Quince Voyage Nylon Commuter Backpack Review

Quince is a brand that aims to give you luxurious products at a less premium, if not value, price point. To that end, they sell nearly everything you’d ever want, from dresses to jewelry cases to luggage and daypacks. Some of it works just as well as the pricier counterparts, and some not, so we wanted to know where the Quince Voyage Nylon Commuter Backpack stacks up. Does it compare favorably to brands like Away, TUMI, and Briggs & Riley as it claims to? Let’s find out.

External Components

You can get the Quince Voyage Nylon Commuter Backpack in two sizes: small and large. We’re testing the small, which has a 16L capacity, while the large has an 18L capacity. Both are made primarily from 400D water-resistant nylon twill, with Nappa leather trim and a liner made from 230D nylon. The material is a little shiny, but it’s also easy to wipe clean if you get it dirty. At the time of this review, it comes in Black, Navy, and Dark Green. Like other Quince products, you won’t find any branding anywhere on the outside of this bag.

You will find unbranded zippers, and they’re rather chunky. It’s a vibe, and we think you’ll either love it or hate it. We’re not huge fans, but we can’t really complain about the zippers’ functionality. They work fine and are easy to grab thanks to the leather pulls.

The leather also wraps the carry handle, which is comfortable to hold for short periods and easy to hang on a hook. Like many features on this bag, it’s fine and gets the job done, but it doesn’t blow us away.

The hardware is also unbranded and works well. There are square metal adjusters on the straps that stay in place where you put them, though you can’t cinch the straps as tightly as you may want if you’re smaller. It’s a built-in adjustment system, which is great for aesthetics (no dangling straps!), but not so great if you need to cinch it tighter than you can before the adjuster hits the shoulder strap padding.

Those straps are quite thin and moderately padded, but they’re lined with breathable mesh that’s scratchy on bare skin. We don’t notice the same rubbing issue on the back panel, which has the same mesh, but our primary tester noticed it on her shoulders when wearing sundresses and tank tops.

Thankfully, there is a pass-through for pairing with rolling luggage, though that’s less helpful on your daily commute, which is what the name suggests the bag is primarily meant for.

Fit Notes

Since our primary tester is smaller and slim, she really wanted to cinch the Quince Voyage Nylon Commuter Backpack tighter than it can go. Instead, the bag hangs lower on her torso than she’d like, hitting the lower back on her 17-inch torso. It feels like it’s pulling you backward, like someone is pulling on it from behind you, which is not a great feeling. The back panel padding is adequate, though you feel a laptop’s stiffness through it. When you add in the slightly scratchy straps, it’s not our favorite harness system. There’s no other means of support, whether in the form of a sternum strap or hip belt. Most of the time, we’d be OK with that on a 16L backpack, but since we can’t cinch the straps further, we’d appreciate a little more support.

Aesthetically, it’s just not our bag. All the different pockets, combined with the chunky silver zipper, give it a style that’s not our favorite. We also don’t like that it sags when you’re carrying it. Some travelers like the look, though, or brands like TUMI wouldn’t make something like it, so we don’t want to yuck your yum if you like the style. There’s a bag out there for everyone; maybe this one’s for you.

Inside The Backpack

If you like your backpacks highly organized and segmented, however, you may very well like the Quince Voyage Nylon Commuter Backpack because it has so many pockets.

At the top, under the carry handle, is a magnetic slip pocket that’s roughly the size of our tester’s hand. You can slide a phone or passport in here, though we didn’t use it since there are so many other pockets to choose from. You may not feel your phone against your back if you can’t tighten the straps enough, but you will feel it if you can. There’s also a hidden zippered pocket underneath the luggage pass-through that fits a passport or extra cash nicely. You don’t feel anything in it as you wear it, either.

In front of that is the laptop compartment, which is very nicely padded and protective. You can fit up to a 15-inch laptop in here, and while it’s not raised off the bottom, there is enough padding underneath it that we aren’t concerned about dropping our laptop inside.

There are two side pockets, which both zip. The one on the left has two zipper pulls, but the one on the right only has one, so you have to open it all the way. With two pulls, you can pull them up on either side, leaving the center open for a small water bottle, but that doesn’t work as well with only one pull. We’ve been using the one with two pulls the most, specifically for a bottle, and find the other better for locking away gear like a phone, gloves, or sunglasses.

Three more pockets are on the front of the backpack. First up is a slim vertical one that we never found a good use for. We were tempted to try sunglasses inside it, but gear in the larger front pocket pressed into it, so we didn’t want to risk them getting squished. If you use a battery bank to charge your phone while on the go, this could be a good spot for it, and with the plethora of pockets around this bag, you can afford to be choosy.

That large front pocket opens with a U-shaped zipper to an admin pocket. It has a zippered mesh pocket on the lid for small tech like earbuds and dongles, a slip pocket for items like your passport or computer wall charger, and a long leash for your keys.

Below that pocket is one more horizontal pocket. We find it the perfect size for our hard glasses case, although it seems to be an odd spot for them. It’s wide but not too tall, so you’ll have to play around with your gear to find the right item to fit.

Finally, we come to the main compartment, which opens with two zipper pulls under a fabric welt. We never had any issues catching the zipper on the fabric, as we have with other bags (namely, one with a similar design from Away), so we were happy about that. There’s even more organization inside here, though. It’s also the only place you’ll find branding on the bag: a Quince leather patch on the back panel. There’s a 13-inch tablet sleeve underneath it that also works well for a notebook if you don’t have a second device.

Against the front are two stretchy mesh slip pockets and another zippered pocket for small accessories that aren’t locked away elsewhere. There’s a decent amount of space remaining in the center for bulkier gear like a lunch, extra layer, and larger headphones, though you’re not going to fit an entire week’s worth of clothing inside. You’re not supposed to; it’s a 16L daypack, not a 30L travel backpack.

As such, it’s well-organized for your everyday carry, making it easy to find your gear on the go; however, we don’t find it comfortable enough for a more active commute than ours. We wouldn’t take it biking or even on the subway, where we might have to carry it for a while. For our primary tester’s car commute, it works fine, but that harness system isn’t something you’re going to want to carry for very long. As much as we have liked other gear from Quince, we think we’d probably pass on this one. There are more comfortable, decently-organized options out there, like that bag we mentioned above from Away.