Review from my CabinZero backpack that I took with me at my latest trip

7/3/2018

Travel Read ■
A few weeks ago, the guys from the British brand CabinZero asked if I wanted to check out their carry-on sized travel backpack, the Classic 44L. The company focuses on cabin sized bags for the light packer.

BY HANAN, 3 minutes read

It has a built-in global tracker, YKK lockable zippers, thick padded shoulder straps, 44L capacity, it’s lightweight and made with strong durable materials. I took this bag with me at my latest trip.

Why carry-on only?

Most of the time I like to take just carry-on only luggage with me. It’s just easier to travel when I have less to manage on the road – I move lighter, more easily and deal better with tight cramped spaces like hostel rooms, train carriages and public busses for example. I’ve found that I don’t need that much to survive and quite often I can get what I need on the road if I really must.

The backpack of CabinZero is designed to fit carry on size requirements for even Europe’s most stingy budget airlines. If you’re a budget backpacker like me this is important, so you don’t have to worry about paying expensive checked-luggage fees. You also don’t have to worry about the airlines losing your luggage. And when you still loose the backpack, a selling feature of the bag is also the Okoban tracking tag which essentially give your bag a tracking number in the Okoban database so it’s easy to match a lost bag to an owner.

Some pro's

1. They have so many colour options, there are such pretty coloured and limited edition patterned options available for this model. But I picked the Absolute Black CabinZero. Darker than a starry night sky in the middle of the desert. During my whole life I have something with black. I don’t know what. It’s just like that.

2. The side compression straps help to control the bag size. What's very useful when I'm carrying less things in the bag. It stops the bag from sagging outwards, which is both aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing.

3. The CabinZero backpack uses heavy-duty YKK zippers that have lock loops, so I can keep my backpack secure. For me this is important because I carry always a lot of electronic devices in my bag. And good quality zippers are important because a busted zipper is a huge issue when I'm travelling around all the time.

4. They have also 36L, 28L and 22L versions available if you find the 44L too big for you. Though to me these smaller bags defeats the purpose of the CabinZero bag which is to maximise out my carry-on luggage requirements.

One little contra

The CabinZero Classic have no waist and chest strap. Carrying this bag for a while can get tiring for some people without waist and chest straps to redistribute the weight. I missed sometimes these straps at my backpack trip.

Conclusion

The CabinZero Classic 44L looks and feels like it can take a beating… and it probably can since it’s made of high quality waterproof polyester. All CabinZero backpacks use highly water-resistant materials which should keep your belongings dry during a surprise rain shower. The bag is lightweight, large and an ease to carry. The light and flexible material makes it also very easy for packing. At the airport I even had some space left in the bag so that I could put my big winter jacket in the backpack. I needed this jacket in the cold European winter, but in the warm destination I went to it was not necessary. The stitching and seams from the bag all look like they’re all done well so I also don’t have any complaints there.

After this backpack trip, I can confidently say that the CabinZero backpack I carried with me is one of the best bags I ever used. It fit everything I needed, was never too heavy and was always easy to carry on plane, trains, busses and walks through the country.

While the bag was sponsored by CabinZero, I wouldn’t write a positive review, if I didn’t like it at all. I even can tell, I love this bag! It’s for me the perfect backpack to travel around and will be my new travel companion on my next trips.

www.cabinzero.com

Hanan
Always curious about life, culture and people

Hanan: text, photo • 7 March 2018

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