List Price: $179.99
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Well, I'll make my first admission I am no photographer, so I have no need to carry around large quantities of expensive photographic equipment. However, if I was, I would certainly consider this as a means of doing so. It is without doubt a very impressive, high quality rucksack.
The 20l main compartment comes with a rather funky integral container with fully configurable compartments for your camera, lenses and other stuff. The container is also well padded so will be nicely protective. Now THAT would make this more or less useless as an ordinary rucksack but and here's the clever bit the container can be removed from the rucksack intact and used, by virtue of a pair of integral carry handles and a draw-string cover, as a functional (if rather dowdy) camera equipment grip. This leaves the rucksack with a large, spacious compartment which I promptly packed with weeks-worth of clothes and my laptop because I'm off on a business trip on Monday. Note that there will still be plenty of room for my regulation duty-free litre of Grouse (which should ironically just drop into the side mounted "hydration pouch") on the trip home.
An interesting innovation is that the main compartment is accessed via the back of the rucksack (i.e. the side that is in contact with YOUR back). This apparently makes the contents more secure.
There are a number of other pockets and pouches dotted around the bag, on the outside and inside (including some mesh pouches on the waistbelt) which mean that you can store all manner of other bits and pieces securely or readily accessible.
There is a couple of straps and flaps on one side that you snappers would normally use to hold your box-brownie's tripod, but could also be used to hold a rolled up mac or jacket. There is also an integral rain-cover. This really does keep on giving.
The construction of this rucksack is great. It is a high quality piece of kit that looks like it will withstand a lot of abuse (and protect its contents). The zippers are robust and the body material is water resistant. My version (I had no choice in the colour department) comes in a rather vibrant, Emergency Services Orange. At least I won't be getting run down by any snow-ploughs in the forseeable future.
I am very impressed with this, versatile, heavy duty general purpose/specialist equipment rucksack. If I was going into a war zone with a load of photographic kit, THIS is what I'd want to carry it in. Perhaps my only complaint is that it's just a little bit on the heavy side, but I guess that's the price you pay for it's many other virtues.
I've uploaded some photos to illustrate some of these points.
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Not too many reviews about this bag, I still went with this bag based on what I saw and my gut feeling. No regrets now that I bought it.For over 2 years, I have been searching for the right bag. I considered many different type of bags like messenger bags and backpacks. I practically saw every website that sells bags, but I never found what I was really looking for. The bag I always wanted was something in which I can carry my camera and 2-3 lenses and a flash. Something in which I can carry some of my accessories; not all.
Apart from all this I did not want a boring BLACK/GREY color bag which looks so boring. I wanted something good looking, hip and smart. My search finally came to an end. I bought the Orange bag, there is another Blue color.
Straight off, let me tell you what all I fit into this bag:
1) Canon 7d with a 18-200 lens
2) 90 mm lens
3) 50 mm lens
4) External Flash
6) AA (4) Battery charger
7) Battery grip
8) Binoculars (Nikon) Kinda huge; not the compact one.
9) Accessories like Light meter, cards, wires etc.
So you see this bag sure can fit a WHOLE LOT of things. If you take off the battery grip and binoculars you can easily fit in another 2 lenses.
Other cool features
1) Not sure if you have seen the video on Lowepro.com but you can take and put stuff into the bag without taking it off your bag, yes that's how cool the bag is. I was amazed by this feature. The bag comes off your shoulder and sits around your waist, so it stays there, while you dig into your bag.
2) It fits a 50 Oz Hydration pack (does not come with the bag). I bought this from amazon too Camelbak Antidote Reservoir 50oz. This is a great feature if you think about it. If you go on city tours or shooting outdoors you don't need to carry bottles and can keep sipping water while you walk around.
3) Stand to hold your monopod/tripod
4) It has this rain cover which is nice
If you don't want to use this as camera bag, you can take off all the stuff in the form of a bag that comes off. Now it becomes a plain backpack.
The only CON for me is that it does not fit a laptop. Not even a small one. But I guess you can't have everything in ONE BAG. You got to compromise somewhere. It does how ever fit a tablet.
This bag is not a completely PRO LEVEL bag in the sense that its not overly HUGE to fit in EVERY single photography accessory you have. But its just right for those who don't want to lug around every single thing they own. You wanna look smart with the bag, this is the one for you.
This review is being written on my first day of getting the bag, hence my rating is 5. I am going on a trip to Puerto Rico in July, so will use this bag to its full capacity and update this review after the July 4th weekend. Until then, I would say this is a highly recommended bag.
Best Deals for Lowepro LP36504-PWW Flipside Sport 20L Camera Daypack (Orange)
I bought this because we're going hiking in Montana next month and I wanted to be able to haul a lot of gear with me. I shopped and bargain hunted for months before I decided to splurge and buy this.Some things I like:
1. It's not black. Seems like 90% of the backpacks are black. Hate that.
2. It doesn't look like I'm wearing a suit case on my back (i.e. it's not boxy).
3. Ingenious tripod carrier. Most of the products I looked at don't have any accessories for carrying a tripod. Some do, but they wouldn't work well except for a very small tripod. This has a really unique device on the side for carrying and securing/strapping down a good size tripod. Kind of hard to describe, but it will hold it securely without losing it or having it bounce around.
4. Pretty unique access to your gear. No need to take the backpack off to get to your stuff. Just remove the shoulder straps (leaving the hip belt/stabilizers on) and spin the unit around so it's in front of you, then unzip the back panel, exposing all your stuff. The backpack will fold down in front of you and (allegedly) stay horizontal, so you can open up the back and get to your stuff.
5. Hydration pack
6. Really good solid shoulder straps, chest strap, and hip stabilizers.
7. Lots of nice little pockets/nooks and crannies for car keys, etc.
8. Two separate rain covers, one for the entire bag, one more to cover the storage compartment only while the pack is open.
9. I like that you can remove the whole storage assembly and use the backpack as a regular day pack if you want.
One downside...I think I saw that you're supposed to be able to fit a laptop in it. There is NO WAY you will fit ANY size laptop in this thing. MAYBE an IPAD if you're lucky.
Also, even though I bought the largest one (this comes in three sizes), I still don't think I'll be able to carry everything I want. I'm hoping to carry the following, and I think it will be a stretch: two pro canon bodies w/o grips, a 70-200 2.8 L, a 28-70 2.8 L, an 85 mm 1.2 L, 50 mm 1.8, an extension tube, a 2x TC, a 580 flash with pocket wizards, a tripod, and accessories like cards, batts, chargers, etc.
I'll update when I know how I do with it.
UPDATE So I'm now back from Montana, where I used this thing, and I can say that I love it. It worked really well and I didn't have any real significant problems. A few notes learned from the experience:
1. The pouch for the hydration pack is on the small side. Not a big deal. While I was there, I bought my first hydration kit. It's two liters and when full, it won't fit in the bag. I'd say the most you can reasonably fit in is about 1.5 liters. Perhaps more if you're using a different style of hydration kit.
2. The idea that you can take the shoulder straps off this thing, leaving on the waist band, and simply fold the backpack down in front of you to access all of your gear is crazy. There's no way it's stable or strong enough to do that, and if it flops over, ALL of your contents will fall out of the bag.
3. The straps on the back of the pack for monopod attachment are really weak. Theoretically, you can cinch them up around the monopod to hold it in place but I found that they loosened up and unhooked pretty much right away.
4. I was able to carry all of the gear I listed above, except the 85mm 1.2 L. which is huge anyway. I also carried a canon G10 point and shoot and aat one point, a small pair of binoculars.
5. Straps were really comfortable, especially the waist straps/hip stabilizers.
Honest reviews on Lowepro LP36504-PWW Flipside Sport 20L Camera Daypack (Orange)
I was looking for a pack to take on a hiking trip in Europe this Summer. My requirements list was pretty ridiculous:room for hydration, preferably outside the photo equipment compartment
room for my pro DSLR + four lenses (one tele zoom, one 50mm prime, one wide zoom, one standard zoom)
safe, padded compartment for a notebook computer
fits under airline seat
capable of carrying a tripod
room for windbreaker/rain shell, snacks, other hiking gear
weatherproof (it's supposed to rain frequently where I'll be hiking)
I was beginning to despair, when I finally found the LowePro Flipside Sport 20L AW. It meets all of my requirements (plus a bit of room to spare), and it's amazingly lightweight and comfortable to wear. I've had a few serious trial-run hikes now (25%+ climbs and descents, with full load of gear, water, etc) to prove it out, and I'm really impressed.
Upsides:
The design and construction show real attention to detail. All of the zippers, straps, etc. are beautifully made and work smoothly.
The material is lightweight, but feels rugged and durable.
This pack is LIGHT! I noticed that many of the plastic fittings are a weight-saving design that removes material from areas of the part that aren't stressed. A nice touch.
The hip strap adusts easily, as do the shoulder straps. It would be great if they were height adjustable as well, but I suspect that's part of the weight-saving design. It happens to fit my shorter (5' 6") frame quite well. I'm able to balance the weight so that it doesn't feel like I'm carrying it on my shoulders. You know, like a backpack is supposed to be.
The opening design for access to photo gear is really smart. You likely do need to set the pack down to take out camera gear, but the great news is that the parts that touch you don't get dirty as is the case with some other photo packs I've used (Tenba, I'm looking at you).
The hydration and tripod mounting are on either side of the pack, so they can counterbalance one another
Lots of loops and straps make it easy to secure items to the outside of the pack as needed
Lots of (small) zippered compartments provide easy access and organization
Webbed compartments with elastic tops on the hip belt make a great place to stow snacks, sunglasses, etc. while hiking!
The hydration compartment works well with the (not included) 1.5L Camelbak bladder, and the shoulder straps have elastic straps nicely positioned for holding the tube in place for easy access.
Downsides:
the computer compartment really is only big enough for a 11" MacBook air or an iPad. They say that in the specs, but I was hoping I could somehow cram something bigger in there...
Hip strap seems to lack height adjustment
Some of the interior organization is limited by where they've put the 'pile' side of the velcro. I would have loved a centimeter or two more leeway in placing some of the dividers.
The pack doesn't include the hydration bladder, and LowePro doesn't recommend one on their web site or in the product specs. I've had a good experience using the Camelbak Antidote 50 oz (1.5L) reservoir CamelBak Rucksack accessories Antidote Reservoir but they could have saved me a bit of searching by specifying something...
All in all, this pack is a great piece of gear. It's not inexpensive, but it feels like a well-designed and carefully constructed pack.
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