Gossamer Gear Aero Jet Review

Lightweight travel backpacks often walk a fine line between comfort and compromise, and the Aero Jet comes in looking to strike a nice balance. At 35 liters and weighing just around two and a half pounds, it’s one of the lighter options in its class—noticeably slimmer than bulkier competitors like the Aer Travel Pack 3 or the Pakt Travel Backpack V2 (35L). On paper, that makes it sound ideal for travelers who want capacity without feeling weighed down. Of course, specs only tell part of the story, and we were curious to see how well it would hold up once packed to the brim and put through real-world travel.

Over several weeks of testing, we dragged the Aero Jet across airports, African tourist destinations, and daily commutes to get a sense of its durability, comfort, and usability. While its pared-back design doesn’t scream “premium,” there’s thought baked into the fabric choice, harness system, and internal organization. The question is: does the Aero Jet’s lightweight build translate into an easy carry for trips big and small, or does it leave too much off the table in pursuit of shaving ounces?

External Components

The most striking aspect of this backpack is how light it is. A 35-liter travel backpack, weighing just around 2.5 lbs (about 1.1 kg), is noteworthy, though nothing special, as we’ve definitely tested packs of similar size and weight. Still, it is indicative of a demand for big, feature-rich backpacks with minimal bulk. For context, weightier travel backpacks, such as the Aer Travel Pack 3, the Matador GlobeRider 35, and Pakt Travel Backpack V2 (35L), come in at over 3 lbs. The difference may not sound like much, but it definitely pays dividends when you’re globetrotting with half your wardrobe packed inside.

The 210-denier ROBIC nylon and 150-denier polyester isometric grid mesh fabrics are key to enabling the Aero Jet’s lightness. They are relatively light deniers in a world where heavier weaves up to 1680D are standard in other travel backpacks. The weave may be finer than expected, but the fabrics also held up surprisingly well in testing, surviving being checked on the flight home and, generally, just being roughly handled around in the tropical climes we experienced. Scuff marks are unavoidable, but equally surprising was how easy it was to dust off and wipe away most dirt that clung to the mesh and nylon shell.

Build quality is generally quite solid, if a bit conventional and purely pragmatic. The zippers are from YKK, the industry standard because of their reliability, while the hardware is from Woojin for similar reasons. The zippers have heat-shrink pulls so you can grab them more easily, but they’re nothing fancy or premium; it’s not hard to imagine Gossamer Gear chose these to cut back on weight.

Looks-wise, the Aero Jet is fairly unremarkable, and there’s a distinct lack of colorway options that would otherwise spice up the aesthetics. The stripey pattern attempts to break the monotony of black fabrics, but the Aero Jet could just as easily have been a uniformly black backpack, and we wouldn’t have given its looks a second thought. On the other hand, the plain Jane styling doesn’t look out of place in professional settings; “inoffensive” really springs to mind.

Three loops on each side at the front allow you to lash bungees for externally mounting gear, though the large mesh pocket is already there to intake chunky items. Off to the sides are water bottle pockets for your hydration needs, and there’s a left-side handle in case you need to carry the bag by hand. Curiously, the top handle is more like the obligatory strip of nylon we find in budget daypacks; not at all befitting a travel backpack. Consequently, it’s not comfortable carrying a 35-liter pack with this, and it’s more for hanging on restroom stall hooks.

Lastly, the bottom silver-ish accent piece is the lone reflective part of the bag. It’ll help keep you just that tiny bit visible when someone points a flashlight behind you as dusk sets in. That said, we’d hang blinky lights on one of the six loops if you plan to trail hike with this bag at night.

The harness system’s shoulder straps aren’t overly thick; again, most likely in an effort to keep bulk down. Padding is thoughtfully thickened near the top and on the inner edge where you expect pressure to land. More importantly, the padding strikes a good balance between stiffness and softness, able to cushion the pack’s weight while also not being so mushy that it’s at its mercy at every turn of the body.

There’s no hip belt included, nor do we need one. That said, it’s worth noting that the Aero Jet is compatible with Gossamer Gear’s Fastbelt, a separate purchase available to those who might need it. For our part, the thin but dutiful sternum strap does a good enough job pulling the shoulder straps together and shifting the bag’s weight forward. It’s on a rail, too, so it’s relatively easy to adjust and find the right level.

The back panel is covered in a 3D mesh layer that’s also suitably flexible. Combined with the shoulder straps, the carrying experience feels very pliable and conducive, even when the pack’s fully loaded. If you get tired, rest assured that there’s a luggage pass-through built in, so you can slot the bag on your roller if you’re traveling with one.

Fit Notes

As mentioned, the Aero Jet’s lightness helps keep the load manageable and makes it easy to lug around. The flexible mesh back panel and shoulder straps do a decent job of taming the bulk, while the sternum strap chips in to ensure it’s all centered as much as possible. Would load lifters and a hip belt help? For sure, but even the base inclusions are already doing a good enough job, so any additional accessories aren’t worth the additional costs, if you ask us.

The pack is quite tall and narrow on smaller frames, so it might not be the most flattering travel backpack. However, we were definitely more focused on how surprisingly cooperative the Aero Jet is to carry rather than anything superfluous.

Inside The Backpack

A security pocket for a few valuables is on the back panel. As the relatively narrow zippered opening suggests, you’re only realistically fitting a passport, some cash, and your return tickets inside it. You wouldn’t want to fit anything too chunky in here anyway, since the pocket’s directly adjacent to the back panel. Speaking of small pockets, the shoulder straps also have their own stretchy pockets.

If we’re being honest, we’re not huge fans of shoulder strap pockets. Big pockets, such as the ones here, look tempting for storing smartphones and power banks. However, anything too chunky and rigid absolutely impacts the straps’ flexibility. Granola bars, then? Prepare to eat a wrapper full of crushed crumbs. With that in mind, we’d limit these pockets to quick-grab duty, like for quickly stowing transit cards, your passport, and even your smartphone when you need to do something quickly with both hands.

On the sides are the aforementioned mesh water bottle pockets. Stretchy mesh is quite basic but commonly used for water bottle pockets because of its effectiveness. Fitting 18 to 24-ounce insulated bottles in them is not an issue, though we are working with the benefit of a packed-out interior, meaning the pack’s sides are quite snug. If you make room and are willing to stretch the mesh, you can fit up to 32-ounce bottles, as well.

The front mesh compartment further proves the point. It’s big and roomy, so we threw a rolled-up jacket we’d been carrying for a while there. There’s more than enough space to pack those beefy accessories you always need on hand when you’re flying. That said, taking advantage of the mesh stretchiness also risks expanding the Aero Jet’s dimensions past carry-on compliance. Fortunately, during those times we were forced to check it in, the mesh was tough enough in the face of overzealous baggage handlers. No tears, no scuffs; the mesh remained pristine throughout testing.

Above the mesh compartment is a small top pocket. Most of the time, we ended up storing small items here, such as AirPods, a wallet, and maybe a stick of lip balm. However, by the end of the trip, we often found ourselves storing whatever gear we were too lazy to put back in its rightful place, such as our washcloth that definitely belonged in a packing cube somewhere inside.

At the back is the laptop compartment big enough for a 17-inch device. It’s almost comical when we put a 13-inch MacBook Air in there. But you can rest easy if you are packing a monster workstation inside. There’s about two inches of a false bottom underneath, so impacts from the floor are readily absorbed. There’s also an adjacent document sleeve where you can put your tablet and travel-size keyboard.

Gossamer Gear also thoughtfully put a zippered pocket inside for the tech accessories you might want to bring on trips. However, the pocket is quite low, almost midway down the laptop compartment. This makes access tricky, and storage is generally constrained since it’s near the area where the bulk of your gear is. Ideally, we would’ve liked a tech accessories pocket like this to be located near the top, as we’ve seen with other travel backpacks.

The main compartment opens fully clamshell, with a slight twist of the zippered edge tapering towards the top. This doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary, but it has caused us problems while packing. How? Well, once you have the bag on its back, the lid side—where there are two zippered pockets and an entire compartment to fill—slopes down narrowly.

As a consequence of this layout, you’re basically packing on a slope. The packing process is further complicated because part of the space gets eaten away by the main bucket space’s bottom edge. And once you have the entire compartment and the two adjacent pockets packed, everything inside shifts as you fold the lid over the main bucket space. This causes problems if there’s any interference with the gear packed on the other side.

On the other hand, the main bucket space is more straightforward. Yes, it’s covered by a zippered mesh partition, but there’s nothing fancy going on. You can pack the space freestyle, or with packing cubes as we’ve done. We went with two large packing cubes—one for tops and one for bottoms—plus a pair of sandals. Overall, everything we’ve packed was good for two and a half weeks. Careful packing of the main bucket space is encouraged, since dealing with the lid-side compartments and pockets is not worth the hassle—yes, we’d rather adjust the bigger stuff than deal with the troublesome smaller stuff.