Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this backpack for an upcoming, month-long trip to Japan. My main luggage will be a larger backpack (TLS Motherlode Weekender), but there are several points where I’ll be leaving my larger backpack behind and traveling for 1-2 nights with this smaller backpack instead. So, I wanted a backpack that is extremely lightweight, takes up very little room when packed, is waterproof, holds enough to act as an overnighter, and is comfortable to wear. I feel like I hit the jackpot with this backpack. To test it out, I used it as my carry-on for a 7-night trip to Hawaii. I’ve included three photos showing it packed for the trip. I managed to fit a 9x12” folder with about 1/2” thick stack of letter-sized paper, 5 sketchbooks (I’m testing them too), two bags of pens and other art supplies, a bag of sundries, my iPad, phone, wallet, earphones, a cardigan, water bottle and all the other little stuff one carries on a trip. You can see all of this in the first photo. The second photo is a peak inside the bag with it full packed and still room to spare. The backpack has one large inner compartment, with an unpadded laptop sleeve sized big enough to easily fit the folder, iPad and my two largest sketchbooks. The large compartment is generously sized and will easily fit a small or medium packing cube along with toiletries and a smaller selection of art supplies for my Japan trip. There are also two zippered compartments on the front. The top compartment easily fit my wallet and smart phone. The half moon pocket below is quite large, and further divided inside with a pocket, and a zippered mesh pocket to make it easy to organize all your little things. There are also two mesh water bottle holders - one on either side, and the top elastic held my water bottles quite securely. My third photo is of the backpack with the aforementioned load. (Notice there’s still room to spare. In Hawaii, I used the bag almost every day when going on different excursion. Despite its lack of padding, the wide shoulder straps distributed the load quite evenly and I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable it was, even with a heavy-ish load and longer (mile plus) walks. It also rained on us for the first two days of our trip, and I can now confirm that the backpack is waterproof as well. The only thing I didn’t love were the chest straps. As a woman, I found they were placed just a little lower than was optimal. They can slide up and down for best fit, but the highest placement was still a little low, but not so low that I couldn’t use them for extra security when hiking over more uneven terrain. The fourth photo, shows the chest strap buckled. (You can also see the bright orange emergency whistle/buckle - not my favorite feature) The last photo, I tried to show the backpack’s profile when worn. It’s definitely a slimmer profile than many, which is nice as well. If you find this review useful, please click the ‘helpful’ link below - your feedback really helps encourage me to keep writing these reviews, and taking the pictures to go along with. Thanks!