- In this video, we are going to take a detailed look
at all of the Peak Design Packing Tools
that come along with the Peak Design Travel Backpack,
and the greater ecosystem that goes on with that pack.
We had a bit of a poll going on
with the full review of the Peak Design Travel Backpack
on whether or not folks would want a breakdown
of all the Packing Tools.
That got a lot of thumbs up and a lot of requests,
so we're excited to bring that video to you.
I'm Tom, the founder of Pack Hacker,
and we love helping people optimize their travel experience
with guides and reviews just like this one.
So if you're new to the channel, consider subscribing.
Let's jump right in, 'cause there is a ton to cover.
[upbeat music playing]
Before we dive into every single component,
I want to take a little bit of time
to talk about the overall system
that Peak Design has designed here.
First of all, there is a numerical system going on here,
and Peak Design calls this Packing Units.
The vertical space of the Travel Backpack
fits about three Packing Units tall.
So to break this down -
small basically means one Packing Unit,
medium means two Packing Units,
and large means three Packing Units.
Right now, the large Camera Cube is the only one
that takes up all three of these spaces
and basically turns your Travel Backpack
into a full camera backpack.
We're going to get into those details in a second.
There's also plenty of room outside
of the main liter compartment in the front compartment
of the Peak Design Travel Backpack.
Especially if you use that expandability feature,
you can fit a lot more inside.
The Tech and the Wash Pouch can get a little bit tighter
in that front compartment - however,
just remember that that partition
is also completely removable and stowable
as well. So you can just unzip that,
turn your bag into one giant compartment
if you want to stack a lot of these things
on top of one another.
When I personally tested the Travel Backpack
I was able to fit one medium-sized
Packing Cube towards the bottom,
the small Packing Cube that wasn't quite full -
I kind of shoved that into the side -
and then both the Wash Pouch
and the Tech Pouch quite nicely.
In addition to that, a small JOBY tripod as well.
Everything was in the main compartment
and I had extra space in that secondary compartment
for additional organization.
All right, let's kick it right off with the Tech Pouch.
This thing does a great job overall
at keeping all your tech gear organized,
ton of pockets and compartmentalization going on
inside of this thing - excited to jump into it.
First of all, this is available in two different colors -
Black with Hypalon accents
and Sage with Nubuck leather accents.
Folks that are vegan may want to opt for the black
since it uses no animal products.
There is one weather-resistant #8 Zoom zipper
that is the main access of this thing,
and that just unzips and opens right up.
One thing that we wish it had was two different zipper pulls
on the singular zipper coil so you could partially
open this thing like from the middle or something like that
and just get quicker access to it.
Instead, if you want to open this up - start at the bottom,
go all the way open, and there you go.
Now it's opened right up.
Also, it's 200D nylon canvas, polyurethane coated,
and DWR coated on each side.
So definitely a lot of weather resistance consideration
going on with this little pouch.
When you open this thing up, you are greeted with a ton
of different pockets and compartments
in Peak Design's classic origami style.
When packing this thing, you kind of want to make sure
that you have items of similar widths
on each side going on here
so that it closes nice and easily.
If you have items that are too thick on this side
for instance, it's going to be a little bit harder to close.
So just get that system right for you
and organize all your gear inside of it as you see fit.
The middle area here offers some ample space,
and then a zippered compartment
that's good for holding three SD cards,
as well as other smaller items.
And then we've got a bunch of different partitions
towards the middle to help organize your items.
Then on each side of those, we have a larger compartment
that fits a Kindle Voyage pretty much perfectly.
On each of the outsides we have three additional
stretchy pockets as well, for additional organization -
ton of options for organization here.
Right above those we have these elastic loops
that can be used for pens, tighter-wound cords,
pencils, stylus - we even have some mini chopsticks
going on here that I personally love to travel with.
Plus there are some exterior handles
that make for a good, quick grab.
However, I usually just palm this thing
and grab it not using the handles.
There's an exterior zippered pocket
that fits an iPhone 8 Plus along with a case pretty snugly,
and there's a pass-through port for a charging cable
as well. So if you have a USB cable,
you have a battery bank inside -
you can kind of pass that through, keep it organized,
and keep your phone right there and easy to access.
And the last thing that makes this little pouch so great
are the Anchor attachment points
that are available on the outside.
You can attach any of Peak Design's
additional accessories here - including a strap,
so you can wear this thing as a little messenger,
which is great.
When in use it's a little bit bulkier
than other slings we've tested -
say the Aer Day Sling or the Heimplanet Transit Line Sling.
However, it works in a pinch and it also pulls double duty
as a cube inside of your larger bag,
so we will take that versatility any day.
When actually using this pouch,
the organization options are some of the best out there.
It's really smartly thought through and great overall.
One thing to note here is the size
and the rigidity of this thing.
So it doesn't really compress down that much
due to the thicker fabric on the outside -
it kind of keeps its shape. So if you have a lot of tech gear
to carry and you can really fill this thing out,
it's going to be a great option for you.
However, if you're going to have this only about half-full,
it is not the ideal pouch for you.
Next up - the Wash Pouch.
All the materials here are the same
that we see with the Tech Pouch.
However there's an aluminum hook on the back here
that can be used in the bathroom to hang this thing up
on like a towel rack or something like that.
And then also there is a siliconized mesh
going on on the inside that's going to help
compartmentalize it. So let's check it out.
On the exterior we've got a bit of a larger handle
going on on the outside here.
I found this a little bit easier to grab.
On the Tech Pouch they're a little bit thinner,
kind of hard to fit your hands in there.
However with this one, the Wash Pouch,
the handle's a lot bigger and easier to grab.
Near the edge of the zipper there are nylon loops
as well, that you can kind of grab onto
as you're unzipping this thing.
Before we get into the main compartment,
let's talk about this little side pocket right here.
I've personally been storing my toothbrush and toothpaste
inside of here, however this is intended for a razor.
Your mileage may vary.
I'm using a Quip, which is a little bit longer,
so I kind of just like to put it on the outside here.
Plus I brush my teeth a lot - so it's just right there
and I have access to it any time.
For a quick pro tip - try to find toothpaste
as close to three ounces as possible.
Those little travel-size ones that you can travel with
are often a little bit too small.
You're better off just buying a bigger one.
It's a better value and you'll just have
more toothpaste with you.
Also, if you have a larger tube
you can pick up like a little Nalgene container,
or a GoToob, and just toss extra toothpaste in there.
Great way to store it so you don't have
to continuously buy a bunch of those little,
tiny tubes that don't last very long,
especially if you're on a longer trip.
All right, opposite that zippered compartment
there is that little area for the aluminum hook
so you can easily pull that out.
It's hideable, which is pretty great -
then you can just hang it up
when you are using this in the bathroom.
It's great to have this as an option, however,
I found it a little bit precarious in actual usage.
So when it's hanging up, I have had things
fall out of here before.
It's definitely tight.
Starting in the middle - there is a magnetized compartment.
Again, this is intended for a toothbrush.
However, I found it great to fit smaller items
inside of here that you don't want just floating around
in the main areas of this little pouch.
Also, the lining easily flips out
for quick and easy cleaning, which is a nice little touch.
Again, Peak Design is just thinking through
all of these things, which I really appreciate.
With that middle divider, one side has two
siliconized mesh pockets, and the other has
a zippered pocket with an additional two
siliconized mesh pockets inside.
Moving on to each side, there is ample space going on.
So on one side we're able to fit four
TSA-approved 3.4 ounce GoToobs.
The opposite side is similar, however,
on this side we have three siliconized mesh pockets.
In actual usage, all the organization
is pleasing to use and very slick.
My advice here is pretty much the same.
If you have a lot of toiletries
and you're going to fill this thing up,
definitely go ahead and grab it
as it's going to be some of the best organization
that's available out there.
If you generally carry less stuff
or want to opt for something a little bit more flexible
and malleable in your pack, you can definitely
get away with a smaller pouch.
Sometimes I pare down my toiletries
and they can fit into a smaller DAKA Pouch,
and that works perfectly for me.
Plus the material they're made out of
works well with water in the bathroom, as well.
Not going to get soaked, kind of easily
water just runs right off of it,
so your mileage may vary.
I definitely like to kind of minimize my toiletries
as much as possible, like I'm weird like that.
I just like doing that kind of stuff -
which is why I have this YouTube channel.
But you can definitely, if you can get away with smaller,
it is good. But if you have a lot to carry,
this offers some really slick and amazing organization,
some of the best that I've seen to date.
Moving on to the Packing Cubes.
There are a lot of things going on here
that we haven't seen in a lot of other cubes on the market.
The main fabric on the outside
is a 70D nylon and polyester blend.
There are actually YKK zippers on this thing
and not Zoom zippers.
I'm not sure why that decision has been made.
If you know why, please let us know in the comments.
Or maybe Peak Design can come over here and let us know.
And then there are Hypalon pull tabs on these zippers
and the quick-tear area that I'm going to show you in a second.
A little refresher on the sizing -
this goes along with their Packing Unit system.
So this medium size here takes up two Units,
and the smaller size takes up one Unit.
And depending how full you have these things,
you can kind of stack them on top of each other as well.
So you could probably fit, you know,
two mediums on the inside
if it's packed a little bit slimmer like this.
They also expand. And then kind of like use them
in sort of a tiered system inside of your bag
if you just want to carry a ton
of clothes for whatever reason.
One rad and innovative thing going on with these cubes
is the way that you can access them.
There are two Hypalon pull tabs here
you can just boom! Rip it open.
There you go - you have quick access to all your stuff
and it's really satisfying to do that.
Opposite of that big clamshell opening
is a separate compartment here
to hold your dirty clothes. So when your clothes get dirty,
stuff 'em in the backside and that's great - totally works.
These cubes are also compressible.
In actual usage this is really useful,
'cause you can fill this thing up
and then compress your clothing down quite easily.
On a couple occasions I have had the stretchy mesh part
get caught on the compression zipper.
So you can unzip and zip this thing up really fast.
The main compartment however, the compression feature,
you have to be a little bit more delicate with.
Not really that big of a deal,
just something to note to make sure
that it doesn't get caught
and kind of eat away at that mesh.
Another nice little touch is the small piece
of nylon webbing you can grab onto
as you're zipping the compression portion of the cube.
There are small grab handles on the outside of this thing,
which is always a nice touch.
From a sizing perspective, this can totally work.
However I love on other packing cube lines -
especially like Eagle Creek's Specter Cubes,
which are very similar to these
'cause they are lightweight -
they offer a bunch of different sizes.
So one that's about half of this size,
one that's maybe like a third of this size,
and you get a bunch of different sizes
that you can kind of play with,
so just something to note there.
These will work in any types of luggage.
They're just kind of optimized for the
Peak Design Travel Line Backpack.
Of course you can use other cubes
inside of the Peak Design Travel Line Backpack,
as well.
There's a ton more information on packing cubes
on our website as well, so be sure to go check that out.
[upbeat music playing]
All right, these Camera Cubes come in three different sizes -
there is a small, medium and a large.
And again, this corresponds to the Packing Units
that you can fit inside of the Peak Design Travel Backpack.
However, we're just going to be taking a look
at this small one.
This is the one we've been using the most.
The other ones kind of follow suit,
and I'll go over a couple of unique features
that the medium and the large have, as well.
The materials used here are pretty much the same
as the Wash Pouch and the Tech Pouch.
You have that rigid, more padded material going on here
as well, which is great to protect camera gear.
Also, just to note, the main zippers here
are YKK #8 zippers.
Starting with the exterior - there are two grab handles
on the sides here, and each one of them have eyelets
and you can attach the Anchor System to that as well.
So if you want to wear this thing like a little messenger,
a little kind of sling, you could also wear that.
Nice to store your camera gear in here.
Again, integrated with the pack.
Pull it out when you get to your destination,
then boom, you've got a little tiny day pack
that you can kind of keep with you.
Usage in sling mode is a little bit bulky,
however it is a win in our book
due to the versatility available to you.
Also, there are these nylon loops
that can be used to integrate the Camera Cube directly
with the Peak Design Travel Backpack via these C-clips.
This is an excellent little detail.
Plus you can fold this opening all the way over,
so when you have it attached within the Travel Backpack,
it's easy enough to access your gear
from the side access pocket.
Lastly, there are small little loops
on the corners of each of these areas as well.
Inside we've got our two main shooters here.
So one is the a6500, which you're seeing right now.
That's what we use to shoot all of our video.
Additionally we have a Canon G7X
that we use for quick little B roll shots,
run and gun footage, as well as some photography outside.
The smaller cube comes with a total
of three adjustable inserts.
The first two are Peak Design's signature style
origami shelves that you can use
to divide this as you see fit.
The third is a small mesh pouch
that either Velcros to one of the shelves
or the side of the Camera Cube itself.
The versatility of this system is great
and you can really customize everything to your liking.
The medium and large sizes offer very similar
organization on the interior.
There are two additional dividers -
a small and a large divider that can be used
in the medium and larger sizes.
If you get a medium or a large, you can do a bunch
of different combinations to try to get your gear to fit.
One tip is that you want to put your gear in one at a time -
kind of put one of those dividers flush against your gear,
and then you can kind of start to form it around your gear.
Before you start organizing, just make sure you know
where the access points are on the cube -
whether it's the top, whether it's the side access -
depends on how you want to use it.
But there's no use in Velcroing everything in
before you decide how you want to be able to access your gear.
The size you choose will basically depend
on how much camera gear that you want to take with you.
Just note again that that larger size
will basically take up the entirety of your bag,
pretty much turning it into exclusively a camera bag,
with just a little bit of room
at the top for additional items.
With that medium cube, you can load that up
with all your camera gear. And if you are a minimalist,
maybe you can have one or two
of these smaller Packing Cubes -
then you've got all of your clothing in there, as well.
So again, love the versatility here,
love that you can load this thing out as you see fit.
Next up, we're going to move right on to the Rainfly.
The outside is primarily a 70D siliconized ripstop nylon.
Then at the bottom we have a 200D siliconized nylon,
which is going to be a little bit more robust
as you're setting your pack down.
There are Hypalon attachment points,
as well as a #5 YKK zipper
to hold this thing in its own pouch.
Peak Design claims this is waterproof,
however, we'd rather say that it's highly weather resistant.
When you put this thing on,
you can't toss it into a pool or a river.
Definitely water is going to get inside of there
if you fully submerge this thing.
However, it makes your pack highly weather resistant.
With that being said, the Peak Design Travel Backpack
already has a ton of weather proofness
going on in the backpack itself.
This just adds an additional layer
if you're going to be out in the rain for a long time -
just helps cover any of those access points
where these zippers are, as well.
When this thing is not in use,
it seamlessly integrates with your pack, which is great.
This is really smart positioning.
Just take those Hypalon loops, strap it to the bag,
and then you can just fold it up and stow it
in that magnetic pocket when not in use.
When it comes time to use it and deploy it,
just pull it out of that magnetic pocket,
keep it attached, unzip, unstuff it, and then boom!
really quickly you have a Rainfly
over the entirety of your backpack.
So again, a lot of smart thinking going on.
Wanted to bring up the Rainfly
because of that smart thinking,
just love what's going on here.
Lastly we're going to be taking a look
at the self-compressing Shoe Pouch.
For the main opening there is a weather-resistant
#5 Zoom zipper going on.
They're using the same material here
that they're using on the Packing Cube.
However one interesting thing to note here
is that it's just one piece of fabric
wrapped around with a zipper attached to it,
which is pretty cool.
You could say that it's seamless.
Do you get it? Because seamless ... there's no seams?
This thing can fit about two pairs of shoes
and easily compress into itself
when it's not holding anything for stowing away in your bag.
There are two nylon loops on each side of this thing
as well, which they recommend connecting the Anchor System
to if you'd like or attaching it to other items.
You know if you want like a little small duffel bag -
maybe it's just a nice little size for the gym.
Or if you just really love carrying your shoes around
for some weird reason - like that's fine, too.
Additionally, at the top you can use those C-clips
that we looked at with the Camera Cubes
to integrate this with the pack, as well.
So again, these will fit two pairs of shoes really well,
I just have one pair in here right now.
There's lot of excess fabric going on.
Would be nice if there was a way to kind of compress it down
and get rid of some of that excess fabric. However,
again we're not designers, we just use this thing.
Definitely would love a little bit less excess fabric,
think it could improve it even more.
Overall we love the Peak Design Travel Backpack
and all of the accessories that go along with it.
Everything works really seamlessly with one another,
especially inside of the Peak Design Travel Backpack.
If you don't have that bag, that's really no problem.
A lot of these items are good as standalone pieces, as well,
for usage in other pieces of luggage or bags.
Thanks for taking a look at all of
Peak Design's Packing Tools with us.
We'll see you in the next video.
[beep] Hypalon as [laughs] assents.
[beep] Compartment
that basically fits--
[beep]
Horizontal position on the other ... vertical position?
[snaps] Vertical position.