- The Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip 20L
is a photography focused bag first and can also be used
as an everyday carry bag or a minimal travel bag.
I'm Tom the founder of Pack Hacker,
your guide to smarter travel.
If you're new to the channel, consider subscribing.
We've been testing this bag for the last month
in Detroit, Michigan and Portland, Oregon
as a minimum one bag travel backpack
that we fit clothes and a bunch of camera gear into.
We'll get into all the details going on with this bag
and how we packed it later in the video as well.
And feel free to visit our website
for the full written review of this bag including photos,
as well as other reviews of the other bags
in the new Peak Design, every day, the two line,
as well as the best buying options
on where to pick these up.
Let's jump right into the video.
(upbeat music)
Kicking it off with the main material of this bag,
it is a 400D Double Poly-Coated DWR Impregnated Nylon Canvas
and that is a ton of words
but overall, we like how it feels in the hand,
and after a month of testing it is holding up
generally well without too many
aesthetic dings or blemishes.
On the 15 liter white version, we have noticed
a couple more pieces of wear and tear on that.
So be sure to check out our full review on the 15 liter
over at PackHacker.com.
And the DWR coating on here
gives it a slightly rubbery feel and helps
with weather resistance.
The black version of this bag offers subdued
black on black branding on some of the hypalon areas
on the top corner here of the front of the pack
and on the back of the pack shoulder
there's a small PD icon as well.
At the time of this review, this bag comes
in three different colors.
We have the black version here, ash, and midnight.
All the colorways are 100% bluesign approved
recycled material, except for the black version
that we have here.
Overall the bag has a bit more of a technical
and minimal look.
We decided to poll our audience
to get their thoughts on the overall aesthetic of this bag.
So feel free to go join us over on Instagram
if you'd like to be involved in future polls.
To wrap up the rest of the components,
we've got aluminum hardware in places
like the strap adjusters and sternum strap.
We have hypalon us for the zipper pulls
and small branding areas.
Keep in mind these details
will be leather on other colorways.
We have Peak Design's ultra zips on the bag
which they have partnered with Zoom Zippers to create
proprietary zipper for their bags.
Generally these zippers have been smoothed to you so far
and they feel good in the hand, but there is
some permanent crinkling that's been developing
on the corners of this zipper with prolonged use.
There are also YKK zippers
on some of the interior parts of this bag.
So Zoom Zippers on the outside,
YKK on the inside.
And lastly we have polyester, polyethylene,
and polyurethane in other areas of the pack.
(upbeat music)
First up, the harness system, generally it is pretty solid
for a bag of 20 liters in size.
Due to the structured nature
of the bag it kind of feels like a brick
when you're carrying it
at least that's how we've been describing it internally,
because it is such a stiff and structured bag,
there's not a ton of contour on the back,
although it is a little bit stiffer and does have that brick
like feel the harness system does really well for a bag
of this size and we think it's still pretty comfortable.
Starting with the straps, they are densely padded
with some stretchy mesh-like material on the back of them.
There's a black hypalon loop towards the front
of the straps, one has that PD logo,
and then some nylon webbing loop towards the bottom
of the strap.
These are good for attaching additional accessories
and right above that loop is a great place to pop
the Peak Design capture clip if you are using one.
Moving on to the sternum strap
we are not the biggest fans of it as we've covered
in other Peak Design reviews already.
Sure, it looks beautiful but we have found it slower
and more complicated to use compared to other sternum straps
on the market, especially those
that use a symbol dura flex buckle.
The side without the nylon pull tab is designed
to be a semi-permanent attachment
at least a little bit tighter than the side with.
In all the samples we've received from Peak Design,
we have found this to be a big variable
on the sternum strap so some come off quite easily,
and others in the case of this one are so tight
that it's taken us like a minute to take the thing off.
We have had a couple of other folks comment this
and drop us notes as well.
This is a bit of a catch 22,
either you seem to get a sternum strap that is too tight
and easy to adjust,
or a little bit too loose and there is more of a risk
of losing and we have lost so many sternum straps
in the times that we have been testing bags
that haven't been permanently attached,
and it's definitely a concern here as well,
with ones that are more loose.
On a positive note,
you can attach the looser side of the sternum strap
to the top hypalon loop while not in use.
Small detail I wanted to bring up to you
on the Zip compared to the ordinary everyday version,
the ordinary everyday version has magnets
on here where you can kind of crisscross the straps,
and fasten them down.
This doesn't really exist in the Zip which we think
is totally fine, but there are a ton of little details
like that, and that's what's going to dictate
that increase in price on the ordinary everyday backpack
versus the Zip version.
Moving down to the aluminum hardware, we love how easily
this adjusts, it just glides.
We really liked how Peak Design
handles the strap adjustments here,
and it kind of follows suit with the smoothness
of the sling strap adjustment that we have grown
to love in the three liter version that we've been testing
for over a month now.
The back panel has some solid foam
and a bit of texture and mesh to help with airflow
and help prevent back sweat,
even though sometimes it's unavoidable.
Behind the back panel
there is a magnetize luggage pass through.
We think the use of a magnet here is nice and clean.
Towards the bottom there is an additional pass through
for a hip belt attachment as well.
Now, do you need a hip belt for a 20 liter bag?
Generally we don't really think so,
but if you're hauling around a ton of very heavy camera gear
and lenses, you might get some benefit out of it.
The top of the harness features some nice swiveling
shoulder straps that are reinforced by a strip of hypalon.
The magic of this really comes into play with the access,
which we'll cover in a bit.
The harness system
is overall pretty good and comfortable.
We have this thing fully loaded out
with clothing and camera gear
for our three day trip to Portland.
Quick note, we mentioned this in our 15 liter review,
but I'll drop it here as well.
We've generally found the 20 liter to be more comfortable
than the 15 liter in terms of harness system and carry.
Let's move on to the water bottle stretch pockets
on the side.
The water bottle pockets on each side
of the bag are symmetrical in access angle
and positioning on the bag.
The front portion of the pocket
features the standard 400D material on the rest of the bag.
Towards the various back
we have some very stretchy mesh like material
and a more reinforced webbing at the top
that is also elastic and stretchy.
This allows the pockets to really stretch out
based on what you want to fit inside.
During the trip we had a travel tripod on the side
of the ship that was accessed less frequently
and a water bottle on the other side.
The one that we flipped up more often.
Again, generally we like the 20 liter version of the pockets
it's a little bit more than the 15 liter, since this bag
is a little bit larger, they're a little larger as well
and they stretch out and they accommodate larger items.
Lastly, keep in mind that depending on the bulkiness
of the items you put on the side, it will cut
into the bag's interior a little bit
and that can be problematic,
because there's so much organization
on the side wing flaps of the bag.
A magnet also helps these pockets lie flat well not in use.
This is also a handy place to sew the key chain
that Peak Design includes with a bag.
There are a bunch of lash loops around this bag
that can be used to attach things like a jacket, tripod,
or a sleeping roll to the bag.
We've used one of these
on the side pocket to further secure our tripod
and the bag comes with two.
There are three grab handles
on the outside of this bag, one is at the top,
and two are on the sides.
Just remember that depending
on what you put in the side pockets,
it could obstruct access to the handles as well.
So we have the tripod in there,
we could really use that side handle.
And lastly the fabric on the bottom of the bag
seems to be a little bit different,
a little more reinforced compared to the rest
of the material in the bag.
(upbeat music)
Kicking it off with the inside of the pack starting
with the laptop compartment, it opens up
in a small horseshoe fashion.
At the very back
there is a laptop sleeve with a false bottom.
We liked that it's adjustable
for 13 inch and 15 inch laptops
and it's a little bit complicated to set up at first.
There's a lot of Velcro going on,
but once you set it up, it's totally fine.
One note here, if the bag is completely full
and jam packed as we had it our trip, it can be
a little bit hard to slide the laptop
in and out of this pocket.
Also since laptops are more rectangular and the bag
is curved, we found the corners can get caught
as you're quickly trying to pull the laptop out
on the gusseted fabric on the interior around these curves.
This was more pronounced on the 15 liter version,
using a 13 inch MacBook Air than it was
on the 20 liter version, using a 15 inch MacBook Pro.
Not really a deal breaker just something worth mentioning.
Next we found it hard to fit a laptop with a case on it
inside of this bag.
We generally think that's okay
because the bag itself is quite padded,
and there is a false bottom as well
that can help protect the laptop from unexpected drops.
In front of the laptop sleeve there is a document
or a tablet sleeve that is enclosed by a magnet at the top.
In front of that there is a big stretchy mesh drop pocket
with two divider pockets inside as well.
Generally we like the way this pocket is designed
but it's not leader independent meaning that anything
in the main compartment of the bag, if that's fully stuffed,
will eat into the stretchy mesh part
and make this drop pocket, a little bit harder to access.
This zipper and all zippers on the bag are able
to be attached to lash points in the handles to add a bit
of a theft deterant to the bag,
and keep it a little bit more secure.
We found the faceting the two main opening zippers
and threading through the laptop zipper and handle
tend to secure the bag pretty well.
Remember, bag features like this, and adding locks
to bags are simply a deterrent.
At the end of the day,
a theif can still grab your entire bag,
run away with it, cut it open, and get access
to anything they want inside.
This will just help
prevent somebody from quickly unzipping your bag,
and grabbing something inside.
There's a single zipper coil
that curves around the entirety of the front
of the bag with four separate zipper pulls.
This is really where the bag gets its name from.
Our favorite positioning for the zippers
is two at the top for access to the main compartment
and leaving the other two at each bottom side of the bag
for quick side access.
The bag was never really designed
to be open fully, and if you do open it fully
without attaching the flexible dividers,
it kind of just looks like a baby changing mat.
Where you open the zippers and how far you open them
definitely depends on the gear that you want to organize
and where you place the flexible dividers
on the inside of the bag.
Generally we liked us but it has made us
slightly wary at times.
For example, if you swing the bag around and pull
the side zipper flap open quickly,
there's a chance the zip could open a little further
towards the top of the bag than expected.
Something like the Boundary Supply Errant
has a button piece of webbing
that can be used as a zipper stop on the side
despite the zipper going full length.
It could be interesting to see that concept
and action here, it's really not a deal breaker at all
it's just something that we've been noticing
as we've been testing the bag.
We feel a little bit more secure with the 30 liter
that has a defined stop point for the zipper.
All in all, this is a great bag to quickly swing around
from your back, open up and get access to everything inside.
It does take some getting used to
but once you get your system down,
it is a breeze any joy to use.
As far as how we typically organized the bag
we have space at the top for everyday items
by creating a shelf with the flexible dividers.
This gives us some nice open space at the top
we've had a medium sized Peak Design packing cube
full of clothing in here, he toiletry kit
and a tech pouch.
On the top pocket this pocket
there's also a small zipper pocket
with that stretchy mesh material that is good
for holding things that you want to keep more secure,
like a passport.
In the middle we have customized
and tailored the flexible dividers
to hold the two cameras that we've been traveling with,
the 86500 with a 10 to 18 millimeter lens
and the Sony A73 with a 28 to 70 millimeter lens.
We didn't like the camera at the very bottom of the bag
so we chose to suspend it a little bit inside of the pack.
Lastly we left additional items on the bottom
that we wanted quick access to like small lights
for the camera and additional batteries
for quick access while use.
Onto the wing pockets.
This is the top left area of the zip
when you're accessing it from the side,
there are two magnetic pockets at the top,
the left side of the pocket has black stitching
and the right has gray stitching
This can help create a mental model of charged
and dead batteries for the zipper pockets below
that have two divider pockets in them
that can easily hold batteries.
The two magnetic pockets can also be accessed
from the top of the bag,
where we kept the packing cube tech couch and dob kit.
We generally like the side pockets here.
However, some people in our community have brought up
some interesting points with version one
of the everyday backpack.
On version one of the bag
there is a complete zipper closure on each flap.
People like this for two reasons.
One is that if heavier items get jostled around the bag.
They just fall to the bottom of that zipper compartment
versus just falling out of the pocket
into the main capacity of the bag.
Some people also took advantage of that zippered side area
to fit in larger items
like a big HDMI cable
that wouldn't otherwise fit inside of these smaller pockets.
(upbeat music)
As mentioned earlier, we have been testing this bag
for one month in Detroit, Michigan and Portland, Oregon.
Nathan brought this bag as his single
one bag travel backpack for that three day trip to Portland.
He had it fully packed out with travel gear, two cameras,
lights and a tripod.
Generally the bag is best used if you don't fully jam it out
as much as we did.
Since the bag's laptop pocket and compartment was eaten into
by how stuffed the main capacity of the bag was,
plus the water bottle pockets on the side are easier
to use if you don't fully jam everything out inside.
Generally we have found that all the features
and the design feels a lot more cohesive
in the 20 liter version,
than it does in the 15 liter version of this bag.
Also this bag is a pared down version of the ordinary 30
and 20 liter everyday bags with a couple less features,
but also has its own innovative thinking going on as well.
One last thing to mention here is
that the flexible camera dividers
are getting chewed up quite quickly.
There's a lot of loose threads on the edges
and there's a permanent dent from where we had our camera
for the Portland trip that happened just over a couple days.
For the price of this bag, we expect more from Peak Design
in terms of durability.
The quality of the flexible dividers, don't really match
the rest of the bag.
And we've also had the same issue inside
the three liter sling
that we've been testing, quite a bit.
So to wrap this thing up with some pros and cons
starting with the pros
This is a versatile bag for camera gear, everyday carry,
and short trips.
There's some intuitive design
that allows great access to all areas of the bag.
Also the bag keeps its shape, even when empty
which is really nice.
On to some of the cons, the flexible dividers
are already showing wear and tear.
The laptop and quick wrap pockets are hard to access
when the bag is full.
The sternum strap is difficult to remove and adjust.
We think there are better sternum straps out there.
(upbeat music)
Overall the Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip 20L
is a solid little pack for carrying camera equipment,
everyday items, and super minimal travel gear.
It's a pared down version of the standard everyday backpack,
but it has some of its own innovations going on
and plenty of the thoughtful design features
we've come to expect from Peak Design.
Plus, it comes in at a lower price point making it
a great addition to the everyday line V2.
So there you have it, our review
of the Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip 20L.
We would love to hear what you think
of this thing in the comments below.
Thanks for keeping it here at Pack Hacker,
your guide to smarter travel, we'll see you in next video.