- The Chrome Summoner is a 32-liter
suitcase-style backpack
that opens up fully clamshell
and has a bunch of interesting access points going on.
Overall, this is a part of Chrome's larger Modal Collection.
It is the travel pack in the line,
so I'm excited to dive into all of the details with you.
I'm Tom, the founder of Pack Hacker,
where we use our expertise and real-world experience
to provide practical resources and honest opinions
guiding you towards smarter travels.
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Let's jump right into the Chrome Summoner,
a backpack we have been testing for the last three weeks.
Let's check it out.
(smooth hip-hop music)
Kicking it off with the materials of this bag,
the main fabric is a 600D polyester
that is in a twill pattern.
The heathered, dimensional look detracts dirt and dust.
Plus, the twill pattern gives it
an interesting and textured feel.
At the time of this review,
the Chrome Summoner comes in one color, black,
which actually looks a little bit more like a gray
because of that twill pattern
and the blended fabric that's going on here.
Overall, we think the aesthetic of this bag looks slick,
and it's nice to see Chrome going in more
of a professional direction with the Modal Collection.
The Summoner is no exception.
A lot of the times, when you think Chrome,
you think durable, great bags
for messengers and their bikes.
It still has a lot of that same durability,
but has a little bit more
of a professional and polished look.
There are some clean lines going on
across the design of this pack,
and at the corners,
the compression strap add a very interesting aesthetic
as well as a pretty good functionality as well.
We'll get into that in a second.
Of course, beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder.
That's why we like to get a lot of people's opinions
on the aesthetic of bags,
so we did a poll over on our Instagram.
Be sure to go follow us @packhacker on Instagram
if you wanna be involved in future polls.
We'd love to have you there. From a branding perspective,
Chrome has this black-on-black logo
on the front bottom right going on here.
Then they have it on the back panel as well,
and then they also have the Chrome word mark
on the right backpack strap.
And then, wrapping up the rest of the materials on this bag,
we have durable YKK zippers
With really fat heat-shrunk zipper pulls.
We have these stealth Duraflex buckles
on the compression straps
that almost have a bit of a rubbery feel to them.
Then we have 70D nylon liner on the interior
in a gray color
with a bit of a funky pattern going on for added visibility.
Kicking it off with the external components,
let's start with the harness system,
specifically, the straps.
The shoulder straps are connected on the top
to provide a comfortable ride,
and then the straps themselves
are a little bit on the thin side.
However, that foam is high-density,
so it does provide a comfortable ride.
On the front straps,
you have two attachment points for either carabiners
or Chrome's specific accessories.
They sell a phone pocket and an accessory pocket
that can attach directly to these straps.
Below that,
you have a pretty standard attached sternum strap.
The buckles here are also that rubberized material,
and we like that there's some additional elastic
going on here, too.
Just provides a more comfortable carry,
provides a little bit of flexibility
when you have the sternum strap fully tightened up.
And then the strap adjusters going on
at the bottom of these straps are an aluminum material
that provide a very easy
tightening and loosening experience.
They just glide as you're tightening and loosening,
which is really great.
We like the feel.
The back panel offers some dense foam
and a bit of a pattern here to promote airflow
and additional flexibility.
Behind the padded back panel,
there is a semi-stiff frame sheet going on here
to give the bag a little bit of structure.
Chrome offers handles on all three sides of the bag
to make things easy to grab.
You have two on the sides here
and then one on the top as well.
Just wanted to bring up a couple of key details
on the straps here as well.
On the top, the way that the strap is anchored,
it's a little bit more towards the back,
and that one is just gonna be straight on.
However, the two handles on the side
are attached in a bit of an angular way.
That keeps the bag a little bit more structured
and it keeps the load more central
as you're hanging onto these things.
Some of the times when you hold onto a handle
that is anchored on the front or the back,
you get some weird center of gravity going on.
But since there's that little bit of an angle here,
it holds and carrys flat,
which is a nice touch.
The last feature on this bag are the compression straps
on all four corners of the bag.
These use that really nice rubbery Duraflex buckle.
It feels satisfying in your hand.
First of all, the Duraflex buckles here are large,
which give it a bit of a chunkier feel.
Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing,
but with that, they are a little bit cumbersome and bulky.
Plus, the strap management on these things
doesn't really make sense.
As you tighten up these compression straps more,
you're just left with a bunch of extra fabric.
There's a clip on the end that you can fasten,
but it can come undone easily as well.
Sure, it's a dangle-free experience,
but the straps are still everywhere.
And lastly, there is no option to attach a hip belt,
which, at a bag of this size,
we don't necessarily think that it needs one,
and then there are no water bottle pockets on the sides.
That is kinda foregone by the handles,
although there are bags that do a great job
at putting handles and water bottle pockets at the side
with some very clever designs.
We think that decision was mainly likely made
just to keep the profile of the bag a little bit lower
and to keep the exterior a little bit more clean.
Kicking it off with the quick access pockets on this pack,
there are a total of three.
Starting with the quick grab pocket on the wearer's back.
This is great for things like passports
or anything that you just wanna keep
a little bit more secure.
Now, a Plus size iPhone
is gonna have a bit of trouble fitting in here,
but that is about the size of the pocket.
It's very secure,
considering it's against the wearer's back,
harder for somebody to just quickly open this
and grab things out of it.
The next is a top drop pocket
that features some very soft liner.
Now, this is really great for things
that are a little bit more delicate, like sunglasses.
Lastly, there is a small pocket on the front of the bag
that has a zipper garage
for additional weather resistance as well.
And now for access to the main compartment,
it opens up clamshell-style.
You can get away with just unbuckling
two of the compression straps.
When opening clamshell-style,
the bag is split into two distinct sides.
Each zippered side is compartmentalized,
and although it makes sense intuitively
just to open up this main clamshell zip
and stuff things inside,
it doesn't really work out that way.
There's just not a ton of space left
when both of the sides are completely closed.
If you do wanna open those up
to create a giant bucket-style carry,
there's no place to store the extra flap,
so it ends up just being a little bit cumbersome.
Access to this main clamshell-style opening
is best done by setting the bag down,
opening it up,
and then you can access each side.
If you want an example of a pack that does this really well,
check out the Peak Design Travel Backpack.
You can roll up the excess fabric
and tuck it into a small pocket.
On the right zippered panel,
we have one minor pocket that goes down
the entirety of the panel,
and then we have one mesh pocket in front of that
about half of the size.
These pockets are nice to have for socks and underwear,
but since it's this divider flap,
it's best not to put anything
too thick or heavy inside.
Opening up that divider,
you are basically greeted with a giant bucket,
and when you open that up,
there is a zipper on the backside.
That is the zipper that is accessible
via the front of the pack.
Based on the positioning of the zipper
and the way that the excess fabric comes up,
overall, we've found that you can fit
a little bit less than you'd expect inside of this pocket,
but it is nice that you are able to access it
from the front of the bag.
This is great for a jacket,
a lighter compressible jacket,
or some packing cubes filled up with clothing.
Back to the left side of this backpack,
the mesh compartment opens right up.
The back features an organizational panel.
A laptop can go in the back,
a tablet or Kindle in front of that.
Then you have three additional organization pockets
for pens, pencils, styluses, or a wallet or small notebook.
Now, one thing with the laptop compartment here
is that fitting a 15-inch MacBook Pro
is even a bit of a stretch.
The Velcro strap is hard to fasten down,
and forget putting an extra case on the laptop itself.
A case isn't really a necessity here
considering that the laptop compartment
is pretty much floating in the back,
so the end of the pocket ends
a little bit higher than the end of the bag,
which protects it from unexpected drops
no matter which side you drop this bag on.
Also, access to this organization panel area
is a little bit cumbersome.
And sure, there is a zippered pocket
that is at the top and towards the wearer's back
you can open up and get access to this panel to,
but if this compartment is filled up
with a lot of other stuff,
it's hard to fish out your pens, your pencils,
any of that stuff that's in the organization pocket,
including the laptop.
Plus, the compression straps obstruct access a little bit.
This all seems like a little bit of a design oversight.
It seems like this panel would've been better
in its own dedicated space,
and maybe having that laptop compartment
completely separately
would've kept this main compartment
more open and more usable.
And wrapping up with this main compartment,
we've got a floating stash pocket on the side
which is pretty much the most secure pocket
inside of the bag,
so if you have any extra cash, any valuables,
that is gonna be good to place here.
In testing, the Chrome Summoner provides a comfy look
and a slick wearing experience.
The access is a great concept,
but in practice, it kind of falls flat.
Even though there's separate zippered access
at the front of the pack
and towards the wearer's back
for the admin and laptop panel,
oftentimes, we found ourselves completely opening the bag
just to get clear access as to what's going on inside,
especially if that back compartment
is filled with a bunch of stuff.
Intuitively, we wanted to use the main zippered compartment
as a giant bucket-style carry,
but it's not really versatile in this sense
because having those two separate panels
completely zipped closed ends up being better.
There's just a bunch of extra fabric flapping around.
So, as a travel backpack,
it's really great to hold everything,
and the divider pockets are a big benefit,
but if you wanna get to your destination,
drop your packing cubes off,
and use this as a daily driver,
it is not quite as good in practice
because of those compression straps dangle
and you have that extra fabric going on,
and then the access is just a little bit cumbersome.
From a durability perspective,
there are a couple of minor and small
frayed fabrics going on,
but other than that, everything is holding up well
and we have confidence in Chrome's quality.
We assume that this will just continue to hold up well
as we test it for longer.
We don't have very many durability concerns here.
So, to wrap this thing up with some pros and cons,
the floating laptop compartment
is great for extra protection.
The harness system provides a comfortable ride.
There is some interesting and unique
design thinking going on,
all inspired by origami.
On to some of the cons.
Some of the access falls flat,
especially the back organization panel
and the main compartment.
The compression straps are unorganized,
especially when tightened up.
And lastly, the main clamshell zipper
isn't really a compartment.
It's more of just a zipper to divide the two sides
and open things up suitcase-style.
The Chrome Summoner backpack is comfortable,
well-made, and it looks slick.
We like the unique thinking that went into the design,
although the access falls a little flat
when considering the laptop and organization area.
If you're looking for a travel bag
to get you from point A to point B,
this is a solid pick.
If you want to use this as a smaller day pack
with the compression straps when you reach your destination,
this doesn't work nearly as well.
There you have it,
our review of the Chrome Summoner.
Be sure to let us know down in the comments what you think,
as we love to hear from you.
Thanks for keeping it here at Pack Hacker,
your guide to smarter travel.
We'll see you in the next video.