The wildest bag someone recommended from this post is the TomToc Navigator. It's 40L, but only weighs 2.8 lb, has water bottle holders, compression straps, great laptop/iPad compartment, and one massive clamshell bucket for clothes. And it's only $80, which concerningly cheap
@christianselig I’ve been using the 17L model of that bag for daily stuff and short work trips and I love it. It has all the high quality stuff I look for in the bag and my go-to recommendation for people now.
@johann Wow, I love that one! Definitely gonna keep an eye on it. Wish they did a 40L version, I find 45 is too big and 35 is a hair smaller than I'd love, and I wish it had stowable backpack straps and a better laptop compartment. But very impressive
@christianselig FWIW, reading some reviews of the Osprey Farpoint, it seems like it was redesigned at some point to move the laptop storage more closer to your back.
@christianselig throwing in the obligatory Peak Design Everyday backpack. I’m not a photographer or anything, but this bag has been so incredible for travel and extremely comfortable for me over long periods of times, even when I was Trecking around Japan in August (hint, it’s really damn hot at that time of the year). Expensive but Imo incredibly well made and well worth the asking price (especially with the tech pouch or wash pouch!)
@Porgey I love the design of it, I just can't get past the weight, it weighs so much more than anything else on the market (even other bags that are considered heavy) so I can only assume it's made of wood
@christianselig fair enough! What about the travel backpack from them? I think it’s only 3.1 lbs? I imagine it’s also great quality! Regardless hopefully you can find something great! Curious to see what you pick out at the end haha
@christianselig I have 3 Tomtoc slings (different shapes and sizes), and I’m happy with all of them. They’re basically Aer knockoffs, but the quality seems nearly identical to my Aer items. Recommended.
@mikeyp My worry is mostly long term, I've had some really nice cheap bags that after 3-4 years start to disintegrate, where I haven't had that with ones that cost a bit more, so I'm quite hesitant
@christianselig Understandable. I’m in year 2 of my TomToc slings, and so far so good. I’ll report back in 3 years. ;-)
In all seriousness, I’m happy with the quality - cordura, good stitching, waterproof zippers, no hanging threads, etc. It’s tempting to believe they are manufactured in the same factory as other premium brands. They’re on Amazon, so I figured I could get hands on with free returns, and I was satisfied enough with the price/quality to keep them. YMMV.
@christianselig I have a tomtoc bag for my ROG Ally and was surprised how nice it was for the price too. Pretty thoughtful features. Definitely not the highest quality but you know price and such. I’m gonna have to look the Navigator up now
@troy It looks really nice! My fear is more so like, 3 years from now what kinda shape it'll be in, have had bags in the past where they hold up great in the short term and then fall apart after a few years due to shoddy craftsmanship, and I ask a lot of travel bags
@christianselig I’ve had the Timbuk2 data dump backpack for 15 years and it still looks great, not sure if they make those anymore or their current level of quality but everything I’ve had from them has been solid
@monorailtimes I'd love a Tom Bihn, they just have a weird aversion to having accessible water bottle holders unlike almost every other brand which is really weird. A Techonaut in a 35-40L size would be incredible though
@christianselig@monorailtimes I have a 40L Technoaut and there’s a water bottle pocket. It’s not a one size fits all, but it works well. I also have their laptop bag and there’s a nice water bottle sleeve in the middle.
@justin@monorailtimes Yeah that definitely looks like their best water bottle holder, I just wish the bag was 35-40 instead of 45 which feels just a bit too big for me
@christianselig@monorailtimes Ah, you’re right. 45L not 40L like I thought. It can be pretty big depending on how long your trip is, but it’s still small enough for the overhead.
@christianselig Once upon a time there was a guy who would help you make custom backpacks. By the time I learned of him, he was no longer doing it because it was so much work. I wish someone like him was still out there.