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Just prior to the recent holiday season in 2019, Peak Design unveiled their brand new Everyday Line V2 series of bags to the world.

This featured some wonderful improvements to the quality and aesthetics of their classic series of bags, as well as introducing new sizes and a brand new camera backpack to the popular Everyday range – the Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip, which comes in both a smaller 15L size and a convenient 20L version.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip Highly Recommended Endless customization options hidden within an ultra-clean design, ideal for everyday or photo carry. Get Price

According to Peak Design, the Zip is a “visually and functionally simpler” version of their incredibly popular Everyday Backpack.

From the day of release, I was intrigued but not completely sold, as I currently use an original black 20L Everyday Backpack for both traveling and my daily commute. Why would I want to purchase a “functionally simpler” version of the bag that I currently love?

My wife happened also to express her intrigue over the Zip – she liked the clean and modern styling of it and felt it would make a great work and travel bag. I tend to always overthink my purchases, but being the manic bag-guy that I am, I took that as an opportunity to grab one before she changed her mind.

I packed up my classic Everyday Backpack and began using the newly acquired 15L Everyday Backpack Zip for an entire month before deciding on the 20L variant for myself.

Only then was she allowed to claim the 15L for herself, and over the holiday period we took both the 15L and 20L variants of the Zip down to Tasmania to get an idea of just how they’d go while traveling.

Let’s take a closer look to see if it’s the best small camera backpack of 2020.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip Specs

Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip 15L Specs Max Capacity: 15L

External Size: 44.5cm x 26.5cm x 20cm (17.5″ x 10.5″ x 7.9″)

Internal Size: 42cm x 23cm x 16cm (16.5″ x 9.1″ x 6.3″) 15L44.5cm x 26.5cm x 20cm (17.5″ x 10.5″ x 7.9″)42cm x 23cm x 16cm (16.5″ x 9.1″ x 6.3″) Weight:

Without Dividers: 1.14kg (2.51lb)

With Dividers: 1.34kg (2.95lb) Max Laptop Size: 22.9cm x 2.5cm x 33cm (9″ x 1″ x 13″)

Holds 13” Macbook Pro/Microsoft Surface

No dedicated tablet sleeve but it will fit a small one.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip 20L Specs Max Capacity: 20L

External Size: 48cm x 31.5cm x 23.5cm (18.9” x 12.4″ x 9.3″)

Internal Size: 45cm x 28.5cm x 20cm (17.7” x 11.2″ x 7.9″) 20L48cm x 31.5cm x 23.5cm (18.9” x 12.4″ x 9.3″)45cm x 28.5cm x 20cm (17.7” x 11.2″ x 7.9″) Weight:

Without Dividers: 1.32kg (2.91lb)

With Dividers: 1.55kg (3.42lb) Max Laptop Size: 38.1cm x 25.4cm x 2.5cm (15″ x 10″ x 1″)

Holds 15/16” Macbook Pro or another branded slim laptop Max Tablet Size: 30.6cm x 22.1cm x .7 cm (12″ x 8.69″ x 0.27″)

Holds 12.9″ iPad Pro Standard Materials – 400D double poly-coated DWR-impregnated nylon canvas shell

– 100% recycled post-consumer material

– Bluesign approved (Ash, Midnight, Bone only)

– 900D waterproof bottom liner

– High-visibility grey nylon interior, Bluesign approved

– Hardware is anodized aluminum and glass-reinforced nylon

– Super-durable UltraZips

– Accents in leather (Ash, Midnight, Bone) or Hypalon (Black)

Included in the Package – 2 FlexFold dividers

– 1 Sternum Strap

– 1 Anchor Link key tether

– 2 Cord Hook external carry straps



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Everyday Backpack Zip vs Everyday Backpack

Here you’ll find the notable differences between the original Peak Design Everyday Backpack and the brand new Everyday Backpack Zip, as written by the team over at Peak Design:

– Wrap-around zipper instead of MagLatch closure hardware

– No internal expansion

– Less internal organisation for photo gear (fewer FlexFold dividers)

– Smaller external carry capacity, 2 cinch straps instead of 4

– EDB Zip available in 15L + 20L sizes

– EDB available in 20L + 30L sizes

– No magnetic straps for stowage during travel

Another little piece of trivia for you is that the 20L Everyday Backpack is around 700g (1.48lbs) heavier, which can matter when traveling on airlines with strict weight restrictions for carry-on luggage.

Build & Appearance

Ready to go from the office to the mountains, the Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip is constructed from top-quality materials and comes equipped with a high attention to detail finish.

You’ll find that the 100% recycled 400D nylon canvas shell is DWR impregnated, weatherproof and features a double PU-coating made from Bluesign certified materials (note: the Black is not Bluesign certified).

The Everyday Backpack Zip features a smooth and stylish urban-inspired design with a single 270-degree zipper that wraps around the entirety of the bag.

This extra-durable UltraZip design allows you to decide how you wish to access the items held within your bag. You can easily reach through the top without spilling the sides, or sling the bag over one shoulder and access your gear through either side of the bag, just as easily as you would using the original Everyday Backpack.

Purposefully designed with discrete everyday use and travel in mind, it is a subtle, functional, and stylish enough bag to use in just about any situation you may find yourself in.

The Everyday Backpack Zip is a camera bag, laptop bag, gym bag, work bag, drone bag, and hiking pack, without aesthetically limiting itself to any single one of those purposes.

My wife, being the more fashion-conscious of the two of us, found the discrete factor of the bag to be of great importance. Aesthetics are very important to her, which is why I assume she married me. But in saying that, she’s well aware that it isn’t the only important factor and aesthetics alone don’t define a backpack or a husband.

Usability and durability can be just as important as aesthetics, as she’s purchased more fashionable backpacks in the past only to have the straps give way or fray and tear at the seams once fully loaded with work equipment and gym gear.

Exterior Features

It should come as no surprise that the Everyday Backpack Zip is equipped with Peak Design’s standard-issue exterior goodies. These include comfortable sturdy shoulder straps, multiple attachment points, weatherproof materials, and extra strong grab handles.

The back straps are nicely padded but are not too thick to wear and can be easily adjusted while wearing the bag by sliding the smooth thinner straps. The straps also feature plenty of room for you to equip a Capture Clip (sold separately) for easy camera access alongside the included sternum strap if extra weight distribution is also required.

You’ll also find that the bag has vented, quick-drying mesh back padding, which also contains the luggage pass-through point for stowing atop of your wheeled luggage in an airport.

Placed conveniently above the built-in bottle pockets on either side of the bag, the Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip comes equipped with strong and easy to find padded grab handles to help with manoeuvrability in different situations.

So whether you’re loading or unloading the bag from tricky compartments, wanting to side carry the bag, or just simply picking up the bag up off of the ground, you’ll easily find them and can trust they’ll handle the fully-loaded weight of the bag without breaking.

You’ll find four cord hook points on the front of the bag and two extra on the bottom of the bag, providing you extra carry abilities when coupled with the two included cinch straps. This is great for carrying those bulky items that don’t necessarily fit inside the bag, such as tripods, towels, jackets, or those extra groceries you almost forgot to pick up on your way home.

Interior Features

What you’ll find included with both sizes of the Everyday Backpack Zip are two of Peak Design’s FlexFold dividers. These are unique to Peak Design’s products and are always included with their bags.

I find the dividers an absolutely fantastic solution to compartmentalising a stand-up bag. They’re purposefully designed to be adjusted in numerous ways for different types of items or gear, so you can very easily create the storage solution that you require.

Featured on both sides of the bag are smaller pockets that stay flat and out of the way when not being used. These are for stowing smaller items that may otherwise move about in your bag.

You’ll find both a magnetic pouch and a zipper pocket that also contains two smaller pouches inside for organising cables, batteries, or other smaller pieces.

If you have a number of smaller items that you wish to keep from mixing with the troublesome riff-raff inside the main compartment, you’ll find a discretely hidden soft pocket built into the main lid of the Everyday Backpack Zip, designed to look after things such as sunglasses, memory cards or coins.

When opening the laptop compartment on the back of the bag, you’ll also find another hidden compartment for the other precious items that you may need quick access to, such as house keys, earphones, or a mobile device.

The laptop compartment on the 20L Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip comes with a handy new feature for those who own smaller laptops and tablets and don’t want them to slide the entire way to the base of the backpack. This new adjustable compartment lifts your smaller device up higher for easy reach when you need to yank it out.

Storage Capacity

This may sound strange, but I have found it easier to utilise the entire interior capacity of the 20L Everyday Backpack Zip than with the classic 20L Peak Design Everyday Backpack. I think that is a result of the wider and rounder shape as opposed to the slender design of the Everyday Backpack.

I found that when fully loaded the Everyday Backpack Zip was much easier to zip up nice and tight than the Everyday Backpack, which uses a MagLatch.

My Sony a7 III with Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 attached fit edge to edge inside the 15L Everyday Backpack Zip but had plenty of room to breathe when held within the 20L Everyday Backpack Zip.

For a mirrorless shooter you’re probably safe with either choice of bag, however, depending on how much extra gear you require will determine which size bag would best suit your needs.

I found the 15L bag to be quite sufficient for me in many cases, but there were times when just 5L more storage space would have greatly helped. But being able to strap things to the outside of the bag helped at times.

If you’re a DJI Mavic series user you’ll be pleased to know that the 15L Everyday Backpack Zip will fit an entire FlyMore package as well as many extra bits and pieces quite well. You’ll even have space to throw a light jacket in on top.

If you’re interested in the acquiring the 20L Everyday Backpack Zip instead, you’ll also be able to fit a Mirrorless camera into the mix as well.

For Full Frame DSLR shooters, you’re probably best to keep to the 20L size as the 15L Everyday Backpack Zip can be quite limiting with the size of most DSLR bodies. My Canon 5D Mark III was a very tight fit, especially with the full-size Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 attached.

If you own a smaller DSLR camera, I wouldn’t expect you to have much of a problem fitting your camera into the 15L Everyday Backpack Zip.

As mentioned earlier, the 15L and 20L Everyday Backpack Zip come with a dedicated tablet or laptop compartment.

I found that in the 15L Everyday Backpack Zip I could easily stow both a 13″ MacBook Air or Microsoft Surface Pro along with a mid-sized Samsung tablet. You’ll be able to fit a larger tablet in there as well, but I am unable to test the theory on just how large of a tablet will fit in the thinner compartment alongside a laptop.

Meanwhile, the 20L Everyday Backpack Zip could only just fit my 15.6″ Slim Gaming Laptop into the back of it, however, I definitely couldn’t fit a tablet of any size in there at the same time.

It also restricted me from accessing the hidden inner pocket. But in Peak Design’s defence, they advertised a maximum of 15″ laptop so mine is a little bit larger than their rated size, but it still fit if that means anything!

For a non-photographer’s perspective on storage capacity, here’s an example of the load my wife carries day-to-day: she manages to fit a packed lunch, gym gear, work laptop, charger cables, and a number of other accessories and items into the 15L without a problem.

She also makes use of the FlexFold dividers to separate things, including flipping up the walls of the FlexFold dividers to keep some of the smaller items in place within the bag itself.

Ease of Use/Comfort

Being part of Peak Design’s range, one would expect this backpack to be a comfortable and intuitive bag to use. Just how complicated could a bag be? You slide the zipper and the bag opens. You grab the handle and the bag moves.

But with Peak Design there are a number of minimal expectations that come with their products. Smooth zipper operation, easy length adjustments, padded handles, soft materials, comfortable straps, rigid form, and intuitive divider technology… All of these features come together to make a fantastic product that is ready to be used day in and day out with minimal chances of any form of discomfort or frustration.

But I have to repeat myself and mention one of the greatest features of this bag, and that is the full-length single row zipper that wraps around the entirety of the Everyday Backpack Zip. This frees you up to open the bag nice and wide to assist with reconfiguration and swift packing.

The Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip can be easily and conveniently loaded from the top, either side, or through the front if you wish to lay it flat and completely open.

Value for Money

As with all Peak Design products, you cannot expect to acquire them without spending a little bit of coin compared to other brands.

However, with this recent and welcomed arrival of the 15L Everyday Backpack Zip, Peak Design have filled both the size and pricing gap that was prevalent between the smaller and cheaper 3-10L Everyday Sling series and the iconic 20-30L Everyday Backpack.

Not to mention that both sizes of the Everyday Backpack Zip are also sized well and fit underneath the seats on a budget airline, so they work wonderfully as carry-on luggage when traveling as well. This should be expected from a bag of up to 20L of capacity anyway.

For Peak Design to release a bag of the same capacity as their most popular line-up while at a much cheaper price, you’d have to believe that they would put a lot of consideration and planning into it.

Coupled with the fact that Peak Design back each and every one of their products with a lifetime warranty, this has to give you some confidence with the new addition.

But at the end of the day, given the quality of the materials and the pedigree that surrounds Peak Design products, it’s quite a decent price and one that I am very happy to justify spending.

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Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip Review | Conclusion

Peak Design were on point when they mentioned that the Everyday Backpack Zip is a visually and functionally simpler version of the iconic Everyday Backpack; however, this does not take away from just how great this bag looks and works.

As I mentioned before, I feel that it’s easier to use the entire 20L of carry capacity inside of the bag, while also being able to utilise the exterior. It may appear to be a bulkier design, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s large enough to bother anybody.

It’s crafted in a way that will allow you the freedom to decide just how you wish to use it, in whatever situation you are faced with, and at any point in time.

We have grown extremely fond of both of our new twins. The Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zips are a welcome addition to our little family of Peak Design bags.

Likes

The clean style and great build quality

Both sizes are a nice lighter weight

Great price point compared to the full range

Dislikes

My wife found the weight of it a bit much compared to her previous choices

More small internal storage pockets much like the V1 Everyday Backpack

The internal zip storage pockets don’t open wide enough

Peak Design Everyday Backpack Zip Highly Recommended Endless customization options hidden within an ultra-clean design, ideal for everyday or photo carry. Get Price

Disclaimer: All recommendations are impartial and based on user experience, with no bias to the products or the brand. The products in this post may contain affiliate links.