Buying a bag is damn hard, I mean harder than that. Since deciding that I needed to get back into the production game on producing content for this webpage, a change to my tech bag was needed, so I’ve been looking for a new everyday carry, or EDC, bag for about two weeks now. In this hunt and research quest I learned 3 very important facts; there are a lot of bags out there, there are a lot of bag Kickstarter, and that a good bag is bloody expensive! But this didn’t stop me from looking for the best bag to replace my current EDC, a Werner Swisstech backpack. It’s a great bag but it looks like I am getting ready for school. Now I had several things that were required of the bag. It needs to be able to hold my laptop (15in HP Pavilion), my 12.4 inch Samsung Tab 7 Tablet, my DJI Osmo 3, my Tascam voice recorder, and various other goodies.
Researching
After searching on YouTube for some of my favorite tech Youtubers choices for tech EDC I started getting targeted ads, no surprise, but what shocked me was the number of different brands I was receiving ads from. Normally when I get targeted ads, it’s one company tons. With bag research I was getting 6 or 7 different companies, all selling tech specific bags! Another set of ads I started getting were Kickstarters for bags of all shapes and sizes. I will admit that there are plenty of innovations being made, even in backpacks. That was a bit of a surprise, I figured they had all the tricks figured out, but I was wrong! This option was good for me as I wanted a new bag now, not a year from now.
I didn’t want the bag to look like I was getting ready for school or going on a hike. As I decided on which bag I was going to go with, I noticed a trend. A good tech EDC bag costs quite a bit! The ones I decided between ranged from $150 to $250 for the bag. Yes I understand that I am getting a quality product, but I didn’t think they were going to be that expensive. I finally decided on either a bag from Knack, Nomadic, or Ebag. All three had features I loved and looked clean and slick on the outside. Now it was time to decide which features I wanted the most in the bag.
Knack Series 1.0 Medium Everyday Carry
The Knack Series 1.0 bag is a medium bag that manages to look sharp while having a minimal streamlined look while looking sharp. It has a side loading 15 inch laptop compartment with 2 pockets up front and a good sized shortage compartment overall going from 27L to 39L. The best feature of this bag for my needs is the expandable storage to allow this tech bag to go to a weekend bag from an EDC. Price tag on this one comes in at a smooth $199.
Nomatic Navigator 15L Everyday Carry
The next bag I looked at is the Nomatic Navigator 15L backpack. This is another amazing looking bag that comes in at a hefty $249. It ticks off all of my requirements and like the Knack Series 1.0 expands from 15L to 21L to turn into a weekend bag. I really like a lot of the features of this bag, like the hidden magnetized bottle pocket. Ultimately I decided to not go with this bag because of the price. While it is a beautiful bag, the Knack Series 1 has all of the functionality at $50 less.
eBags Pro Slim Laptop Backpack Everyday Carry
I’m going to tell you right now that the eBag Pro Slim Laptop bag is the one I decided to go with. This was the bag of choice for UrAvgConsumer for 2019 as his tech EDC. The bag looks great ,is sleek, has a dedicated fleece lined tablet compartment, a laptop and main compartment that opens from the top around top to the side. The front compartment and bottom pouch are two gimmicks that I love. Overall though the main reason I picked this bag was the price. Normally the bag is priced at $150, but there were several colors that have been discontinued and priced on clearance at $50. This bag sadly does not expand and is a bit slimmer than I was envisioning. I could not fit my headphones or my switch into the bag along with my required EDC items. Part of my honestly wishes I would have gone with one of the other bags that expands, but if that had been the case I should have looked into the eBag Pro Weekender which is much like the bag that I got and has a larger storage space, which is also on sale.
In the end I do really like the Slim Computer Case by Ebag, even though it is a bit small for my packrat self. That’s not on the bag though, that on me and the amount of silliness that I carry around. Until the next time, model workers.