Note: this item was provided for review.
I have started carrying smaller shoulder bags more and more these days, and as such I am always on the lookout for the latest and greatest. So when I saw AlpineSea’s Tiny Cove — a small 6L banana styled shoulder bag — I knew I needed to give it a go. I don’t love most ‘sling’ designs as they always feel like a solution searching for a problem — shoulder bags always do it better..
The Tiny Cove is very tiny, but has a lot going for it.
Materials and Specs
AlpineSea is a small-batch producer in Hood River, Oregon. They focus on high quality materials and products, here’s the run down on the Tiny Cove:
- 6 Liters
- 12.5″ L x 6.5″ H x 4″ W
- Max Strap Length of 46in, 1.25” wide webbing
- ULTRA GRID: 210d Nylon x 5mm double 200d Ultra™ Grid
- Coating: C0 DWR Face – 1500mm PU Backing
- Interior Materials: Recycled Polyester 200D Plain Weave
- YKK Zippers
Really nice use of materials, which give what is a very simple bag, and tangible sense of high quality. The fit and finish on this bag is perfect.
In Use
Before I dive into my use of the bag, here’s the vision for the bag:
The Tiny Cove 6L is a minimal crossbody designed for days when you just need the essentials. Think: phone, wallet, keys, maybe a snack — nothing extra, everything easy.
In other words this is more or less a purse — I don’t say that as a negative judgment, but let’s call a spade a spade here. And I got this for me, and I used it, and it’s a fantastic purse. You can call it a dad bag, a sling, or whatever you want — but this is a place to put the essentials you don’t want to carry in your pockets.
I did want to expand the testing of this bag from my errands around town, so I took it hiking with me on one of the more challenging trails near me to put it through its paces. Through all of that, I found a bag I really like, and a bag I can see myself using often.
There are only a few of downsides (but more like ‘you should knows’ as they are not really bad) with this bag, so I’ll start there:
- As I mentioned the size and shape is going to make certain people feel a little self conscious about carrying this bag. I certainly felt that way the first time, but it actually looks pretty solid when you are carrying it. So be aware, but not afraid.
- The non-square shape means that this bag will either hold more than you expected, or far less. If you like to pack with fairly structured and rectangular pouches, then it’s going to be less efficient with space usage. I swapped over to soft sided pouches and had no issues.
- The webbing strap is simple and has no pad, which is not needed, but it does mean that the strap slides pretty freely on your shoulder. I never had issues with it wanting to slip off my shoulder, but the bag would often slide from my back to my side when hiking or riding a bike around to my front — something to keep in mind.
Alright, with those notes out of the way, there’s some really unexpectedly awesome things going on here. The bag itself is very simple with an outer angled open top pocket (the size of one side of the bag), while the zipped main compartment has an additional zippered pocket inside which is also the size of the other side of the bag. Inside the bag is a generously long key leash, which has a really nice aluminum carabiner style clip with what appears to be an integrated bottle opener on it.
For a 6L bag, I found it to have ample room for everything I needed. Here’s what I packed on my day hike with the bag:
The front open top pocket is one of my favorite things about this bag. Because of the shape of the pocket, and the angle of the opening, whatever I put in there, never felt like it was at risk of falling out. Yet it was pretty easy to get to it. My larger water bottles would not fit well there, but phones are amazing there. I carried my wife’s iPhone 16 Pro Max with a Silicone Case on it in the pocket while we hiked and it was trivial to fetch the phone and hand it to her, or stash it away. Smaller water bottles also fit well in this pocket.
This is the type of pocket where you are likely to not always use it for the same thing each time, but you will use it every time you carry the bag. It’s fantastic.
I also want to give a special call out for the zipper pulls. I am not quite sure how they made these, but it’s a really nice touch, and I absolutely love them:
The bag is wider at the bottom, and given the smaller stature, it sits up decently well and is really easy to grab even without any handles on the bag. It wears very comfortably on one shoulder or across your body. The banana style design always makes the bag feel like it is hugging up to your body, and not pulling away. Something I had hoped this bag would do, and was not disappointed.
Before I wrap this up, the construction and materials of this bag mean that it’s insanely lightweight. And that it packs down decently flat if needed. Which means that for those of you who like to take a smaller bag with you on your travels, but need to stow it away at times, will find this to be a great addition. This is likely to make a lot of trips with me.
Overall
I really like this bag, and I was not sure what to expect from it going into it. After using it a lot, I can confidently say that I am going to be getting a ton of use out of this bag, and I very much want to try its larger sibling as well.
I love the materials and the utility of the bag, but more than any of that, I love how it stays out of my way and carries what I need.