I’ve been eyeing this bag for awhile now as a possible airplane personal item and am on the fence about buying it. Has anyone tried/owned one who can share their thoughts on it?

So today I received the new black hole bags in black and smolder blue. The new material is really nice imo and is a lot better than the older shiny material. The large logo isn’t the best but I’ve heard that it’s easy to remove so I’ll see about that. Water bottle pockets are nice, don’t take up space and are tight so things don’t fall out. Interior space is nice and large and I’ve managed to fit a pretty decent amount of things inside. I might be blind but it seems like they removed the hydration hose pass through. My only slight annoyance is that the top pocket is slightly inconvenient to use when the bag is packed to the top. If anyone’s got any questions about the bags I’m happy to answer them.

I finally mad my choice - the black hole! Went to REI yesterday and found one for $50 off somehow, the backpack gods smile upon me. So excited to try this bad lad out for my Amsterdam trip at the end of the month. Thank you everyone for your help! This bag seems amazing.

I bought the bag September '23 to use as a "personal bag" on flights. I backpack quite a bit and use an Osprey Farpoint 40L as my main travel bag.

I'd heard a lot of good things about Patagonia rucksacks so thought I'd invest in one - and decided on the Black Hole 25L. They advertise the bag as "Extremely Durable and Weather-Resistant" but mine got wet after a month of having it and started to delaminate.

I knew this had been an issue on older models but yeah... expected better imo. It started small and grew into the images below in the space of ~3 months.

I'm from the UK (and ordered there) but I was in Melbourne for a little while so I decided to visit the Patagonia store there. They weren't much help, unfortunately. So I reached out to customer service online and they handled everything via email. They asked for pics (the ones below), reviewed them and said it was irreparable so they sent a new one out to my accom in Melbourne FOC.

Not seen many reports of delamination on newer Black Hole gear but it happens.

Happy to answer any questions if you've got them.

TL;DR: Bought the 25L, returned it and bought the 32L. Much happier with the 32L. 32L is bigger and has a more accessible main compartment, a separate laptop compartment, a flatter bottom which allows it to stand up on its own (compared to the 25L which does not stand on its own for some dumb reason) and an additional row of daisy-chained webbing. If you're okay with the size of the 32L, definitely go with it over the 25L!

Hey OneBag!

I ordered the 25L Patagonia Black Hole backpack after looking around for an EDC/adventure backpack that would last me a long time, be functional and still look great. Now, everyone doesn't like the glossy finish of the Black Hole bags, but I think they look fantastic (especially the black ones). It arrived and I was initially really excited about it. But after a few days of using it I realised there were some major drawbacks with the 25L version that I had ordered.

I ended up sending it back and ordering the 32L version instead, and it's been nothing but fantastic so far. It improves on everything I disliked about the 25L version. When I was considering buying these backpacks I had a hard time finding discussion about the different versions. In this post I'd like to go over a few of the pro's and con's of the two backpacks if anyone is in the same position I was.

Size

The optimal size for you will ultimately depend on how tall you are (and what you need it for). I'm a reasonably tall dude, coming in at about 6'1, and I found the 25L to be a little too small. The "height" of the bag is perfect, but it's very lacking depth-wise. It's also not very wide, which gives it a bit of an awkward shape when it's worn. Packing it is also more difficult compared to a wider backpack, where you don't have to dig into as narrow of a compartment that the 25L is.

The 32L is both wider and has greater depth (distance between your back and the outer part of the backpack), which makes it both easier to pack and unpack. I was worried that it would be too bulky and large when it's not full of stuff, but it sort of magically shrinks down when it's only half packed.

The one thing I actually prefer about the 25L is the smaller top compartment where you usually keep your wallet, keys, etc. On the 32L the zipper goes lower on the sides, which means stuff falls out if you accidentally open it too wide.

Looks

This part is obviously subjective, so take my review with a grain of salt. I initially liked how the 25L looked, but quickly realised it hugged my back a bit too tightly. It looked more like it was a part of my back rather than a classical "backpack"-look.

The Black Hole material is fantastic. It looks really nice and is extremely durable. Luckily I haven't been in a position where it would be able to rip, but from what I've heard the material is incredibly durable.

The 32L does not look "too big" even when it's fully packed, which was something I was initially worried about when considering the 32L over the 25L. As I said earlier I'm a 6'1 dude with reasonably broad shoulders.

Features

One of the main differences between the 25L and 32L is that the 32L version has a separate laptop compartment. It's "TSA-approved" which means you can unzip it all the way to the bottom and lay the compartment out flat from the rest of the backpack. Since I use the backpack for EDC i usually only zip it open on the side of the backpack and access my laptop that way. But I guess it's nice to have the option of opening it all the way when traveling eventually opens up again.

The 32L features two rows of daisy-chained webbing instead of the single row of the 25L. Two rows allows for treading string between them and keeping shoes and other stuff secured on the outside of the packpack.

There's also an additional carrying-strap on the outside of the backpack which allows for picking it up easily when it's laying backside-down.

One of the most annoying things about the 25L is how the bottom of it is formed. Since the backpack is designed to hug your back tighter than a traditional backpack the bottom part is not parallell to the ground. This means that when you set it down, no matter how much is packed into it, it does not stand on its own. This gets very annoying as an EDC-bag, since you're constantly putting it on the ground/floor and picking it up. The 32L, however has a flatter bottom, which stands on its own even when it's not heavily/fully packed.

If you're considering buying either of these two backpacks I hope you found this somewhat helpful!

I've been looking at the Patagonia black hole tote pack for a while but discovered today that they make a very similar one called Terravia. The measurements and materials are a bit different and it is also a bit heavier. Has anyone here seen it and how does it compare to the black hole?