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Looking at it from the front, the first things that caught my eye were the dual carry handles, and the buckles. The buckles are designed to hold the main compartment in a half-open state, so you can get access to what’s inside without spilling it out everywhere. The zipper pouch on the outside front is cute, but oriented so that you can’t conveniently get much into or out of it. As such, it’s not useful for more than small things like pens and USB flash drives. |
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The side pouches are nice in theory, allowing for easy storage of your cell phone, mp3 player, &c. In practice, they require a fair bit of arm contorting to get at while the backpack is on, and frankly I’m not sanguine about the prospect of putting anything too valuable in a pocket that’s easier to get at for a thief than it is for me. |
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On the bottom, in a spot that blends in so well I missed it the first few times, is a small pouch for storing the included rain cover. The rain cover is a waterproof tarp that wraps around the backpack in a manner similar to a fitted sheet wrapping around a mattress. If things are especially windy, you can use a set of velcro-ed anchor straps to secure it in place, as seen below. |
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| On top, we see not only the anchor straps in action, but also a pair of adjustment straps. These are designed to pull the top end of the pack up against your back, rather than letting it dangle by the shoulder straps. Adjusting them is a simple matter of pulling the straps by their ends until you’ve reached the desired point. |
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On back, with the rain cover still attached, we see the main shoulder straps. Aside from the usual length adjustment, they also have a cross-brace strap that attaches with a snap-buckle. This transfers some of the weight of the backpack to your lower ribcage, relieving pressure on the shoulders. A simple thing, but it makes an enormous difference in fatigue. |
| Opening up the laptop compartment, we see a large, flattish pouch lined with the brightest faux-fur I’ve ever seen. While I couldn’t manage to get it to hold a static charge at all, it is rather too good at trapping heat for its purpose. I would not recommend putting your laptop in when its fans are running, as it will likely overheat. As for size, it is more than sufficient for any laptop on the market. It swallowed my bulky 17″ HP laptop without so much as a hint of trouble, and would probably be just as comfortable with one of those enormous 18″ models. |
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Opening up the main compartment, one is immediately struck with a wave of ORANGE. Though it is a bit startling at first, Everki touts it as a high-contrast background. Given that most consumer electronics are either stark white or matte black, you’ll certainly have a hard time losing them in this compartment. Attached to the back is an expandable, two-pocket pouch that velcros to the back when not in use. |
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On the inside of the front flap, there are a set of four padded and pseudo-velvet-lined pouches, sized for mouses and other such peripherals. The bottom two have a velcro-secured flap, which makes them useful for hanging on to small items like cable adapters that would otherwise rattle around inside the main compartment. |
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Tucked inside is a little bonus item, a padded sleeve sized and shaped to accept a game console. While I didn’t have one on hand to test this, it did manage to accept a very large laptop cooler—sized for the aforementioned 17″ laptop—without complaint. |
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Nice one..