Review: Tamrac 3385 Aero Speed Pack 85 Dual Access Photo/Laptop Backpack

This review will cover the backpack that I use to lug around my camera gear when I travel.  I love this thing so we'll start off with the two negatives about this bag first:  1)  It ain't cheap.  Very few things in the digital SLR hobby are.  This bag set me back $145 on Amazon.com but you get what you pay for and when you're shelling that much money for the gear, you want to make sure it is protected and secure when you travel.  You can get cheaper bags but you're just tempting fate.  2)  You'll probably want to shell out the extra $10 for straps so you can attach things like a tripod.  $10 isn't bad but when you're shelling that kind of money for the pack, it would've been nice if it came with them. 

On to the pros:  This bag is very well padded so your gear is safe.  I flew around a lot for work for a couple of months when I first got the bag and they fit underneath the seats on most planes effortlessly.  There were one or two flights that I did have to apply a little extra force to make it fit but the plane was really small.  The shoulder straps are nice and wide and padded so it is comfortable to carry the pack around for long amounts of time.  The section that you see that is opened in the photo is where you'll be keeping most of your gear.  There's enough space for a camera with battery grip attached as well as several additional lenses and a flash.  The padded section is attached via velcro so you can easily adjust the padding to suit your needs.  In the back section, there's space for a laptop up to 17".  My netbook fits back there without any problems.  This section is padded as well.  The area above where you keep your camera gear unzips and is great for storing ponchos and other trekking gear.  One small complaint about this area is that it really is just one compartment.  There aren't really any large pockets to separate the gear you keep in this area.  There's two cargo net-ish pockets that are really only wide enough to keep the camera manual and maybe some granola bars in there.  The nice thing about this pack is that it is compatible with Tamrac's Strap Accessory System system so you can purchase things like an additional wallet that holds extra memory cards and attach it to the shoulder straps for easy access.   With the backpack on your back, on the right side, there is a pocket for you to keep a water bottle or umbrella.  Now on to the main selling point for this pack.  While wearing the backpack, if you slip off your right shoulder strap, you can actually access your camera body through a side panel on the left side so you don't have to take the pack completely off to access.  The body of the pack itself is water resistant (not sure if it's waterproof but I haven't had any issues with it so far but then again, I haven't had it out in pouring rain yet, just a few sprinkles).  Once again, I love this thing and would highly recommend it.