Note: this item was provided for review.
I have tested a lot of Pioneer Carry bags now, and they have a common theme that this bag builds on: excellent materials and well-designed pockets. This means that Pioneer Carry is one of the only companies I always say yes to when they offer to have me check out new things, which is why we have their Panda Pack XL to look at today.
Spoiler: this backpack is flippin’ sweet.
Materials and Specs
Don’t let the “XL” in the name scare you off — it’s a 28L backpack, but visually it blends right in with most bags. The styling does a good job of keeping this from looking massive. I have 27L backpacks that look much larger than this.
It clocks in with these specs (pulled from the product page):
- H: 19″ x D: 9″ x W: 11.5″ (15″ including side pockets)
- 2.9 lbs
- Side pockets fit water bottles up to 5″ in diameter.
- MANDARIN 840™ 100% NYLON: All webbing and all fabric on this bag are high-density 100% nylon. 0% of this bag is polyester.
- Carry-on compliant
- Fits all laptops
- Suspended laptop slot
- Large YKK VISLON® zippers
- 10mm EVA padded shoulder straps
- Heavy duty luggage strap on back panel
- Triple-padded back panel
As I mentioned, the materials are top-notch. The Mandarin 840 nylon remains a favorite of mine. Some people will quibble with the zipper choice, but I’ve found that the zippers open nicely, don’t scratch your hands or devices, and are very usable. The fit and finish is excellent as well — a great, polished product.
In Use
Everything on this bag is designed to zip closed. Even the water bottle pockets on the sides zip closed. Which means there’s a lot of zippers and pockets. Generally, for me, this can be overwhelming. However, on this backpack the layout feels more intuitive than on most bags, which makes it pretty simple to use.
I’ve been wearing this bag around town since I received it, and it’s been tossed around my car countless times. It’s a really easy backpack to wear. It slides on and off smoothly, it’s comfortable, and it fits my back well. If you have a smaller frame, my guess is that it might feel a touch long/tall, but it should be doable for most people within the average height range (men and women).
Each of these, individually, fits in the side water bottle pockets.
The straps are nicely curved, and there’s enough padding on the back panel that I’ve never felt any discomfort. Really, the only carrying downside is the overall size, which is essentially also the reason you’d be buying this. But it’s not even the footprint size — it’s the capacity, as it’s easy to make this bag quite heavy. Meaning: it swallows up gear nicely. I see this as a plus, but you might need discipline if you are prone to carrying too much.
A quick tour of the bag. The back pocket opens in a half-moon shape and is the laptop area. There’s a thin sleeve inside on the front side of the pocket (instead of the side against your back), and this is the suspended laptop sleeve. I found that backwards from what I expected. There is ample room for more in this pocket, and (as with essentially every pocket on this bag) the space is dedicated.
Moving forward, you have the main compartment, which fully clamshells open — great if you want to tote clothing or shoes in it. Inside, there’s an open-top pocket along the back and two zipper pockets on the face, with another open-top pocket behind the upper zipper pocket. The bottom of this area is the base of the bag, and there’s solid padding there as well. This is a big space, and it can hold a ton.
The four exterior pockets are where this bag really shines, though. There are two in the front, both opening with a half-moon-shaped zipper. The top pocket is amazing — it has an open-top pouch inside and a large area with plenty of depth to carry items. This is the type of pocket you could empty all your pockets into when you need to pass through airport security. It’s easy to get to and well positioned.
Below that is an absolutely huge pocket. This could carry a full lunch inside of it, and the space is dedicated. It’s a perfect snack pocket when flying, but I’ve been using it to hold my notebook, a mouse, and pens. This is really well placed, and unlike most pockets positioned in this spot, it’s very easy to get gear in and out of.
The two side water bottle pockets are likely to be the most divisive. I don’t often carry water bottles, and I also don’t love most water bottle pockets. Because of those two factors, I love these two pockets. They don’t have to be for water bottles, and because they zip closed, they are very useful for someone like me. At the same time, they easily swallow up most any water bottle I would carry. They do push into the main compartment for about 1/3 of their volume. They have half-moon zippers, and I find them easy to use.
Now that you have a sense of what this bag is and isn’t, a few thoughts from me on what it was like using it:
- This is very much an “everything in its place” type of bag. I can struggle with that, but these pockets are so easy to get in and out of that I found the entire bag fantastically well organized.
- However, because the pocketing is so good, the main compartment feels perpetually empty. If you are more of a road-warrior type, this means you’ll have plenty of storage. If you are a coffee shop worker (like me!), then this space will largely be empty but offers a great spot to take home some beans or mugs, or to stash your bulky jacket.
- The laptop area is a gem, and it’s very easy to slip my laptop in and out of.
- I am a huge fan of the top handle. This model comes with the handle wrap on it, and that’s a clear upgrade. It’s comfortable to hold, easy to grab, but mostly out of the way.
- I like the little luggage tag things Pioneer does, but on this bag it can be slightly in the way of the water bottle pocket. You can remove it, but I think it looks neat.
- This is clearly made for travel, but it’s plenty useful when you aren’t traveling.
There are nearly no downsides I can think of here.
Overall
I love this bag and highly recommend it. It’s good enough that I would justify keeping it so that I always have it if/when I travel. The Mandarin 840 is one of the best nylons out there — certainly my favorite. It has a nice matte sheen like 1000D Cordura, but the smoothness of ballistic nylon. Which means it keeps looking clean without being shiny. It looks great.
Oh, and I almost forgot: even without my laptop (but with all the other stuff in it), this bag stands up just fine on its own. You can even smack it around a bit and it won’t topple over.
I highly recommend this, and you can find it here for $429.