Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Review (part 2)
This is the follow-on report I promised when I wrote the original blog post some months back. I have now lived with the Everyday Backpack on multiple continents and taken several trips with it. So I feel I have given it enough time to give a fairly accurate report. I have taken it to Europe (several times), to Indonesia and Singapore, to Dubai, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa. As I write this, I am waiting for a return plane in Johannesburg. This African trip took us to Cape Town, Windhoek, Etosha Game Park and Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. So the bag has seen a bit of action!
Before I bore you, (if you are not an avid photographer you are already bored) let me simply tell you what I like and don’t like about the bag, in no particular order.
What I Like
The bag does not look like a photography bag. I really like that. I often get compliments about the bag. It looks good and seems to wear well. It got a lot of desert sand and dust in Namibia. I cleaned it off easily with a damp cloth.
The multiple carry handles are really a nice feature.
It has lots of “nifty” pockets. The two I like the best are the one on the inside flap of the front, accessed from the top of the bag. It’s great for passports and things like that. It is held closed by a magnet. 
Next, the one in the back sleeve (where the laptop goes). This one holds things like pens, my memory card wallet (the other pockets don’t hold memory cards very well) and my trusted Kindle that goes everywhere with me. Easy to get to and simple to drop little items in. (I love the Kindle holder in the Peak Design Messenger Bag even more).
The pockets on the inside of the side flaps are very useful. I like the fact that they can be closed by a zipped cover to further secure your items. As I said above, I am a little surprised that there is not a better memory card holder but perhaps the reason for the that is that cards come in different sizes.
The laptop sleeve on my 30L pack is great. Easy to deposit a MacBook Pro 13”. This is the huge weakness of my F-Stop bag that used to be my go-to travel bag.
The divider system for the gear works reasonably well. It is not a versatile as the guys at Peak Design make out. I think the dividers may work better in time as they loosen up. However, it took me a while to configure the bag to my liking. But the problem is that I use different kit on different trips. I have two or three big concerns. First, the compartments are often insufficient in their depth. So your lens perches very precariously in its compartment and can easily fall out if the flap is open and the bag is picked up or moved (see photo below). I have taken the elastic strips from my other bags (yes, like most of you I have a collection) and used them to help prevent possible falls, but they don’t grip sufficiently well for my liking. Second, when you have multiple cameras or lenses, the weight of the cameras or lenses puts pressure on the bottom sections, making it more difficult to insert or withdraw cameras. Not a major issue but something to factor in. Third, I find I have some unused space, particularly when you have lenses attached to the cameras.
Overall, the bag carries a fair amount of gear. On this trip, I carried a Sony A7RII with the G Master 24-70 attached most of the time. Plus the 16-35mm F4 lens. I also carried a Nikon D750 with the 28-300mm lens, the Nikon 20mm 1.8 prime. I also carried the Metabones adapter for Nikon to Sony, some ND filters. There was room in the top compartment for odds and ends including a lightweight sweater. On earlier trips, instead of a second body, I carried the DJI Mavic Pro drone.
I do like the front latch system for the main flap (top photo). One of the major advantages of this bag is how quickly you can get to things. It really is the best bag I have used for travel, not just as a camera bag but as a travel bag. I spend far too much time on planes and in airports. This bag really works for me. However, the front latch system is not perfect and I have found occasions where I thought it was latched but discovered later that is was not. This happens less often now that I am aware of the potential for it. On the plus side, it makes access easy.
What I don’t Like
The biggest issue for me is the potential for gear to fall out if you don’t zip up the side flaps (above photo). I ditched one camera bag that I loved because I found this happened too often. While it hasn’t occurred in a serious way with the Peak Design Everyday Backpack, I am concerned that it is eminently possible. Referring back to my earlier comments, some of the compartments can be quite shallow, particular for lenses. If you forget to close the side flap properly and lift the bag up, lenses will fall out. If this happens to a $1000 lens, it is a serious problem. I really believe Peak Design should have put a simple, lightweight net system with elastic attachments that would catch/prevent the lenses and other things falling out. For the storage systems on the side flaps, they have the great zip shut covers. But the really expensive stuff is sitting in the main compartment with nothing to stop them falling out if you pick up the bag the wrong way.
Second, the ergonomics of the bag as a backpack are not quite right. If you go to my earlier post on the issue, I found the shoulder straps slipping off when I was wearing a down jacket. It is better when your clothing is not made of slippery material but it is still not 100% right.
The third issue, and this is a common mistake of bags, is that there is nothing to stop the stuff you place in the top compartment above your camera gear from falling down, either out the bag when the sides are open or into the area where your camera gear is stored. I have got around this (for my f-stop bag initially) by using a drawstring bag into which I place my loose items. But they really need to provide a moveable/removable “tray” divider that separates the top section from the bottom section.
Another issue is that I wish there was more padding protection at the bottom of the bag. That’s the spot that I place my heavy cameras. I have taken a divider from another camera bag and placed it at the bottom to increase the padding.
The bottom line ….
Unequivocally, the Everyday Backpack is the most suitable camera bag I have owned. It is really easy to travel with, particularly in and out of airports. I love the fact that it does not look like a camera bag, although some folk recognizes it as the Trey Ratcliffe Peak Design creation. There are a number of ways the bag can be made better, the most important of which, to my mind, is the addition of a “safety net” to prevent kit falling out. I also think the ergonomics of the bag while carrying it could be improved.
Would love to hear comments from other people on their experience.
For more about the Everyday Backpack go to Peak Design
This post contains affiliate links.
Piers van der Merwe
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- Beautiful and Surreal Sossusvlei, Namibia - August 6, 2017
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