A45 thoughts after test-packing

[BihnBag]

I too am glad I got the 45 after a lot of contemplation about 30 vs 45.

What I find best, is to pack it enough to be able to leave at least a side pocket free, then with any surprise extras for the return trip you have plenty of room to space out the main compartment or just use the pocket.
This has “saved” me on a few trips now where either surprise swag/equipment was given for a work trip or some shopping was done on personal trips. I would have been in a tricky spot if I only had the 30.

The slip pockets on the outside also provide a surprising amount of space to use up. I slip a Deuter collapsible day-pack in there to use at destination.

I haven’t had any issue with putting in overhead bins, it just fits exactly in one of those smaller short flight jets and travelling europe no-one pulled me over on a close to a month trip with multiple flights involved.


That said, I’m 6ft with broad shoulders and a 45 does just about make it as a backpack for me, on someone smaller it would probably look huge fully packed.

[snowbot]

I’ve had my A45 for a long time (i.e. it’s an older model) and only really started using it within the last year and a half. I do more traveling now without a laptop than I used to do, so I’ve reached for the A45 more. Two things really transformed my impression of the bag and make it easy to “live out of”.

• I no longer try to use the large main compartment packing cubes - rolling clothes into logical bundles works better for me with this bag. Examples of bundles for a recent trip: lounging clothes, conferences dresses/sweaters to hang up in the hotel, clothes for visiting friends after the meeting.

• I can under-pack the bag. It’s so much easier to live out of the bag when there’s space to hunt around for item. The type of trip determines the degree of under-packing. For a recent car trip, I stuffed the bag since I didn’t need to carry it for long distances. For a recent 6-day plane, car, and train trip where I didn’t sleep in the same place twice, I really under-packed the bag. This made it easy to access binoculars and reading material ad also meant that I could walk a mile with the bag in backpack mode. And gave me room to pack up on snacks for the two-day train trip.

[ejvc]

I find the A45 cavernous but I am really used to packing for all lengths of trips in the A30 now. What makes the difference for me is how much OTHER stuff I have to bring -- laundry? kids clothes (up to half my main interior can be kid stuff)? electronics? food? But all clothes can fit in one packing cube, I usually do put them in that way because it benefits my brain to know that everything is "done" with clothes when the packing cube is zipped.