BAGSMART Paz 43L Duffle Backpack Review

When you know that you’ll have to climb a lot of steps or walk over cobblestone streets for miles before you reach your destination, or you want to explore a new place before checking into your hotel, you might want to consider a travel backpack. But even the best harness system can get uncomfortable after a long time, so you might want to shake things up and carry your pack a different way. In that case, let us introduce you to the BAGSMART Paz 43L Duffle Backpack which, you may guess from the name, can be carried like a duffle or a backpack, giving you options when your back gets tired.

But travel backpacks that adapt to different carry styles don’t always work best for any mode, so we were interested to see if that holds true with the BAGSMART Paz 43L Duffle Backpack. After two weeks of testing, it’s time to find out.

External Components

Before we get into materials, let’s talk about the elephant in the room; the BAGSMART Paz 43L Duffle Backpack is sized as a carry on, yet is only compliant with a quarter of the 146 airlines we measure bag dimensions against. Now, the 38 compliant airlines do include budget flyers like Frontier and Spirit in the U.S., but not Ryanair, nor standard carriers in the U.S. that don’t charge you to carry on, like Delta and American Airlines. The long and the short of it is you might be paying to carry this bag whether you’re aware of the fact in advance (like on Frontier, where you have to pay for carry ons) or not (if you’re gate-checked for an oversized bag on Delta which is unlikely, but possible). And there’s no way this 43L bag can pass for a personal item bag, even empty, so put all thoughts of flying under the radar out of your mind right now.

Now, BAGSMART isn’t the only manufacturer to market a bag as a carry on that doesn’t measure up—plenty of rolling carry on luggage fall in the same category—so we won’t hold them too tight to that. So, since we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s chat about the durable materials used on this bag. It’s primarily a water-resistant polyester-cotton blend fabric that’s sturdy yet flexible. It’s also lightweight, with the entire bag weighing 2.65 pounds (1.2 kg), much less than any of those oversized suitcases.

The hardware on the bag is unbranded, but BAGSMART uses SBS zippers throughout the bag, some of which have a water-resistant coating. There are a lot of zippers around the bag, though, and it’s easy to grab one corded zipper pull when you mean to grab another. One zipper on the side has a ring pull, but that’s it (and it’s not even adjacent to other zippers, so we’re not sure why it’s different).

Along with plenty of zippers, the BAGSMART Paz 43L Duffle Backpack has a lot of branding. The BAGSMART name is on the shoulder strap, the bottom (or side, depending on how you carry it), the side, and the back (or front, again, depending on the carry method). The opposite side of the bag features a leather pocket where you can slide your contact information, although it’s not readily apparent that that’s what the pocket is for. It has a little motto printed on it—”here or there, now or never”—instead.

There’s a daisy chain of attachment loops all around the bag, plus several rings in the corners where you attach the straps. The chain connects to lightly padded carry handles on either end of the bag, which is helpful for pulling it out of a trunk or the overhead bin.

If you want to carry it, two duffle-style handles attach with a wrap around the lid of the bag. They’re comfortable enough to hold for a short while, though the bulk of the bag can be unwieldy to maneuver this way for long. When you’re not using them, they tuck into side pockets topped with a hook-and-loop fastener to keep them from flopping around.

You can also carry it like a backpack, using shoulder straps with breathable mesh undersides, light foam padding, and a sternum strap that slides along webbing on each strap to help you find the right fit. The straps hide behind the back panel (the lid of the main compartment and the laptop compartment, which secures at the top with hook-and-loop fastener), attaching with swivel clips to those rings we mentioned in the bottom corners of the bag.

Finally, an adjustable shoulder strap attaches to the clips on the bottom and top of the bag. It’s a wide webbing strap with a long shoulder pad that features the same breathable mesh as the shoulder straps. When you’re not using it, you can slide it into one of the pockets on the sides or back panel—dealer’s choice.

Fit Notes

Surprisingly, for such an unstructured bag, it’s actually quite comfortable to carry. While it’s a little awkward due to the size, the back panel and shoulder padding do a good job of spreading the weight of a full pack across your body, especially when you use the shoulder straps and the sternum strap. When it’s not as full, it’s easy to carry over one shoulder, although we get pizza delivery man vibes from the shape of the bag as it hangs messenger-style against us.

However, that might tell you how we feel about the bag’s aesthetics. It’s very casual and very unstructured, so it looks floppy when it’s not fully packed and almost like it’s bursting at the seams when it is. The flexible materials mean it’s easy to overfill, too, and you’ll want to take care not to do so since then it’s hard to zip up.

Inside The Pack

There are a lot of places to store gear in this bag, so buckle up.

Starting at what would be the top of the bag if you were carrying it like a duffle, you’ll find a zipper running across the top of the lid, which opens to the padded laptop compartment. You can fit up to a 15.6-inch device here, and we had no issue carrying something smaller like a 13-inch MacBook Air. Despite our misgivings about this being against your back when it’s in backpack mode, the padding is sufficient to blunt the feeling of the device, and we like the accessibility. You will have to undo the wrap holding the duffle handles together to get your laptop out, but it’s easy enough to get to with any other carry method.

Atop the bag, just behind one small carry handle, you’ll find a small quick-access pocket for your phone, wallet, and keys. It’s just an open space with no organization, but you can get to it quickly, especially in backpack mode. However, we will point out that it’s easy to mistake this zipper pull for the ones on the main compartment if you have them on this side, as they all dock within an inch of each other and look alike, especially when the material sags down.

The opposite end features a zipper running around its edge. It opens to reveal a shoe compartment that extends into the main compartment. This area also includes a zippered mesh pocket along the flap, which you can use for dirty clothing since it won’t matter as much that it’s up against your shoes if it’s not clean. The shoe compartment is liner material, so it lays flat in the main compartment when you don’t need it and extends inside when you do.

On the right side of the bag is a large pocket for up to a 40-ounce water bottle. It is vertical in backpack mode but horizontal across the top of the bag when you carry it crossbody or over one shoulder. On the opposite side is a zipper pocket for accessories or to hold the shoulder strap when you’re not using it. Like the top pocket, it lacks any other internal organization, but is a good spot for pouches, cords, a battery bank or whatever else you need to grab while traveling.

Then, on the bottom of the bag (the front in backpack mode), you’ll find one more large zippered pocket for anything else you haven’t stowed elsewhere. Our tester didn’t actually use this pocket much, since it’s on the bottom when you set the bag down, but it’s there if you need it and out of the way if you don’t. This one is larger than the other two, but you’ll want to note that all of these pockets share capacity with the main compartment, so they get harder to fill when you’ve got that stuffed full.

Luckily, there is a lot of space to fill. The main compartment unzips around the laptop compartment, which acts as a lid, and opens up like a duffle bag for easy packing.

Against the lid is a large zippered mesh pocket. Although it rests against the lid and, therefore, the laptop compartment, plenty of padding separates your device from anything you pack in the pocket, so you don’t have to worry too much about items pressing up against one another. We’ve been using it for a tech pouch and gloves, but there’s plenty of room inside for other items.

Below that is a water-resistant TPU bag for damp gear or toiletries. You can’t remove it, so you’ll still need to pack your liquids in a quart-sized clear plastic bag to pull out for security, and you’ll have to unpack everything at your accommodations. However, it will save your clothing if something leaks accidentally inside while you’re traveling. You’ll have to raise it out of the way to pack gear in the main compartment though, or lay it against the side of the bag and fill the space in front of it.

On the opposite side are two more zippered mesh pockets, but they fasten with one zipper. This is a good spot for an extra cord and wall charger if you need to bring them but won’t need them while traveling. Otherwise, you could use the pockets as tiny packing cubes for socks, underwear, or a bathing suit.

The rest of the area is a big open bucket space. It includes internal compression straps that connect with a buckle in the middle to hold packing cubes or clothing in place, though you can only pull them as tight as the X in the middle where they meet. That means they might not get tight enough to hold gear in place if you’re traveling with less.

However, that seems to be the story of this bag; it’s good when you need to bring more. It’s not compressible and very flexible, so it’s best when its 43 liters are used to nearly capacity. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly travel backpack with flexible carry options and many compartments, this could be for you. On the other hand, if you don’t always need to carry that much or want a more comprehensive harness system, you may want to look elsewhere.