WANDRD All-New PRVKE Photography Travel Backpack & Photography Bundle

The yuma tan color is perfect. The pockets are fantastic. I really like the look, quality, and functionality of this bag. I don’t use it for a camera. I use it for work and travel.

Two years ago, we scheduled the trip of our lifetimes - a cruise down to Antarctica. I knew I would be bringing a high-end Canon R5 kit, a 14" MacBook Pro, and accessories that would all go through hell. Looked at every bag in the segment, every big name you'd recognize. Bought and returned a few, too. Because WANDRD was not a name I knew, I kind of shrugged it off until our deadline was getting close. But, unhappy with competitors, I decided to take a chance. And boy did that pay off.I dragged this thing through international airports, rain ice and snow, penguin colonies, zodiac boats, and anything else that was in front of me. It practically shrugged all of it off. Not only that, two of the expedition leaders told me they also use this bag and it's always been a reliable and versatile workhorse for them. (The sentiment, if not the exact words.) I was pretty opposed to roll tops before buying this bag, but it actually proved very easy to work with and gave me a lot of flexibility in packing. When your bag is loaded up with a bit over six grand in gear, it's gotta be something you can depend on to keep that gear safe. This bag did that, and it's continued to perform top-notch in the slightly more pedestrian life of urban use. Could not be happier

Great looking bag. I can fit my drone and lots of clothes, a bottle, a phone and charger, my MacBook and a few other things. It fits nicely to my frame. It feels pricey and good quality.

I’m obsessed with this bag! I wanted a pack to take for travel that has hidden pockets. This one has several. I’m not a photographer but love this bag just as much as photographers do. It’s so versatile, well organized, and sturdy. Highly recommend for anyone who wants a travel bag with space to take extra clothes and separate items. The exterior is able to be wiped clean easily. As a mom, this is exactly what I wanted to go to Disney with the kids, take towels to the beach, or travel around Europe. It has spots for all the family things I need (sunscreen, drinks, clothes, towels, and shoes) and a place to keep my passport, money, and keys without worrying about someone accessing it. The smartest feature on this bag in my opinion is that the bag openings are against your back instead of opening towards people walking behind you. If you aren’t convinced yet, it also slides perfectly on to your luggage and fits under most plane seats as a personal item as long as it’s not packed to capacity. Long story short, what they say about this bag is true.

When I purchased this bag, I was looking for a multi-use bag for photography, hiking, work / office, and travel. In summary, I think the backpack is a fantastic photography and photography & hiking bag, but is not worth the price when it comes to only hiking (no photography), work / office, and travel. Personally, I would not spend more than $30 on this bag if I were not using it for photography or if it did not have the camera cube.I have owned the WANDRD Duo Day Pack for many years and it's served me well. I thought this bag would feel more like a hiking backpack or travel backpack than my Duo Day Pack, but they felt surprisingly similar. I was hoping this bag would be less of a day pack than it feels.Before I review each use-case, here are the significant pros and cons:Pros:• Fit my 15" MacBook Pro in the laptop slot• The 31 L fit my iPad Pro 12.9" in the tablet sleeve• Modular camera bag usage; can combine roll top area with below if not using camera and camera box can be removed and used as normal compartment• Could easily fit 7 days of clothes into the 31 L, could fit maybe 4 or 5 days of clothes into 21 L• Adjustable chest strap height, and very easy to add and remove• Loved the clamshell design, felt incredibly easy to pack and load.Cons:• The 21 L did NOT fit my iPad Pro 12.9" in the tablet sleeve• Bag is heavy even when empty• I was not a huge fan of the metal hook locking mechanism on the roll top. Felt heavy and clunky.• Did not fit a 40 oz water bottle in water bottle pocket• Bag feels BIG and potentially top heavy with roll top used, even for clothes• The split handle on the top's magnets are very weak, handle is apart almost all the time, difficult to use and handles always flopping around (would have preferred a fastener instead of magnets)• Specifically the side camera opening zippers were sticky and slow, very difficult to quickly open or close to pull out camera. I found I preferred to just keep my camera out, defeating the purpose of the side opening.• If you're a bottom-to-top bag packer, this is NOT the bag for you. It's incredibly difficult to keep the bag upright when packing and almost requires it be laying clamshell-open instead.Use Case: PhotographyThe bag feels best and most fully utilized when it's acting as a photography bag. I loved the dedicated camera case inside the bag, and I loved that it could also have straps attach. This made my camera feel VERY safe in the bag, and I didn't have to worry about putting my bag down wrong or too fast. This was a big improvement over the Duo Daypack. The camera bag also creates a supportive frame for the items in the roll top to rest on, which would otherwise just be held up with a velcro strap. I also liked the modularity where I could take my whole camera cube (with strap) out of the backpack and bring the smaller and more valuable bag around with me. The worst photography experience was how slow and sticky the zippers on the side camera opening were. Not sure if I got a defective one or not, but all the zippers were buttery smooth except this one. I would have to wrestle with the bag to open the side compartment and it was not as fluid or fast as I would have liked. I felt included to carry the camera around my neck and that kinda defeats a big purpose of this bag.Use Case: TravelI have mixed feelings about the bag for travel. On one hand, the roller top can make this bag potentially feel HUGE. While I didn't love the roll top mechanism, I do appreciate how flexible it can be that non rolling tops can't compete with. I was able to pack 7 days of clothes and electronics for work all easily into the 31 L bag, and almost as easily into the 21 L bag (though it more realistically held about 4 or 5 days comfortably and couldn't hold my iPad in the tablet sleeve because it's too small). I specify comfortably because these bags can fit a LOT, it just starts to get cumbersome and clunky. I probably could have fit a lot more if I tried but at a certain point the entire weight is too much and the roll top is sitting too high for comfort. The biggest flaws when traveling are 1) the pockets on the inside of the tablet sleeve are SO small and tight that you can't really use them for anything if you have a laptop or tablet in the sleeve and 2) without the camera cube, there is only a thin flap of fabric with velcro on it holding up the entire weight of everything in the roll top. This was the most surprising thing about this bag is how little was supporting the contents of the roll top. 7 days of clothes made the fabric sag in and I often found the velcro separating after moving the bag around. It almost feels like the camera cube NEEDS to be in the bag for the roll top to be able to hold weight and I certainly did not like that. However, if you don't need the roll top separate, then you conveniently can open the flap and the inner part of the backpack can be accessible from the clamshell or the roll top.Use Case: HikingDefinitely depends a lot on whether you bring your camera hiking or not. I personally really enjoyed the extra protection of the camera cube while hiking, but also found the bag frustrating to use for non photography hiking things. For example, it's not easy to access inside of the backpack while it's on you. You have to fully take the bag off to access the roll top (to maybe add or subtract a layer of clothing), unlike a normal backpack where you may be able to sling it off one shoulder and enter while it's on you. Another thing I hated was the weight distribution. For long hikes, I like to bring a lot of liquids. Having to store those items ABOVE your camera in the bag felt really weird and top heavy. You have to put your liquids and food in with your clothes in the roll top section and it can only be accessed from above. Not much compartmentalizing or organization options there. I really like my water to be the lowest point in my bag and that was not possible with the camera cube. Without the camera cube however, I loved accessing my water and food from the side access flap and then keep my clothes in the roll top. That being said, if used this way, it's an incredibly expensive hiking bag that loses a lot of features and there's bound to be a more ergonomic or lighter hiking bag that is also easy to compartmentalize.All in all, I think both the 31 L and 21 L PRVKE bags are fantastic photography bags, if the majority of your non-clothes items you're bringing with you are photography things. I think where this bag starts to become unpleasant to use is if you have to overload the roll top, or you're combining too many different use cases simultaneously. If the bag's intended to not be used for photography, I would recommend finding another cheaper or more versatile bag. Because the PRVKE is focused around photography, it feels clunky to use for other things. The improved safety and security I felt about my camera while traveling was not worth the lack of versatility of this bag and I would likely choose to travel with a dedicated camera bag and dedicated 'everything else' bag in the future.I think if the bag had had a better way to separate the roll top from the rest of the storage space (like maybe a zipper or hooks instead of just velcro), if the bag had more useful sized pockets for organizing (instead of tiny flat ones on the laptop sleeve), and if I could have stored items below the camera cube as well as above it, this review would look very different. The camera cube becomes the majority of the bag when it's in the bag, and the bag feels weird to use when the camera bag is absent.