DAKINE Quest Pack

Just got back from a month-long trip across the Atlantic with this pack -3 countries, 2 continents, 6 flights, and too many subway, bus, taxi, and ferry/boat rides to count. Overall, love it -best all-in pack that I've found.

During travels I carried:

15.6" laptop + charger (a large brick)

Canon 5D Mark II

5 lenses (35mm (mounted), 70-200mm, 50mm, 15mm, 16-35mm

Kindle

Tons of accessories (lens hoods, extra HDD, extra batteries, cables, international power plug adapters, magazines, etc.

Full-size tripod

Water bottle

Rain coat

Pack weighed 26 lbs (12 kg) total (without water). Once I got to my destinations, I obviously only explored with camera gear and left other stuff at the hotels.

Pros:

Fits a ton of gear -many smaller pockets to securely store money, passports, boarding passes, etc.

Quite comfortable to carry so much gear for long periods of time. I walked around 10 hours a day on average everyday with almost no discomfort or pain.

Side-access to camera compartment means I can swing it around to change lenses when I'm out shooting -this was critical for me.

Pack stands up straight when left on the floor (unlike my Lowerpro Vertex pack which tends to topple over).

Was rainproof enough for light drizzle without the rain cover.

Cons:

The stiff padded part of the waist strap curves OUT for some reason. So instead of curving around the waist, it sticks out on either side (and because it's stiff, cannot reshape it). This is quite a hassle when walking in narrow areas, e.g. airplane aisles, crowded subways, and really any place with a lot of people, because the sides keep getting caught. Towards the end of the trip I ended up taking the waist strap section off completely.

The camera compartment is a bit tight. So getting lenses in and out can be a struggle at times (especially towards the bottom of the pack).

The shoulder straps only adjust from the bottom -so it's hard to get the pack to stay snug against the shoulder. Wish the straps adjusted at the shoulder/neck, so I could cinch it up top and not have the pack sag. Using the chest strap helps alleviate this problem somewhat.

The waist straps are really long and there are no loops to "store" them -so they just dangle and flap around a l-o-n-g way.

The included rain cover takes up the space intended for a water bottle -so when using water bottle, I had to find another place for the cover (essentially wasting one storage area). A Lowepro-like solution would have been better, where the rain cover is attached to the pack and folds away underneath the pack.

The rain cover was loose when the pack wasn't bulging full and fell off a few times. Ended up not using it for light rain (but pack did fine).

Tripod is carried on the side, making the pack a bit lopsided. Carrying on the back would have been better for weight distribution.

A few more loops overall (to attach carabiners and carry other stuff) would have been nice.

I know the cons looks like a lot, but they're mostly nits/hassles, no major functional problems. Love the pack in general. Does exactly what I needed it to do. I'd tried the Tamrac Evolution 9 before, but it was very uncomfortable to wear for even 30 minutes (the straps are horrible), so I returned it (even though the camera compartment was roomier). This Dakine pack is going to serve me quite well for a long time.

Ordered this backpack to travel with my 15" MBP and camera equipment. Great bag that has padded compartments that are customize-able. Was able to fit my Canon Mark III, 70-200mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses with room to spare. NIce to have a separate compartment for personal items. Laptop compartment has a lined sleeve to protect the laptop but with a 15" MBP, a part of it sticks out past the sleeve, leaving it exposed. Wished it would cover the whole laptop. Waist strap helps distribute weight but the bag fully loaded is quite heavy for me. Still really like the bag and would recommend it.

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