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?

I started my quest for the perfect totepack on a budget here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HerOneBag/comments/1255v96/does_my_perfect_tote_pack_exist/

My perfect totepack is at least 20L, around 17"x10"x9", zips at the top, and does a better job of being a tote than a backpack, since I'm mostly planning to use it as a 0.5 bag personal item with a Porter 46. Long enough straps for shoulder carry are essential. The three I'm comparing are the Patagonia Ultralight 22L travel totepack, style 48808 (predecessor of the current Black Hole version), United By Blue 25L Carryall, and Osprey Daylite totepack. Now that all three have finally arrived, I have some thoughts!

TL:DR - While none are perfect, I think both the UBB and the Patagonia are both keepers for me, especially at the price I paid ($30 for each excluding shipping). The Osprey just couldn't get enough stuff in there IMO, but it's still a really nice and well built pack, and my mom loves it.

In a clearly very super-scientific method, I stuffed as may packing peanuts I could into all three bags and judged how much they could hold. Patagonia clearly held the most, so I used that as my gold standard. Osprey held the least, about 2/3 of the Patagonia. Osprey plus Topo Quick Pack held about as much as the Patagonia. UBB held almost as much as the Patagonia, at least 3/4 or maybe 7/8?

Osprey seems the most structured and least compliant, but perhaps the most durable. Patagonia is stowable into its pocket, so completely unstructured when unpacked. In reality my sweet spot is somewhere in between - a little structure but not so much that it takes away storage space. The UBB seems to hit that sweet spot pretty well. It has a laptop sleeve and a little more organization than the Patagonia.

UBB is about 14" wide when fully packed, so a tiny bit too wide for United Airlines (17"x10"x9") as a personal item. The 10" measurement is extremely limiting, and I'm not sure UA will be as strict on sizing as Frontier and Spirit, but you never know. It's also not the most squishable because the laptop sleeve takes up almost the entire back panel, so you're trying to squish a double-thickness padded portion of the bag, compared to squishing something unstructured like the Patagonia. So I don't think I'd take the UBB on United Airlines basic economy, but it should be fine on airlines with 18"x14"x8" limits like Frontier etc. Osprey and Patagonia are taller and less wide, so they're both going to fit into the United sizer just fine. If I don't need to pack as much and can get away with just my Topo Quick Pack as my 0.5 bag instead of a totepack, that would actually be my preference for 1.5 bag travel since it's hands-free. But I like having options.

Edit: My plan for using these is basically:

• Flying personal item only? Patagonia, hands-down. Fits the most and should pass the sizing test on any airline.

• For 1.5 bagging, UBB or Topo Quick Pack plus Porter 46, depending on how much I need to carry in my personal item bag and whether I'm flying United or something else.

Osprey seems to be a better backpack than tote, the other way around for UBB, and Patagonia will do well for either.

Side note: I think that magnolia print on the Osprey is absolutely gorgeous. Kinda hurts to give it up but at least it's going to a good home.

Edit: Another side note...I wish companies would more accurately list their volumes. I highly doubt the UBB actually carries 25L, since it carries less than the 22L Patagonia (if indeed the 22L capacity is correct for that). I probably should have done some actual measurements.

Here are some pics from my totally super-scientific experiment: https://imgur.com/a/MDhWVly

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.