****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I have been using this bag for over a month now and wanted to wait until I had some mileage before I submitted a review. Previously, I had used the Peak Design ED Backpack 30L v2 and sometimes used the Peak Design Messenger Bag 13L. I used the ED Backpack for a couple of years and the PD ED Backpack was good, but for longer sessions of use, it didn’t quite feel properly distributed, even with the optional waist belt. So, I looked for another option to be able to hold all my gear. I was skeptical about this bag, but after reading reviews, watching YT reviews, I decided to give it a try. As you can already see from the rating I’ve given it, it works great.I came back from a week-long trip about a week ago, using this backpack every single day. I took it on hikes/walks, in crowded areas, like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and had plenty of opportunities to wear this backpack, with practically all my gear inside, for hours and hours on end. Even walked around in full rain a couple of times and all my camera gear was safe and sound inside.Just to give you an idea of how much weight I was carrying most of this time, this is the gear that was with me on the trip: Canon EOS R3, RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 L, RF 85mm f1.2 L, RF 16mm, RF 28-70 f2.0 L, extra battery for the R3, memory cards, moment tech bag with charging cables, Anker 20,000mh portable battery pack, lens cleaning pen, plus a Peak Design Travel Tripod, and finally a 12.9” iPad Pro for photo editing.This was a heavy load out, but I purposefully tried to see how much I could handle. With all of this, I lasted the entire time, which speaks volumes to the comfortability of this backpack. The shoulder straps are extremely well padded and I never had discomfort with them, the entire time. The sternum strap worked very well to help during those long carrying sessions. All my camera gear was well protected, even out in the rain.I will say one thing I had to get used to, compared to the Peak Design ED Backpack was accessing gear. It is a little slower, but it is much safer than the side access. The loft of this bag was fantastic for switching between my most-used lenses, the RF 28-70 and the RF 100-500.Overall, I would highly recommend this bag. The price is well worth it. So much so, that I ended up selling my Peak Design Backpack just to use this exclusively as my EDC. The PD Messenger bag, however, will still be with me for light load days.
