Tag Archives: backpack

The Goruck GR1 — The Best Backpack

The Goruck GR1 backpack

The best backpack, the Goruck GR1

I’ve wanted a Goruck GR1 for a long, long time. The first mention of it on this very blog was all the way back in 2016, although at that time I had probably known about it for a year or two prior to that. It’s been a while.

But every time I was in the market for a new backpack — which, perhaps surprisingly, turned out to be a couple of times over the past 10 years or so — and my gaze once again fell on the GR1 as a potential candidate, I told myself that I didn’t need such an extreme durability backpack, given my generally less-extreme nature. Or that it was too expensive for what it was, or that the USD exchange rate was too awful right now. Or that it was crazy to spend that much on a backpack without having seen or touched it in person, despite being universally praised wherever and whenever I read about it online. All valid enough points, but for the longest time, it was easy to look past a Goruck GR1 for cheaper and more locally-available alternatives, even if they had other compromises and weren’t as durable. Even if I had to buy multiple backpacks after successively running each previous one into the ground, the chances were good that I’d still come out ahead than if I had picked up a GR1.

And as the years came and went, I still found myself glancing at the GR1 occasionally, like an old crush that I never quite got over. As much as Instagram tried to tempt me with “ultimate travel backpacks” or whatever other flavour of the month was being marketed by influencers, the GR1 lived entirely rent-free in my head. I might not have ever owned one, but I had never forgotten it, either.

And then I saw it. The first-ever Goruck GR1 I’ve seen in the flesh. It was in Tokyo, between the flagship 12-storey Uniqlo and heading back home for the night, a lovely Steel-coloured version that had a nice “this is fine” patch. In that moment, I decided that I needed to have one, and after many years spent coveting the most durable backpack, I purchased my first Goruck in November 2023: a GR1 in Wolf Grey and Black.

Only after waiting months for the darn thing to be in stock in a colour other than black. I don’t generally mind black backpacks. But if I was going to carry the backpack around for at least the next few decades, then I wanted something a little lighter in colour. I was tempted by the GR2 in a lighter colour while waiting for the GR1 to be restocked in a lighter colour, but stayed strong and made myself wait.

And wait I did while it was shipped from the USA. And while I waited for it to be shipped, doubt started to creep in. What if I had waited all this time, only for the backpack to be entirely mediocre? Or, worse, for it to not meet the exceptionally high standards I had placed upon it after so long? Would I have been better buying something locally for a third of the price that would last a few years? Or was the GR1 really going to the be-all, endgame backpack that I had wanted for years?

I was wrong to doubt. The GR1 is the best backpack I’ve owned, no doubt in my mind. I’m a year into GR1 ownership, have already taken it overseas, and customised it with my own Australian flag patch1. and it has been the ideal backpack in pretty much every situation. It’s not perfect, but it’s damn close.

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A Tale of Two Backpacks

The last time we talked about backpacks, I was discussing how content I was with the Incase Campus. Despite not being particularly flashy, or having any really unique selling point, I enjoyed how light it was when empty. It was this combination of being super light and super compact when empty that allowed me to carry it everywhere, just in case I found something I wanted to carry home.

I don’t remember buying the Campus online, but I do remember how I stuck it in my wardrobe and kind of forgot about it, until I re-discovered it a few years later and decided to take it with me when I moved to Brisbane. I remember taking it overseas, to the US and The International 2015, and having it serve as my all-purpose, all-rounder backpack — capable of holding all my groceries during my weekly shop, everyday essentials, and whatever else I wanted to carry around.

I ended up putting it through the wash, which turned out to be the beginning of the end as a tear developed at the top near the zip. Due to its placement near the zippers which only exacerbated the fraying of fabric that followed, within a few short months the tear was big enough that zipping up my backup was, more or less, an exercise in futility.

I began looking for a replacement.

I had heard about the OnePlus Travel Backpack from The Verge, who said at the time that it was the best OnePlus product of the year — a scathing comment for a smartphone manufacturer that had just released the OnePlus 5. But the Travel Backpack looked the goods, and provided it was as functional as they said it was, combined with the same understated, yet minimal and modern look that made it not too dissimilar from my Incase Campus, it would make the ideal replacement.

But by the time I decided to buy the OnePlus Travel Backpack, sometime in early 2018, OnePlus themselves were no longer selling it. I was initially disappointed, dismayed at the prospect of having to spend another few months looking for another great backpack, until one day I decided to take my chances and take a look on AliExpress. After all, if there’s one thing Chinese manufacturers are good at, it’s producing decent knockoffs of real products, and I thought I had pretty good chances of them copying a Chinese-designed backpack.

I ended up finding and buying the OnePlus Travel Backpack on AliExpress. Although I’ll probably never know how close it is to the real thing, if it’s a fake, it seems to be a near-perfect copy, as far as I can tell. Everything carries OnePlus branding, including internal labels and zip pull tabs, right down to the removable tags you get on products. Plus, it seems to have all the same features as the OnePlus website says it should.

And as far as being an actual backpack goes, the OnePlus Travel Backpack is not bad. It’s heavier than the Incase Campus, but the trade-off is increased durability and slightly more protection for whatever I’m putting inside. I packed it full of stuff for a three-day weekend trip to Sydney, and it carried all of my stuff without kicking up a fuss, and was comfortable enough on my back for the better part of a day, so I guess it passes the basic backpack litmus test.

But it was the extra weight of the Travel Backpack that made me realise I couldn’t use it as my new go-everywhere, do-everything, backpack. The specs say it’s about 1.1KG, which isn’t much, but that makes it about four times heavier than the positively featherweight Incase Campus. I didn’t like the way it was always sticking out from my back, regardless of the contents — unlike the Incase Campus, additional structural support meant that it doesn’t collapse down to a more compact form factor when empty.

The search continued.

I got very close to picking up a super-lightweight something-or-rather from Crumpler made out of what I thought had to be the thinnest material known to man, and probably could have been happy with that. I wanted a backpack that I had looked at a while ago from a local company, but it, too, had been discontinued. I lusted after the GR1 (again), balked at the price (again), and decided I could find something cheaper and lighter.

Incase had another sale recently, and I decided to have another look. If I found the now-discontinued Campus the first time, they had to have something similar, right?

As it turns out, the Incase Compass is pretty similar to the Campus I had originally, at a price I was prepared to pay. The material is a bit thicker, and there’s slightly more padding all over, meaning that it doesn’t get as compact as the Campus did when both are fully empty, but it gets pretty close.

I really like the "chunkier zip style" of the Compass, although I’m not a huge fan of the faux-leather pull tabs. There’s now internal organisation pockets in the front-bottom zipped area, the front-top zipped area is larger, and there’s a new small pocket at the top that I’m not completely sold on – due to its location, when you open up the main bag compartment it’s the first thing you see, just hanging there. The pocket itself has a bunch of faux-fur padding, so maybe it will come in handy for delicates.

Overall, I’m very happy I finally found a great backpack replacement. Now all I need is somewhere overseas to take it…

A fine, perfectly OK, not-too-shabby, backpack

img_3352There are two pieces of fashion I truly care about. OK, maybe three. Jackets, backpacks, and wallets, in that order. Jackets are, well, they’re jackets, along with all the versatility and variety that comes with the garment. Jackets are capable, casual, and my only regret is that moving to Brisbane has meant to less jacket-wearing than cooler climates. But it’s fine, I just need different jackets — see what I mean?

On the other hand, wallets are a little more personal. Because you keep all of your personal stuff in your wallet, your personality is kind of reflected in your wallet. It kind of has to, when it carries around your ID, your credit cards, and whatever else you deem necessary to have with you day-to-day. Does your wallet reflect your minimal lifestyle, or have you packed in every bit of loose change and every scrap of a receipt that you’ve ever been given, until one day it just explodes all over the place and forces you to clean it up? Like I said, wallets are personal, as evidenced by our discussion on the topic on AppleTalk.

And because guys can’t go around carrying handbags due to certain social stigmas, but occasionally also require something to hold all the extras they need for their day, backpacks are the only suitable solution. Backpacks are there for guys that need to haul around their laptop to and from work. They’re there for the guys that need to carry a change of clothes, or want to bring a few odds and ends about with them without resorting to the fashion faux pas of cargo shorts. In short, backpacks are the guy’s handbag.

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