Customer Reviews Peak Design 45 L Travel Backpack

I absolutely love this bag! Peak Design manages to think of absolutely everything and they have a solution for every problem. Love the modular system and how the bag can collapse and expand. Brilliantly designed!

I bought this back when it was Kickstarter for the modular camera cubes, packing cubes, pouches. I've also bought a lot of travel camera backpacks featured on Youtube from companies like Nomatic, Minaal, Aer and GORUCK. This is the one I always end up going back to. I like the comfortable, stoway backpack straps and carrying handles. It is light enough, giving its features. Easy to make one large compartment. External lash straps are flexible. The bag does not expand so large it won't fit in a plane's overhead bin --- which could be a drawback for some not flying; but, if I got to that point, I should consider a 60L hiking backpack. Very durable; still looks as good as the day I bought it.

It is a really great backpack for travel. I have all PD bags like sling 5L, 10L, Everyday backpack 20&30L. I use these bag for hike, walk or work, so they have different uses. I have traveled to Japan in Jan before COVID and I found 30L is no long fit all my new gear in. Thus, I did some reviews on other brands as well as my favour brand Peak Design. I decided to get one more collection from PD with its medium cube. It FIT all my gear with all square filters as well as all my cameras. In my opinion, the shoulder straps are more comfortable than my 30L when fully loaded. The anti-thief system also make me feel safe when I am walking on street.

I was anticipating loving this backpack even before it arrived. When it finally did, I was not disappointed. It's an amazing backpack with great quality shown throughout. It has everything, and can cater to any user: everyday carrier, world traveler, digital nomad, camera professional, etc. It has so many features that can be used or put aside depending on your need for the a specific day or trip. This bag will make you excited to travel and get work done. It's also nice just knowing you have something so reliable. The only criticism I have has already been echoed throughout other reviews, and that is: the weight and straps. These kind of go hand-in-hand, but the backpack is a bit heavier due to materials and the straps could be a bit larger or more padded. However, with some smarter packing and minimalism, it can be overlooked given this bag is still 5 stars in performance. Thank you Peak Design, for your thoughtfulness and innovation.

I bought my bag before the world caught fire, so i havent been able to use it out in the world yet, but it was clear as soon as i opened the box how much thought and care went in to the design and build of this bag. It's the most well designed product I own. It's abundantly clear how much Peak Design cares about the people using their products. I can't wait to be able to take this bag on road trips, international flights, and everything in between!

Finding a bag to fit a small, female frame is actually pretty challenging, and I have to hand it to Peak Design. A lot of other high end bags place the chest strap right across the front, which doesn't work well for women at all! This bag is fully adjustable in that regard, and it was a non-negotiable for me. I appreciate how flexible this bag is as well. You can simply use it as a carry-on bag when traveling and leave the packing cubes behind. And as a professional shooter, I can use the packing cubes for shoots when I need to carry and protect my gear. I love that it opens completely for full view of my gear. Also has some nice security features so the bag can't be unzipped by others when you're out and about with it. It's pricey, but I think well worth the investment. Plus the lifetime guarantee is incredible. Some other high-end bags have guarantees but don't cover things like zippers. I've gone through enough bags in my ten year career so far, and I'm excited to finally have a bag that will last longer and be repairable down the road. Thanks for making a great bag for everyone, Peak Design!

I purchased the 45L travel bag for a recent photography trip to Sedona, AZ, USA, along with a small camera cube, a small and medium packing cube, the tech pouch, and the toiletry kit. I packed 10 days worth of clothing, a drone (DJI mavic mini), camera body and 24-70 lens, the triple battery charger for the drone, and completely stuffed essentially every item to the brim. I can't sing the praises of this bag enough. While the tutorials will indicate that you may not be able to fit all of what I listed above, let me assure you: you can. I also was able to pack a gorilla pod on the side, a rain jacket and tablet in the laptop sleeve, and peaks camera cover and slide strap, amongst other things. Sitting in the airport now, my total bag weight is 26.5 pounds, and it needed no additional expansion. Notably, no issues storing in an overhead bin. I am simply shocked at how much I was able to carry. During the day, the pack is simply a blessing of convenience on long day shoots. The ability to whip out the hip supports while you are on the move, or conversely, stow them, is genius. When paired with the camera clip on my right shoulder, I felt totally secure hiking strenuous trails without fear for the camera knocking around or coming unsecured. The ability to just reach over to a shoulder and release the camera with the push of a button to capture is a stunningly useful piece of tech. I swear by this stuff. Buy it right meow.

I've owned the V1 travel bag, and the messenger. Love them both for work and day-to-day trips. Planning an international trip in 2020 and wanted to get all my gear across the pond; so i sprung for the bigger V2. With a camera cube with a small and medium packing cube i'm able to fit my Mamiya RZ67, film back, lens, etc. along with my DSLR, lenses, cards, a seagull TLR and a light meter... the packing cubes and the toiletry bag take care of the smells and styles. All of which fit into a carry-on. I'm sold!

It was time for a new work/travel pack. I chose Peak to replace my ebag and I know I made a great choice. My first work trip this past week gave me the chance to really test it out. First off the comfort of this pack is amazing. I travel with a lot of crap- laptop, books, binders, headphones, all the wires, gadgets and such, snacks, water bottle to name a few. The pack has tons of pouches and quick access to the top and side of the main storage area. There are handles everywhere so you can quickly grab and manuever it around. And as I mentioned the shoulder straps and pack contour to my back perfectly for a comfortable carry. Thanks for a great pack!

Only complaint is the waist strap is not long enough for me to use. I'm a 38" waist and can't extend the straps out to clasp. Maybe they sell an extension but feel this was an oversight. I still gave it a 5 star review as the rest of the features and options are amazing and we'll executed. I travel with varying camera systems from DSLR to medium format with anything from 1 -5 lenses. I like to scale my system up and down depending trip length. Wish list for future versions. A quick deployable rain fly like the old Loepro AW Pro used to have. Could deploy from where tripod straps are with minimal weight. Guess I could carry one but always forget until you need it.

I've lived in Europe for over 9 years and traveled everywhere in Central & Eastern Europe on budget airlines. I was interested in how the 30-45L feature would work within these smaller airlines. Since having it I've been on 5 flights and I've had no problems. The ergonomics of the bag, to make it small and then bigger with just a click, so these features this my go-to bag around Budapest when I'm on the metro or when I'm flying RyanAir, WizzAir and all the budget airlines. I am continually surprised at what I can pack into. Highly recommended for anyone traveling and in need of a useful camera, laptop, weekend and everyday backpack. www.instagram.com/chadstrobach/

I am seriously fanboying' over Peak Design here in the PacNW. The 45L is my new go-to backpack. It is great for quick trips to the mountains but versatile enough to carry camera equipment and even all of my heavy textbooks. Peak Design pays attention to details like the chest straps and waist straps. They are great for distributing heavy loads and the magnetic sleeves = no stray straps hanging out. The design was deliberate, smart, and well-planned. The inside has a sleeve that holds both my MacBook and iPad. The wash pouch, smart cube, tech pouch, and camera cube all fit inside with ease. There are hidden pockets, to store straps (i.e. shoe pouch) or other compressible packing cubes. The material is durable. I went on a hike and made a contact against sandstone, pine tree branches, and bushes. The material held up great and no permanent marks were left behind. It got dirty from dust, tree sap, and soil but it was easy to clean up. I used a damp rag and it looks good as new. The bag matches my vibe perfectly; whether I'm in a casual place with friends or I'm sporting it with a suit and tie at a trendy event downtown. The bag exceeded all of my expectations. The only feedback is the strap size is not as thick as the 30L series. Peak Design is one of my favorite brands and I can't wait to see what is released next. Worth. Every. Penny.

Would highly recommend. By far the best designed backpack I've ever used. I would recommend watching their YouTube tutorials to get the most of this backpack since there are just so many features, some hidden, that you'll be excited to find out are there.

I have been looking at switching from a roller carryon to a travel backpack for my big yearly road trip. I'd been looking at the Past backpack, but this caught my eye as it was virtually the same weight and size, but IN STOCK which the Pakts never are. Price was comparable. The ONLY knock on this is the weight, which is similar to all items with this size and design. Where this edges out the others is the functional hip belt to help with the weight. Adding load lifters would be a big plus. I have packed this out as expected and worn around home, and while heavy, the functionality of it "outweighs" the weight of the bag. A keeper.

Overall product is great. The only gripes I have, is that the shoulder padding when using as a back pack is very thin, thus my shoulder hurts from the straps dig in. Need a better design shoulder pads (hint.. The North Face) and adding shoulder straps adjustments would be really great. These two addition will make the backpack comfortable to carry for a long walk in Europe.

I bought this bag for camera gear and exclusive use on long distance motorcycle trips. Of all the bags that I considered, this one had the best features, especially the ability to access gear from either the back (where the shoulder straps are) and most importantly, the front. There were plenty of tabs & loops to run RockStraps through and I can access any and all gear without removing the bag from my motorcycle.

I was positively surprised by how well designed and durable this backpack is after trying a more aesthetic and highly-marketed competitors insert that sorely let me down in functionality and quality. This thing is MASSIVE! I cannot emphasize enough how much stuff you can fit in there and also how heavy it is when that's all glass and metal camera gear it's got good support straps which help.

Overall, this is a great travel bag! My favorite features are the shoulder and hip straps that stow really nicely, and the ability to go between the compact ~30L up to ~45L. This bag is very well made and is a joy to use! I don't have any regrets choosing this bag, but I do think it is more bag than I need, since I am not a camera guy. A number of the features are directed towards traveling with camera gear, so I don't take advantage of them as a normie. But of course, I knew that going in and I would say I'm quite happy with the Peak Design 45L bag, I just don't think I would buy it full price as a non-camera guy because there are other good options out there.

I got this online a couple weeks ago and the bag looks sleek and the finish looks really good. it doesn't look like a cheap backpack. there are plenty of pockets and zips to keep a multitude of items. Just be sure to remember where you put your small items. It can get lost! One of this features I didn't appreciate was the side zips that didn't zip all the way to open up in the front. I guess I'm used to typical bags with front zips all the way through. The zips open up at side only and this makes it harder to go through all pockets when looking for your stuff. I also wish they had other colors instead of black and olive green. Otherwise the bag was really sturdy and stands upright by itself instead of falling over, so it keeps itself clean. The side pocket also has sleeves that are tall enough to prevent water bottle was falling out.

Great things: storage capacity, quality, look. Weird/bad things: side access only has 1 zipper at the top, not enough small pockets for things, no internal divider, must buy separate camera cube, back gets real sweaty due to no ventilation.

Super well-made bag, one of the nicest looking of its kind. Fits a lot for the volume, and love that it semi-contracts for a smaller load. But it's SO HEAVY at 4.5 lbs empty. If lighter materials were used, and the bag clocked in around 3.5 lbs like many competitive bags, it would be a top pick.

I'm generally happy with this product, but one big gripe is that the sternum strap is useless. If you try to pull it tight, it promptly loosens right back up, so you may as well not have it. I think the designers got a bit cute with this part of the pack. Backpacks have included sternum straps that work (with buckles) for decades. Just replicate that. Moreover, because of the "single strap" design, there is no way to simply add a buckle so that the strap is actually functional. You need 2 ends of the strap for a buckle.

Had my eye on this for a while, but bought it for a 2 week trip to Europe with my family. It worked well as a carry-on size bag to bring on planes and trains, offering ample size and organization. I primarily used several packing cubes for what I packed in it while using it as a carry-on. Then when we got to our destinations, I could turn it around and use it as a (large) daypack by pulling out the packing cubes, using the compression buttons to slim down the size, and then use it to walk around doing touristy things. I'm about 181cm tall and broad across the shoulders, so it works alright as a daypack; however, it would have been way too big for my wife to use as she's a lot smaller than I am. If there were things I could change, I'd love a better or more elegant way to compress the bag down to its smallest size - it works with the buttons, but they often popped open when I was going in and out of the bag and had to re-button them, which can sometimes be difficult to get just right. I also wish the pads on the should straps were a bit more comfortable. It wasn't bad and was workable, but feel like I've had better shoulder straps on other backpacks that were more comfortable. I do like that the straps could be tucked away for a more streamlined package, which I did most of the times I was putting it on luggage racks or overhead bins, and eliminated the straps snagging on to things.

Like the pack, the water bottle pockets are great, hold big bottles. I feel it's a bit heavy with the magnet part that holds the straps in. I recognize that could be a nice feature to some, but I could do away with all that. It would be nice if it had load lifters, it can be quite heavy when full. The waist strap pockets are very small, don't even know what you'd put in there except some coins. I like it maintains its shape and the expandability of it. When you unzip the the full zip to get the additional space, the space is added into the smaller side of the divider with the pockets, not the main part, which was disappointing. I like the safety features for the zippers, which all the zippers were better quality. The one thing I really dislike is there is no handle at the top of the bag! There's one off to the side of the top, but I always find myself grabbing for the one that should be right at the top, and it's not there. quite frustrating!

I love how durable and versatile this bag is. I switched from the Cotopaxi Allpa 42, even though the Allpa was more comfortable. There are a lot of very premium features on this bag and yet I craved a little more. Even though I don't intend to use it as my travel bag anymore, I will continue to use it as a gear holler, specifically for my drones and camera gear. As a travel backpack, the straps are simply too uncomfortable to wear it long distances that I would normally need. I know that the purpose for the shoulder straps was for them to be storable, but I have them out 95%. Maybe beefing them up a little more and widening them where folks wouldn't attach the quick release plate would make them a lot more comfy. Maybe even some semi removable load lifters could be of some help.