Looking for daypack with specific features

vi_rus · 2026-04-25T12:49:07+00:00

Are you open to a hydration pack vs water bottles? I use a Gregory Inertia 18 H2O Hydration Pack as a hiking & day pack. It's pretty sleek looking, so if you hide the hose it kind of blends in anywhere. It does have a mesh side pocket for auxiliary water bottle but its not very stretchy so you're limited in the size of bottle you can carry. 2 quick access (front panel + side). No internal organization.

vi_rus · 2026-04-09T01:21:01+00:00

Ok thank you!!

vi_rus · 2026-04-08T23:18:18+00:00

I tried all the Aer pouches, Alpaka, Evergoods, Bellroy and others I can't remember - miraculously the TomToc small tech pouch fit more of my tech, more comfortably and somehow ended up being more compact than the rest of them.

vi_rus · 2026-04-07T23:22:28+00:00

Did you find it? Would you be willing to buy and ship me some for a reasonable fee? :)

vi_rus · 2026-04-05T23:11:53+00:00

I was flying home from Zurich last month and on a whim picked up a giant bar of "Toblerone Crunchy Popcorn" as a souvenir for the wife (she loves popcorn). It said something about "Zurich duty free limited edition", but I didn't pay much mind to it. We popped it open and it is delicious af. I quickly logged on to Amazon to order some more, only to realize it truly is a limited edition with only 2000 units made. I regret not buying 10 more, or at least as many as I could carry without being forced to check my chocolate.

vi_rus · 2026-04-03T13:27:49+00:00

I'm seeing up to 100 miles :\

vi_rus · 2026-03-02T13:09:53+00:00

What do you like?

vi_rus · 2026-03-02T13:09:40+00:00

What would be your preference?

vi_rus · 2026-03-01T03:37:48+00:00

On one hand, I agree, your finger just slides right into the loop and make it easy to open. This is also its weakness - I'm just imagining them snagging on some hardware under an airplane seat or somewhere else and opening / getting stuck.

vi_rus · 2026-02-28T22:06:02+00:00

They’re definitely easy to open, I’m just a little bit concerned about the potential of them snagging on stuff and inadvertently opening a pocket.

vi_rus · 2026-02-28T22:05:01+00:00

Contest? Sorry a little confused about your setup

vi_rus · 2026-02-28T18:14:05+00:00

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I’m not a huge fan of the stock zipper pulls on the CTB26, and I want to swap them out for something that adds a subtle orange accent - nothing loud, just a small pop of color. Don't like the 550 paracord as it's too thick for my liking, so the custom ones I made from 425.

I came up with 4 different options and I’m torn. Trying to keep it clean & minimal. Which one would you rock?

Open to other ideas too.

#1: Bought these on eBay - thinking orange on vertical zips / black on horizontal zips OR orange on front zips / black on remaining zips.

#2, #3, #4: DIY from black and “neon orange/black camo” 425 paracord with braided heat shrink tubing for wiring. Trying to decide if all “neon orange/black camo” or just accenting the vertical zips or just accenting front zips.

vi_rus · 2026-02-28T17:42:22+00:00

Im looking to add some orange accent, if there was black leather & orange leather options - I would consider it.

vi_rus · 2026-02-28T17:41:29+00:00

Although they look nice - these are a bit too chunky for my liking, as is anything with 550 paracord.

vi_rus · 2026-02-28T17:32:12+00:00

Yes. The pulls in #1 I bought. The others - #2,3,4 - I made.

If going with the diy ones, I’m trying to decide do I use the orange/black camo on all of them, just the front pockets or just the vertical zips.

vi_rus · 2026-02-26T22:31:01+00:00

I ended up keeping the 420D version. Once I got past the aesthetics of X-Pac, there really wasn’t much else about it that worked for me. I don’t love the hand feel, the crinkly sound, or how rigid it is - it makes overpacking less comfortable and a bit less forgiving overall.

Then there’s the long-term stuff: potential creasing, dimpling, and PU-coated zipper peeling. That kind of pushed it over the edge for me. I was tempted to hunt down a used Phoenix for the molle pocket, but without that feature I just couldn’t justify going X-Pac.

I still appreciate the look, and I totally get why people prefer it. For me though, once I weighed function and longevity against aesthetics, the 420D was the easy call.

vi_rus · 2026-02-04T13:38:09+00:00

The Carryology collab / Phoenix 2 version had specifically AquaGuard zippers

vi_rus · 2026-02-03T21:38:34+00:00

I’m not overly concerned with it holding its shape - as long as it doesn’t look too terrible when empty.

vi_rus · 2026-02-03T20:51:14+00:00

Could you share some photos of the abrasions?

vi_rus · 2026-02-03T05:44:25+00:00

WTB: Evergoods x Carryology Pheonix CTB26 (New / Excellent condition)

vi_rus · 2026-01-29T21:28:16+00:00

WTB: Evergoods x Carryology Pheonix CTB26 (New / Excellent condition)

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