Aer Travel Pack 2 vs The North Face Surge II Daypack

So really great, versatile size. And so, as I was testing the South, the first bag that this made me think of was the larger version of the travel pac...

4) Still gotta use this on a mountain bike. The back is breathable - but its a big bag. I'll update this after the first ride. There is no bladder option on this bag (unless you hack the laptop area)

What I really don’t like is the shoulder straps. They are very uncomfortable. The side pockets are useless for holding water bottles. But I really hate the shoulder straps

Today on reviewing two, we've got the North Face Surge 2 backpack. Why the Surge 2? Well, I wanted to carry on size pack for traveling that could also...

This meant I could easily grab my xbox controller or a snack without having to hoist the bag up into my lap and open the whole thing. -Comfort: Its actually pretty comfortable to wear. I took a hike with this bag on (I know - probably not really what its designed for) - and it worked out perfect. The back is as padded/breathable as you could expect, and the front chest strap helped to keep the bag tight against my chest without all of the weight being squarely on my shoulders

i backpack a lot so i'm pretty in tune to my preferences with this, and i may have selected something different if any of them fit my laptop size.

its a great comfortable laptop backpack with a shoe bag at base.

8 x 8.3 inches. Women's version is 27L capacity and 18 x 15 x 2 inches. Both bags advertise fitting a 17 inch laptop, however my 16 inch windows laptop (about same thickness as a Macbook pro but maybe a tad wider) barely fits

Amazing! The zippers are YKK...another reason that made me decide to purchase this backpack

The version i have here is the all black, but you can see all the different options that they have on the company site and then moving into the materi...

Lastly, I understand the utility of having the cinch straps on the outside of the bag but why are SUCH a pain always having to snap and unsnap them just to unzip the bag. Really wish there was an alternative to this type of design. At the end of the day though, while not perfect, it’s by far the best bag I’ve found so far for long weekend trips. If you purchase this bag I suspect you’ll be very happy

A couple of downsides: I would like the straps to be just a little bit wider. Since I haul a heavy load, the weight does not distribute to a wide area amongst my shoulders, causing only a small amount of shoulder to do a lot of the carrying. Also, I'm not sure if this is just me, but when I stand my backpack up next to my desk, it keeps falling over! I end up leaving it on its back eventually. I also wouldn't mind the pack having a little more room

I'd like to see another external pocket so I can have quick access to small electronics. I would also like to see a smaller version of this, maybe a 30-35L and have the height be less than 18" so that it can pass the Frontier Airlines' (and other low-cost carrier) personal bag restriction.

So you can imagine how stoked I was to take their Surge to laptop compatible backpack and run it through its paces. The surge to showcases a rugged lo...