Heimplanet Mono Series Minimal Pack Review

Bringing all of the gear you need calls for a reliable daypack, one that you can toss aside, get muddied, and still be perfectly usable after.

That’s exactly what happened to us when testing the Heimplanet Mono Series Minimal Pack. It feels wrong to leave a plum-colored backpack behind to save ourselves from spiteful wasps, but it did highlight how resilient its fabric is and how easy it is to clean. That said, appearances tell only one aspect of how functional a backpack is. And with “Minimal” in its name, certain apprehensions are, understandably, called for.

So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look.

External Components

The headlining feature on the Mono Series Minimal Pack is the Dycoshell Mono fabric ( presumably where the bag gets the “Mono” in its name). It’s a 50% recycled fabric that’s dope dyed, a technique in which the material is dyed early during manufacturing (commonly before the fibers are spun into yarn) instead of having to dye later in the process. It’s a more efficient way to dye fabrics, and from what we’re seeing with this bag, there seems to be no drawback in quality.

The fabric itself is relatively thick, though lacking the abrasion-resistant feel of materials with heavier deniers like 1680D ballistic nylon or variants of X-Pac. Still, the Mono Series Minimal Pack was able to take considerable punishment when we had to throw it with reckless abandon while being pursued by wasps. After all was said and done (and a formal truce made with the wasps), we retrieved the bag, now half-covered in foliage and dirt. Fortunately, it only took a few minutes of scrubbing with warm, soapy water to get everything off. Even luckier, the white logo remained unstained throughout the ordeal.

In an alternate timeline where the bag was damaged, there is the option to recycle it. Heimplanet claims the entire bag is recyclable, though they don’t elaborate on what this specifically entails for the Mono Series Minimal Pack. However, Heimplanet has its own in-house recycling program. This could be what they’re referring to when they say the bag is fully recyclable. You fill out a form, send in your bag, and in return, you get a voucher worth 20% of your bag’s purchase price. To be clear, once your bag’s recycled, Heimplanet puts it up on their RE-STORE page where anyone can buy it. In other words, this is great for those who want to get some value out of their old gear, but probably not ideal for the sentimental types.

Fortunately, we live in this timeline where our sample survived, and it’s grown on us ever since. Based on our pictures alone, you might see a simple plum colorway. However, there’s a pearlescent finish that introduces a blue hue. A bit flashy? Sure, but we don’t mind a daypack with a bit of personality from time to time—our penchant for black colorways notwithstanding.

The exterior is devoid of extras, so we’ll swiftly move on to the harness system. At the very top is a simple grab handle without any padding. That’s okay since, at 16 liters, there’s not a lot of bag to support anyway. We’re just pleased that the handle is at the very edge of the back panel, where it’s easy to hook onto even the shallowest (read: cheapest) restroom stall pegs. Simultaneously, the handle isn’t too large or hung so loosely that it brushes the back of the neck.

The back panel doesn’t have a separate layer of mesh and padding. Instead, it’s just a slight amount of padding embedded and partitioned through geometric pattern stitching. This isn’t that much of a worry since, as already mentioned, the capacity is only 16 liters. However, the lack of mesh leaves open the possibility of it getting hot and sweaty once you’ve worn the bag for a full afternoon.

The shoulder straps similarly have just enough padding to support a bag of this size. The width and thickness aren’t very encouraging, though we’ll save the verdict for the next section. Underneath is a soft, stretchy fabric that minimizes abrasions against soft clothing, though it’s not a mesh material. In other words, there’s a noticeable lack of breathability here as well.

Fit Notes

So, are these thin-looking shoulder straps inadequate? Not at all. In fact, their modest width helps minimize any constricting feel whenever we try to reach for something high and far. The bag does sit lower than expected, with the bottom edge touching the tailbone area for those with short frames. It can start to dig in once the bag’s packed full of heavy gear. However, that’s more of an exception than a general experience since a modestly-sized backpack like this encourages a similarly modest load; this isn’t a bag meant for overpacking.

You may notice rows of loops along the shoulder straps where you can add a sternum strap. It’s not necessary, even to fully alleviate that low-hanging feel we just mentioned. Additionally, the style of sternum strap attachment here seems similar to the one in Heimplanet’s Travel Pack, which we’re not very fond of. It tended to fall off since the sternum strap had a toggle on each end that slots between the loops. It’s the kind of sternum strap that’s not as secure as a permanently attached or clipped-on one, so it’s not a huge loss to not have it here.

Inside The Daypack

The primary pocket for everyday carry accessories is at the front. Though its outline spans a significant area and the wide opening makes it tempting to fit beefy gear, its volume is unfortunately limited by its flatness. There are no gussets that let the pocket expand, and the bag’s fabric is too stiff for any further allowance. Inside, there are no further dividers or pockets; it’s a singular dump area.

There’d be no way to utilize organization within this pocket anyway, so it’s not a huge loss. The problem is, once the main compartment is packed full, this pocket volume gets squeezed out, so it’s hard to fit fairly stiff everyday carry items like a slim wallet or an iPhone. Smaller items like an AirPods case, a pack of gum, or a handful of bobby pins fit better, but even those are tricky to sift through if you pack many of them since the pocket gets too tight.

Interestingly, this bag also features a small zippered pocket on the right side. It’s too small for an iPhone 13, but it is big enough for a slim wallet or a set of house keys, so that’s what we end up storing there. That said, it’s a pocket that’s quite easy to forget and gets squeezed out by the main compartment. In effect, we sometimes don’t utilize this pocket altogether and just rely entirely on the front one.

A subtle disadvantage of such a clean and featureless aesthetic design is that you notice imperfections way more easily than a noisier one. In this bag’s case, there’s a lot of bare fabric on the top half of the front, and it tends to cave in when there’s no gear within to prop it up. Unfortunately, the main compartment is relatively narrow and tall, meaning gear stacks bottom up. And unless you manage to pack it all the way to the top, you’re likely to achieve that caved-in look. It’s not a deal-breaker per se, but we understand that might irk those who want a seamless look.

On that note, the main compartment only features some basic organization options. At the back is a laptop sleeve with some padding on its front side and incidental padding courtesy of the back panel. This may be a 16-liter daypack, but its laptop sleeve is big enough to comfortably accommodate a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Surprisingly, this laptop sleeve has a substantial false bottom (about two or three inches) despite how relatively small the bag is versus how large of a laptop it’s rated for. Needless to say, it helps put our minds at ease whenever we set the bag down a little more suddenly than we wanted to. For accessories, there’s a small zippered pouch situated above. It can get in the way if you are storing a large 16-inch laptop, but it doesn’t take too much effort to move it out of the way.

On paper, the Mono Series Minimal Pack’s 16-liter capacity should be plenty for a daypack where you just need to carry your daily gear, like a lunch box, a water bottle (notice how there’s no external water bottle pocket), a laptop, and maybe a tech pouch or small toiletry bag. However, since the main compartment’s volume is distributed more vertically than horizontally to create a slim and narrow space, packing items as stiff as those can be challenging if you don’t want to leave empty spaces between them. There’s limited room to maneuver, though, in hindsight, that’s probably what merits the “Minimal” in this bag’s name.