The Topo Designs Rover Trail Pack is the best backpack I’ve ever used

As we got Outside of the home, WIRED’s gear-obsessed reviews team writes about our favorite bags and electronic beauty products. Today’s reviewer is Martin Cismar He raves about his Topo Designs backpack. You can also check out other Bag Check stories where Wired Writers share their right to choose.

Topo designs may Just make the best bags in the world. Denver-based brand gorpcore sells gear that looks great, lasts forever, and has all the features a reasonable person would want in a bag without the product feeling overpriced. If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t tell anyone, but there would be signs — like me hauling groceries from Trader Joe’s in two Mountain Gear bags. (I currently use IKEA blue polypropylene bags and shop at Aldi.)

In March, I took a spring break trip to Ireland and Scotland with a compact rolling suitcase and the Topo Designs Rover Trail Pack as my personal item. I often test new bags, and I didn’t put much thought into the decision to commit to the Rover for a week. I quickly learned that you get to know a bag well when you take it on seven flights and stay in eight different hotels in 10 days. By the time I got home, I was completely convinced that the Rover was the best backpack I’d ever used.

Photography: Martin Cizmar

Topo Designs

Rover Trail Pack

Like the six or seven other Topo Designs backpack models I’ve tested—and perhaps more extensively than any of the others—the Rover manages to incorporate all the thoughtful little features I appreciate in other backpacks without a hint of flashiness.

At the top of the bag there is a zippered compartment that opens to reveal a backpack-style opening, which closes with a drawstring. This is where I like to put my keys, any important papers I may have, and sometimes my wallet. Usually, I find myself double and triple checking the zipper to make sure nothing has fallen out. No need for that with the Rover, because inside this zipped compartment there’s also a key clip and an additional zippered mesh cover. This feature allows you to put anything you don’t want to risk falling into two bags, in my case, passports for me and my daughter. When I crossed the TSA line at the airport, I clipped my car keys for the week, pressed my passports into the mesh sleeve, and never once worried about losing either.

Photography: Martin Cizmar