void. Between this and the trouble working that zipper, I found myself not using that pocket much on a day-to-day basis. I also see that thin fabric as an area with a high potential for tearing over time.

On the plus side… the main compartment is enormous. Some soft padding on the rear panel and the divider will protect a laptop up to 15″, and the rest is just open space for whatever you like. We’re talking roughly 30 liters of space if you’re not putting too much in the front compartments.

I stuffed 6 books, my laptop, and an ipad in there in addition to the textbook in the front compartment with plenty of room to spare. If you like big spaces to bung all your gear, you’ll like this.

There are some thoughtful additions to design that I like quite a bit. Three rubberized grab handles are placed at the top, bottom, and side of the bag for tossing it around. They’re nice & grippy, and work well when getting in and out of vehicles:

Compression clips at the four corners of the bag are very much appreciated for cinching things down if you’re lightly packed:

The elastic mesh water bottle pocket is also a nice touch… while I have that compression strap unlocked here, it actually expands with the pocket to handle the Yeti 24 ounce mug you’ll see in some of the other pics:

When you want to go to one-shoulder mode, the included cotton web strap clips on the same side as the main compartment opening and side grab handle (which now becomes a briefcase-style handle). There’s no shoulder pad, but the strap is sturdy and comfortable. The hardware and attachment points are all solid.

Sadly, that front panel pocket is even less usable in this mode. It’s just impossible to access when the bag is turned on its side. The messenger-style carry works great for the main compartment, however, which turns into one big ol’ stuffable space. Note that the compression straps need to be unlocked to unzip to the main compartment in this mode. 

With all those soft fabrics and no framing, it’s important to note that the bag tends to sag and flop based on whatever you put in it. You can see that everything I loaded into the bag sinks to the bottom as shown below:

There’s a lot to like in this bag, but I found myself dealing with tradeoffs in both backpack and messenger mode that took away from the overall usability. If you’re an organizer with a lot of tech, you probably won’t be happy with this bag. If you like a floppy, unstructured bag that will accommodate all kinds of stuff, this may be a good fit for you. I’d prefer to see that front pocket redesigned (or removed entirely) to make this bag really usable.

What I like

• Good looking, modern style
• Some nice additional features in the compression clips, multiple grab handles, and water bottle pocket
• Roomy

What needs to be improved

• The main front pocket is not very usable
• The bag could use some more structure to keep your stuff from sinking to the bottom
• Interior fabrics are flimsy
• Very little organization for tech and small bits

Final thoughts

The Lululook Backpack for Men is a mixed bag (pardon the pun) for me. It looks great, and there are some nice design elements that I quite like. There are some challenges in the overall layout, however, that you may want to consider if you’re thinking about this one.

Price: $45.99
Where to buy: Visit the Lululook web site for purchasing information.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Lululook.

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Lululook Canvas Backpack for men review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 9, 2018 at 2:00 pm.

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Today we’re sharing a piece of American history. The Diamond Brand Gear Company has been making tents and camping gear in the U.S.A. since 1881. I’m reviewing the latest edition of their iconic Belay Bag, a daypack made for exploring on and off the grid. Let’s get packing!

What is it?

It’s a 22 liter daypack with a fully adjustable harness system that converts from a backpack to sling bag.

Hardware specs

• 1000D Nylon fabric construction
• Pockets made from upcycled 70D Ripstop with Polyurethane Coating
• Nylon Webbing
• YKK zippers
• All Metal Hardware
• Main Compartment: 19 inches tall, 12 inches wide, 6 inches deep
• Front pockets: 14 inches tall, 2 1/2 inches deep
• 22 Liters

What’s in the box?

The package includes the pack, 2 adjustable/removable shoulder straps, and an extra set of pull chords if you want to change up the colors.

Design and features

Diamond Brand Gear supplied the U.S. military in World War I and II, and made the first packs for the Boy Scouts of America in the 1930s. The Belay Bag was first introduced in the 1980s. There’s a lot of history here, and the Belay Bag does a nice job of presenting a contemporary design that still pays homage to it’s roots.

You’ll find a lot of heritage-inspired design elements in the Belay Bag: the bullet-shape, the bold pops of color, and the big ol’ Diamond-branded leather lash tab on the front face of the pack. But the whole look is pulled together with a clean, sophisticated treatment that works just as well on the street as it does on the trail. The profile is streamlined and modern, and those bold pops of color are tastefully placed to accent the form of the bag. It’s definitely at home in business casual workplaces or city commutes, standing out against the sea of black and grey business bags. One of my coworkers complimented me on it’s “fashion forward” style in a recent meeting. Seriously. Those were his actual words.

The form factor is that of a clamshell top-loader. A pair of zips open down to just about the bottom of the bag, which is great for allowing easy access to main compartment while ensuring that things don’t tumble out when the bag stands up. A simple padded sleeve protects your laptop (up to 15”) and a tablet, and there’s a zippered pocket at the top of the bag (on the front face) for little odds and ends. It’s simple and functional with room to spare (19” by 12” by 6”) for a lunch, a sweater, and assorted extras.

The front face of the bag features two HUGE external pockets, each of which is 14” tall and 2-1/2” deep. Either pocket will house a big hydration bottle or a rolled-up light jacket. They’ll also each take a 32-ounce growler or a bottle of your favorite party beverage (I like to bring whiskey) so that you’re ready for the next gathering. Each pocket also has a sleeve on the rear face to manage smaller items. The zips stop short of the bottom of the pocket, so you can toss loose items like your keys in there without fear of them falling out. They are great multifunctional spaces that extend the overall functional flexibility of the bag in day-to-day situations.

At a 22 liter capacity, the Belay Bag fits perfectly in the daypack category: room for extras, but not so much that you’re feeling like you have too much bag for day trips. If you are hitting the trail, you won’t lack for outboard attachment points. Strips of nylon loops on the front face of the bag and the shoulder straps give you a total of 22 places to hang axes, tripods, ball caps, cell phone pouches, a bedroll, walking sticks, a wet gear bag… you name it. The possibilities are endless.

Diamond Gear placed an emphasis on comfortable carry with the new Belay Bag design. The back pad is thick closed-foam with a mesh cover, designed with an open center channel for air circulation. The attachment points at the top and bottom of the shoulder straps are also completely adjustable to your shoulder width and body type. The strap pads contour slightly at the hips to reduce rubbing against your sides. It’s really comfortable for all-day wear.

The Belay Bag has another trick to play: it converts to a sling bag. Quick release metal tabs at the top and buttoned loops at the bottom allow for quick removal of the shoulder straps. Take one strap and re-attach it at the opposite shoulder, loosen up the leads, and the bag wears cross-body like a messenger bag. It’s not an afterthought, either: the bag is designed to works really well in both configurations. I actually prefer using it in sling mode given the bag’s size… think of it like a vertically-oriented messenger bag. 

Construction is excellent across the board. 1000D Cordura nylon is the primary material. Upcycled materials from tent production (70D Ripstop with Polyurethane Coating) are used in the pockets, adding a cool little sustainability bonus. Metal hardware and YKK zips are used throughout. It’s a solid utilitarian build that matches the personality and multipurpose usability of the bag.

I do have two minor design improvements that I think would help the bag. The internal zip pocket kind of flaps about, and could probably be attached to the front face so it doesn’t get in the way when you’re digging in the bag. I also wouldn’t overpack that pouch, because it gets in the way of reaching stuff in the main compartment. The shoulder pads are a bit blocky and stiff, and could probably use a touch more refinement. But these are both extremely minor issues.

What I like

• Very comfortable and adjustable for all-day wear
• Perfect size for a daypack
• Excellent multipurpose external pockets
• Lots of external attachments, tastefully designed
• Great for both work and play
• Works equally well in both backpack and sling bag mode

What needs to be improved

• Shoulder pads are a little stiff and blocky but will break in over time
• Internal zip pocket is useful but can get in the way if the bag is full

Final thoughts

Made in the Carolina Mountains, the Diamond Gear Brand Belay Bag is an ideal multipurpose daypack. While it’s not a heavily tech-focused bag, the usability is solid as a daily work commuter that will adapt seamlessly to travel and off-road exploits. The big external pockets and plethora of attachment loops, while subtly rendered in the design, make the bag super-adaptable. It is very comfortable to wear for extended periods, and the easy conversion to a sling-style bag is a well-executed bonus. It’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite all-around performers. I’ll be giving it some more in-depth travel testing in the next few weeks!

Price: $139.00
Where to buy: But direct from Diamond Brand Gear or on Amazon. Additional colors are also available.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Diamond Brand Gear. 

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Backpack

Diamond Brand Gear Belay Bag review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 15, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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What is it?

You know the company, LifeProof, who created those insanely durable smartphone cases back in 2013? Well, it turns out there’s a demand for many of the products in our lives to be “life proof” or, protected from water, snow, dirt, and drop damage, including our backpacks! LifeProof has created such a backpack with the Goa 22L Backpack and it is pretty awesome.

What’s in the box?

In the box came the beautiful, black and green LifeProof backpack, alone. I fell in love at first sight.

Design and features

This heavy-duty pack has a multitude of features that set it aside its competition. It’s made from a water-repellent fabric, and even has a sealed, fleeced lined weather-resistant tech pocket that holds up to an iPhone 8 Plus. The tech pocket has a pass-through for cords like headphones and charging cables. If that pocket wasn’t cool enough, there’s also a hydration reservoir pocket that holds up to 3 liters, so you’ll always be hydrated on your adventures. There’s a detachable chest strap for extra comfort, and plenty of convenient smaller pockets on the inside to keep your gear organized. The exterior has 4 side stash pockets for smaller items like passports, wallets, etc. Also found on the outside is a separate reinforced laptop and/or tablet side pocket with padding to keep your electronics safe.

What I like

What I like the most about this pack is the padded laptop pocket, because it’s perfect for me as a traveling student journalist. I adore the ergonomic straps that make the pack completely comfortable, no matter how heavy I make it. The lifeproof-ness is something I particularly favor, also!

What needs to be improved

There isn’t much that I can see needs to be improved with this pack. It comes in 4 sizes, so it can appeal to almost anyone. Though I’m assuming it isn’t 100% waterproof, (I’m not going to soak it in the ocean to find out…) it is water resistant, meaning I can wear it out in the rain, and I plan to! The only thing I can think of is adding the option for more colors or styles. But, this company is pretty on-the-ball, so I’m sure they’ve already considered that.

Final thoughts

This is a greatly anticipated, well designed, nearly flawless backpack and I plan to keep using it for a  long time, being as it will last me a very very very long time! Go LifeProof!

Price: $159.99
Where to buy: https://www.lifeproof.com/en-us/backpacks-coming-soon.html
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Lifeproof.

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LifeProof Goa 22L Backpack review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 28, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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