Customer reviews from Peak Design
Peak Design - Outdoor Backpack 45L - Cloud
Average customer rating
4.3
(272 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 272 reviews
5 Stars
169
4 Stars
57
3 Stars
25
2 Stars
11
1 Star
10
87%of customers recommend this product.
(
199 out of
229)
Customer Reviews for Peak Design - Outdoor Backpack 45L - Cloud
Customer Rating
5
Fantastic Backpack for Work or Play!
on September 17, 2025
Posted by: RocketPL
from Austin
I bought this after my Camelback backpack of 20 years finally bit the dust. I was looking for something that held a water bladder/laptop and was flexible enough to use for weekend hikes, trips, and work. I had looked at some of the other Peak Design packs, but this one better fit my hiking lifestyle best. My first use was a trip to Iceland, and boy did it work out great! The straps are wildly comfortable (I'm 6'1 and muscular build) and the open/close system is fantastic. My only wish is that they had made it 30L in size. I am amazed at how much it can fit, but with the small camera cube, that fills up quite a bit of space. The quality seems to be impeccable and overall, I'm very pleased.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
4
Almost perfect, but hip/shoulder fatal flaw?
on September 5, 2025
Posted by: volcanogeek
from Denver, CO
I bought this June 1, '25. I use it for geology fieldwork that I need to fly to, carrying camera, drone, and laser scanning gear. I love the airline carry-on size and the ability to easily fit in tripods, laptop and/ or a small field chair, and the material fends off rocks, water, and scrapes really well, and the easily configurable inside is exactly what I had in mind. The closing cords are...ok. They can be a bit balky, or tend to snag as other reviewers have noted, and I added a neoprene pad to the top grab handle, as it will definitely cut into your hand if the pack is heavy (also noted by others). And the top gap can let in rain to the outer stuff pocket area. A lash point or two on the outer back would have been useful, but maybe I could add that. I am 6'1", and I find it very comfortable under different load conditions, including lots of weight. ****However despite it being nearly everything I wanted, there is one major issue: when loaded with more weight, the hip belt and shoulder strap now and then detach when you pick it up to put it back on. I have almost lost half the hip belt several times, and almost dropped the pack a few times when the shoulder strap let go at the top as I picked it up. This may be a fatal flaw, as thousand of $$ of gear could bit the dust over a cliff, and half a black hip belt is invisible against many backgrounds and is easily missed. I am considering sending it back.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
5
An eclipsed gem
on August 24, 2025
Posted by: Mildura
I did a lot of research before buying this bag. And in doing so, I was aware of the pros and cons. I was torn between the 35l and the 25l backpack, but decided on the 25l in combination with the 7l sling resulting in 32l I’d I need it. The backpack is very sleek and features less pockets than the other 15l and 25l pd backpack I used prior. However, to be honest, I hardly used them and preferred using the tech pouch and others. Now, the tech pouch is replaced by the 7l sling, which I either use as a pouch in the bag, or as an extension to the back pack. The sling has all the pockets I need for cards, batteries, and fits alternative pouches for timers, small lenses, converters and all the other small stuff we need on a photo session. It obviously is more flexible and hold more stuff than the tech pouch, which why I am selling the latter. I am so happy with the sling. It is perfect, and to prevent damage to equipment if I accidentally open the buckle when I use it as a stand-alone, I use the cross strap. Anther hack is a elastic tube pulled over the buckle. The back pack itself is genius. Being used to the 15l until now, it took getting used to it. Now I won‘t give it away, ever … It is light, easy to carry, easy to pack and sim‘ly gorgeous. I like the easy handling of the front cord and I disagree with those, who wire you need both hands to fasten it. Like other things in life, it takes two or three times to understand the function and from then, it’s smooth sailing. The front pocket is ideal for stashing a jacket, and the slits for the water system can be used - hack alarm - to fasten a light weight trekking umbrella. BTW, the pass through on the outdoor sling or the field pouch can serve the same purpose; with the sling, the brolly may „sink“ to the bottom of the cavity however, which doesn‘t really matter ;-). The two mesh pockets on the sides are amazing when it comes to their holding capacity. Te two zip pockets are ideal for flatter stuff or keys. The two mesh pockets on straps are ideal for stowing my phone or small tools, Swiss Army knife etc. Together with the hip belt (an extra) it is the perfect carrying system for my needs. As a woman, weight is an issue and I prefer using hip belts on smaller packs as well to distribute the weight. The mesh pockets are ideal to store lens caps or keys. The hip belt is extremely comfortable to wear, the new buckle is comfortable to open and close, and the belt van be easily removed for storage. However, I find it a shame, that there is only one mounting point for the camera clip on the right side; I find it extremely difficult to insert my camera clip. Again being a woman, I prefer using the clip on a hip belt, rather thanking the backpack front straps for obvious female body features. I do like, however that the camera clip „disappears“ into the mesh pocket when not in use. And to solve the problem of accessibility, I have resorted to using the camera clip with the holder accessory on the straps of the hip belt, rather than the padded section. Another, yet minor drawback, is that the hip belts have to be removed for storage or folded, it is easier to store the hip belt for the other pd backpacks. And the the colour, I am absolutely flashed - it is so beautiful in outdoor and urban settings. In fact, the eclipse backpack is so perfect in it’s design an colour and so lightweight, that I am going to give away the other two pd backpacks, as I won‘t be switching between packs any more. Well done peak design . A very, very happy customer xxxxx
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
5
I love the versatility and various design features
on August 16, 2025
Posted by: AJ
from Kent, UK
I’ve had the 45L Outdoor Backpack for a few months now giving me an opportunity to properly test and review the item. I use it primarily for photography equipment using the large Camera Cube V2 internally which fits perfectly. I also use two Capture clips on the straps. I’m 6’1” tall with a long torso and find I’m able to adjust the backpack to fit perfectly. I love the padded hip belt which enables me to carry more heavy equipment due to the added support it provides. I often carry hiking poles, water bottles and a monopod in the side pockets and a variety of other equipment/waterproofs etc in the other pockets. I like the versatility of the various straps, cords, roll-top etc. My favorite features is the rear hatch which keeps my camera equipment very secure when walking in crowds and the finish on the front of the bag which makes contact with the ground when accessing the cameras etc and is easily cleaned and wiped down, which is especially useful in our damp unpredictable weather here in the UK.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
3
on August 12, 2025
Posted by: Sherbile
Great backpack. Too bad you cannot attach it to a carry-on
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
1
A bag I wanted to love, but just can't...
on August 10, 2025
Posted by: A wildlife photographer
from Wherever there are wild birds...
The title is not hyperbole. I had been hoping PD would bring out a bag designed for active outdoor use since the Everyday Messenger Kickstarter (the first of many KS projects for PD I've backed over the years). So I backed this one on the first day.
On delivery, I was underwhelmed at best. But I tried to make a go of it. This is less a review of specific features (and some of the truly puzzling design issues have been addressed by others), and more about my own expectations and experience with the bag in the field on two different expeditions, and a comparison with the two bags I hoped this one would replace. This covered a two-week trip in March, 2025, a second two-week trip in June 2025, and a final one-week trip in July 2025. Of course, your experiences will be different, but I hope this is helpful in your buying decision.
My photography is primarily of wild birds, and I was looking for something that could carry long glass on long hikes. My go to that I was looking to upgrade is a skiing backpack rated at 32L. A PD Medium cube fits in there reasonably well. A bit of a struggle getting the empty cube in there, but it holds up well, can be fully loaded, and is still easily accessible from the back panel of the bag. I've taken this to the Himalayas and the Andes, and the jungles of Southeast Asia and rainforests in Central America. It has been through its paces. The second bag is a 29L waterproof bag designed for fly fishing. The medium PD camera cube fits inside it well, too, although access is a bit more problematic, but a fair tradeoff for the specific use case (basically only when a trip involves travel by Zodiac...).
The biggest reason I wanted the Outdoor 45L was to fit the large camera cube. This would allow me to take both a long lens and a spotting scope out into the field with me. I wanted this to be the perfect bag for when I went out and had to hike to get to the birds. And one of the cool things in early testing was that the water bottle pockets were large enough that it can actually hold my scope, with the tripod on the other side. So when I did get to where we were birding, I didn't have to get back into the bag to move my stuff around...
Ironically, the first use this spring -- especially a couple day hikes to remote nests in Panama's Darien region -- only made me miss the ski pack. Quite frankly, the bag was painful to carry. Yeah, I know this seems to be a feature with PD's bags. See the Travel Line bag for star witness number 1 in this regard. But this was supposed to be a new, and seemingly plush, harness! And it did initially feel good. Until it didn't. And most frustratingly of all, the load lifters and straps were both confusing and difficult to use. Making some features on bags as thin as possible isn't always a good idea. And as for the water bottle pouches? Well, after hiking up with them empty, when I got to the nesting region, I noted they had already suffered two holes. Doesn't bode well for the long-term durability of the bag, unfortunately. The insult to injury was that access to the camera cube is actually more difficult with the PD bag than it is with the skiing bag! And this is even before the issues of the other poorly thought out design choices, including the routing of the water bladder hose that prevents fully opening the back, the need to crush or move out of the way pockets (and thus lose functionality) to use the Capture Clip load points, an approach that relies on using so many cords that anyone who has spent any time in the outdoors asked for never, the lack of an integrated space for the rainfly that was on the Travel Line (and infuriatingly has a little area that seems to have been designed for just this purpose, but was never followed through on), and for the kicker -- ultimately not an appreciably greater level of storage than I have in my roughly 30L other bags! Yes, a larger cube fits in this bag, but there is seemingly more (and better thought out) additional storage possibilities even when using the PD bag with a medium cube.
I didn't want to give up on the bag, though, and was willing to chalk the discomfort with it up to my sizing adjustments made prior to this trip as being just off. So, after returning home, watched all the videos, made all the measurements, dialed it in, and set off with the back on the second two-week road trip to Nevada's Ruby Mountains. On the first full day there, I took it on an all day hike. Well, it wasn't supposed to be that long of a hike but the bag was so uncomfortable that I stopped pretty frequently to rest.
Fortunately the skiing bag was in the car as well, and I have not used the PD bag since.
The gear I was carrying isn't light by any stretch of the imagination. But this was marketed, and presumably designed, as a bag that could carry a large camera cube -- a cube that there is a reasonable expectation would be heavy. There's even a picture in the camera cubes part of this website showing an Outdoor Line backpack loaded with more and probably heavier glass than what I usually take. The skiing pack and even the flyfishing backpack handle these weights with ease! This is even more impressive with the fly fishing bag as it lacks a true hip-belt, and I doubt either bag was designed with lugging loads as heavy as a loaded medium-sized camera cube.
My most recent trip was with the skiing bag alone. Poor planning on our part had us rushing to meet up with a guide for a glacier hike in the middle of the trip. Well, I prefer to call it poor planning rather than saying a decision on my part to stop for 20 minutes en route to take a picture of this cool bird that was just posing along the side of the road...
It was a travel day, so the pack was loaded with all my gear for the trip. Two telephotos, one mid-range zoom, one UWA, two primes. Probably looked closer to the pic of the camera cube in the Outdoor Line bag I mentioned above. Because of our lateness, I didn't have time to actually pull everything out and load up the bag with just the mid-range zoom as I had originally planned. I carried easily more weight than I had in either the Darien or the Ruby Mountains. For four hours without a real break -- because we were hiking/climbing up a glacier... I seriously did not think this one through. And yet, I really didn't feel the weight. Even when the guide was laughing at me for carrying so much with me. (But tellingly, he had the larger version of same bag I was carrying, speaking to its load carrying qualities.) Probably the very limit of how long I want to carry a pack of that weight anytime in the future, but very reassuring to know that if needed, it can handle it.
After that trip I put the PD Outdoor Line 45L up for sale...
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
4
Good day hiking pack
on August 4, 2025
Posted by: Wpang
from Boston massachusetts
I bought this a few weeks and took it to the white mountain in New Hampshire, it was a great pack, it was nice and light weight even without the hip belt it was comfortable with a couple pounds of gear and the water bladder sleeve was a great idea being implemented into the laptop sleeve.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design
Customer Rating
4
Love the backpack!
on July 28, 2025
Posted by: Tahara26
from San Francisco, CA
I love this backpack and bought it 2 weeks ago and took on some trips already. The backpack is definitely sturdy and can hold a lot but this colorway does require some maintenance when it does get dirty. Definitely a bit more work to clean given how noticeable it is. Would appreciate if the material could be more easily washable especially on the side pockets.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting Peak Design