TLDR: The Tortuga Travel 30L Backpack is ideal for minimalist, one-bag travel in varying environments. The bucket design gives you free-reign of how to pack, and allows for versatile trip usability. It's length is just short enough for shorter torso lengths, but I wish it was a tad shorter to qualify as personal item size.

What I really like:

1.) Comfort: The hip belts and load-lifters make this bag so comfortable to wear for extended times. As someone with lower back issues, I am accurately aware of poor load weight management in bags. Luckily this is a slam dunk in my book. Even though the bag itself has a higher weight, on the body you can't tell.

2.) Style: The shape of the bag means that 30L is fits efficiently in a smaller footprint for commercial air travel. I also like the slight shine to the bag to help it be more distinguishable from other bags. This bag feels like a backpacker bag for comfort but looks at home for urban travel. Also the lighter cream interior color contrasts against my dark wardrobe and black tech gear, meaning I can find quickly what is my bag.

3.) Design: I don't need a lot of specific organization pockets. So this bucket design allows me to customize my packing for whatever trip I'm doing. I do like the slim admin panel so I can put pens and travel docs in easy reach.

4.) Size: 30L is an uncommon size for a travel bag. But it is a sweet spot size for minimalist travelers. I bought original the Tortuga Laptop Backpack at 27L, and found that is…

I've been following Tortuga since using the Air backpack for a solo trip to England in 2015. They've gone through many iterations since then, and I've tried most of their packs including the Setout and Outbreaker. This latest update takes many elements of their other packs, and combines them into a slimmed down version of the Outbreaker while keeping many of the features Tortuga is known for. They kept the same clamshell design, while simplifying the front and laptop compartments and slimming down the carry system. It still has a lot of great organization, but is lighter, less busy, and still just as comfortable as the previous versions.