This backpack from Topo Designs will happily accompany Europe, on a dusty trail or to Starbucks

As we get Away from home, the gear-obsessed WIRED Reviews team writes about our favorite bags and EDCs. Today, critic Martin Cizmar raves about her Topo Designs backpack. You can also view other Baggage screening stories Or CABLE the writers share their choice.

Topo Designs can just do the best bags in the world. Denver-based brand gorpcore sells gear that looks cool, lasts forever, and has all the features a sane person wants in a bag without making the product feel overly constructed. If I ever win the lottery, I won’t tell anyone, but there will be signs – like I’m carrying groceries to Trader Joe’s in two hours. Mountain bags. (I currently use blue polypropylene Ikea bags and shop at Aldi.)

In March, I took a spring break trip to Ireland and Scotland with a carry-on size roller bag and the Topo Designs Rover Trail pack as my personal item. I test new bags frequently and didn’t give much thought to the decision to commit to the Rover for a week. I quickly learned that you get to know a bag pretty well when you take it on seven flights and stay in eight different hotels in 10 days. By the time I got home, I was fully convinced that the Rover was the best backpack I have ever used.

Like the six or seven other Topo Designs bag models I’ve tested—and perhaps more extensively than any of the others—the Rover manages to cleverly incorporate all the thoughtful little features I’ve appreciated in other backpacks without even the slightest touch of flash.

At the top of the bag is a zippered compartment that opens to reveal the backpack-style opening, which closes with a drawstring. This is where I like to store my keys, any important papers I may have on me and sometimes my wallet. Typically, I find myself double or triple checking the zipper to make sure nothing falls out. No need with the Rover, because inside this zipped compartment there is also a key clip and an additional zipped mesh pocket. This feature allows you to double up on anything you don’t want to risk falling out – in my case, me and my daughter’s passports. When I went through the TSA line at the airport, I clipped my car keys for the week, zipped the passports in the mesh pouch, and never worried about losing them either.

As for the main compartment, unlike most bags this small, you don’t need to rummage through it from the top. Instead, there’s a handy J-shaped zipper running the length of the bag so you can access things at the bottom without having to deal with everything at the top first. After boarding a flight, I arrived at my Turtle pillow And off-brand Sondor travel cushion– both towards the bottom of the bag – as soon as I got to my seat I zipped up without having to unpack my fleece or toiletries which were located towards the top.

The side pockets, designed for water bottles, contain spandex so they can accommodate bottles of different sizes. I don’t drink water on planes, but I can confirm that they could accommodate cans of Diet Coke.

This bag is apparently intended for trail riding, and I wouldn’t hesitate to take it on a day hike and use the lightly padded waist belt to keep it from jostling around. But it was the kind of trip where you just threw a strap or two over your shoulder and tucked the belt under the foam support layer – an easy modification on the Rover. You can also use this foam layer to protect a laptop or tablet, as there is a side zipper to put something between it and the inside of the bag.

This pack is 22 liters, perfect as a personal item or for a day hike. An enterprising ultralight backpacker could probably spend a summer night with it using the clipped straps at the bottom and the single row of nylon loops to attach a bag. sleeping bag And shelter. They are also useful for attaching dirty gear that you don’t want to put in the bag.

Like many of my colleagues, I am a big fan of Topo Designs and I could have written a love letter to a few bags of the brand – I have the Global Pro Travel Roll here waiting for a trip next week, but I think the Rover Trail is the most versatile of the group, and is what I would recommend as a gateway bag to others.

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