Video Review: Deuter Giga Bike 28L - $120 ~ Crossover Day Pack Reviews

Video Review: Deuter Giga Bike 28L - $120

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 with No comments

Video review:

The good stuff:

This pack has a substantial hip belt. Though it is not padded, it is wide and has wings (mesh for ventilation!).

Deep channel to allow for perspiration relief. Very little of the pack touches your back. You will stay cool!

A rain cover built in and located on the bottom of the pack. I love rain covers.

Two handles! One for hanging the pack and one to that is padded for when you need to carry the pack as a briefcase. That is a nice detail, Deuter!

Separate padded section for your laptop. It says that it can hold a 15 inch, but clearly it can hold a 17 inch laptop. Having a separate laptop compartment is always more convenient.

The divided organizer is on the front of the pack for easy access. A much better design that having this section in the main compartment. It has a good number of organizing pockets.

There are two stretchy side pockets for water bottles. Super versatile.

The bad stuff:

The pack is not made for someone my size. I am six feet tall and have normal proportions, yet the waist belt does not drop down low enough for me when the shoulder straps are properly adjusted and the shoulder straps are too short when I have the waist belt properly over the tops of my hips. Odd lack of adjustability here.

All of the weight of the pack is transferred to your kidney area because of the two ribs that lay to either side of the center channel on the back of the pack. A good suspension system should feel neutral and distribute the weight across the back even when the waist belt is not used. It is better when one does not use the waist belt but then the weight is transferred entirely to your shoulders. This indicates poor engineering.

There is no sleeve in the laptop area for an iPad. Just about the only pack with a separate laptop compartment that does not feature this option.

No kangaroo pocket in the main compartment for files and other papers that you want to protect from wrinkling. Just one big open space. Makes this compartment less versatile.

The zippers are balky on the divided organizer compartment and the front vertical slash pocket. Really strange given that there are no zipper covers interfering with the zipper. Maybe it's just my sample.

The zippers for the main compartment and the laptop compartment have deep zipper covers. Why, Deuter? You have included a rain cover for this pack. It makes no sense to add covers which simply interfere with zipping and unzipping and are a redundant feature in terms of rain protection. Do one or the other! (Preferably just a rain cover.)

There are the dreaded (and unnecessary) compression straps that interfere with unzipping both the main compartment and the laptop compartment. Boo!

It is not hydration bladder compatible! Huh? This is a bike pack for goodness sake! This would be less of an issue if the side mesh pockets for water bottles were not so small and shallow (and therefore, can only accommodate small 500 mL water bottles).

The interior is lined in black for the most part, making it difficult to find things that have fallen to the bottom of the pack. Most companies these days know to use a light colored lining. Even Deuter does this on most of their technical packs - an odd oversight here.

No dedicated pocket for sunglasses. Again, I consider this to be an odd oversight given that this is a pack that is marketed to bicycle commuters - all of whom use sunglasses when riding to prevent getting bugs and sand in one's eyes.

Really hard to find this pack in stock anywhere.

Grade: B-. This pack had real potential but was not that well thought out. Given that it is relatively expensive and comes from a well-respected company, I was really disappointed. I would pass on this in favor of much better alternatives with similar features.

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