If you’re about to take on long term travel, you have to invest in the best daypack you possibly can. How else were you planning to carry your laptop gear to the local cafe? With your hands?! Of course not. So Tamara and I did some extensive testing to see which daypack would live up to our ridiculous standards for our 2 year adventure around the world.
Osprey Packs Axis Daypack
4,5 out of 5
The Good
- Lifetime Warranty
- Extremely Comfortable
- Fits Everything Perfectly
- Great Organization
- Constructed With Your Body In Mind
- Best Daypack on the Market, Hands Down
The Gross
- Color Selection is Limited
The Vitals
- 69.00$
- 20 Liters
- 11x18x8,5" / 28x46x22 cm
- 1,2 lbs / 0,54 kg
Functionality:
What I love about Osprey is their outstanding attention to quality. Despite it’s small size, this guy is built just as tough as any other osprey on the market. It also comes with their famous lifetime guarantee to boot.
This pack excels at keeping all of your small cables and electronics organized. You’ll never have to dig through your pack to find your phone charger again as this wonder pack even includes stretchy pockets for your smaller electronics.
For longer hikes through the woods the Axis Daypack can double as a makeshift hiking pack with it’s included water bladder compartment. This is an outstanding feature for such a little pack, giving it a whole new dimension of potential uses. And yes, your 13’’ Macbook Pro will fit in this guy with ease.
The final marks come from it’s outstanding comfortability. When we tried it out we barely felt a thing, this pack just becomes a part of your body leading us to give it our highest marks for Functionality. We loved the additional minimal hip clips adding to the stability. It’s able to handle larger loads than usual with it’s slightly padded backing as well.
Value for $$$:
For all the functionality you get out of the Axis Daypack, the price of $69 is an absolute steal. With a lifetime warranty you’re pretty much guaranteed to keep this investment for life. Not to mention how ideal it is both for the digital nomad and the hardcore backpacker this is the perfect buy for almost anyone looking to get away for a while.
Sex Appeal:
While the Axis Daypack does fit very well and comfortably to your body the included colors aren’t exactly what we’d call ‘sexy’. Our favorite color was ‘Juicy Orange’ and we recommend going with this one as the Purple and Green were a tad too tacky for the fashion conscious nomad.
The Black Diamond Flash Daypack:
4 out of 5
The Good
- Super Sexy Looking
- Durable Fabric
- Fits More Than You'd Think
- Hugs Your Body
The Gross
- A Tad Pricey
- Not Enough Compartments For Small Items
The Vitals
- 59.00$
- 20 Liters
- 6,5x8x16,5" / 16x20x42 cm
- 14 Oz / 0,4 kg
Functionality:
This is clearly meant to be a backup daypack for hikers and casual travel. It’s not so much meant to last a lifetime as it is more intended for weekend excursions and b asic tagalongs for day trips. What I liked about it is how flexible and adjustable it is. I was able to fit it on wonderfully being a 6’ 4’’ guy, it adjusted quite well for my broad shoulders.
The Black Diamond fits a lot more than you’d expect for something so small. It would be a perfect addition for anyone trying to pack ultralight and have a small trustworthy addition to their pack list. It’s ideal use would be for a short stroll away from the campsite or hostel but don’t plan on shoving much more than the essentials in this one! It’s not ideal for organizing and is more of a bare minimum option.
As for the build quality we were pleasantly surprised at how durable the bag seemed. It is made of a strong fabric nylon mix that is tear resistant and weather proofed so we felt confident letting it house our valuable electronics. It’s also very very comfortable but we did find the The Black Diamond to be a bit more comfortable for our tastes.
Value for $$$:
While we do love the durability and lightweight features of this pack, it’s a bit overpriced at $59. We believe the price is likely due to it’s extremely lightweight build so some may see it as a worthy investment to free up extra room in their backpacks.
Sex Appeal:
This is probably the best daypack for sexiness you’ll find on the market! It’s biggest strength is how minimal and sleek the design is. Black Diamond hugs close to your back making you feel like you could run through the forrest without even noticing it on your body.
Deuter Speed Lite 15 Backpack
4,5 out of 5
The Good
- Great For Long Term Travel
- Good Construction For Lifetime Use
- Close To The Best Daypack
- Sexy Design Makes For Beautiful Travellers!
The Gross
- Price a Tad High
- No Lifetime Guarantee
- Slightly Less Durable Than the Axis
The Vitals
- 69.00$
- 15 Liters
- 6,5x17x9" / 16,5x43x23 cm
- 13 Oz / 0,37 Kg
Functionality:
All we can say is wow. This is an outstanding daypack and was a very to ugh call if we liked it better than the Axis! We love it for it’s design and functionality most of all. It was made with comfort in mind and you can feel that right when you put it on. It seriously feels like nothing at all (until you pack it that is). We noticed once we had packed things in it became quite awkward and less comfortable than the Axis.
The Speed Lite also succeeds at organizing our things! Almost as good as the Axis but we found the main compartment to feel a tad more cramped. What the Speed Lite does better is that it has more overall pockets for sorting your things. We think this would work best for someone planning a long excursion into the woods needing something to organize their fishing supplies or food rations. We also could see a digital nomad using it for photography gear, design gear or computer equipment.
It’s important to note that the Speed Lite is fairly weather proof and managed to keep our things dry in small drizzles. It also dries fairly quickly which was a huge plus. This owes up to it’s fantastic construction quality. You truly get what you pay for here this pack could last you for 3 to 4 years based on our basic uses.
We should note there are two other versions of this bag. One smaller at 10L and one larger at 20L.
We chose to test the 15L as it fit into our qualification of how big a daypack should be. However we encourage you to check out the other sizes as they’re just as well constructed as the 15L just bigger/smaller.
Value for $$$:
At $69 you may think that’s a bit much for a daypack however to quote William A Foster “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution”. This bag is worth your dollar as it’s design is impeccable, it’s organization is on another level and it’s ability to blend in with your body is much appreciated by the long term backpacker in need of a comfortable load. We did detract half a point for not having such a stellar guarantee as Osprey when it comes to defects.
Sex Appeal:
This baby comes in all black which is a nice touch however the logo and large yellow font detracts a tad from it’s potential sexiness. We think any travelled nomad will find it to be more than sexy enough for their wardrobe and you’d be hard pressed to find one better. We definitely recommend going for the black/titan option over the tacky blue selection.
