One of the few tech bags designed to go off-grid

Anyone who needs to carry the best laptops and tablets daily will also find themselves wanting a backpack to store those tech essentials and more. There are plenty of excellent laptop bags designed for commuting and city use, and I’ve tested quite a few of them. However, if your laptop carry needs bring you deep into the outdoors, you’ll find that securing the perfect bag is quite tricky. It’s easy to find a hiking bag or a tech backpack, but buying a bag that checks both boxes is harder than it should be.

That’s why Peak Design, the company that makes a handful of every day and travel gear for tech enthusiasts and photographers, is launching the Outdoor Line. It’s a collection of gear that’s made for use outdoors, including daypacks and hiking bags. I’ve spent a few weeks testing pre-production versions of Outdoor Line gear in two countries, and there’s a lot to like if you’re heavily invested in the Peak Design ecosystem. If you’re not, it’ll be expensive to get started.

In addition to being a tech reviewer, I’ve run thousands of miles outdoors and hiked hundreds of miles of the Appalachian Trail, so the new Outdoor Backpack 25L immediately caught my eye. It has the chops to replace some of my current outdoor gear while still holding my M2 MacBook Air, M4 iPad Pro, and Sony a6400 mirrorless camera.

About this review: Peak Design provided pre-production samples of the Outdoor Line for review. The company had no input in this article and did not see its contents before publishing. The exact details of the products covered in this review may change before mass production.

Outdoor laptop bag

Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L

This could become the go-to hiking bag for tech

Peak Design’s Outdoor Backpack 25L is a daypack that’s part of the company’s new Outdoor Line. This 25L backpack is made for hiking and outdoor use while still being designed for laptop, tablet, and camera carry first and foremost. It’s designed to work with the rest of the Peak Design ecosystem, from packing cubes to camera cubes, and has plenty of options for external carry. 

Pros

• The laptop/tablet compartment will hold devices or a hydration pack
• Open main compartment has great rear and top access and works well with Peak Design packing tools
• Absolutely excellent external carry options, from mesh pockets to cords

Cons

• Not a lot of pockets or compartments built-in, creating a dependence on Peak Design packing tools
• The Outdoor Backpack 25L plus essential extras (hip belt and rainfly) are an expensive package
• The straps sit high on your shoulders, making it hard to mount cameras on them

Pricing, specs, and availability

The Peak Design Outdoor Line, which includes the Outdoor Backpack 25L, is launching as a Kickstarter as of today. The crowdfunding period will last through Oct. 15, and early backers can secure their gear at between 20% and 25% off the usual MSRP. The Outdoor Backpack I tested will retail for $250, and can be paired with an optional hip belt ($45) and rainfly ($30).

The backpack comes in three colors: Black, Cloud (white), and Eclipse (deep purple). Kickstarter backers are expected to receive their backpacks in January 2025, with full retail availability set to come around that time. If you’re wary of backing a Kickstarter, you might want to wait for wider availability to come next year before buying.

What I like

There’s plenty of storage for laptops, tablets, and cameras

It’s so rare to see a bag made for the outdoors and made to hold your tech. You might be wondering why you’d even want to bring a laptop or tablet with you into the wilderness, but there are real workflows that demand it. For example, if you’re a photographer or cinematographer who shoots landscapes with cameras or drones, you might need to check on footage or make edits in the field.

The Outdoor Backpack 25L is a frameless daypack, so it’s perfect for relatively short trips. There’s a laptop/reservoir compartment that can either hold a hydration pack or a small laptop or tablet; if you use this pocket for tech, a hydration pack can go in the front of the bag. I managed to slide a 13-inch MacBook Air and 11-inch iPad into this compartment quite easily, and there’s a Velcro strap for added security.

This bag is designed so that you can either access your stuff from the rear or from the top. The back panel unzips from the bag to open up completely flat, and this makes it easy to access the main part of the bag. There really isn’t anything on the inside beside that laptop/reservoir compartment. You’re supposed to fill up the inside with packing materials, like Peak Design packing cubes or camera cubes.

Unlike other Peak Design bags, such as the Everyday Backpack 20L, there’s no built-in organization tools found within the Outdoor Backpack 25L.

The superb external carry options make this a true hiking pack

It’s the exterior of the bag that underscores why the Outdoor Backpack 25L is great for hiking. The straps are much bigger than the usual Peak Design ones, and they have mesh pockets for holding your stuff. Don’t underestimate the strap pockets — you can fit an entire iPhone 15 Pro Max in there. Loops line the bag, which comes with external carry cords, so you can hook things onto the Outdoor Backpack 25L. I could see tripods, trekking poles, and sleeping bags being attached on the outside.

I also tested the Outdoor Sling 2L, and it’s designed to work with the Outdoor Backpack seamlessly. Carry cords for the backpack loop right onto the sling, so it can be used as a chest pouch or to add more storage on the back. I ended up using the Sling 2L to hold essentials like sunscreen and chewing gum, plus tech gear such as the DJI Osmo Pocket 3.

The Ultra Cinch roll-top main compartment is clever, but it’s the external carry options that won me over. If I’m out on a hike, I want to be able to mount gear to my specific liking with straps and carabiners. The Outdoor Backpack 25L can really be used for hiking, as long as you have the right packing tools.

What I don’t like

The Outdoor Backpack 25L is nearly impossible to use without packing tools

The first time I really tested the Outdoor Backpack 25L was without any packing tools. I took the bag on an excursion through the entire perimeter of St. Kitts, an island in the West Indies. That was a mistake, because I felt quite uncomfortable at the thought of my cameras, tech products, and hiking gear all slamming into each other in the Outdoor Backpack 25L.

The experience is much better with packing cubes, tech pouches, and camera cubes. However, I still found myself wishing there was a better internal organization system that came with the Outdoor Backpack. This bag costs $250, and the $45 hip belt and $30 rainfly are sold separately. Camera cubes that fit this bag cost around $50 and ultralight packing cubes are at least $15 each. A capture clip is another $75. I could absolutely see a loadout of the Outdoor Backpack 25L, and a modest set of accessories to maximize its usefulness, costing around $500.

This is why I suspect the Outdoor Line will only be a good fit for people who are already into the Peak Design ecosystem. The cost of entry is just too high for hikers and adventurers to buy into this ecosystem for Outdoor products alone.

The straps are a blessing and a curse

A common complaint with Peak Design backpacks is that their straps aren’t secure enough, and their zippers aren’t sturdy enough. Only time will tell how the Outdoor Backpack 25L holds up, but early results are a mixed bag. I find that the shoulder straps are much more comfortable than the ones on my Everyday Backpack. They’re thicker, removable, and have more padding. However, they sit a bit high on my shoulders as a 5’10” man and this makes using a strap-mounted capture clip tricky.

I preferred to keep my camera mounted to my belt instead, for this reason. As for the optional hip belt, I loved the thick and comfortable fit as well as the pockets for handy storage. However, the process of adjusting the length of the straps was tricky. That goes for many of the cords, hooks, and straps on this bag — it’s all too easy to make it a tangled mess if you aren’t familiar with how they work. A detailed manual or setup guide (which may be coming eventually, this is a Kickstarter after all) would go a long way.

Should you buy the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L?

You should buy the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L if:

• You’re heavily invested in the Peak Design ecosystem
• You need to carry a laptop, tablet, or other tech products in the outdoors
• You’re willing to be one of the first to back this pre-production Kickstarter project

You should NOT buy the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L if:

• You want a bag with internal organization solutions
• The price of the Outdoor Backpack 25L and needed accessories is too high
• You’d rather wait to see how mass production of the Outdoor Line goes

There were a few frustrations with using the Outdoor Backpack 25L, but for a Kickstarter pre-production sample, this is an incredibly polished bag. If you’re a current Peak Design user who wants an outdoor hiking bag for tech and camera gear that’ll integrate with your existing ecosystem, this may be the bag for you. However, I doubt that it’ll be enough to tempt adventurers outside the camera and tech scenes due to the high costs of entry.

Outdoor laptop bag

Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L

This could become the go-to hiking bag for tech

If you’ve been eagerly waiting for a way to take your tech with you off the grid, it might be worth giving the Outdoor Line a try as an early Kickstarter backer. If you’re not sold, there’s no harm in waiting for the Outdoor Backpack 25L to become more widely available.