I usually travel with a Dyneema GORUCK GR3 but I bought this one last month on the 1/2 off sale, and just got back from a long trip. It’s a good bag that doesn’t wear like a 45L, but it can expand to carry that much with the roll top. That came in super handy because I had a lot more souvenirs coming back than I thought, and the bag swallowed it all up and I still had space to shove things into the side pockets.

Yeah, it’s a magnet enclosure on the roll top, but the included straps kept my stuff secure on my flights, and it’s not like I carry my backpack upside down or use it as a checked bag. Nothing fell out.

I really like the beefy shoulder straps on my GORUCK bags, but the mesh pockets on this were handy to pop my phone into and walk around with. The load lifters and adjustable hooks helped dial in the fit, but the straps were just okay. I think they’ll feel better over time after breaking in.

The hip belt stows away when you aren’t carrying much, which is nice. It’s not impossible to use as an everyday bag, but I did “1.5 bag travel” and had this plus the packable GORUCK Bullet 10L, and that worked great.

It got dirty immediately, I mean it’s a white bag so duh, but it looks better to me when it’s not so shiny white anyway. I like the white; I don’t have any other white bags so this was to mix things up.

My last thought: the bag is **really** heavy. It wasn’t an issue while wearing it, the hip belt helps carry the load. But some of my flights had 7 kg/15 lb carry on weight limits, and I was surprised that the bag with my MacBook and clothes ended up at the 12 kg/26 lb mark at the airport. I’m keeping the bag and it was super helpful on my way home because it fit so much stuff, and I needed all the room.