ALPAKA Bravo Backpack (23L) Review

ALPAKA has three distinct product lineups from which to choose. The Elements line is for those looking for the brand’s best, most feature-rich bags, such as the Elements Travel Backpack. The Metro, meanwhile, is designed for daily commuting, hence the compact 12-liter size of the Metro Backpack. So, where does that leave the Bravo? Well, testing the 23-liter version of the Bravo Backpack makes things a bit clearer to us: it’s for those who want to trim as much excess as possible while still ending up with a perfectly functional bag.

You still get the signature ALPAKA picks in terms of materials, such as Axoflux fabric, YKK zippers, and compatibility with a handful of their HUB accessories. So, is this the ideal ALPAKA bag for you? Let’s dive in!

External Components

As with a lot of ALPAKA’s backpacks, the main material on the Bravo is their 400-denier Axoflux ripstop nylon. It’s a relatively light fabric compared to ballistic nylon and other fabrics with heavier deniers, yet more than robust enough for daily commutes and occasionally getting set down on the pavement. That said, this Bravo Backpack we’re sampling seems particularly sticky to finer dust and dirt when compared to other Axoflux-based ALPAKA bags we’ve tested. It’s no big deal since we can wipe it off most of the time, but it was worth noting.

Zippers come courtesy of YKK; if you’re not familiar with them, rest assured that they’re the go-to for many brands because of their reliability. As expected, these particular ones had no problem zipping and unzipping throughout our testing. That’s not something we can take for granted either since these are reverse-coil AquaGuard zippers, the thick kind that usually feels sticky and secure. These are relatively smooth and easy to open, and we’ve nothing but praise for them in that respect. They also come with plastic-tipped zipper pulls, hexagonally shaped to fit ALPAKA’s urban aesthetics.

ALPAKA’s backpacks have mostly adhered to a tall and slim design, which is not bad, per se. However, one side effect of this is a tendency to lean forward and fall over. You can mitigate this by packing flat and heavy gear at the bottom of the main compartment to provide a stable base to anchor the bag. But if you were hoping to set the Bravo Backpack down without worrying too much about it suddenly falling face-first into the dirty floor, this might not be the best daypack for you.

The harness system is nothing too crazy for a 23-liter backpack. The shoulder straps have a contoured shape that helps them fall more naturally to your body’s curves. In terms of padding, there’s enough to cushion the bag’s weight without having so much that the straps feel too cumbersome for the bag’s size. More importantly, they’ve softened the padding around the inner edges of the strap. This small difference should make the straps feel gentler in the long run when you’re carrying the bag all day.

There is also a magnetic sternum strap. It uses a FIDLOCK buckle to lock itself in place. We used to be skeptical about magnets since side-release buckles were already simple, proven, and effective, and magnets just seemed less predictable. Having tested plenty of bags that use magnetic buckles has shown us that they’ve slowly but surely become more reliable, so we won’t harp on this too much.

Another nitpick is the fact that the sternum strap isn’t mounted on a rail, so you can’t make really fine adjustments to how high or low you want it to be. Instead, the strap is clipped on either side by loops. To be fair, most users probably don’t mind and can probably find a height they’re okay with since there are six of them. But having tested so many bags with sliding sternum straps has shown us there is a better alternative. On an unrelated positive, there are at least strap keepers to keep slack from dangling around distractingly.

The back panel is robustly padded, probably more so than necessary. Not that we mind a lot of padding on back panels. We’d rather have this much than so little that a laptop inside would provide comparatively more structure, as we’ve seen in other backpacks. Also worth noting is the mesh covering the padding in addition to having massive air channels, all of which should let air pass through and exhaust more freely.

Lastly, there’s a luggage pass-through in case you take this bag alongside rolling luggage. It’s a rather travel-leaning feature for a daypack, and we’re glad it made the cut since brands often forgo such luxuries.

Fit Notes

The Bravo Backpack was generally well-received by the Pack Hacker crew in terms of comfort. Its contoured shoulder straps and flexible back panel have no trouble conforming to the differing body shapes of people around the office. Your mileage may still vary, but it’s not very often that we find a backpack whose harness system we all find agreeable, so we’re fairly confident that this can satisfy a lot of people.

The Bravo Backpack also maintains its shape rather well. We’ll discuss more about how exactly the bag manages that. But for now, we will say that what you pack inside doesn’t seem to affect its sleek shape. As a result, the bag looked really professional throughout most of our testing and then some, save for the bits of dust its fabric kept picking up, as mentioned earlier.

Inside The Backpack

In the front compartment is the admin panel, where you can organize many of your everyday carry items. At the back are two drop pockets flanking two pen slots. It’s a relatively tame array of pockets, but it’s adequate for a 23-liter daypack. Of note is the built-in magnetic key leash above a drop pocket. It’s a convenient little feature since the front compartment is relatively deep, as are the drop pockets. The leash at least lets you fish out your keys quickly.

The neat thing about this front compartment is its gusset design. Gussets aren’t new, whether implemented on a bag’s main compartment, secondary compartment, or the smallest of its pockets. That said, we still appreciate how cleverly and seamlessly integrated this one is. It’s located beneath a fabric welt at the front, which at first glance seems nothing more than an aesthetic motif rather than anything else. However, having such a relatively large welt allows for a sizeable gusset, which gives the front compartment a lot of outward expansion, thus preventing any lumpiness when you pack something bulky inside.

On the side is a water bottle pocket. Like the front compartment, ALPAKA did a pretty good job of seamlessly integrating it with the bag’s overall theme. In this case, the pocket is made of triangular sections converging into a stretchy pocket with enough stretchiness to hold 18 or 21-ounce bottles firmly without much issue. Smaller bottles can still slip out, though how packed out the main compartment is also a factor in that regard.

Near the water bottle pocket is a side-facing security pocket. Again, this is another rather travel-friendly feature for a daypack that we’re quite pleased to find. It’s handy for storing very valuable items, such as travel documents, a wallet, extra cash, and a smart tracker. As with a lot of security pockets, though, there’s not much horizontal depth to speak of, so you’ll have to limit what you store here to mostly flat items.

The main compartment’s dual zippers start around the middle at the topside of the bag. The clever part is that they zip down towards the front, meaning a significant amount of the main compartment’s packing space is presented in a neat bucket shape. This makes packing easier compared to a more uniform and straight-down horseshoe-shaped opening because you get more room to maneuver large packing cubes and organizers. You may see in the photos that we can fold the front down to get a very open view of the interior. However, keep in mind that you may not be able to do this if you have anything lengthy and rigid packed in the front compartment.

Your options for organizing gear are relatively modest compared to the loop-laden interiors of ALPAKA’s more premium offerings. There are no HUB attachment points, just a zippered accessory pocket on the front side and a zippered mesh pocket adjacent to the laptop sleeve at the back. The laptop sleeve itself can fit up to a 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is about as big a laptop as we’d bring on trips, so there are no issues there.

Overall, the built-in organization options can come off as minimal since there’s a noticeable emphasis on open spaces in both compartments. That’s not necessarily bad, especially if you’re the type of traveler who’s already invested in their own tech pouches, packing cubes, toiletry bags, and so on. So, if that sounds like your vibe, then this might be an ideal daypack for consideration.