Anker Backpack (Senior Members Bonus Gift) - A Review

Recently received this as a senior member bonus under the Community T-Shirt / Anker Swag Design Contest and though its not an ‘Anker’ product per se (its a stock Port Authority BG205 with logo added), a number of members seem to dig it, so here’s a little mini overview of the bag itself :grin:

Construction & Design

Made from two-tone ballistic polyester material the construction has a solid feel (unlikely to tear without some force)…the stitching and zips feeling rugged and unlikely to fail under normal daily usage. Padded back and adjustable shoulder straps provide good comfort, even when carrying a heavier than usual load.

With a size of 17" (h) x 12" (w) x 8" (d) and volume of 1,632 cubic inches, so just short of 27 litres overall, the backpack fits within the average daypack size range. The rear of the pack also has a strap for pullman handles when your rolling additional luggage to and from the airport, for example.

Compartments

The backpack comprises of three zip compartments, rear, main and front.

The rear compartment which features a clam shell opening design contains two sleeves, the non-velcro side suited to carrying a A4 sized notebook, papers or even tablets over 8"…the velcro secured flap sleeve is aimed towards laptops, with most 15" variations being suitable…

The main compartment is a good size for your non-tech related items (or even tech related depending on sizes), with the compartment being more then adequate to hold a light jacket / hoodie, lunch and snacks or even a book.
Or in my case of testing x1 hoodie, x2 SoundCore Flares, x1 SoundCore Zero and my MacBook Pro power brick :laughing:

(possibly overkill)

The front compartment is more for your small items such as a portable hard drive, cables, hubs, cards and pens. The sleeve could be used to hold a tablet but it would need to be 8” or smaller.

(SSD hard drive, USB 3.0 SATA HDD adapter, 6ft USB to Lightning cable, 3ft USB 3 to USB-C cable, 7-in-1 Premium Hub & Apple USB-C to USB-C charge cable)

(iPad Pro 10.5 for ref)

Both sides of the pack have mesh holders for bottles but depending on how packed the bag may get, refill bottles can be a bit of a tight squeeze compared to standard 500ml bottles.

(750ml refill bottle)

(shop bought 500ml bottle)…that was recycled afterwards :wink:

There is also a zip pocket at the top, which is suitable for change, small items or your phone (phones over 5" will be a struggle)

(iPhone 7 for reference)

Thoughts

Having only had the backpack a few days its hard to tell how well it will truly last in the long run of full on day to day use, though should there be a failure its on Port Authority rather than Anker themselves. The compartments more than cover my main daily requirements such as carrying a light jacket / pullover hoodie, lunch and water bottle with any hard drives / cables / tools in the zip front compartment. The dedicated padded compartment securely covers my 15" MacBook Pro and 10.5" iPad when needed, making it a step above my current daily backpack a Trespass Albus 30 (where they can bounce around for a start)…

Yep, I like it :grin:

(A more sensible daily speaker option for the backpack)

23 Likes

Neil, there will be MANY, MANY who would like to have such one.
Me too! :wink:
Would fit for my tool!

8 Likes

I hope I get one when I turn 13 :joy:

4 Likes

Great overview (more like a review :joy:)! This looks pretty solid and definitely won’t be filling it this much if I ever get one of these

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That is awesome! I have a work provided laptop bag, which is a Swiss with my company logo on it, but it is bulky as can be. This looks comfortable and can fit pretty much everything for day to day uses.

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Great looking gift and plenty of room for your Anker and other gear. Nice one @ndalby

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Very nice review :thumbsup: . This looks similar to my Swissgear backpack.

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great looking backpack… i want one of those :smile:

nice review

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Nice Review! A well deserved gift to our seniors!

Maybe they can give fanny packs to the mid-tier members :joy:

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I didn’t expect to see a rear pocket, so it is a nice surprise.

Let’s hope some of the lower double figures get something, sometime soon‽

Your a.lucky bugger. Looks good and quite a good load inside too.

great gift / prize, thanks for sharing @ndalby

only one question - did the bag come loaded with all the goodies (… wow! :innocent: ) or did you pack them :slight_smile:

just hope, Anker does not raise the level when / if we reach 13 for such gifts :joy:

That’s a few of my own Anker goodies…bag just comes in a FedEx box :slight_smile:

2 Likes

ha nice idea!

Looks great

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LOL :ok_hand::laughing::wink:

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That’s a great tool… I sometimes look for such tools to work on Keyboard when things don’t workout :joy:

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Nice review as always. Nice looking bag.

This would look good with my new Anker T-Shirt!:sunglasses:

I’m definitely liking that backpack! Show it off and congrats @ndalby