tomtoc Travel Backpack 40L, TSA Friendly Flight Approved Carry-on Luggage Hand Backpack, Water-resistant Lightweight Business Rucksack, Durable Large Weekender Bag Daypack Fits 17.3 Inch Laptop

This travel backpack from Tomtoc is what could be described as the mid-level in quality and price. You can find tons of similar bags (believe me I looked) on Amazon that are a lot cheaper but not as well made. Initially, I bought Tomtocs competitor, Inateck but it turns out its biggest advantage (the larger size) is what made me return it and buy this one instead. Inateck is essentially a soft rectangle suitcase with the shoulder straps. To me it looked kinda goofy to carry and I was afraid it could be too heavy on my shoulders after its packed. Tomtoc, on the other hand, looks and carries more like a backpack with almost as much volume as the Inateck (40L vs. 42L). The first picture shows the size difference between the two and as you can see the Inateck looks a lot bigger in picture but the Tomtoc has deeper depth with a bit of a tapered design (which has its own disadvantage, more on that later). As much as I like this bag, it isnt perfect. Tomtoc touts its TSA friendly 180 degree opening, where you store your laptop but the airport security still makes you take the laptop out of the bag, so split opening the bag 180 degree is pointless, IMO. On top of that in order to take out the laptop, Id have to unzip the back panel almost all the way down in order to un-velcro the strap that holds down the slots for laptop and tablet. This means that it actually requires extra step just to take the laptop/tablet out, which is a frequent occurrence when traveling. Id much rather have a separate one-side laptop opening with a zipper like most other bags do (e.g., Inateck). Back to that tapered design. I guess best way to describe the shape would be to imagine the trapezoid if you were to look from the top of the bag, where the grab handle is. This makes the bag looks and feels more streamlined but also make it trickier to pack well and wastes an extra space IMO. Some people seem to really like the flap that opens up from the front, and I have a mix feelings about this feature. In theory this seems like a good idea and I can see some useful occasions but I also think this design limits my access to the entirety of the bag content. Best I can describe is that as I was using the bag I kept wishing that instead of this flap opening, it would be a lot better if it opened up like a clamshell from the front so that I have a complete unobtrusive view of everything. Sure, the bag opens up 180 degree from the back but this way the bag does not seem to lay flat, and again, have awkward access to the main compartment. Another thing is the lack of organizational/security pockets/slots. I wish it had dedicated organizational pocket for smaller items like pen and keys. I ended up putting my pens and wallet on the top pocket and I didnt think that was ideal. Okay, Im getting really long-winded here but heres the gist of it: this travel backpack is pretty decent and easy to carry on your back, but it could be a lot better with a few adjustments. I give 3 ½ stars. Post notes: I can confirm that this fits no problem in the airplane overhead bin and if not pack fully to the brim, it can fit as the personal item as well.

Just took it on its first cross-country trip and it performed great! Probably could have stuffed even more into the bag, but what it had, it handled like a champ - even fit under the seat in front of me on my Southwest flight.

Hi. I am a backpack addict. I have about 10 backpacks more or less and not counting the sling bag I recently got. My go-to bag is my eBags Professional Slim. Its a 9/10 but it doesnt have space if I want to take off my hoodie. Its not designed to do that. I have eBags motherlode carry-on that works well with the slim but I am not taking it with me when I go to Europe and Asia in three weeks. So I need something that looks good, I can put it on my back but also carry a change of clothes if I want to be fresh when I land. I reviewed a lot of bags of 40L type and a lot of them are about half the price of this bag but I have the Tomtoc sling and love it so it only made sense for me to get the big brother. It arrived today in style. I was impressed with the inner box, sleeve, and tags. I immediately took everything out of the eBags Slim and started to fill the Tomtoc. Obviously, the change of clothes for the 14-hour flight will wait but my MacBook Air fit snugly and the zippered pouch for the cables and plugs was a no-brainer. There are two zippered areas, one on the top and one on the front. The one on the top was for my EDC flashlight, gum, toothpicks, wipes, and sanitizer. The front zippered area holds my passports and an EDC multi-tool. I struggled to find a place for my pens, extra batteries, USB C adapters, and such. I havent found the right spot or perhaps it doesnt exist, ( I hope thats not the case ) If theres a small inside pocket or small zippered pouch inside, it would be ideal for such things. The backup plan would be to use a small ziplock bag for those things and keep them in the front zippered pouch near the passports. We depart in three weeks and return in 9, Ill provide an update then but super impressed with everything. One more thing, a lot of the other bags at half the price have their brand name plastered on the front and I just didnt want that.

I bought this for a trip overseas, and it was a life saver. It has plenty of room for everything youll need for a day on the city, except for your iPad or tablet. You could squeeze these in, but it would be really tight. Recommended!

I tried this as a personal item, but it just couldnt cut it under Uniteds limits. THEN I got very annoyed when I got everything I had been trying to squeeze into this into my THIRTEEN LITER peak design shoulder bag. Very stark your get what you pay for moment there. There is just far too much *unnecessary* padding in this bag, making it tough to meet linear measurement requirements without being that guy and risking a possible not-free gate check because youre trying to bring two full size carry-ons. The laptop section is quadruple padded, with padding between your back, laptop, tablet, AND main pocket. Thats genuinely already almost 3 inches without compression. Pricier options will use better (thinner) padding, more efficiently placed, to give you SO MUCH more room inside EVEN SMALLER bags. Highly recommend you take a hard pass on this unless youre extremely worried about your tech. And even then, there is no organization in the tech spot: just one large mesh zip pocket and the laptop & tablet sleeves. Couldve at least dedicated more attention to details there, given how much volume its eating up

Hey folks! I just recently moved out into my own apartment and had to keep shuttling back and forth grabbing packs of water bottles, plus groceries. Luckily this bag can hold the case of water bottles which frees up my hands to hold all the groceries and make less trips. This also helped when flying as my luggage was already at maximum weight and I still needed to add a few my clothes. This backpack can fit a whole weeks worth of clothes if you plan it out right and fit each corner of the bag. PLUS! You can still have room in the back compartment to put your table, laptop, or document/folders.

Nothing special gets the job dibe

Love the backpack. Bought it to use the laptop side for 14 Lenovo and 16 USB monitor. Then the duffle side for travel clothes. Trial run was a 4 day weekend out of state and it was perfect.

If possible can add tsa lock for security

love it! comfortable around the shoulders when heavy.