Photograph: Peak Design
Everyday Backpack, 20 litres
The appeal begins with what is not there. The shell carries one small woven label, visible at the corner of the flap in the photograph, and nothing else written large: no pattern, no contrast panel, no name spread across the front. Shown here in Ocean, it reads first as a plain, well-shaped backpack and only second as a camera bag. That restraint is welcome. A bag sized for a rangefinder, a folded knit and a day of work should be able to move between those uses without announcing any one of them, and this one is shaped to do exactly that, quietly and without fuss.
Access is where the design earns its complication, and it earns it generously. The top opens through MagLatch hardware, which Peak Design describes as providing fast top access, while two weatherproof UltraZips give access from both sides, and padded handles on all sides make the bag easy to pick up and set down in any orientation. For a camera, side access is the thoughtful part of the arrangement: the contents can be reached from the side of the pack rather than by unpacking it from the top, so a camera, a lens or a layer can be kept apart from the rest of the day and still be reached promptly.
Inside, three FlexFold dividers can be configured to suit what is being carried, keeping gear organised and protected rather than bunched at the bottom of the bag. The capacity is designed to expand from 17 litres to 20 litres, which is a well-judged range for a single day: enough for work and a camera, not so much that the bag becomes the trip itself. Dedicated sleeves take a laptop and a tablet separately from the main compartment. Peak Design gives the maximum laptop carry as 38.1 by 25.4 by 2.5 centimetres, holding a 15-inch MacBook Pro, and the maximum tablet carry as 30.6 by 22.1 by 0.7 centimetres, holding a 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
The materials are chosen with the same care. The backpack is offered in two durable, weatherproof fabrics: Versa Shell, and X-Pac VX-21 Ocean Edition for the Coyote colour. Versa Shell is made from 100 per cent recycled nylon, solution-dyed, DWR impregnated and double-coated with polyurethane. Both fabrics come with a high-visibility grey nylon interior, a small kindness when looking for a dark object at the bottom of a bag, and the hardware is anodized aluminum and glass-reinforced nylon, with the UltraZips themselves described by the maker as super-durable. It is a considered list, and it suits a bag intended to be carried every day.
| Capacity | 17 litres minimum, 20 litres maximum |
| Dimensions | Exterior 33 x 46 x 21 cm; interior 28 x 41 x 18 cm |
| Weight | 1.66 kg without dividers; 2.01 kg with dividers |
| Laptop and tablet | Laptop to 38.1 x 25.4 x 2.5 cm, holds 15-inch MacBook Pro; tablet to 30.6 x 22.1 x 0.7 cm, holds 12.9-inch iPad Pro |
| Access | MagLatch top access; dual side access via two weatherproof UltraZips |
| Dividers | 3 FlexFold dividers, configurable |
| Shell | Versa Shell, or X-Pac VX-21 Ocean Edition in Coyote; anodized aluminum and glass-reinforced nylon hardware |
The bag arrives with the three FlexFold dividers, a sternum strap, an Anchor Link key tether and four Cord Hook external carry straps, two long and two short. Peak Design backs its products with a lifetime guarantee covering manufacturing defects and failures or breakages that render a product non-functional, undertaking to repair or replace an affected item with a fully functioning one in the same or better condition. That promise fits the object well. This is a backpack to admire for its restraint as much as for its ingenuity, and to keep.