The Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L has garnered significant praise, and for good reason. Having personally relied on this backpack as my primary travel companion for the past four years, I can confidently say it stands out as one of the best travel backpacks available. However, no product is without its nuances, and this review aims to provide a balanced perspective, highlighting both its exceptional strengths and minor drawbacks.
Transparency is key: this is an independent review, not influenced or sponsored by Peak Design in any way. My goal is to offer an honest assessment of the pros and cons, empowering you to make an informed decision based on your individual travel needs. Please note that this article contains affiliate links that help support the website.
Peak Design Travel Backpack in Medium Size
Price: $299
View at Peak Design
Pros & Cons of the Peak Design Travel Backpack
To kick things off, let’s summarize the key advantages and disadvantages I’ve observed during my extensive use of the Peak Design Travel Backpack.
Pros
- Incredible Design and Aesthetics: The backpack is meticulously crafted with an eye for detail, showcasing numerous thoughtful and visually appealing design elements.
- Highly Versatile Capacity: It adeptly expands from a carry-on friendly 35L to a more spacious 45L, adapting to various trip lengths and packing needs.
- Premium Materials and Shape Retention: Constructed from high-quality materials, the backpack maintains its structured form even when not fully packed, offering both durability and a refined look.
- Excellent Weather Resistance: Featuring weather-sealed zippers and robust materials, it provides reliable protection against rain and moisture.
Cons
- Potentially Fiddly Sternum Strap: The removable sternum strap, while adjustable, can be detached too easily and might be misplaced if not carefully stowed away.
Peak Design Travel Backpack in Medium Size
Price: $299
View at Peak Design
Who is the Peak Design Travel Backpack Designed For?
The Peak Design 45L Travel Backpack is particularly well-suited for travelers who favor a streamlined and organized travel experience, often involving air travel, taxis, and accommodations like hotels or bed and breakfasts.
Its primary strengths lie in its user-friendly design and exceptional organization capabilities. It’s engineered for ease of access and efficient packing, prioritizing these aspects over the heavy-duty harness systems found in backpacks built for more rugged, outdoor-centric adventures.
Consider the Peak Design 45L if any of the following resonate with you:
- Carry-on Focused Travel: You prefer to travel with carry-on luggage and typically stay in hotels, B&Bs, or vacation rentals.
- Suitcase-Style Backpack Preference: You appreciate the suitcase-like opening and spaciousness of a backpack that can be used independently or in conjunction with rolling luggage.
- Tech-Savvy Traveler: You frequently travel with technology, such as laptops or cameras, and require dedicated storage and protection.
- Versatile Travel Needs: You are a weekend traveler, business professional on the go, digital nomad, or general tourist seeking a versatile and stylish travel solution.
However, this backpack might not be the ideal choice if:
- Adventure-Heavy Travel: Your travel style involves extensive hiking, frequent stays in hostels, or prolonged periods carrying your backpack. While the Peak Design 45L offers weather resistance and decent comfort, it’s not specifically designed for demanding adventure travel scenarios.
- Primary Need is a Daypack: If you mainly require a smaller daypack for everyday use, the 45L is likely too large and heavy. In such cases, exploring dedicated daypack options would be more appropriate.
Traveler with Peak Design Backpack
Standout Features of the Peak Design Travel Backpack
The 45L Travel Backpack is packed with intelligently designed features. In fact, the sheer number of thoughtful details makes it worthwhile to watch Peak Design’s official tutorial videos to fully grasp its capabilities.
Using this backpack feels remarkably intuitive and refined, much like interacting with a well-designed piece of technology. The subtle yet effective touches – such as magnetic closures, concealed straps, and cleverly placed storage compartments – contribute to a seamless and enjoyable user experience.
What I particularly appreciate is the design’s restraint. Unlike some backpacks, often launched through crowdfunding platforms, that tend to overload with gimmicky features for promotional purposes (some brands are known for this), Peak Design prioritizes functionality and includes only features that are genuinely useful in real-world travel situations.
Despite its robust 400D nylon construction, which helps it maintain its shape even when empty, the backpack remains surprisingly lightweight at just 2.05 kg (4.5 lbs).
Close-up of Peak Design Backpack Features
Key features include:
- Dedicated Laptop/Tablet Sleeve: Strategically positioned close to your back for optimal weight distribution, the sleeve also features a padded bottom to safeguard your devices from impact during placement.
- Dual External Straps: These versatile straps on the front of the backpack are perfect for securing outerwear like a jacket or raincoat, or even bulkier items.
- Soft-Lined Top Pocket: A conveniently located top pocket with a soft interior provides scratch-free storage for sunglasses or other frequently accessed essentials.
- Expansive Side Pockets: Two generous side pockets are designed to accommodate water bottles, tripods, or other cylindrical items.
- Organized Front Compartment: The front compartment features five internal sleeves of varying sizes, offering excellent organization for smaller accessories and travel documents.
- Unstructured Main Compartment: Crucially, the backpack offers a large, undivided main compartment. This open space allows you to customize your packing arrangement, whether using packing cubes or simply organizing items as you see fit.
Leveraging the Peak Design Accessory System
One of the most compelling advantages of the Peak Design Travel Backpack is its seamless integration with Peak Design’s extensive ecosystem of accessories.
It’s essentially a modular system that allows you to enhance the backpack with optional add-ons, each meticulously designed to complement the backpack’s dimensions and functionality.
These accessories unlock the full potential of the 45L Travel Backpack, transforming it into a truly integrated travel system. The toiletry bag, electronics pouch, and packing cubes are prime examples, all exhibiting the same thoughtful design and precise fit as the backpack itself.
Peak Design Electronics PouchElectronics pouch
Peak Design Packing Cube and Wash PouchLarge packing cube + wash pouch
Having used numerous packing cubes and pouches from various brands, I can confidently state that Peak Design’s offerings are my absolute favorites. So much so, that even when I occasionally travel with a different backpack for specific trips, I consistently rely on my Peak Design accessories for organization.
The common thread among these accessories is the use of lightweight yet structured materials. They maintain their shape while adding minimal weight to your overall load. The internal dividers are intelligently designed to be flexible and adaptable. I particularly appreciate the unique “folders” Peak Design incorporates into their wash and electronics pouches. These ingenious additions facilitate true organization, preventing items from becoming jumbled behind zippers.
Among the accessories, I highly recommend these three in particular:
- Packing Cubes: These are exceptional packing cubes. They strike a perfect balance of being lightweight while retaining their shape, aiding in efficient packing and compression. You can utilize them as a single large cube or divide the space internally for further organization. I personally use the Small Packing Cube for items like socks and underwear, while the Medium Packing Cube is invaluable for meticulously organizing shirts and similar garments (though I often simply stack these in the main compartment without cubes).
- Wash Pouch (Toiletry Bag): This toiletry bag is brimming with well-considered storage compartments, including a unique magnetically closing pouch perfect for small items like cotton swabs or contact lenses. The wash pouch is precisely sized to fit within the backpack’s front compartment. It also features a built-in hook for convenient hanging in bathrooms.
- Electronics Pouch: This pouch is a haven for tech accessories, offering a multitude of small storage spaces for cables, SD cards, adapters, and more. It’s a game-changer for digital nomads or anyone traveling with a significant amount of electronics. Before discovering this pouch, the near-constant worry of losing essential small tech components like adapter cables or tripod connectors was a frequent source of travel stress.
Peak Design Wash Pouch Interior
Carry-On Compatibility: Navigating Airline Regulations
Yes, the Peak Design 45L Travel Backpack is designed to be fully compliant with carry-on size restrictions for most airlines. However, there’s a slight caveat to consider regarding its expandable feature.
In its default configuration, the backpack has a 35-liter capacity, placing it comfortably within the carry-on limits of virtually all airlines. For situations where you need a bit more packing volume, it can expand to 45L.
When expanded to 45L, it might exceed the carry-on size limits of some particularly strict airlines. That being said, I have personally flown carry-on numerous times in the 45L expanded mode without encountering any issues. Visually, the backpack doesn’t appear overly large, and if you avoid overpacking it, you should generally be fine. However, officially, in its expanded state, it may technically be over the limit for certain airlines.
At 35L, it’s perfectly suited for weekend getaways or week-long trips. I typically only expand it to 45L for trips extending beyond a week.
Regardless of the capacity mode, it’s worth noting that the Peak Design 45L is not designed to fit under the seat in front of you on most flights. It is intended for overhead compartment storage.
Long-Term Durability: Enduring Years of Travel
Having used the Peak Design 45L for four years, including some demanding adventure trips, I can offer insights into its long-term durability.
I’m pleased to report that my early production 45L pack is still in excellent condition and performing reliably. All zippers are in perfect working order, and I have experienced zero durability issues. Feedback from the broader travel community suggests that Peak Design maintains consistent product quality, making my experience representative. No aspect of the design has become a source of annoyance or wear and tear over extended use.
There is a slight degree of fading noticeable on the front exterior fabric, a result of exposure to sun and elements during adventure trips to developing countries where it has been subjected to dirt and rough handling. This is not unexpected and likely remedied with a thorough cleaning.
Comfort Considerations: Harness System and Weight Distribution
The harness system of the Peak Design Travel Backpack is a design choice that prioritizes aesthetics and streamlined functionality over maximum load-bearing comfort. It’s essential to understand its design philosophy to align expectations.
The harness includes padded shoulder straps, a sternum strap, and a waist belt. These components work together to distribute weight and provide a reasonable level of comfort. However, it’s not designed to be the most comfortable backpack for extended periods of continuous wear, which might be a primary requirement for certain travel styles.
Peak Design Backpack Harness System
Firstly, the sternum strap’s design, while allowing for height adjustment via detachment on both sides, also makes it somewhat prone to accidental detachment. If you plan to check this bag, detaching the sternum strap and stowing it in a pocket is a prudent measure to prevent it from snagging on anything.
The stowable waist straps are relatively thin. They provide basic support and weight distribution but lack the substantial padding found on backpacks designed for backpacking or heavy loads.
Peak Design has clearly prioritized a visually clean and minimalist harness, recognizing that this level of support is sufficient for the majority of travelers, especially those whose travel primarily involves air travel, taxis, and hotel transfers.
However, if your travel style leans towards more adventurous activities, frequent hostel stays, or extended hiking, backpacks with more robust suspension systems, like the Tortuga Travel Backpack (high-end) or the Osprey Farpoint 40 (budget-friendly), might be better suited.
Additionally, when expanded to its 45-liter capacity, the added volume primarily increases the backpack’s depth, which can impact weight distribution. For optimal comfort during prolonged carrying, backpacks with a taller, rather than deeper, profile are generally preferable.
Peak Design Backpack Side Profile
Peak Design 45L vs. 30L Travel Backpack
In addition to the 45L version, Peak Design also introduced a 30L Travel Backpack in 2022. Having owned both, I can highlight the key distinctions.
While they share a similar aesthetic, the 30L and 45L versions are fundamentally different in their intended use.
The 30L feels more akin to a larger daypack. I use it as my daily commute bag for transporting my laptop, keyboard, notebooks, and other work essentials when working from co-working spaces. A notable feature of the 30L is a smaller, top-accessed organizer, ideal for pens, USB drives, and small accessories.
I haven’t used the 30L for extended travel and likely wouldn’t consider it for trips longer than a weekend. Its capacity and design are not geared towards larger travel loads. I perceive the 30L as a larger counterpart to Peak Design’s Everyday line of packs, rather than a smaller sibling to the 45L Travel Backpack.
Peak Design 30L Travel Backpack
Conclusion: The Verdict on the Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L
Despite minor points of consideration, the Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L firmly holds its place as one of my top three favorite backpacks. For many types of trips, it unequivocally becomes my preferred choice.
While for budget backpacking trips in destinations like Thailand, I might opt for my more outdoors-oriented Osprey Farpoint 40, for European vacations, work trips, or family visits, the Peak Design is consistently the backpack I reach for. For general travel, air travel, and urban exploration, I consider it simply one of the finest backpacks available.
Where to Purchase Your Peak Design Travel Backpack
Peak Design primarily distributes its products through its official website. I recommend purchasing directly from Peak Design’s website as they offer free shipping and streamline warranty management.
While select retailers carry Peak Design gear, particularly their Everyday product line, the 45L Travel Backpack is notably not available on Amazon. Beyond Peak Design’s site, REI is another reputable retailer that carries it, which may be advantageous if you are an REI member. Otherwise, purchasing directly from Peak Design is generally the most straightforward option.
Some links may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn commission from products or services I recommend. For more, see site policies.
Posted JUL 04, 2023
