Buying a practical and stylish backpack was a lot harder than I thought it would be

Buying a backpack - how hard can it be?

I use a backpack everyday for work and at lots of different events and conferences. My normal one was lacking in the features department so I’d planned for a post Christmas upgrade.

I thought this would be a simple, easy and a fun thing to do. I ended up spending hours looking at bags online, reading reviews, watching promo videos on youtube (which is an awesome resource if you’re buying something online btw). In total I ordered 7 backpacks before finding the one.

Lots of people helped me along my journey of backpack buying so I thought I’d document what I found and maybe save someone hours of amazon trawling and doing returns.

Use case

Going to work, travelling to and attending awesome tech events where I need to take my laptop and a load of other stuff.

Requirements

Separate laptop compartment - if your bag’s full of stuff and you need to get your laptop out, this can be a pain and awkward when all your stuff falls out all over the floor.

Decent size - not giant, I don’t want to look like an armadillo.

Rain resistant - I’m not going camping in Antarctica but if it rains, the last thing I want is a soggy laptop.

Looks cool - I gotta look good!

User research

I checked out backpacks at the tech meetups I go to. If I knew the person I asked them but sometimes I just made notes from afar. If you saw me avidly staring at your stuff in January - I wasn’t planning to mug you, I was admiring your backpack.

I asked friends for recommendations, Carol, Helen, Jess, Nina - you all have great backpacks! One friend recommended the brand Dakine which was a great help. Carol also helpfully pointed out that she loves her yellow backpack but it gets dirty on the bottom easily.

Spiking out different options

Kroser Backpack

£29 see it on Amazon

• Separate laptop section
• Phone charger
• Water resistant
• Loads of good storage pockets
• Nice light lining
• Crafty hidden pocket on the back
• MASSIVE - looked like an armadillo. Unisex means fits a mans frame better

Norsens Lightweight Backpack

£30 see it on Amazon

• Slimline design
• Separate laptop section
• Padded laptop compartment which had a buffer between the bottom of the bag and your laptop to protect it
• Water resistant
• Good storage pockets
• Light lining
• Crafty hidden pocket on the back
• Pretty big and very boxy

Matein Backpack

£29 see it on Amazon

• Good size - fits 15" laptop
• Separate laptop section
• USB phone charger port
• Water resistant
• Good storage pockets
• Crafty hidden pocket on the back
• Black lining makes it difficult to see anything in the bag

Kroser square Backpack

£30 see it on Amazon

• Nice 'leather' trims
• Separate laptop section
• USB phone charger port
• Water resistant
• Good storage pockets
• Nice light lining
• Really boxy and a bit too big for me

Dakine Garden Backpack

£40 see it on Amazon

• Highly rated brand
• Perfect size
• Gorgeous design
• Water resistant
• Good storage pockets
• Nice lining
• Not enough pockets and no separate laptop pocket

Dakine Frankie Backpack

£64 see it on Amazon

• Highly rated brand
• Separate Laptop pocket
• Nice design and colour
• Water resistant
• Good storage pockets
• Nice lining
• Just too big

And the winner is…

After all those I narrowed down what I wanted to most: separate laptop section, cool lining ideally but definitely a light colour so I can see into the bag, a good every day size - not massive. None of the above met all of the perfectly reasonable and achievable demands.

Ogio Soho Backpack

£56 see it on Amazon

• Seperate laptop pocket
• Nice design and colour
• Water resistant
• Cool lining
• Good storage pockets
• Three compartments
• Good size for me and my stuff
• Really cool pocket design for laptop charger

Bag on the Ogio website