Transcription
Since launching the channel a year and a half ago, I have yet to do like a definitive what are my top five favorite backpacks for everyday carry. Spoiler alert, the Air City Pack Pro 2 did not make the list. Yeah, apparently if you throw a hook like that, it helps with retention. So, we'll find out. But for real, it didn't make the list.
Before your squirrel brain goes to fast forward to what the actual backpacks are, just take a quick deep breath, take a sip of your coffee or your beer, just listen to this part before you go run wild and free. To clarify, this is not me saying these are the five best backpacks on the market or the five backpacks that I recommend the most. Transparently, I feel like those lists are kind of counterproductive because backpack preferences vary so wildly person to person. What I value is not what you value. So, it's really impossible to objectively say what the five best backpacks are. My intention with this video is just to walk you through the exercise that I went through to not only come up with the five favorites, but also rank them, which was not easy. That way, if you find that your preferences align to mine, then maybe these are backpacks that you can check out. I'll include dedicated reviews to all of them. I'll also include affiliate links if you want to support the channel. But please do not buy something for the sake of buying it. and just buy it if you genuinely think it's going to bring value to your life.
Now, most importantly is the logic I applied to create this list. Shout out to Zach from Vision Swell. He recently like condensed his massive backpack collection. He's a backpack reviewer like me and he like sold or gifted pretty much everything minus 11. I'm here just like trying to one up him a little bit even though I'm not getting rid of all my backpacks. But narrowing it down to the five, these are the five backpacks that if you told me you have to get rid of all of your backpacks, these are the ones that I would keep. I'm ranking them in order of most easiest for me to let go of to hardest. And then lastly is in curating this list, I want to have variety. I want to be able to solve for different use cases and I want to minimize overlap. So when I said that the Air City Pack Pro 2 is not on this list, it's not necessarily because I think that in a vacuum number five is a better backpack for me than the City Pack Pro 2. It's just that there's a backpack in the list that whenever I'm thinking I want a bag for X, there's something else that I prefer over the City Pack Pro 2, and I'll weave that into it as I talk about all of them. So, with that being said, let's get into it.
Number five on the list is the wild card of the bunch. This is the Broy Classic Roll Top. I say it's the wild card because candidly when I first got the bag I was I don't want to say underwhelmed, but never would I have imagined how much I would end up loving it and using it, let alone making it into my top five of backpacks. I recently had a great conversation with JJ, the head of design from Broy in a podcast. I'll also link that below in case you're interested. And I feel like people get so caught up, myself included, with all of these like features and boxes that you want to check, but there's all these like nuanced things that transcend those check boxes. Like the way a bag makes you feel when you look at it, when you grab it, when it's on your back. in Broy, I feel like they do such a great job of just bringing life to their products, building in little things that are so intuitive that it's almost like you don't realize like how organically certain things like pockets are until you actually like start using them for a while. But the reason why this bag is number five and not higher is because it's very minimal, very light in organization, and knowing myself, that's something that I do value in a bag. But on the flip side, the reason why this bag is on the list is because it is so simple. It enables me to tap into a part of my brain where I just feel kind of like a free spirit where I'm less hyperfixating on the little micro frictions of a bag's experience and just more like live my own life. Stop freaking out about things having to be in a very specific place. having kids, this is just such a perfect bag when you're leaving the house and you're like, you know what, I don't even want to think about anything. Just opening up the roll top, stashing things in there. While historically I've been very attracted to the look of roll tops, I love heritage products, but functionality-wise it has its drawbacks, right? It makes it kind of like a deeper cave to get in and out of and also in many cases it's not as frictionless as just doing like a zipper to get in and out of. But they've done such a great job of creating a bag that on the surface just looks kind of like a simple heritage bag, but once you've had your hands on it and used it, they've incorporated all these like very subtle modern elements. And one of those things is this hooking mechanism. I mean, this thing is like a fidget toy. Um, there's something so satisfying about the little tug when it clips on. It's really easy to to do and undo. And yeah, there's just no other bag that I own that puts me in the mindset that this one does where it taps less into my logical, organized freak self and more into my like slow down, enjoy life, energize your soul sort of thing. But you get the fantastic materials that Broy is known for. They do synthetic, sustainably designed and developed materials that look good, feel great, and you know, they've recreated so accurately the feeling of canvas without it being actually canvas.
Next on the list is the Air City Pack 2. This one's an ultra, not the Pro. I did a review about a year ago where I talked about why I prefer the City Pack 2 over the Pro, and that remains the case. I feel like this is the unsung hero in Air's collection and my favorite bag that they make. It is 16 liters, so it's like my go-to compact bag when I'm mainly just carrying tech. I'm carrying just for myself while still having enough room for a jacket or something along those lines. So, more often than not, I'm in that scenario, which is one of the reasons why I like it more than the City Pack Pro 2. The biggest reasons for why I love it and grab it a lot more than the City Pack Pro 2 are two things. One, the main compartment zipper in the City Pack Pro 2. It's not that it's a pain in the ass, but it's also a little stiff and I don't like subconsciously look forward to having to get into the main compartment. Whereas the main compartment on this guy is literally it's tied with the smoothest zipper for a main compartment of any bag that I have. Tied with it is the simple commuter. And this is one of the things that I talked about with JJ on the podcast cuz we're talking about how like you can have the same exact zipper on two bags. We also talked about why they use PUcoated zippers. I know a lot of people hate on them and I have my own mixed feelings. I think my perfect bag would still probably not have PUcoated zippers. Actually, it wouldn't just from a longevity standpoint, but PU coating also gives the bag structure and actually explains why four out of my five favorite zippers in terms of smoothness are PUcoated. Helping with the structure actually indirectly makes the bag have a smoother zipping experience. The second reason why I picked this over the City Pack Pro 2 is because of the admin panel. Honestly, my perfect air backpack would be this combined with a City Pack Pro 2 and 20 L. Wink wink, depending on when this uh video comes out. But having the admin panel, right, kind of like what they did with the Travel Pack 3 that they took away from the four. It zips down all the way so you get more pockets. I don't really care about the additional organization. Although, I'm not going to complain about it cuz it's not really like adding much weight. It's just having that additional vertical volume gives you more flexibility in the types of things that you could put in here, especially with bulkier things like over theear headphones. In addition to that, you get a sleeve back here, which like a an iPad fits really well in there. There's a variety of other like flatter things that you don't get in the City Pack Pro, too. So, this is my go-to compact bag. It's incredibly comfortable. The bag that was also really hard not to include on this list. And even though there's technically a 5 L difference between the two, this is listed as 16. It really feels more like an 18 to me. But the Able Carry Daily Plus, it's the most comfortable bag I own. So again, not having it on here is really hard. But when I'm in that mindset of just I want something slimmer, more compact, I don't need to take a lot of stuff. I don't care as much about having a dedicated laptop compartment. I have to choose between the two. And while the Able Carry Daily Plus is more comfortable, this is still an incredibly comfortable bag. And the top down access and overall layout and organization of this bag just suits my preferences more than the Daily Plus, where I don't mind sacrificing a little bit of comfort, plus luggage pass through on this guy, which you can maggyver something pretty easily for the Daily Plus. But um but yeah, love this bag.
Speaking of Able Carry, number three on the list is the Max CDC. And this is kind of like a fun full circle moment. When I launched the channel, I did, don't make fun of me, but I play pickle ball and paddle. I grew up like playing tennis, whatever. We don't need to get into the the nitty-gritty of me justifying why I'm not a loser playing pickle ball. But I did two original reviews and they were like super niche bags that were like one was for pickle ball and the other one was like a pickle ball/tennis bag hybrid just to get my feet wet. But my first like official bag review was the Max CDC. It had like just come out and fast forward to today. It remains one of my favorite bags, one that I use a ton. This is one that really didn't have a ton of competition like making it on the list just because it serves a specific use case so well unlike any other bag that I have that there's no way I'm getting rid of it. While in my day-to-day life, I don't use it as much because I'm 5'8 and it's a 26 L bag and it's it's a little bit too bulky for what I typically carry on a day-to-day basis. But when I travel, like the last five trips easily that I've done with my wife and the kids, we typically take two rollers, two backpacks, and one of the two backpacks is always like, oof, which one am I going to take? And then the second bag is just like, we're taking the Max EDC. And the reason for it is just this front stash pocket. Man, the Daily Plus has one, but it's not as expandable or as versatile as this one for bulkier things, whether it's like shoes, layers, like stuff for the kids. It's fantastic. and just being at destination and having a bulkier option, especially me being someone that's like pretty active. I'm typically like doing stuff and I travel for the most part to places when the weather is cooler. So, I'm carrying layers for myself and the kids. This bag is just fantastic for that. And not to mention the the materials like the the liner fabric and the stretch mesh that Able Carry uses is my second favorite. We'll talk about my first favorite here in a moment. And I know a lot of people have hesitations about the Xpack, specifically the VX21. I don't know what you want me to tell you. I know it happens. Me personally, I have not had any issues and I have it on both the Daily Plus and on this guy. But we'll see longterm. Longterm, despite the fact that this bag is a little bit on the heavy side relative to the volume, it's so comfortable that I really don't care about it. Has a really unique look to it. And the fact that you're getting Xpack with nonPUcoated zippers is unheard of. Smooth zippers. the best executed internal water bottle pocket that I've ever seen and just like a really cool unique design language. So, love this guy as well.
Now, we get to the part of the video where things get like pretty tricky. It was not easy choosing, but I definitely feel good about my my final ranking between the two. Number two on the list is this guy, the Waterfield Designs Techfolio. It comes in two sizes. This is the standard one, which is listed as 20 L, but it makes like really good use of that 20 L as well. So, I've taken a lot of stuff in here, and I feel like I don't need a liter more for most of my use cases. I think if you've seen some of my other videos, like you might know, but if you don't know, like I am a wax canvas fanatic. It's my favorite shell fabric on Earth. This was one of the reasons why I was so conflicted having this one be in second place rather than first. I think visually and the joy it sparks when I just look at this bag when I have it on when I'm interacting with it. So much of it comes from the look, which you're either going to love or hate. The materials, right? This heavyduty like 14 oz martexen wax canvas. This full grain leather panel. I love that. As you can see, like it already has become so much me. There's this like Benjamin Button effect that happens with wax canvas and leather that unlike a exp backpack, right? Where the longer you have it, you start thinking like, "O maybe I'm getting to the point where I might consider getting something new." Here, it's the opposite. The longer you have it, the harder it is to even remotely fathom letting go of it because of that amazing patina that develops. Every scratch, every mark is just a sign of the experiences that you've had with it and it just gives it so much character. The other thing that's so unique about Water Fuel Designs in general, and this backpack is a really pure expression of that, is that you get a product that on the outside, for the most part, looks and feels heritage. The Pewcoated zippers, which don't feel like any other Pewcoated zippers I've experienced before. I don't know how to explain it. Gary Waterfield's been making bags for 20 plus years. He knows what he's doing. They're made out of his shop in San Francisco. And for the price point, this is a $400 bag, which I know for a lot of people is just a lot of money understandably for a backpack. But if you're interested in a bag that is made with wax canvas, high quality full grain leather, made in the US, and then that comes with a feature set and all of the modern creature comforts as this bag does, I think it's an insane value relative to what else is on the market today. But on the inside, you just get a lot of like maybe too much, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of pockets at first, but the material that it uses is so unique. It's so lightweight also that I feel like if a pocket is not used, it doesn't feel wasted. But this is the whole admin panel section, right? So, you get that like full access like you do in the City Pack 2. Their liner fabric not only is like beautiful, but even though it's a synthetic material, it feels kind of like a cotton, which just has a more timeless look and feel to it. And yeah, it's it's a bag that is unlike a lot of heritage bags where you have raw wax canvas or leather on your back with minimally padded straps. You get a bag that is comfortable. It's not lightweight, but I think it's also not excessively heavy for what it is. and you get just really good usable volume relative to the overall footprint. My only like main nitpick with this bag and it's nothing crazy, but it's just the fact that the laptop compartment kind of it's not that it requires it, but it gives you a lot of expanded volume here to cater to a variety of different laptops. But I think now that we've kind of like streamlined and yes, not everyone has a thinner laptop, but if you have a $400 backpack, chances are you don't have like a freaking break of a laptop that you've had for, you know, like 15 years. Just like having this Velcro strip and even though you don't need to use it, I feel like the amount of loose volume, the laptop starts caving inward. So, you do kind of have to use it. And it's fine. It's just like one little friction area that I would rather not have to deal with it. But all in all, a fantastic bag. And not to mention, of course, if you're going to be number two on the list, insanely smooth zipping experience. The PUcoated zippers was something that candidly was also a nitpick when I initially reviewed it, but now that I've had my hands on more Waterfield Designs products, not only does it add to like the overall cohesive design language, that subtle blend of modern and heritage, but the way they're stitched, I I feel like he says to just keep them lubricated, you know, like once a year or whatever, and they should be good. But compared to other bags, I really haven't I've tried to find people complaining about these pew coated zippers delaminating, but I haven't found anything. I'm sure it's happened, but anyways.
Okay. And then last on the list, I feel like at this point, if you've seen any of my other videos, chances are this is not going to be a huge surprise, but it is the legendary Pioneer Carry Panda Pack. When I got the bag and I did my first dedicated review on it, really the only one I've done, I featured it, I think maybe like once or twice in other videos before, I remember typing out the title for the YouTube video, my new favorite EDC backpack, something along those lines, and just thinking, man, I become just like one of those YouTubers, you know, chances are I'm going to get some other bag in a few weeks that's going to end up replacing it. And then it ended up being just clickbait. But this bag remains my favorite backpack. One of the things in this like journey of like reviewing backpacks that this bag has taught me, right, is to not be so hyperfixated, even though I know that's a paradox cuz my channel is called Nitpacker and that's a part of my brain that it's hard for me to control, but to not prevent little hyperfixations from you to like still fully enjoy a bag. I did a backpack buying guide recently for people that are like new to buying bags. And I talk about like must haves and nice to haves, like just features, like things that I'm thinking about as I'm evaluating bags. And the funny thing is is if you look at the list of like my musthaves and nice to haves, there are bags that aren't here in this list, right? like the Air City Pack Pro 2 Simple Commuter. Two bags that were really hard not to include on this list because I still recommend them tremendously and I think they're great bags for most people. And if you look at it just purely from a feature to feature perspective, those two bags check off more boxes than really almost every bag on this list for the most part, the Panda Pack included. But there is one part that's like really hard to convey and it is the intangible component, right? The way a bag makes you feel when you use it, when it's on your back, when it's just like hanging there just staring you at the corner of its eye looking at you and you're looking back like, "God, you make me happy, right?" And this bag and the Waterfield designs are two bags that do that in a way that despite the fact that they don't have a sternum strap, which I would like for them to. And this bag is not as comfortable, right, as the City Pack Pro 2 or even like the Able Carry Max CDC or the City Pack 2. But the collective experience, all the little details that are unique to this bag and the happiness that induces when I use it to me is something that I value more than having a perfect water bottle holder or having the perfect organization, which by the way, if you're an organization freak, like look at the simple commuter. Like you will be very happy with that bag in that sense. But yeah, what I love about the bag and Pioneer Carry as a brand are a few things. Design language-wise, I think you're going to either love it or hate it. They, to me, strike a perfect balance of being like luxurious and refined while also feeling rugged, kind of in the way that an old school Land Rover Defender or a Barber jacket makes you feel. They design and develop their own in-house materials that are specifically unique to their bags, right? So, this is an expensive bag. I think it's also like 400 bucks, which is a lot of money. I value materials a lot. Their in-house 840D mandarin ballistic nylon to me shits on on every other Cordura variation of nylon and ballistic nylon. Just feels so much more refined and just like it just feels really good. Both tough and malleable at the same time. Their liner fabric, right, is leaps and bounds more premium feeling to me, to my hands, than any other liner I've felt. If I'm not mistaken, this is their 10XD. They have a 10XD and a 3XD, which they also use in their wallets, or they use the two different ones in different variations of their wallets. And I have their wallet for that reason, even though I'm like a huge leather wallet guy, but I just really like the the material. the highest pilgrim shurn butter zipper smoothness rating has gone to this bag. And it's not because one zipper is individually smoother than like the city pack 2 one or the simple commuter one that I talked about, but just every single zipper on this bag is insane. You get like these big chunky YKK vistlon teeth. But while they're not going to offer like the waterproofing properties that a Pewcoated or like a reverse coil YKK zipper will, they're just so smooth. If you are worried about thieves because you live in a place where you're dealing with that a lot, don't get this bag. It's really easy to get into without you noticing. But if you value just delightful zipping experiences, then this bag is fantastic. And then the other thing that I absolutely love about this bag is the actual pockets. These two in particular, but also the side ones that hybrid as a water bottle holder or anything else. But they have such great independent volume. It's not competing with the volume inside. This front pocket, for example, easily fits over theear headphones like AirPod Max's. My Lumix S52, you know, like it's not huge, but it's also like a bulky camera. Fits in here really comfortably, even when the bag is packed out. Um, and then same with the top one. Super simple, right? Just a sleeve. No crazy stretch mesh organization, but everything about this bag is designed so that you can keep it as long as possible. This thing feels indestructible. the straps included, you know, like even though yes, ideally I would want them to be a little bit more comfortable for me, but that's a personal preference. I talked to Bo on his podcast and he was surprised cuz he finds this bag incredibly comfortable.
To wrap up, kind of like a funny anecdote related to the Panda Pack. So, in the microscopic chance, Ryan Hamilton, if you are watching this video, I have a question to ask you, which I'll get into in a sec. So, the context is Jerry Seinfeld. The guy is the ultimate creature of comfort. He's been rocking the same Nike shock since the early 2000s, the same jeans. Like, he's always in the same outfit, the same scarf. A few months ago, I was on YouTube late at night and I was watching GQ does this like top 10 essentials I can't live without where they host celebrities and they talk about 10 different things that they use in their daily life and why each one has like such a strong meaning for them. And you know, he's talking about the shoes and the scarf and all these things that have gone unchanged over the years. And his backpack is this 15-year-old Patagonia backpack, right? And how much he loves this thing, etc. And so, fast forward to recently, Alex from Out the Lights, who knows how much I love the Panda Pack, he's also a huge Pioneer Carry guy, his favorite bag is the Duration Pack. He sends me a post. It's Jerry Seinfeld on his Instagram posting a selfie with a mirror behind him, him rocking his new Pioneer Carry Panda pack, right? And calling out Ryan Hamilton, the guy who I'm asking about right now on the video, like just thanking him for like showing him the way. So anyways, I was like, "Oh my god, that's like it's pretty amazing, right?" Cuz a Pioneer carries a fairly niche brand, not one that you're going to just casually stumble into. But also the fact that I'm like this is a guy who hates change and he finally like took a leap and went for the Pioneer Carry Panda Pack in Forest Green by the way. And so I didn't think anything of the guy he called out. But recently this guy Ryan Hamilton comments on one of my videos and I just replied thinking just like a random subscriber but the name for whatever reason like I connected the dots and then I quickly Googled him and I was like holy he's a stand-up comedian. We had seen his standup on Netflix. incredibly funny dude and I did a little research and it looks like he's the opener for Jerry Seinfeld. So, they're like constantly like traveling together, etc. So, anyways, in the minuscule chance that I had even the tiniest possible influence on Jerry Seinfeld or yourself getting the Panda Pack, let me know. That would make me super happy. Uh, and if not, I'm just going to like go to sleep. Assuming that you and Jerry were like sitting in a hotel room together before a show and you're like, "Hey, check out this backpack." Uh, and you threw on the review. But anyways, if any of these bags are in your top five, let me know which they are. If you hate any of these choices, let me know. Happy to take it. And if there's any bags that you're like, "Hey, based off of your preferences and what you're into, you should definitely check out that bag." please let me know cuz I'm really trying to lean more and more heavily into finding bags that like spark joy rather than like focusing so much on just having to check off every single feature functionality box cuz I just want to be happy and live my life. But best of luck. Cheers.