*We’ve decided to dedicate Wednesdays to gear: the items we’ve bought, why we bought it, stuff we’ve returned. You get the idea. We’d love to hear what you guys think, too – the good and the bad. If we bought headlamps that you hated, we want to hear about it. And, sometime (probably at the halfway mark of our trip) we’ll let you know what goodies treated us well & which ones we had to ditch along the way.
In this week’s addition of gear mail we’ll be focusing on our daypacks. We searched for a VERY long time for our daypacks. From my (Lisa’s) monthlong trip through Europe with a messenger bag I knew this was one small thing that we wouldn’t want to mess up. (After 3 weeks of a sore back I finally bit the bullet and bought a tiny backpack at a flea market.)
Anyway, we knew the chances of us getting the same bag would be slim. Corey will be carrying our laptop/netbook/tablet (whatever we end up purchasing this summer), so we knew his would probably be bigger. So, you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the Deuter Speed Lite 10 & 20. It’s like Deuter knew that the bag I picked would need a slighter larger companion.
deuter speed lite 10 & 20
Some other bags we considered:
- REI Flash Pack 18 (I’ve heard GREAT things about this bag)
- Pacsafe Venturesafe 300 (we actually purchased this & when it arrived found that it wasn’t really a backpack – the photos at the time were deceiving, but they’ve updated their images)
- Packsafe Venturesafe (too big)
- Osprey Daylite Pack
- North Face Women’s Ingrid (this would’ve been my bag had I not found the Deuter Lite 10)
- Osprey Flapjill Laptop Pack (too big)
- Marmot Ultra Kompressor (similar model to the one we looked at)
- Keen Burnside Daypack
Although it was a small test, they did tag along on our trip last winter (2010) to Raleigh & we’re definitely happy with our picks. Corey likes that his has an extra “secret” compartment that enables his bag to pack more.
secret slot for overflow
I like that it fits my small frame nicely & its super lightweight even with all the stuff I plan to pack in it.
Corey & I with the daypacks (empty)
While we don’t plan on bringing camelpacks (small pouches that enable you to put water in your packs), it’s nice to know that we have that option.
H2O slot
Obviously, it will take some real travel under our belts to give you an accurate opinion of these bags. Once we’re on the road for at least 3 months we’ll let you know how our bags & the rest of our gear is holding up. We hope you’ll stop by for our next gear mail topic: headlamps!
