Topo Designs Travel Bag and Trip Pack Unboxing and Overview

New Updated Video of the Topo Designs Travel Bag…

A quick video of the unboxing and initial exploration of of the Topo Designs Travel Bag and Trip Pack. One of my favorite bags to this point – a bag I’ve schlepped across most of the U.S, South and Central America, and a large portion of Europe is the Patagonia MLC. It’s been a great bag and holds enough stuff to get by, but not enough to weigh you down. After having and using both the Topo Designs Daypack and Mountain bag, I’ve been impressed enough to want a few more. I sold several courier bags, a laptop bag (Timbuk2 and Patagonia both), and even a Topo Designs Duffel to get the new travel pack and trip bag. Although I like the Patagonia bags, I really like that the Topo Designs Bags are made in the U.S.A.  – enough that I’m willing to pay a premium for them. That, and the ones I already own have aged well, held up admirably, and they come out of the wash looking almost new.

I like the size of the larger travel bag. It’s about the same size as the Patagonia MLC I was so familiar with, and it fits about the same amount of stuff. I can pack enough clothes for a week and a little extra. My initial impression of the trip pack is that it’s a tad small. It’s really cool that it attaches to the front of the travel bag, although I can’t really see when I’ll use that. Maybe it’s a little gimmicky, but it’s a gimmick I can get behind. I love a good system. I can fit a water bottle, a very small jacket and only two small cameras in it. I suppose that’s enough for most adventures, but I like to pack a little heavy – journals, and assortment of pens, some pliers, etc. Maybe the trip pack will force me to lighten my load a little, which couldn’t really hurt. I’ll try to take some more photos of the bags as I use them and I’ll revisit some of my first impressions in a later post.