I'll start with this, and this is important; Even though the website says the bag is dimensionally larger than what Frontier and Spirit allow, they didn't hassle me about it.
ABSOLUTE WIN
(* Your mileage may vary. )
I woulda bought the bag in December at the Denver Airport store and left my overstuffed Timbuk2 Messenger in the
...Read MoreRead more about I'll start with this, and this istrash, but they didn't have my color and I had a rapidly-approaching flight. I ordered it from the in-flight wi-fi and got it quick.
For its maiden trip I packed it for an impulse long-weekend trip to cold-and-wintry Indiana, took all of 15 minutes, super easy, I dig that it's just a big empty rectangle. I managed to stuff it with 4 days worth of clothes, not just the light stuff, I included a pair of heavy pants and a thermal layer, 4 shirts, 4 pairs of underwear, shorts, lounge pants, and 4 pairs of thick wool socks, along with my comically oversized toiletry and electronics kits, my first-aid kit for good measure, and I still had room to bring along a SteamDeck in the front pocket for the layovers. I did have to roll my puffer-jacket to strap it to the outside using the messenger bag d-rings, but Frontier didn't hassle me about the bag not being a "Personal Item," even when it was overstuffed I was still able to squeeze it in the bag size-checker, but the non-hassling may also have come down to the fact that it's a backpack and not a roller bag.
After the recent successful trip, I'm really looking forward to taking the bag to Japan with me this summer, and all the weddings and conventions and getaways in the near future.
Some minor complaints, the hip strap isn't positioned to be very useful for distributing the load to your hips, maybe if you need to run between gates it would help keep the pack from shifting, but I wouldn't be too upset if I lost them. The PackFast clips are very situational in their usefulness, but do act as handy strapping points, an the starting point for some customization if you have any basic sewing skill, but with there being only 2 of them, I'm not sure how stable the load would be while in motion.
The only way i can think of that this bag can be improved would be to carry the daisy-chain to the sides for externally carrying lighter loads, and add heavier tie-downs to the top and bottom for heavier loads like rolled jackets or travel tripods. If I had more confidence that my tailor could just do this with the level of quality and durability that the big brains at Topo could, I'd have them do it myself. The daisy-chain on the front is perfect for shoes, or transporting a small RC Rock Crawler, if that's your thing. Just wish it was a little deeper to fit my Camera Insert, but that would mean upping the main compartment depth to 5 inches, and then Frontier might not let me get away with this bag as a personal item any more. Would also be nice to have a velcro panel for morale patches, but at this point I'm just nitpicking.
It's a great bag, buy one for yourself and everyone you know. Read LessRead less about I'll start with this, and this is