Customer Reviews for Peak Design - Outdoor Backpack 45L - Black
Customer Rating
5
Comfortable and extremely good looking
on March 26, 2025
Posted by: Darco
from The Swiss Alps
Love this bag. The opening mechanism is different than what I'm used to. And it works great, after a few tries. It is the most comfortable backpack I have ever owned. I use it mostly for hiking and short distance travel. And it looks fantastic, judging by my own impression and the many compliments I got from random strangers.
I'm training for a hut to hut hike in September and started putting this to the test. It is the perfect pack for a three day outing. The pockets in the waistband and shoulder straps keep things available, the material sheds water and dust/dirt, and the various accessibility options keep things easily to hand. There is one thing - for me - that makes it slightly less than five stars. I'm 5'10" with a long (22inch) torso and even with fiddling with various straps it just doesn't fit the way other brands do. This is very personal, and so sad, because I am a huge Peak Design fan and own multiple packs, cubes and now the rolling suitcase. I just can't use it for this particular use case.
I got this backpack through Kickstarter, and I have to say, the design is fantastic and it works just as promised. It's pretty comfy after a few uses. That said, the notebook compartment could definitely use a little more protection, and some cushioning at the base would really help keep everything safe.
This bag is great for everyday use. Just open up and dump everything you need. Works well with the packing cubes and tech pouch. Something I think needs improvement is the roll-top access. That will be great if there is a way to secure it when it's rolled up since it always undo itself afterwards. Another one I feel needs improvement is when I use the Carry Cords on the outside. It pulls the bags closer together, giving them a weird shape. Overall, this would be great at a lower cost and tiny improvements.
The backpack is awesomely comfortable to carry around and large enough to fit all I need. With the EDB that I carried around for last couple of years (actually almost 10 already), I usually felt that when I filled the 30L backpack with camera, laptop and some stuff around, it was becoming uncomfortable to carry. I did not manage to fill this one yet and every now and then I am finding new features that I missed initially. The only drawback is the access to the camera, which I really loved on the EDB. Given the bag does not have any supporting structure around the zip, opening the back pocket requires a lot of fiddling (even though I have the camera cube "locked" in the place).
The material used is just excellent to feel. The opening / closing of this bag takes a bit initially but then works perfectly. The side zippers are handy. The complete back opening is a wonderful way to gain access to the full compartment. The shoulder straps is comfortable and sit well.
A strong penchant for travel means I have a cache of bags for different purposes. Through design and aesthetic this ranks at the top. The only improvement I can imagine at this point is that a better method for securing the top of the bag could have been executed better. That said, I look forward to pairing the pack with the PD Roller Pro sometime in May ahead of summer travel.