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Pros: This is a high-quality backpack, main compartment is very well padded, includes several soft velcro dividers that allow customizing interior layout, lots of cubbies for stashing equipment and accessories, and easily holds and organizes camera body, 2 lenses, hoods, flash, and other detail items that ordinarily get combined into one large general pouch (and subsequently scratched). Very well thought through. The shoulder straps are wide, padded, and quite comfortable, as is the waist belt, which all work together making treks with lots of equipment both highly efficient and less tiring. There is an unpadded sternum strap, which has been useful in helping stabilize the loaded pack during treks over rugged terrain, which connects between the shoulder straps at about a 45 degree angle. I can't figure the angle's purpose, but it doesn't bother me one way or the other. There is a built-in wrap-around rain hood, which is attached (won't get lost or blow away) and stuffs into its own dedicated pouch and out of the way plus a lower support for a small tripod (also its own dedicated internal pouch on the bottom and out of the way). There are connections for adding small zippered pouches to the shoulder straps, bottle cubbies on both sides, and a few nicely added compression and retention straps. Finally, on the front there is a generous, but not gusseted, zippered compartment for odds and ends that I use mostly for note cards, keys, sunscreen, and a few power bars. Again, all high quality and well thought through. Cons: Despite the favorable price and overall nice working package that keeps gear organized and ready to go, there are a few quirky drawbacks that have been hard to warm to. First, and perhaps the critical disappointment for me, is the zippered access to the main compartment is located on the back side of the pack (so, the side that touches the wearer's back). Lowepro touts this as both a security feature and being a huge plus since the wearer can leave the waist strap buckled, slip out of the shoulder straps, and spin the pack around in front -- thereby accessing the main compartment without taking the pack off. Sounds like a good idea and I suppose it will be when working in knee-deep wet grass in the boonies. However, the shoulder straps make clear access difficult and the pack's flap (now open if one is working inside the bag) flops back down over the equipment you are trying to access. Perhaps I will figure all of this out over time. The second is the supposed tripod support. While Lowepro is careful to state that this feature is for use with a compact tripod, my experience with any tripod that would work with this feature would be too light and flimsy to be useful. I even tried my monopod. And, if monopods could laugh, mine certainly would have. So, creative but largely useless for me. I still carry one or the other in one hand instead of trying to strap it on to the pack. Overall, a fine quality backpack. What would I change? Two items. 1. I would add access to the main compartment from the front side in the traditional approach, which would work well for packing and otherwise working in the pack when not out in the field. I would solve the security issue by using the old standby procedure of locking the two zippers together. The option of accessing through the back (while wearing) would be great when in the field. 2. I would abandon the gimmicky tripod/monopod carrying device and add the time-tested two strips of male-female velcro for lashing the tripod or monopod to the bottom outside of the pack. Despite the instability issue with a tripod on the bottom of the pack, backpacks do not stand up well anyway. Having both hands free on a hike out to a remote site outweighs this issue for me. I can't do anything about the front access to the main compartment and hope that I will get used to this as just a quirk. As for the tripod support, I am having the velcro lashing straps sewn to the bottom of the pack by my local shoe repair shop.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I was able to get 2 bodies, 2 long lens ,1 flash unit with external battery pack, 2 sd card case, 4 filter , 4 extra camera batterys, 3 battery charges. So a lot of equipment to ay the least. The problem is that the zippers do not open all the way of the bag. They stop at the waist belt. You have to bend the flap back to get to the bottom items in the bag. It would be better to access the equipment if the flap would go to the end of the bag. But the price was great, so I will have to live with the design flaw !!!!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
a great deal for the price! i few stitches have loosened already but nothing major and i can use it.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
functional, good size, good design & good price
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I use this quite a lot and it has been very useful, and protects the equipment very well also.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New