Flight Satchel - Ultradyne

UltraDyne Makes All the Difference

I'm extremely impressed with this bag. The use of UltraDyne material is a game changer—it makes the bag incredibly lightweight without sacrificing a premium feel. I really hope Alpaka uses UltraDyne in more of their bags, especially a 10L Flow Satchel, as I would buy one in a heartbeat. The design is spot on as well. It has plenty of well-thought-out zippered pockets, making it easy to organize all my essentials while keeping everything secure. Every detail feels carefully considered. Overall, this bag strikes the perfect balance between premium quality, practical functionality, and exceptionally light weight. Highly recommended!

A super usable bag with some minor issues

I have been looking for something in the medium-ish size range for holding a small tablet, camera, charging cables and power bricks to take with me on the many flights I've been going on lately. My previous bag was just big enough, but I really needed some extra space in case I got the random souvenir during a day out or just to hold a light jacket in case it rains. I love the heavy water resistance of the Ultradyne material. It is super smooth to the touch while being a bit on the crinkly side when it comes to manipulating the bag in order to access the many compartments it has. It's not the worst thing about it, but it is worth noting. The trade off was I wanted the bright orange interior liner so it was worth it for me. I do like the smaller front and rear compartments for all my little things. The front pocket having a small partition is actually perfect to fit my Lumix L10 or Fujifilm X100VI so it's super easy to get to while the other side can hold a wallet or keys with the magnetic strap keychain. The bottle holder on the inside hasn't been utilized yet, but I can see it being used for something other than a bottle in the future. The outer bottle opener is not the largest so anything above a 20-24oz bottle or any bottles that are larger than 7-8cm in diameter (about 3" in freedom units) will not fit. The elastic cord is mandatory to keep your bottle from falling out. The inner liner is very smooth so there absolutely no grip from the bottle sleeve itself. I have not used the umbrella side yet, but can't see it being an issue for a pocket umbrella. Something that could be updated is the dimensions listed on the site. I was under impression that the bag was 35cm wide by 24.5 cm tall at is largest. The bag is much larger by 2-5cm on each dimension, so if you have a bag you want to compare it to since it's not easy to visualize these things, add 2-5 cm on each of those dimensions since the bag is pretty flexible and this does help to allow for more stuff. Just would be nice if that range was included, cuz I completely underestimated the size of this satchel. I've added photos showing the discrepancies. That being said, for other improvements I think it would have been better to just get rid of the interior bottle holder and use that space to make a larger single outer bottle holder. Use the rubber band style opening that was used on the inner holder to use for the outer bottle holder and keep the elastic cord for extra support. This way you could hold up to a 30oz bottle at least, but the ability to tighten it with the cord and rubberized neck would hold the bottle very well while keeping the design sleek. Another thing I would improve is the interior padding for the main section. The laptop/tablet holder has a very small amount of padding which is nice, but only really good on the interior side. The outer side is not padded and would benefit from this. Same as the bottom of the satchel. A slightly rigid foam would give this bag just enough definition and would be able to stand on its own without the need for something to be in the bag to create a "bottom" for it stand up. I'm not sure why the rear zipper is not weather resistant. The back pocket is hidden by a flap of material, but the way this was designed creates a sort of lip or crevice that looks like it would love to hold water and allow it to flow right into that pocket, ruining anything kept there. If it was intended not use a weatherproof zipper, then the orientation of the crevice should be facing down instead. You would get the same privacy, but you would also get the protection from the ultradyne material. Lastly, I don't particularly hate the lack of a handle. I do think I would just end up using the luggage strap instead, but if that was the case, maybe it should have rounded edges instead of cut edges. This makes it more comfortable to grab instead of feeling like it's going to cut your hand. All in all I am very excited to use this bag on many trips. Hopefully a V2 comes out with some improvements. I would love to see it! Maybe even an 6/8L version. Who knows! If you got this far, thanks for reading!

Great flight companion, some minor upgrades requested

I was looking for a slightly larger-sized travel companion than the Go Sling that could carry my 13 inch iPad, headphones AND serve as a simple EDC when exploring on my travels. I really like the weight, materials, and appearance. While traveling, I like to organize my cables, AirPods, and chargers within a sling/satchel using the available pockets/pouches for quicker access. I tend to not use tech pouches as much when traveling for this reason. My only request that there would be 1 or 2 more internal pockets for such items to grab quickly. Otherwise, I am happy with my purchase!