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?

I'm intending to use this as an airline hand carry when I go on holiday. When I arrive I'll use it when I'm out and about, carrying a water bottle, power bank and souvenir shopping. It can be worn as a backpack too.

Specs:

Gear Capacity: 27 L (2,648 cu in) Dimensions: 16" x 10.6" x 8" Weight: 1 lbs 7.1 oz (655 g)

Any thoughts, experiences, opinions?

Interested in the black hole tote, but I'd rather not pay $90 since I wouldn't be using it too often. I just like the idea of having a very portable backup backpack that maximizes space and can possibly hold a laptop. It doesn't need to be amazing quality or high durability necessarily, since I don't anticipate using it as more than a backup bag (eg to carry excess on the way back from a trip).

I've got a few packable day backpacks, but they're not very space efficient due to the traditional rounded backpack shape--which also makes them not great for laptops. The square shape of the ultralight tote maximizes space for personal item airline travel where you've got rectangular size limits--plus, the long tote handles make it easy to carry different ways. I'm wondering if there are any similar dupes on Amazon, or by different brands.

I actually saw the lightweight tote on Ebags about a week or two ago, and there was ONE in stock for $22! Unfortunately, I spent too long deliberating on what else to get to qualify for free shipping, and within 20 minutes it disappeared from my cart and went OOS :/. Still hurting from that lol.

edit: After some searching, Timbuk2 makes a lot of similar tote backpacks, but none of them are packable and they're all more expensive. Same with Rains--equivalent cost.

As for amazon generics, GOX makes a cheap horizontal tote (no backpack straps), and there's this rose gold thing from a mystery company.

Closest I can find is this Duluth one for $40.

There's also this Eagle Creek one for $20, but it's only 18L.

Just got back from my first trip away with this bag. I don't normally fly, but this time I did, with Easyjet. So I needed a personal item bag and this seemed to fit the bill. What I liked:

- Appearance. I have the multi-colour version that doesn't seem to be available right now. But I think it looks good in any colour.

- Flexibility. The combination of a zippable tote and rucksack worked really well on this trip. During the journey it was good to be able to use it as a tote while I carried my main backpack on my back. The zipped pockets made me feel confident that items wouldn't fall out. While at the destination it served as my day bag for the beach, pool, food shopping and sightseeing.

- Resilience. The fact that it is just a thin, squashy bag meant that I didn' worry about it soaking up water when it got damp at the beach or pool (rucksacks with a back panel would, I think, absorb more water).

- Comfort - great to have adjustable straps and sternum strap

- Water bottle pockets and small zipped pockets

Downsides:

- I wish the tote straps were slightly longer for carrying on the shoulder. But not a big deal
- The lack of 'structure' means it's not as comfortable as the usual backpack. You're sacrificing some comfort (due to lack of bag panel and rigidity) for the ability to squash it down or pack it in to its own pocket. Not a big deal either in my experience - just needed to be more careful in how I placed hard items like bottles in the bag so they didn't poke in to my back.