MODERN DAYFARER Tech Pouch Review

Upon first glance, The MODERN DAYFARER Tech Pouch is a unique offering. Compared to other tech pouches, it’s much flatter and has a larger footprint. While it enables you to get into the nitty-gritty of your tech organization, we’re curious how well it integrates with a daypack. Let’s dive in!

External Components

The primary material we’re working with here is RVX25 X-Pac. This fabric is extraordinarily durable and water-resistant yet lightweight and easy to manipulate. It’s a bit loud if something like your fingernail rubs against it, but overall, we’re happy with how it’s holding up.

At the time of writing, the only colorway available for the X-Pac model is highlighter orange. Seriously—this thing is bright. It’s easy to pick it out inside your pack, no matter how much light is available. It might be a bit loud for some folks, yet we’re digging this option. Typically you see this color on the interior, so it’s a nice change of pace to see it on the exterior.

A black option is available if you can’t get over the colorway. That model utilizes 1680D Cordura® ballistic nylon and features a water-repellent coating. It’s a lot less loud than the orange, so that might be a better option for some.

The lone zipper on this pouch is a YKK AquaGuard model. We’ve dealt with these in the past—they’re durable, do a great job at keeping water away, and have a slight shine on the exterior.

Although we dig the extra protection for our tech gear, the added materials are hard to work around the corners of the pouch. It isn’t a huge deal if you aren’t opening it all the time, but constantly going in and out can be annoying.

Another issue with the zipper is that there are two heads and a small unsealed opening where they come together. So, the water-resistant zipper track has a small hole in it. We would have preferred if they had kept it to one zipper with a garage. However, we can’t report any occurrences when water snuck into the pouch, although it could happen if the conditions are right. Two zippers are handy for only opening a portion of the pouch, though, and give you the option to leave the heads on either side of the track.

The pulls are standard, short, metal offerings from YKK. They’re nothing fancy and can get jangly. You can throw a travel lock through the eyes to ensure nobody can get inside, which is a nice added bonus.

On the front side of the pouch, there’s a large black rectangle patch spelling out MODERN DAYFARER. It looks like a simple shape from a distance, and you can see the lettering when you get closer. It’s sleek and adds some contrast, which we dig. There’s no branding on the back side.

Before we dive inside, it’s important to note that there are no attachment points on this pack. It isn’t a catastrophic omission, but if you’re a fan of modular gear, you might be a bit bummed. The size fits nicely into multiple places on the MODERN DAYFARER V2 Backpack , which we dig. If your current daypack or travel backpack has a flat area or large liner pocket, that’s a great place to stow this thing.

Inside The Pouch

The zipper opens around three of the four sides of the pouch, so you can open it like a picture book and get into the nitty-gritty of organizing your tech gear. This is ideal if you have a lot of equipment you need to use in a short time frame, as you can leave it open on the desk in front of you to grab what you need when you need it without wasting time with the zipper. It feels like the sort of thing a doctor would bring over on a house call when you were a kid if you accidentally swallowed a marble—just pull it out, grab the equipment you need, and get to work!

One of the sides has two zippered compartments constructed with a strong mesh, so there’s no give or stretch. That doesn’t matter much, considering the thickness of the pouch won’t allow for much depth here anyways.

The YKK zippers are easy enough to open and close. One of the pockets takes up roughly one-third of the side, and the other utilizes the other two-thirds. No other places inside the pouch close at the top, so this is the spot for locking down gear. It’s also a stellar spot to throw a larger charging cable that’s too unruly to stow elsewhere or small gear you don’t want getting lost in transit.

We’ve got more organization to work with on the other side of the pouch. On the top, there’s a daisy chain crafted from stretchy elastic is snappy and easy to manipulate. It is an excellent place to stow SD cards for photography, USB drives for transferring files, cables for charging your devices, a stylus for your tablet, or pens and pencils for writing. There are five loops, all of which are roughly the same size. If you have a smaller item, like a writing utensil, you can fit more than one in the same loop.

Below that, there’s a sizable stretchy pocket crafted from mesh. If you place large items in the daisy chain above it, they can rest underneath the top of this pocket for extra protection. Although this is the most prominent dedicated place to stow gear inside the pouch, it doesn’t have a topper. There’s a slice of elastic to keep things under wraps, yet a small item, like an SD card, will tumble out if you turn it upside down.

This is a good overflow pocket for any bits and bobs that don’t have a home elsewhere. If you have a laptop computer with a large transformer “brick,” this is a good place for that. It doesn’t necessarily have a specific use, but you can use it for just about anything when push comes to shove.

Overall, we dig this pouch’s thoughtful organization and durable construction; however, it’s pretty large for what you can stow inside. If you were to calculate its volume, you aren’t getting much more capacity than a standard tech kit in a significantly larger pouch. Because the area is so spread out, you can get into the nitty-gritty of where everything goes, though it isn’t for everyone. If you want to stow it inside a sling, this isn’t the pouch for you.

A good comparison is that you can get, nutritionally, everything you need out of a meal from a specialized protein bar or a full-fledged meal. You might enjoy the process and elegance of the meal more, but the protein bar is more efficient.

The MODERN DAYFARER Tech Pouch will safely get your tech gear to and from your destination without getting wet. What else can you ask for?