Topo Designs · Colorado
Topo Designs Backpacks
The laptop on your back during the week, a water bottle at your side on Saturday. Topo Designs backpacks with a buckled flap, a U-shaped zip or a clamshell opening, designed in Colorado to go from the city to the trail without switching bags.
The laptop in the week, the trail on Saturday.
The flap backpack
A flap that buckles down over a drawcord: the backpack for every day.
The Rover Pack Classic takes a 15-inch laptop and everything for the day; the Mini, a tablet and the essentials. The Tech and the Klettersack add a second sleeve, reached from the outside; the Klettersack has leather tabs.
20 L · 0.7 kg · 15-inch laptop
The flap buckles down over a drawcord; one zipped pocket on top, another at the bottom.
25 L · 16-inch laptop
Full-grain leather tabs on the flap, one sleeve inside and a second on the outside.
The commute and the office
The morning commute, with the laptop kept separate.
The Commuter Backpack has two compartments that open on U-shaped zips, and room for a 15-inch laptop; the Global Briefcase goes on your back, in your hand or on your shoulder, and slides over a suitcase handle.
Rain, fabric by fabric
A shower, yes or no: it all comes down to the fabric.
Each backpack is sorted by what its fabric can handle. None is waterproof: for a day in the rain, your laptop goes in a pouch.
Not made for rain
Recycled nylon fabric
In steady rain, water eventually gets through: anything that mustn't get wet goes in a pouch.
Water-resistant
Water-resistant fabric
The water-resistant fabric copes with a shower; in steady rain, water eventually gets through.
Water-repellent
PFC-free water-repellent finish
A PFC-free durable water repellent (DWR) finish makes water bead up on the fabric. It doesn't make the bag waterproof: in steady rain, water eventually gets through.
Water-repellent doesn't mean waterproof: water beads up on the fabric, but steady rain still gets through.
One-bag travel
A few days to a week in a single bag that opens like a suitcase.
The Global Travel Bag 30L reaches 35 litres when fully packed, with a removable hip belt; the more compact Global Travel Backpack goes from 25 to 27 litres. Both open wide and slide over a suitcase handle.
Day hiking
Water within reach, and the whole day on your back.
The Rover Trail Pack has room for a hydration bladder, lunch and a jacket: moulded back panel, load lifters and a hip belt with pockets.
The brand, as Eiken sees it
A sewing machine in a Fort Collins basement, in 2008.
In 2008, Jedd Rose buys a sewing machine and sews the first bags in his basement in Fort Collins, Colorado; Mark Hansen asks around for people who can make them. The two founders wanted gear like the kit they grew up with: tough, practical, classic. The fabrics are recycled nylon, and our Topo Designs bags are made in Vietnam.
Topo Designs guarantees its bags against defects in materials and workmanship for a reasonable lifetime, excluding normal wear, accidents and lack of care, and would rather repair than replace. For a bag bought from Eiken, the claim goes through us. On top of that comes the 2-year legal guarantee of conformity.
Eiken's take
- Why we chose it
- For every day, the Rover Pack Classic. For the office, the Commuter Backpack. For hiking, the Rover Trail Pack.
- Worth knowing
- Only the Rover Trail Pack, the Commuter Backpack and the Global Travel Backpack have a water-repellent fabric; in steady rain, slip your laptop into a pouch.
- Who it's for
- Anyone who goes from the office to the trail with the same backpack.
Baptiste, Eiken
Questions
Before you choose a Topo Designs backpack.
Rover Pack Classic or Rover Pack Mini?
The Classic, 20 litres and 43 cm tall, takes a 15-inch laptop and your working day. The Mini, 10 litres and 34 cm, takes a tablet: for the city, or for a smaller frame. Both have the same flap buckled down over a drawcord.
Are Topo Designs backpacks waterproof?
No. The Rover Trail Pack, the Commuter Backpack and the Global Travel Backpack have a PFC-free water-repellent finish: water beads up on the fabric, but eventually gets through in steady rain. The Rover Pack Classic has a water-resistant fabric. On rainy days, slip your laptop into a pouch.
Which Topo Designs backpack for a 15-inch laptop?
The Rover Pack Classic, the Rover Pack Tech, the Klettersack, the Commuter Backpack, the Global Briefcase, the Global Travel Bag 30L and the Global Travel Backpack. The Rover Pack Tech and the Klettersack have two sleeves, one of which opens from the outside.
Which Topo Designs backpack for travel?
The Global Travel Bag 30L, which reaches 35 litres when fully packed, with a removable hip belt; or the Global Travel Backpack, 25 to 27 litres, which opens clamshell-style, like a suitcase. Both slide over a suitcase handle.
What guarantee comes with a Topo Designs bag?
Topo Designs guarantees its bags against defects in materials and workmanship for a reasonable lifetime, excluding normal wear, and would rather repair than replace; for a bag bought from Eiken, you write to us and we pass it on. On top of that comes the 2-year legal guarantee of conformity, and you have 30 days to change your mind.
