- The Bellroy sling is a seven liter sling
with minimal organization and a solid look.
I'm Tom, the founder of Pack Hacker,
where we use our expertise and real-world experience
to provide practical resources and honest opinions,
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We've been testing the Bellroy sling
for just over three weeks in Detroit, Michigan.
Make sure to head over to the link in the description below
to take a look at our full review
including photos and the best purchasing options as well.
Let's dive into the review.
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Overall, Bellroy has a solid look and feel across the board
and this sling is no exception.
A lot of their products rank pretty highly
over on our website as well.
At the time of this review, the Bellroy sling
comes in four colors.
The black, which we have going on here,
the ink blue, which we also have,
and then two other colors.
We have the neon cabernet,
which is one of the dopest names for a color ever,
and then mid gray.
Bellroy also has a premium version
of the sling that comes in black sand and desert color ways.
The difference is the premium versions
are made with premium, environmentally certified leather
and sustainably sourced fabrics.
We really dig the overall look and feel of these slings.
It can be hard to get that premium
look and feel with a sling,
but Bellroy has done a great job.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,
that's why we've pulled our Instagram audience
over at Pack Hacker, to get their thoughts on this sling.
Here are the results.
Make sure to go follow us if you wanna
be involved in future polls.
The main fabric on our slings is a venture weave polyester
and it feels a little bit rough to the touch,
definitely a lot of texture going on,
but we think that adds to the premium look
and feel of this sling.
From a branding perspective,
there is a very simple Bellroy logo.
You can see on this black version,
we have a black leather tab and some gray text
that is debossed for additional legibility.
And now that I'm looking at it,
the blue version, the tan logo here,
is a little bit larger than we see on the black version.
No shading on the inside.
Nothing too crazy on the branding front
and overall, we think the little leather tab
adds a nice look to the sling.
To wrap up the rest of the materials
going on with this sling,
we have leather used for the zipper pulls.
Durable, YKK zippers use throughout,
a magnetic clasp for quick buckling and unbuckling,
soft nylon straps that are comfortable to wear and use,
some kind of metal hardware
on the soft, nylon strap adjusters,
and then ITW plastic hardware for the keyring.
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The exterior of the sling is low-profile and minimal,
and we definitely love that.
Kicking it off with this nice, soft nylon sling strap,
it's pretty much all you need in a sling strap.
We love the way it's designed,
there's not a lot of dangling straps going on.
You have this nice, metal hardware
that just glides when you want to adjust it,
an then you have this buckle as well
that's easy to buckle and unbuckle quickly.
We love that brands seem to be using more magnets
to add streamline versatility to the way that they function
and we also dig that there is not a lot of excess straps
going on in this sling strap,
providing a dangle-free experience.
The back panel of this sling has a bit of paneling going on
as well as some foam for added comfort.
So if you have something a little bit more bulky
in the main compartment, that's not necessarily
going to stick into your back, there's a bit of foam buffer.
The next feature is our favorite on the exterior,
it is the self-compressing method
that goes right along with this strap.
The front of the sling has aluminum anchor points
at the sides here, that'll automatically pull against
the sling as the strap tightens
to compress the sling itself.
Fully expanded, it will hold quite a bit,
it basically turns into a chunky rectangle.
And with the auto-compression,
you can still keep a low profile on the sling
if you're wearing it with less items inside.
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Everything up until this point has been quite positive,
but once we dive into the interior of the sling,
we start to have some gripes.
Kicking it off with the main pocket that's close to you
you can definitely get some T-Rex arms going on
when you're trying to access this zipper.
When the sling is less full and close to your body,
it can start to curve around your body
and that makes it even harder to access these zippers
'cause you kinda have to curve it around as well.
Once you get the sling open,
you can see a pretty large compartment on the inside.
We like to uncompress the bag to better see what's going on.
Overall, access to this compartment
brings a decent amount of friction,
especially if you just quickly wanna just unzip it
and grab something from the interior.
There's also a keyring compartment
on the inside of the sling,
which is anchored on the front top left.
Although this uses durable ITW hardware,
the look and feel paired with the nylon attaching it,
doesn't match the premium look and feel
of the rest of this sling.
Plus, the positioning is not ideal, it's towards the back
of the largest compartment inside of this sling.
If you have bulkier items inside,
they're likely to block fast access to the keys.
In other slings, we've seen keyrings like this
placed in the font pocket for fast and easy access.
We're not entirely sure why Bellroy
didn't opt to that instead.
Opposite the keyring, there is an interior zippered pocket
with soft lining on the interior
for things like your phone or glasses.
We agree with the phone part,
but a little bit less on the glasses part.
Generally, it seems like odd positioning for your glasses,
it's at the bottom of the sling towards your back,
where fragile glasses could receive some pressure
from your body and the weight of the items in the sling.
Overall, the main pocket of the sling
has left us a little bit disappointed.
We wish there was more stand alone organization
on the inside, plus it is hard to access
while you're wearing it.
Moving on to the small front pocket of the sling,
it is definitely much easier to access.
Plus, we love the welting on this fabric,
which kind of hides the zipper.
It just adds to that premium look and feel of the sling.
We love that there's the hi-vis liner on the inside,
we have this orange color inside of the black version,
and then a lighter blue color inside
of the ink blue version.
It really turns the lights on inside of the pocket,
and allows you to see everything going on inside.
We're kinda surprised not to see the same hi-vis liner
inside of the main compartment,
since that main compartment is darker
and harder to see into.
I'm also a little bit surprised too
that the key clip is not in this area,
and again, we wish there was
just a little bit more organization,
even two liner divider pockets
would be nice to have that option.
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At the time of this review, we have been testing
the Bellroy sling for three weeks in Detroit, Michigan
and generally, we have liked the overall look and feel
of the sling, and wearing it everyday.
Access, on the other hand, is a bit of a pain.
It's hard to get inside of the main compartment,
and once you do, it's hard to sift through
all of your items without any organization on the interior.
If you're carrying keys, your phone, a wallet,
and some chapstick, even that small amount of items
can start to feel cluttered in either of these pockets.
If you're carrying larger items
like a water bottle and a camera,
and keeping those smaller items to your pockets,
it does feel a little bit better to use.
So, to wrap this up with some pros and cons,
starting with the pros,
there is a considered look and feel
going on with the Bellroy sling.
It has an excellent soft and adjustable
low-profile strap for a sling,
one of the best that we've seen to date.
The self-compression is inventive
and creates a nice versatile carrier.
Onto some of the cons, the keyring feels cheap
compared to the rest of the sling.
The main compartment is clunky to access
and a bit hard to see inside.
The sling offers very little
internal organization options throughout.
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We're conflicted when it comes to the Bellroy sling.
It's been hyped up and we've had really great luck
with other Bellroy products.
Generally, it has a premium feel and looks nice to wear,
but it falls short on the organization
and practicality standpoint.
Especially for a sling of this size.
If you're okay with slower access
and are carrying larger items,
this could be a solid pick for you.
But if you're carrying smaller items
and prefer at least a couple of organization options,
you may want to look elsewhere.
So there you have it, our review of the Bellroy sling.
We would love to hear what you hear what you think
of this thing in the comments below.
Thanks for keeping it here at Pack Hacker,
your guide to smart travel,
we'll see you in the next video.