The Topo Designs Rover Trail Pack is the Best Backpack I’ve Ever Used

As we find out Outdoors, the WIRED Reviews gear team is writing about our favorite bags and EDCs. Today, comments Martin Cizmar she enjoys her Topo Designs bag. You can also search for more Bag Check issue to THE WIRE writers share everything they love.

Topo Designs can just make it the best bags in the world. The gorpcore brand from Denver sells gear that looks cool, lasts, and has everything a smart guy could want in a pocket without making the product feel overly built. If I win the lottery, I won’t tell anyone, but there will be signs – like me picking up groceries from two Trader Joe’s. Mountain Gear Bags. (I currently use blue polypropylene Ikea bags and buy from Aldi.)

In March, I took a trip to Ireland and Scotland with a backpack and a Topo Designs Rover Trail pack as my carry-on. I usually try out new bags, and I didn’t think much of the decision to commit to Rover for a week. I quickly learned that you know a bag well when you take seven flights and stay in eight hotels in ten days. By the time I got home, I was convinced that the Rover was the best bag I had ever used.

Photo: Martin Cizmar

Topo Pictures

Rover Trail Pack

Like the six or seven Topo Designs bag brands I’ve tried—and perhaps more so than any other—the Rover manages to cleverly incorporate all the little things I’ve come to appreciate in other bags without even noticing.

At the top of the bag, there is a zip compartment that opens to reveal the opening of the bag, which closes with a drawstring. This is where I like to put my keys, any important documents I may have on me, and sometimes my wallet. Often times, I find myself double or triple checking to make sure nothing is falling off. Nothing is missing with the Rover, because inside the zip compartment, there is also a key clip and extra zip sleeves. This allows you to carry two bags of everything you don’t want to be at risk – me, my passports and my baby. When I got through the TSA line at the airport, I put my car keys in all week, put passports in the mesh, and didn’t worry about losing them.

Photo: Martin Cizmar