Venture Pal Ultralight Lightweight Packable Foldable Travel Camping Hiking Outdoor Sports Backpack Daypack (Black)

First, you have to understand that this bag is probably not a great choice for daily use. Its unstructured and made of what I would describe as "windbreaker material". Its thin nylon. But for me, that's what makes it 5 stars. I use this as a day pack while travelling. It holds a water bottle, rain jacket, small first aid kit, phone charger, and souvenirs collected along the way. Then it packs flat or into its own pocket for the trip home, or maybe serves as an extra carry on if I bought too many of those souvenirs. It is very sturdy for what it is though. It has double zippers that can be locked together with a small biner. Its a very nice size and has external water bottle pockets. So maybe not for every day carry, but perfect for the occasional use on vacation as it fold flat, is very light and has the features needed to do the job. Would definitely recommend.

Update after months of using: Yes, it's true that that one of the zippers gets stuck. The one on the top of the front side. The pack is stitched to cover the zipper, probably against rain. (It's where I sometimes put my cellphone, so I'm glad.) But opening it without the zipper getting stuck is a two hand job. Which isn't the worst thing: makes it harder for a person behind you to steal. It unzips easily enough. Though yes this is an annoyance. I'm leaving it at five stars because I'm not sure how they could have done it "better" without adding weight or bulk. Which still amazes me how light but sturdy this pack seems. Straps are comfortable even when carrying two TWO-Liter bottles of water. And the top carry handle is handy and good, too. The only thing the pack does not do, is hold it's shape when empty. Which I specifically like -- I bought it to pack it "formless" into a larger bag to then use on arrival. I mention it, because I find I like the pack and have been using it in more situations. So now, holding itself open might be nice. Not sure I'll ever go back to the classic overkill day/study backpacks I used to drag with me everywhere. --Original review: Even more cleverly designed than I expected. What this backpack improves on: +The bottle pouches: This is the first backpack I've owned or seen firsthand where the pouches can actually hold the huge tall bottles I use. Thanks to the horizontal strap above each pocket, and the forgiving main material of the pack, even a TWO Liter (half gallon!!) water bottle sits in the drink pouch, and is strapped upright to not fall. One on each side, even. (Admittedly this encroaches into the main pouch area a bit, but I think that moves the weight more central and am glad. +The pocket it zips itself nto: Lots of packs and bags zip down into a small pocket. That's not new. But this one, when in use that same zipper, turned inside out, becomes a handy little front pocket. With a great internal mesh see-through pocket. Which mesh pocket shows when it's all zipped down into itself, too, so if you want something easily accessed, it's available either state. +Several internal pockets, inside each section. More than I'll need, but they don't add bulk. +Shoulder straps actually are well padded compared to what I expected. Without adding weight or bulk. And, they'll breathe, which matters for hot days. +Stitching reinforced with material in several key stress areas. +Straps each serve a purpose, and are long enough. Clips and zippers work smoothly and are a pleasure. Note that the main compartment is tall, which I specifically wanted, to accommodate certain gear. It's not overly wide. But I THINK it would accommodate a basketball. (But while doing that, might prevent it from fitting 2 two-liter bottles in the outer side pouches at the same time.) Negative: The whistle doesn't work so well, or maybe there's a trick to how to blow it. That wasn't what I bought it for anyway. I looked at almost every similar pack on Amazon before I chose this one. There were one or two others very close to it. And one that looked better. But after reading reviews, asking questions, I chose this one. Glad I did.

I use this as a weekender, usually just going to hotels or friends houses etc. Previously, I was using a MOLLE style tactical backpack and it was at least 4 lbs empty, this thing is ounces, so my bag weighs 30% less no matter what. Big pocket has smaller pouches inside to make a section for socks and shirts and such, while the big area holds 3-4 pairs of shorts and pants. The outside upper pocket holds my small electronics well, but the lower front pocket is a strange place. When the inside is packed, it really pushes on the front lower pocket's interior pouches and makes them hard to use effectively. Putting the pouches on the opposite side of the pocket would probably alleviate the issues. The handle that is used when the backpack is converted to tiny mode is also in this lower outside pocket, just hanging out in there. It doesn't really have a use there and just looks like a second thought. Would someone actually carry it by this handle if it was in tiny mode? Probably not. A tiny clip or a small loop of cloth w/caribiner would be nice in this pocket for long trips to keep your house or car keys safe when you know they won't be used for a week or so. Overall the only thing that needs work in a future revision would be the front lower pocket. I don't really convert to tiny mode, so I can't comment on that. I did black sharpie the the bright logo on my black one, mostly because I prefer subdued look to help me be less visible in a crowd. So, a reflector free and pure black option would be nice as well. I've packed this bag probably 20 times in the 8 months I've had it and it's holding up, no damage to report. The zippers are top quality, have a solid feel and sound. Straps are fine, some padding but it's so light fully loaded, any more padding isn't really necessary. The water bottle side pocket is pretty short, can hold a 12oz bottle, but the big ones everyone uses nowadays are too tall for the pocket, it feels like a big bottle would just fall out, maybe a tiny clip strap to lock your bottle in here would be nice, but I mostly use that pocket for used snack wrappers and napkins etc.

I took this backpack for 2 weeks in Japan and it proved its worth. I wore it every day for hours while on bus trips, subway trips, hiking, and it worked great. The only sign of wear is that the zipper pull frayed. It is super lightweight - about 8 oz compared to about 2.5 pounds for my normal laptop backpack. It has lots of dividers for places to store stuff. I looked at other lightweight backpacks at twice the cost. While others weighed less, this had the features I was looking for - storage compartments including a small laptop, glasses, waterbottles. The straps have a bit of ventilation, but you've got to sacrifice somewhere and it doesn't have the padded back and air ventilation of heavy packs. I found it needed more rigidity so I put my 10" travel convertible tablet into a plastic case which gave it lots of shape. I was thinking I would just bring it along and transfer my day stuff into it when I got to Japan, but it was so functional I quickly transferred everything into it and left my heavy Swiss Army backpack sitting at home and never regretted it. I left behind the chest straps and I almost wish I had cut off one of the compression straps as I didn't use them. I only used one of the compression straps to clip in my water bottle carabiner but I didn't even need that. Next time I'll bring along a carabiner or something to clip the backpack's loop to the top of my roller carryon. See my video review on Youtube - just search for "Venture Pal" Update - so a year later it's been to many different places in the US without a problem but on a 10d trip to Germany I had my cellphone stolen from it. I put my cellphone in the outermost zippered pocket on the bottom attached to a charger. Someone saw me put it there while I was on a train. In just 3 seconds while waiting for the door, they unzipped it, removed it off the charger, and zipped it back without me noticing. Don't put anything valuable in that zipper, or use some sort of lock to slow them down.

I bought this light weight pack in 2023 for a trip to Europe as a day pack. I have used it on 3 European trips and 6 other short hauls. Love all the separate zipper spaces/pouches. Fits my 2 iPad Pro 14 , 2 coats, and has always worked very well , also has two size water bottle holders. Love it so much that I want another incase something happens to this one. VERY HAPPY WITH this product