Peak Design Travel 45 Review

This backpack is great for general travel, but it shines brightest as a travel camera bag, with a spacious main compartment for larger lenses and multiple camera bodies, plus a few days' worth of clothing. It's one of the few backpacks in our lineup that also offers a retractable hip belt for those heavy-load days.

Storage & Protection

This is one of the strongest areas of the Peak Design Travel 45, with 45 liters of capacity, heavy-duty fabrics, and a decent amount of padding. While we certainly recommend the Travel 45 to photographers, it's also great for travelers simply wanting a more robust bag for their next road trip or plane ride, especially if headed to wetter climates.

While cameras are getting more and more weatherproof, it's still nice to keep your gear as protected as possible, and Peak Design made this bag with a shell material that's actually waterproof, thanks to a 400 denier Nylon Versa Shell. This fabric is a bit heavier, but its durability may be worth it for some. If you drag your travel luggage through gravel, dirt, or sand, the Peak Design Travel 45 is impressively abrasion-resistant, so you're less likely to put a hole in the bag mid-trip.

The Peak Design Travel 45 has one of the larger main compartments of any travel bag in the lineup, making it ideal for those bulky telephoto lenses or, for the general traveler, hiking boots or a cumbersome toiletries bag. It also includes two water bottle pockets to keep the interior available for clothes, electronics, and charging cables.

Previous Next

Comfort & Fit

While the Peak Design Travel 45 doesn't have as much cushion, it has an adjustable chest strap and a well-made hip belt that made a world of difference in comfort when the bag was fully loaded with clothing and/or camera gear. The chest strap can be adjusted only 6 inches up or down, but the shoulder straps can be loosened or tightened to accommodate a 6-foot-tall traveler or someone with a much shorter torso.

After a couple of months of testing, we determined that the Peak Design Travel 45 could comfortably carry about 40 pounds when using the hip belt, which is a much higher comfortable weight capacity than most of the bags we tested. The hip belt's buckle is a minimalist G-hook design that wasn't our favorite; we prefer classic squeeze buckles. But most of the bag's weight still fell onto the padded sides anyway. The back panel is made up of thin padding columns that run from the shoulders to the hips, though Peak Design didn't include much space between the padding for airflow, making it a bit sweatier to carry on summertime photo shoots.

Ease of Use

If you're new to camera bags, the Peak Design Travel 45 might feel a bit different than a traditional travel backpack, but its back panel access is an industry-standard design that's even easy to use for a non-photography trip. The hip belt uses a pivot system to spin each side of the belt behind the back panel when you want to use only the shoulder straps, and we could even deploy it mid-stride when we wanted more support. The Travel 45 can accommodate laptops up to 16", though the divider sleeve inside the laptop pocket often snagged when sliding our computers inside.

If you need to bring more gear, the Peak Design Travel 45 can be expanded from a compressed 30 liters to 45 liters via a zipper and button system that runs along the outside of the bag. It also offers 4 pockets in its outside compartment to organize electronics, memory cards, cables, and chargers - all of which can also be accessed from the main compartment. The outermost pocket at the top of the Travel 45 is large enough to fit a passport, a few sticks of gum, and some earbuds, but most of the storage in this bag is found in the outside compartment and main cavity.

Previous Next

The Peak Design Travel 45 doesn't come with a divider system in the main compartment, which is necessary for many photographers who need to keep camera bodies and lenses organized. Peak Design does sell its own divider system that'll fit the Travel 45, but it can cost a pretty penny depending on how many dividers you get. If you simply like the sound of this bag for travel, then you can skip the dividers; they would only get in the way. The pocket configuration is also tailored to photo needs with multiple access points, and openings can feel oddly placed if you're not used to the system. At the end of the day, this might have a slight learning curve, but once you learn the ins and outs of the Travel 45, you'll be able to pull out a camera quickly, or find a new memory card in seconds.

Versatility

While we highlighted the Travel 45's photography use, it's a bag that performs well for lots of travelers. If you need one travel backpack for international travel, weekend getaways, and photo shoots closer to home, this might be the right fit. The expansion feature is useful for tailoring the bag size to your next trip.

As is often the case with feature-rich packs, the Travel 45 can be taken almost anywhere. From Stagecoach bus rides to Amtrak trains, this weather-resistant bag can be relied upon, rain or shine. However, we weighed this bag at 4.5 pounds, which is about a pound heavier than some of our other favorite packs. It isn't our first recommendation if you're a “light-is-right” traveler.

Should You Buy the Peak Design Travel 45?

If you need a camera bag you can trust on the road, and that is large enough to pack overnight essentials in addition to camera gear, the Peak Design Travel 45 is a no-brainer. It has excellent protection, a long list of features, and can handle heavier loads well, so your backpack won't hold you back for a sunrise photo shoot or a tight connection. If you aren't a photographer, you might still love the Travel 45 as a more protective model with plenty of features for general travel.

What Other Travel Backpacks Should You Consider?

If you'd like a more traditional backpack design, the Wandrd Transit 35L is a protective option that works well with camera equipment- just keep in mind it doesn't have a hip belt. The Transit is slightly lighter than the Travel 45 and also offers more exterior pockets if you prefer quick access to memory cards or hand sanitizer.