Peak Design Travel Series: Bags of all sizes to keep you organized
I've been using Peak Design gear for many years and its latest Travel series update brings some new bag sizes, colors, and styles to help organize you on the go.
Hyperdrive Hits
5/5 Medals of Yavin: Highly recommended for anyone who needs bags to support travel
Color, materials, and size options to fit your needs
Thoughtful design elements in zippers, pockets, and security
Bit expensive, but most products have lifetime warranties
Attractive color options
Intro
It’s been nearly 10 years since I started using the original, first generation Peak Design 20L Everyday Backpack and I continue to use it today to carry my camera gear and other mobile tech I need to keep safe and secure while traveling. Since that introduction to Peak Design products, I have purchased its Everyday Cases for most of my phones due to the fantastic ecosystem for mounts.
I have also purchased its Slide camera straps for myself and as gifts for others. A couple of months ago I was blessed to have the opportunity to check out its refresh of the Peak Design Travel series and am loving the Ultralight Packing Cubes that are helping keep me organized on the go.
Peak Design sent along the following in its Travel Series for me to test out:
80L Travel Duffel in Sage, $184.95
50L Travel Duffel in Black, $154.95
Packable Tote in Sage, $19.95
Small Tech Pouch in Charcoal, $49.95
Small UL Packing Cube, Fabric Sage and Mesh Eclipse, $24.95 each
Extra Small UL Packing Cube in Black, $19.95
Extra Extra Small UL Packing Cube in Cloud (White), $14.95
Rating:
As explained in my palmsolo’s Refresh Rating Scale post, I’m awarding the Peak Design Travel Series five (5) Medals of Yavin. This is an overall rating for all of the products I was sent to try out and not an individual rating for each product. The products are reasonably priced, extremely well constructed, and flawlessly perform the job they are intended to satisfy.
The Good and the Bad
Despite all of the internal testing and trials, it’s rare to find a perfect product. Reviewers tend to push things to the limits and find unique situations where things may not perform perfectly.
Pros
High quality materials
Fair Trade Certified
Mounts and support for ecosystem of connections
Attractive color options
Light weight designs
Lifetime warranty
Reasonable price for quality and design features
Cons
None that I have found yet
Experiences
Many of my friends travel with duffel bags instead of suitcases and I’ve never really adopted that practice. However, after a couple of months with a collection of Peak Design Travel Series products on hand I have adopted a duffel bag approach to my short trips and I am enjoying the experience.
The key to successfully using duffel bags is having other bags inside to organize things. In the past I hated having to dig through everything to find something that was there the whole time. The Ultralight Packing Cubes and Small Tech Pouch are perfect for organizing my smaller things into groups that make sense to me.
The Ultralight Packing Cubes are also simple with just a single pouch/pocket to store things in while still having loops available to connect to other products and securing mechanisms.
The Small Tech Pouch is perfect for me since I usually travel with multiple phones and need a safe small bag to carry them in. The multiple pockets support extras like cables and camera SD cards, as well as adapters to connect my gear.
Washington State also no longer provides shopping bags, unless you pay for them so I always have to remember to carry in my own bags or buy more at checkout. The Packable Tote has proven to be a nice addition with its small compact size that unfolds to be a large carry bag. I wish it supported machine washing though since sometimes products you buy at the store spill or break open. You can soak and wash the bag off in a sink and that has honestly been just fine for my usage.
Specifications
Each bag is very unique so please use the links above to visit the Peak Design website to check out all of the specific details on each of the bags.
Bottom Line
Peak Design continues to impress with its collection of new and updated bags in its Travel series and I am particularly fond of the 50L Duffel bag, Small Tech Pouch, and XS Ultralight Packing Cubes. I have many short trips coming up and I will be traveling with this gear as I continue to test the durability and performance of Peak Design products.
It is tough to satisfy everyone with products like this since we all have different needs when traveling. The beauty of the Peak Design offerings are that you can build your own travel set up starting with the Ultralight Packing Cubes and then figuring out which larger bag fits your Cubes and the rest of your gear.