Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L

From airplanes to camel trains, this sleek pack can handle just about any commute. Tuckaway shoulder straps and a lay-flat bottom make it easy to stash in overhead bins, and 12 lash points let us strap it to pack animals and canoes. And when you do need your gear, it offers superb access. Backpanel entry let us pack it like a suitcase, and curved, 23-inch zippers along the sides of the main compartment allowed us to grab our stuff no matter how the pack was stored. Organization is dialed, too: A plush pocket on the outside fits goggles or sunglasses, and the smaller front pouch has two mesh pockets that can hold clothes for a weekend. The pack also has a laptop sleeve, and two side stretch pockets that each fit a 1-liter Nalgene. “The pack’s ability to compress down to 30 liters came in handy on dayhikes in the Peruvian Andes, and its EVA framesheet let me comfortably carry 40 pounds of gear,” one tester says.