FORCLAZ Travel 500 Organizer 40 L Backpack Review

The FORCLAZ Travel 500 Organizer 40 L Backpack is praised online for its budget-friendly price point and design that works for all kinds of trips. We’re curious how it compares to its more expensive competition in terms of usability, comfort, and durability. Let’s dive in and put it to the test!

External Components

The primary material used in this pack is polyester. The front face has a coating, which adds to the pack’s weather resistance. In testing the pack in light rain, the gear on the inside stayed dry, even without the included rain cover. However, you’ll want to throw the rain cover on to ensure your gear stays dry if it’s raining steadily for more than a few minutes. It’s quick and easy to put on, which is a perk. The polyester without the coating doesn’t feel as durable and looks a bit cheap, though it has held up well in testing so far.

The external zippers are from YKK, which is a good sign. YKK is the best in the business and adds durability and longevity to a pack, so we prefer to see that when evaluating a travel backpack. After all, landing in Paris with a broken zipper isn’t ideal, especially when you’ve got to carry the backpack around all day. With YKK zippers, that’s less likely to happen.

The internal zippers are from SBS. It’s a fine brand, but in our experience, it’s not as high-quality as YKK.

The main compartment zippers are large and have space to add a travel lock to ensure nobody can easily open your bag. The secondary compartments have a loop at the end of the track to shove the pulls through, acting as a stopper to slow someone down if they’re trying to get into your pack.

The buckles are from Duralon, and the plastic hardware is from Duraflex. Both work well, and we haven’t had any durability issues. Plus, we find them easy to adjust, even when on a bike.

One of the pack’s sides has a monumentally large pocket. It acts like a water bottle pocket (and can fit a 40-ounce bottle without issue), but you can stow a lot of things here. From a camera tripod or an umbrella to the wet rain cover after a downpour, the world (or this side pocket) is your oyster.

On the other side, there’s a smaller water bottle pocket. It has a zipper and an elastic side, making it look neater when not in use. You can’t fit as large of gear here as you can in the other pocket; however, an uninsulated 40-ounce bottle will still fit here.

There are four compression straps, two on either side of the pack. Those on the left side don’t have a buckle, and those on the right do, so you can still open the zipper for the main compartment. This means you can use the compression strap to your advantage when storing a large item inside the zippered elastic water bottle pocket, but not with the huge pocket we mentioned earlier. We’ve used this to stow a tripod or a full-size umbrella in the water bottle pocket (while our large travel water bottle was in the other side pocket). The compression straps are also handy for cinching the pack down, but less so when corralling large items in the side pockets.

The pack has a handle on the top and bottom of the pack, which is handy for picking it up off the floor from under the seat in front of you or from the overhead compartment when using it as a carry on. Or, if you’ve got it stowed in the trunk of a car or hanging on a hook, you can always grab one side of it.

The Forclaz logo is sleek, and this pack looks handsome from a distance. However, upon closer inspection, it can feel a bit cheap, but the materials have held up well so far.

Fit Notes

The back panel has some padded sections, though large areas lack padding. There’s a large middle area that lacks any foam, so your back is resting against polyester with a thin sheet of plastic behind it. If you overload the bag for a return trip, the bag bows out slightly, and you’ll end up with more contact with the polyester and thin plastic than the padding, which can be uncomfortable. It isn’t always bad, depending on how and what you pack, but it can be with a heavier load. With a moderate load, this isn’t an issue.

The shoulder straps have dense padding with aeration, which is comfortable enough. They have a slight curvature, which works well for most body types, though your mileage may vary. Load lifters at the top of the pack help shift weight around. Overall, the experience is comfortable, but after wearing the pack for a while, it feels draining on your shoulders. Using the load lifters helps on these occasions, but there’s only so much they can do.

The sternum strap is loose—you can’t lock it in place. This isn’t a huge issue unless you prefer to have your sternum strap in a specific position. This is an odd design; however, in testing, it didn’t bother us as much as we thought it would. It tends to find a way to be where it’s supposed to be, which is oddly poetic for a sternum strap on a budget-friendly bag.

The hip belt has dense, aerated padding that’s pretty comfortable. It can feel a bit suffocating at times, especially in warmer weather; however, it adds comfort and makes carrying the bag for an extended period less of a strain on your back and shoulders. You can’t remove the hip belt; however, you can stow it under the back panel padding. The right side of the hip belt has a mesh zippered pocket, which works well for snacks or a phone.

When you have a super heavy, overloaded pack, it isn’t the most comfortable bag we’ve tested. However, if you have it moderately packed, it performs well enough to wear for a few hours without discomfort.

Inside The Pack

A large front pocket expands slightly, which you can access from the side of the pack. There’s no organization here, but you can stow large items inside. It’s a solid place to stow the rain cover, a rain jacket, a larger sweatshirt to keep warm, or random bits and bobs you pick up while traveling.

The pack’s top pocket has a key leash for keeping track of your keys or putting on a fun keychain. This pocket works well for sunglasses, a phone, your wallet, or similarly sized items. The thin liner doesn’t offer much protection from getting hit with gear inside the main compartment, though we had no issues with anything breaking or getting scratched in testing.

You access the laptop compartment from the side, which some users might not like. Though we’ve never had this happen, it’s a worry that you could forget to close the compartment, and your laptop will fall out. This compartment is extensive, with room for bigger devices and extra space on the top. It wasn’t designed to keep your laptop raised, so your computer sits on the ground with a thin layer of polyester between it and the floor. With all the extra space, we would have liked to see this feature. On multiple occasions, we set down the bag normally, only to hear our laptop thud onto the desk at Pack Hacker HQ.

The main compartment opens like a suitcase, similar to packs like the Cotopaxi Allpa 28L Travel Pack.

On the right side, there’s a large mesh zippered pocket. You can fit large items here, like big packing cubes, a shoe pouch, an oversized tech pouch, or a big bag of gumballs. The flap is mesh, so you can see what’s inside, and if you put something damp here, it will have some room to breathe. There’s more room on this side of the pack, so this is a solid place for larger items.

On the left side of the pack, there are three zippered compartments. The first two are similar in style to the one on the right, just smaller. One takes up roughly two-thirds of the pack and the other the rest of the space. These have enough depth to stow larger gear, like a tech pouch, socks, underwear, or similar-sized items. The lower, smaller pocket fits a GoPro carrying case perfectly. There’s a flat zippered pocket on top of the larger zippered iteration we just went over, which works well for flat gear, like documents, charging cables, or a phone or wallet.

While testing this pack, our overarching feeling was that it’s a good deal for the price but that it’s hard to get over how cheap it sometimes feels. We appreciate the quality of the hardware and features, like YKK zippers. However, the polyester shell and lining feel on the lower end of budget-friendly, and designs like the non-raised laptop compartment are frustrating because they wouldn’t have cost any more to fix. Still, it’s hard to beat a semi-durable travel backpack with good organization and a reasonably comfortable harness system for the price. Budget-friendly travelers are in good hands between this pack from Decathlon and other offerings from Bagsmart.