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😂 hahaha ohh snap I probably should go tone that audio down in post so y’all don’t need to listen to my frustrated panting hahahah

😂 LOL yeah, there’s some chonkers out there that are stretching the limits of what can be reasonably called a sling! That said, I think technically a sling bag is just any bag with a single strap that is designed to be worn across the body (whether in front or back) and above the waist… (as opposed to shoulder bags which are designed to hang off of one shoulder but not across the body). I’m not sure if single-strap bags designed to be worn cross body and above the waist but on the side (as opposed to front/back) qualify as slings or if that is a different kind of bag. (And if they do, they it beggars the question of if some purses can technically qualify as a sling since some are designed to be worn cross body….) Anyway, I guess most slings are fairly compact but I don’t think there’s technically any size limitation on them…especially back in the day when materials and construction were more primitive some sling bags (like those used in outdoors/hunting/military) were pretty chunky as well… (now you’ve got me interested and going down a research rabbit hole…)

Maybe not the most useful answer but basically - depends on the seat type, your travel class, the airline and how full/how you’ve got the bag packed up. I would say if the bag is not fully packed up and there isn’t a bunch of stuff under the seat in front of you (sometimes there are electronics boxes etc. that get in the way) then it will likely fit under *most* airline seats including economy (though the latter might be tight). It should fit in all first/business/ almost all PE seats across almost all airlines. It will likely NOT fit under seats in really budget airlines and possibly in some small regional carriers etc but here you’re experience will really vary according to the airline etc. I would say the safest approach would be to plan on stashing this one in the overhead bin and your personal item (like a 20-24l backpack) under the seat in front of you but that in most cases you could *probably* get this one under a seat

😂

Why hello there!! Nice to see you too! Thank you for being such a loyal viewer of the channel (^^) Regarding the fidlock buckle fear - I would say generally it’s not too much of an issue for (most) of their buckles (most) of the time. However, there definitely have been a few cases where I’ve had buckles accidentally opening on me - I found it happens the most with the “sliding type” (like the kinds used on the Modern Dayfarer Dayfarer Backpack and the Aer Day Sling 3 Max X-Pac - you can see that type if you look at the product photos for those bags). In the case of the Day Sling 3 Max, it was the most troublesome because when it came loose … the whole bag would come crashing down to the ground which is obviously no good (on the Dayfarer bag it was mainly just really annoying though if the bag was inverted it could cause the contents to come spilling out). For V-lock style buckles (like the kind used in the Aer Day Sling 3 Ultra) I’ve never had an issue with them coming loose because these use a more positively locking mechanisms. I think the reason the side-sliding fidlock buckle types come apart is because they slide open with laterally applied force - so when used in a strap (such as on a sling) or to close a big flap that can sometimes have sideways loading applied to it (like the Dayfarer backpack) it is very easy for a lot of lateral force to be applied to the buckle - think when you sling the bag over your head, all the weight is pulling sideways against the strap when you yoink it up, or when you grab the big flap of the backpack it torques sideways on the central strap. In the cases of slings that use a fidlock buckle inline with the strap I think an easy fix (which I applied to the Aer Day Sling 3 Max X-Pac) is to just put a piece of heat shrink tubing over the entire mechanism then heat shrink it down tight - this solves the problem by prevening the buckle from opening at all which for me was fine since I don’t really use inline buckles on sling straps - I just yoink the thing over my head. For backpacks that use fidlocks to close though this is obviously not a tenable solution. So that would be my suggestion to you - your fear is not totally unfounded, but should be relatively less of an issue for v-lock style fidlock buckles, but is more possible with laterally sliding buckles. A 1 cent piece of heat shrink tubing (available from Amazon etc) will fix the problem for any sling bag that has this issue so I wouldn’t let this stop me from buying a sling bag with a fidlock buckle; a backpack that uses these buckles might be more problematic since there is no easy fix (short of replacing the buckles entirely - which actually now Sea To Summit makes some buckles that have removable pins so you can actually replace buckles without needing to do any sewing at all so maybe this isn’t even that much of an issue anymore) but usually I wouldn’t worry about fidlocks coming loose on backpacks except for certain cases where there is only a single buckle being used to keep a large flap etc. closed (again like the Dayfarer backpack etc.). Regarding Evergoods V2 straps - if the straps are really long for you and you’re sure you won’t ever need the full length, one option could be to just cut off a certain length of the straps to reduce the excess dangle. You can then use a lighter to seal the cut ends to prevent the straps from fraying, then just double them over into a loop (tuck the cut and melted end “inside” of the loop a little bit) and a single line of stitching across will give you the same factory finish you get out of the box but just with a much shorter strap. If you have a sewing machine it’s like a <3 minute job, and even if you have to hand stitch it shouldn’t take more than like 10 mins!

Sure thing! Added to the queue!

Thank you so much for the kind words!!! Regarding the fidlock buckle, I agree - it’s a nice buckle and locks much more positively than the laterally-sliding versions but at the same time feels a little bit like overkill for the 3L version of this sling. I would love to see it used in the Aer Day Sling 3 Max - that one is much bigger and often is used to carry heavy things like an iPad Pro (or equivalent tablet) etc. and I’ve had issues with the lateral sliding buckle on that bag opening on accident - I’d love to see the V-lock style buckle used on that one.

Great question - just to confirm, when you say don’t fold, only the ear pieces rotate, do you mean something like the Sony WH1000MX4s ? Or so you mean more like the Apple AirPods Max? (Or some in-between rotating style like the B&O H95?)

@@TheMountainborn Like the airpods max. Thanks

Hey there! Hisashiburi!!! Genki? (^^) Thank you for the awesome suggestion! The only item I own from them is the Wotancraft x Carryology Pilot waist pack collab but looking at their camera bag selections there’s some good looking options in there! Which one do you recommend?

Awww thank you so much for the kind words!! I’m really glad you find these videos useful - is there any bag or item in particular that you’d like me to review? (^^)

@@TheMountainborn the DSPTCH unit shoulder bag would be a cool review. The pictures kinda show how big it is but its hard to gauge how really big it is. Also comes in dyneema 😏

That is an awesome idea!! (And wow, thank you for checking out my website even!). I have added it to my queue - I think it would be a really great bag to talk about conceptually / design wise about the things that I love about it as a physical object even if it’s not a bag most people will have these days.

Hello there! Great question! So I think there’s two parts to this question - firstly, is this bag actually larger (or smaller) than its nominal liter rating (30 in this case), esp relative to other bags on the market in the same general size? Secondly, regardless of this, how efficiently does it use this actual volume (meaning even if the bag is say 35L in reality, how efficiently does it use those 35L?) The first question is one of size. Sadly, there is no standardized way to measure volume/capacity for bags, so each manufacturer implements their own methods. Some might count the sum total of all pockets (main compartment, front pocket, laptop compartment, side water bottle pockets when expanded, etc.), some might only count the main compartment, etc. They very rarely specify how they calculate capacities on their websites either so you are left guessing. Secondly, they use different methodologies to actually estimate the volume - some use a rectangular prism approximation based on the height/width/depth dimensions regardless of actual internal shape, some might fill it with some physical medium then measure how much of that it can hold, etc. And obviously some bags (think rectangular bags like luggage’s or clamshells) are easier to measure than others (think complex sloped patterned / curved bags) and some bags (roll tops, etc.) have volumes that can change, etc. The end result of this is that there is a significant degree of variation in actual volume versus whatever the nominal rated liter size is for any given bag, and this variation can be very pronounced even across bags from the same manufacturer, let alone bags of different shapes and constructions from different manufacturers. Purely on my own experience, I usually set the expectation in my head that the actual volume might vary as much as +/- 5 liters from the rated volume (so if I were to look at a dozen bags all nominally rated 35l I would not be surprised to find bags with an actual volume as small as 25l and all the way up to around 35l). Also as a consequence of this, I tend to think of bags as sized in “ranges” (so like 20-25l range, the 25-30-35l range, 35-40-45l range etc.). Regarding actual volume versus rated size, I would say that it’s probably accurate that the Bellroy Lite travel pack 30l’s actual volume is larger than 30l and it is certainly larger than some other common packs out there that are nominally rated 30L. There are also other bags out here also rated 30L that can hold more than the Lite pack, but overall I’d say it’s probably towards the larger side of bags that exist in that 25-35L range. But that is just talking about volume but doesn’t speak to the efficiency of use. IIRC, in my review I don’t think I said the bag doesn’t hold a lot (since I think it does hold a decent amount - this is mainly related to actual overall size/volume relative to nominal rated literage) but I think I mentioned that the bag isn’t necessarily the most efficient with how it uses that space (I don’t think I said it was terrible, just that it might not always be as high as one might expect) As an example of what I mean by efficiency (which I often label as “capacity to size” or “capacity to weight” ratio), perhaps the most theoretically space efficient construction of a backpack is a pure rectangular prism with only a single compartment, no padding or sidewalls and the absolute thinnest lightest material known to man as the body fabric. (Okay technically and mathematically a sphere is the most volume efficient prism possible but human beings don’t carry spherically shaped backpacks because of how we’re built so I’m ignoring that). In this ideal bag, the entirety of the capacity is 100% available to carry contents in the main compartment and it should be theoretically possible to fill just about every part of the main compartment with your belongings with basically no dead space or wasted areas. Of course, there are problems with this kind of backpack - it’s not very comfortable, it doesn’t work well when not 100% full, the contents aren’t protected, people need some minimal level of organization so they don’t need to rummage through their socks, underwear and dopp kit every time they need to find their passport, we carry laptops and cameras and those things are delicate and need padding, etc. etc. So manufacturers start implementing things like padded sidewalls (as you noted), various separate compartments (which starts robbing capacity by introducing structured walls and padding and stuff that takes away from the overall available packing volume), thick back panels and frame sheets etc. etc. All of these things start robbing away from the actual amount of stuff you can pack in the conceptual rectangular prism and this means the overall “efficiency” starts to decrease. In the case of the lite backpack, the inclusion of the built in organizer pouches (which overall I liked - after all there are more things that go into making a great bag than just absolute space use efficiency) means that if you use them, you’re left with “dead space” in the areas that exist “within” the rectangular prism of volume but “outside” of the the organizer mesh pockets you need to fit your stuff within. This is actually a fairly sizeable amount of dead space specially on the “front half” of the suitcase style opening - you easily lose several liters of capacity you can’t actually utilize because of it. So this is part of what I was trying to get at with the efficiency comment (though again, I don’t necessarily think that is the worst thing in the world - it depends on how/what a person prioritizes and their use case). Even if you filled the organizer pouches with just pure styrofoam peanuts or ping pong balls, you’re still going to be able to fit less in there than you would be able to if you didn’t use them and just filled a rectangular prism with them directly. But that’s not the only efficiency loss on this bag - the other big one is the suitcase style opening. Generally speaking, I find bags that split in half have a lower real world capacity to size ratio because the split basically means you are limited to filling two “half” volumes” versus one single “large” volume. If you imagine the converse - an efficient loading style is a top loading duffel where you basically just have a single D-shaped door at the top and you can basically fill the entire rectangular volume with stuff - you can fit large things in there, basically up to the entire height of the bag. This allows you to greatly reduce the dead space. But when you have a suitcase style split, you have a hard time loading in things that are taller than the “zipper line” of each half of the compartment. I mean, you can try, but when you try to close the suitcase, then the stuff falls out, etc. and that is why we are all familiar with the song and dance of people trying to slam their suitcases shut quickly whilst holding things in so they don’t fall out because of gravity, then trying to sit on the suitcase to squeeze it shut, etc. etc. - this is due to the space inefficiencies and size limitations introduced by the split opening. This also means there’s often a lot of “dead space” - whereas in like a top loading duffel you can just jam a bunch of stuff in from the top into the entire volume and leave very little dead space, with a suitcase split you often are forced to pack inefficiently since you just can’t fit certain stuff in very well and still be able to close the two halves. The lite pack suffers from this, especially in the left half of the split - so I found again, there tended to be some dead space that was difficult to utilize and still be able to shut the bag, which is why the overall efficiency was lowered. That isn’t to say it’s an overall inefficient bag - it’s not. It has some strong points - the right half of the bag is very very space efficient (single large rectangular prism, top loading and it also uses up more of the volume than the less efficient left half, and the bag has very thin sidewalls and backpanel (so loses less volume to structure etc versus say, an Aer bag as you mentioned). It also eschews too many multiple separate compartments which helps (and the laptop compartment is much smaller / thinner than say something like the big ones on Evergoods bags which tend to take up several liters on their own but all you’ll ever put in there is a laptop). So overall, given the construction and light materials and the light weight, I think it is really tempting to assume the bag will have very close to the “perfect” capacity to size ratio (efficiency) so I just wanted to point out that whilst it’s good, it might not be as efficient as one might imagine because of the two structural issues (sub organizer pouches and the suitcase split) that results in some dead space in actual packing use. Anyway, I hope this helps clarify slightly what I was trying to get at with some of my comments on the bag!

@@TheMountainborn Thanks a lot for such a thorough and thoughtful response! I totally see your point about space efficiency and the role that different design choices play, like the built-in organizers and suitcase-style openings. While I understand the trade-offs, I personally really appreciate a split main compartment that can fit exactly one Peak Design packing cube with no wasted space, especially height-wise. For me, that’s the gold standard, so I’d rather have a compartment that fits one cube perfectly plus another half where I still can use space to add additional stuff, than a larger one where two don’t quite fit right. I tend to carry shirts and business clothes and stacking up packing cubes results in a tone of wrinkles. And man, the lack of a water bottle pocket is such a missed opportunity, especially since there’s clearly room for it! Thanks again for taking the time to explain all this-your insights are always super valuable!

Ah gotcha. I kind of just lay them crossed-over each other on the top and it works okay for the most part - they’re not super heavy or metallic or anything so I don’t have too many problems with them getting banged/scratched up or making lots of fuss if/when they are off to the sides when not in use, but I understand your feeling, it’s nice to have handles that aren’t flopping all over the place :)

My pleasure! I’m so glad you found it useful!!! :)

In my opinion, it’s a pretty big jump from 30 to 38L let alone from 26L to 38L…. In my opinion those sizes result in two completely different use cases (i.e. for any situation where you need a 38L bag the 26L bag isn’t going to cut it, and vice versa). At 38L you’re looking to replace a suitcase, not what is essentially a larger-sized EDC backpack, so if I were in your shoes I’d start by asking if I had any use cases that demanded a 38L bag (i.e. sometime where I’m traveling by suitcase that I want to shift into backpack for whatever reason). If you do have such a use case, then I think it makes sense to have a 38L bag (though personally I think there are far better options than the lite pack in the 38-40L range). If you don’t have these use cases, then there’s no need to even consider the 38L lite pack at this time IMO. The 30L vs the 26L is a trickier question. While I own it, I haven’t used the Venture Travel pack extensively (it’s in the queue just haven’t really gotten around to it yet) but basically yes, I would say the 30L lite packs more than the Venture 26. However, more than the carrying capacity, these are two pretty different packs in terms of how they are designed, their approach to organization and how they carry in use. So for me, I think that’s where I’d start with this question - do you think the different carry and organizational style of the Lite 30 will match with your needs and preferences? If no, then it’s an easy answer. If yes, then I think the next question to ask is if you really do need a bit more extra space in your loadouts than you can get in the 26L - I would start by laying out everything you usually carry in the Venture 26, then next to it lay out what you *wish* you could carry but have to give up or otherwise carry in some other bag, and see what that difference is (and if the other items are actually must haves or just nice to haves). If it’s enough that you think it warrants purchasing a moderately larger bag (and you can kind of compare your loadout to the loadout I show in this video to get a sense of what additional might/might not fit in the Lite 30) then I think you should consider the Lite 30L. If it’s just nice to have stuff or if you think you can reduce your loadout a bit to get it to continue to fit in the 26L then I think you might want to consider sticking with that (as I am a big believer in having a tightly-dialed kit). And if you’re not sure, feel free to add a comment mentioning your general desired loadout and I can try to give you a sense of if it will fit in the Lite 30 or not!

Definitely! I forget if I mention it in this video (probably in passing) but I almost always rock a small little sling with me when I’m one bag traveling - I recently reviewed the Bellroy Tokyo Sidebag 2L sling which is my current favorite companion/plane use sling that I use and I feel it pairs really well with this bag, though it’s too small to carry a device (so that would be the one thing I might still need a companion daypack for if I needed to go out and about with a laptop etc.). Much love for all the 1.5 bagger homies out there!!! ❤️☺️ Definitely hear you on the harness system and comfort question - I can’t imagine what it would be like to try to carry a 38L version of this bag with this same harness system. 😅

Hi @Kaisersozze - this is a custom-made Dyneema packing cube :) If you're interested in making your own gear I recommend checking out this channel - I learned and got a lot of inspiration from it (sadly they don't post too much anymore) ruclips.net/video/G8I4yC55tL0/видео.html

@@TheMountainborn okay thanks

😂 It is a chonker!!!

Most definitely - am always a big fan of Modern Dayfarer! (though I remember I found the side zipper pocket on their Dayfarer backpack a bit lacking as well 😂 I think it might be something about the combination of side pockets and the way they have soft sidewalls to accommodate the changing volumes that doesn't interact as well as maybe it should ?)

the key pocket seems to be european-centric, for people who don’t own a car and only need a few keys for their apartment and maybe the office 😅

Haha you noticed!!! 😂

Ahahahaha - welcome to my life - the never ending quest for the perfect bag!! 😂 What bag have you found so far that comes closest to perfection for you?

@@TheMountainborn right now my combo is an aer city pack pro for my work laptop and steam deck etc + aer day sling max 3 for my journal, mini game boy, keys and sometimes camera. I keep watching your review of the metromonger because it looks like it could fit everything I carry now plus my camera much more comfortably. I’ve tried so many others, chrome kadet & max, wexley sling, hex ranger sling, alpaka bravo sling v2 none of them hit the same

Hooray!!! Did it arrive safely? ☺️

Thank you so much - I’m so happy you like the videos. The Western Rise collection is a great idea - I shall add it to the queue!

Just to confirm, when you say the “Tokyo Sling” are you referring to the Bellroy “Tokyo Crossbody” ? If so the Crossbody is nominally rated at 2L whilst the Sidebag is rated at 1L. In absolute terms you can fit more in the Crossbody, but its internal organization is (in my opinion) not as functional as that of the Sidebag so most everything you put in the Crossbody ends up in a jumble in the main compartment which I found a little annoying. You can fit bulkier things into the Crossbody relative to the Sidebag as the Crossbody has a larger, wider single main compartment (so you can get things like a small compact 1” sensor digital camera, sunglasses, etc. in there.)

​@@TheMountainborn thank you! And yes I did mean the crossbody 😊😊

Great choice!! The Aer weekender is a solid bag with tons of organization and robust construction and a nice structure to it - I’m certain it will serve you well in all your travels!! (^^)

It’s just a different colour from the rest of the interior (there is generally the black external nylon fabric and the white contrast interior fabric - for the front/back dump pockets of the main compartment the white interior fabric is used for the lining, but in the middle slip pocket it appears to be the same black exterior fabric used for the inner (which makes sense if you think about how it sits between the two interior dump pockets which use the white inner fabric for their walls, it’s just like the “outside” of those is the “inside” of the middle slip pocket). There is no soft lining. Also it has no independent dimension so you can’t fit any kind of sunglasses in there at all except for perhaps the Roav folding sunglasses or some similar extremely thin flat folding sunglasses. Even for the Roav you’d probably need to take them out of the silicon case to fit in there. Larger folding sunglasses (think the Ray Ban folding wayfarers etc) will not fit, and no “regular” glasses of any kind will fit in this pocket at all. (If you want to carry sunglasses in a small pouch you might want to check out the Bellroy Tokyo Crossbody which I mentioned in the “also consider” section as it is better proportioned to carry sunglasses and similarly sized items, though the Crossbody has pros/cons relative to the Sidebag mainly in the form of less usable interior organization in my opinion).

I don't think you're weird at all! I'm not sure if I would say it necessarily looks like a purse (the majority of purses* are designed to be worn over the shoulder, and thus the strap attachment points are usually either at the top or else on the sides as opposed to the back, since the latter introduces substantial cant under portage given a typical purse loadout) however I do think the overall profile can feel slightly feminine, especially depending on colourway (I believe I call that out in the video at around the 04:42 mark and also in the "not for" section). * obvious caveat that there are a near infinite variety of "purses" out there so I'm sure there must be a few that have strap attachment at the back but this is quite the minority

Hey there - yes I can definitely do that! Added to the queue! (It might be a month or so though since I have a few bags already scheduled for the coming weeks)

​@@TheMountainborn appreciate that!

No problem! :)

Awwww thank you so much for the super kind words @JMPerona !! I really appreciate it!! ✨☺️✨ Out of curiosity, are there any bags or items you want me to review next?

@@TheMountainborn Any Yoshida/Porter bag or Fjällräven would be great. But I come here mainly for the bags I don't know, like the Rofmia you showed in this video, that I'm trying to find right now. Keep the good work!

You got it! Fjallraven is a brand that I quite like but have never reviewed on the channel yet - might need to add one of their bags to the queue! And noted on the more niche brands like Rofmia - will keep those coming!

Hey friend!! It is indeed! I was thinking to review this one but I saw they have a new version out so thought it might be better to try to get that one and review it... only problem is they are perpetually sold out...! 😂

@@TheMountainborn I think you took the right decision. Bellroy usually does not update their products. Also the fact that it is always available makes this review really meaningful in the long term. ie. I found my self watching the transit workpack review several times before actually buying one.

Ah, sorry I was referring to the Rofmia not the Bellroy in my previous comment 😅

@@TheMountainborn I got it. And I think you did well by choosing to review the Bellroy. :)

I think MEL-b'n is also a good cue, to ensure emphasis on Mel

Thank you for the tip @batruax ! As soon as I read how you wrote it I was like - oh yeah, that totally sounds more like how I remember people in Australia pronouncing it! 😂 I shall pronounce it accordingly from this point onward!!! (^^)

Thank you @MrJed_s ! For sure I'll review more Bellroy products in the future so shall make sure to try to pronounce it accordingly next time! (^^)

Ahahahaha - why hello there fellow human! This comment made me LOLz so it gets pinned as a reward! 😂 Please carry on doing your normal human things!