Bellroy Cinch Carryall Review

When your gear is bulky and doesn’t fit easily into a more organized daypack, you might consider using a duffle bag. They usually have more space in the main compartment than a comparably-sized backpack, with a more casual vibe and carry. On the other hand, they often lack the organizational features we like, unless you choose something like the Bellroy Cinch Carryall, which combines a duffle feel with more pockets for gear. Is it the best of both worlds? We’ve been carrying it daily to work and on a weekend getaway to find out.

External Components

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the Cinch Carryall has a slouchy style that’s currently trendy. That’s in part because of the Relaxo Weave material, a lightweight recycled nylon with a subtle crinkle and a water-resistant, matte finish. We like the look—it’s fun, casual, and soft to touch. It does hang onto dirt and lint a bit more than shinier materials, but you can wipe it clean pretty easily.

There’s a Bellroy label on the front; it’s small and subtle.

As for hardware, there are snaps to hold the front flap in place, plastic toggles to cinch the side pockets shut, and a YKK zipper to enter the main compartment. Everything works well, and it’s nice to have a variety of ways to open and close the bag.

The Carryall has two handles and a luggage pass-through on the back panel, both made from the same webbing material.

You can also carry it by the shoulder strap, which extends seamlessly from the left side of the bag. The first two-thirds are the same Relaxo Weave material, while the end connects to the opposite side of the bag with an adjustable webbing strap. The overall effect is unique but surprisingly comfortable. There’s a bit of padding between the two layers of material, but not much. However, it’s really broad, distributing the weight evenly over your shoulder, whether you wear it over one shoulder or crossbody.

There’s slightly more padding on the back panel, but it’s not much—you can still feel gear through the bag while carrying it.

Fit Notes

How you feel about the bag’s aesthetics comes down to how you feel about the current slouchy style. Bellroy’s entire Cinch collection embraces it, and the Carryall is no exception. It has a casual, no-nonsense attitude that’s not fussy or fancy. It makes a great personal item bag on the plane, since it should fit under the seat in front of you (or at least squish into the sizer), and a good weekender as long as you use packing cubes to help you stay organized.

It’s definitely comfortable to carry on your shoulder, even when fully loaded, but you’ll want to take care in packing, as you’ll feel stiff items like a laptop or a hardcover book through it. It’s most comfortable when not fully stuffed, but sometimes you need all 21L, so you have been warned: you’ll feel them bumping against your side or back.

Inside The Bag

The Bellroy Cinch Carryall’s organization is as reminiscent of the other bags in the lineup as its style. We’ll start at the front, where there are two pouch-like pockets. A solid flap snaps onto them to keep your gear in place. The pockets have a wide elastic topper, but are otherwise unremarkable. The one on the left includes a key clip on a leash. It’s easy to pull out to reach a door with a key fob, and there’s plenty of room to tuck your keys, so you can find them easily when needed.

While those pockets have independent capacity unaffected by what’s in the main compartment, the same can’t be said for the two side pockets. They close with cinch cords held in place by plastic toggles, but they’re not stretchy, so it can be difficult to slide a bottle or umbrella in when the bag’s interior is fully packed. They’re not the deepest pockets, either, but we haven’t had many problems using them. Technically, you could use wider-mouth bottles if you leave enough space in the main compartment for the bottle to steal some of that capacity, but it’s easiest to use them with standard-width bottles or slightly wider tumblers.

In the main compartment are two more spots to organize gear. The first looks like a laptop sleeve. Bellroy even shows a MacBook Air in its flat lay photo on the Cinch Carryall product page. However, it’s really just a large slip pocket with a strap that buckles over the top to hold whatever you put in it in place. The buckle didn’t scratch our computer, but we worried about it every time we slid it in, and there’s really nothing protecting your device from everything else in the bag. If you have a protective laptop case, use it and then slide it into the sleeve to keep it separate from your remaining gear. Otherwise, the minimal padding on the back panel isn’t providing much protection, and the actual sleeve offers none.

Across from it, against the front, is a small zippered pocket for accessories. It’s passport-sized and about as easy to access on the go as the front pockets, so it’s a good spot for that and your wallet. It’s not a huge pocket, but it gets the job done and saves you from having to bring another pouch for small gear—plus, it keeps them up top within easy reach instead of floating around the bottom of the bag.

And, that’s all, folks! The remaining space is open to fill, as you wish. We’ve had no issues tucking a Bellroy Cooler Caddy with our lunch inside for the daily commute, along with a tech pouch. We also had no issues using it with a packing cube and a toiletry bag for a weekend trip. We tucked a book in the buckled sleeve, stuffed our Peak Design Packing Cube, Fjallraven Farden Necessity Bag, and Tieks Ballet Flats inside, and we were good to go.

We actually found it more user-friendly for travel than for everyday use with a laptop. With the lack of structure, softer, more flexible gear is just easier to pack inside than stiff, inflexible tech.