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Comment by leetcrew | Hacker News Reader

do you also bring a "personal item"? for me the backpack is my personal item, so my carry on needs to be something convenient to carry while already wearing a backpack.

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I've taken to traveling with this[1] bag from Osprey. I typically put my cameras and tablet in a separate small backpack, though for shorter trips all my stuff will fit in the Osprey (just in case I get really unlucky with overhead - I will not gate-check my electronics). For longer walks, I strap the small backpack to the Osprey. For short walks, I wear the Osprey normally and sling the other bag over a single shoulder.

1 - https://www.osprey.com/us/en/product/farpoint-40-FARPNT40_52...

Small/medium, or medium/large?

My wife has the SM and I have the ML. Mine is slightly taller overall, but unless you set them side-by-side and have them packed full, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. In theory, if mine is fully packed, it might not fit in a smaller overhead, but I've never actually had that happen - even full, they have enough "give" to jam into the bin.

Also, as mentioned elsewhere, the backpack is much more likely to be allowed onto a flight that is doing the "mandatory" gate check thing that is common on smaller regional jets/turbo-props.

Edit - FWIW, my last trip to Scotland, I had 2x shoes (running, hiking), clothing for 4 full days, 1x running clothes, a Patagonia Nanapuff jacket, baseball cap, belt, rain coat and rain pants, and toiletries. All fit with ease. In the second pack (an REI UL pack), I had 2x camera bodies, 3x lenses, iPad Mini, chargers/cables and spare batteries for all, binoculars, sunglasses, headphones, and passports/travel documents. Not sure I could have crammed it all into the Osprey - probably if I cut back to a single camera/lens and went to 3 days clothes (doing laundry either way, so 4 was overkill).

Can you stash/remove the hip belt while still comfortably using the shoulder straps? The omnipresence of hip belts is one of the reasons I don't care for carry-on backpacks (that and the fact that I'm normally wearing a small backpack with laptop, headphones, snacks, anyway). I find the hip belt very useful if I'm actually backpacking and otherwise really annoying.

no, but they lie close enough to flush against my back

Ok, thanks. I might take a look at some of Osprey's other bags. They seem to have similar options without the hip belt in their "duffel" section.

Their duffels are nice, but be sure to check the dimensions. They tend to be longer and narrower - while they'll probably squish into an overhead, they aren't optimized for that usage.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be careful about that.

Check out Timbuk2's Never Check Duffel and Never Check Overnight Briefcase. The duffel has backpack straps and looks like a good overhead bag. The briefcase looks like it will fit in most under-seat areas. If I did more business travel, I'd probably look closely at these, but right now, I'm only flying 2x/year for work and 2-3x for pleasure.

Appreciate the suggestions. Will definitely take a look. I don’t fly a ton but have been considering a proper backpack or duffel carry-on for a while.

Not on this particular bag, but I don't find it to be a problem. When I'm traveling in Europe, I'm often walking enough to want it (train station to hotel, etc). My wife always uses the hip strap - when the bag is full, it's not light.

This bag is really intended to be a true do-it-all pack. I've seen other brands with removable straps, but I've found those tend to be very minimal straps and not all the useful. I have other lightweight packs without waist belts.

I have a laptop bag, but I usually don't bring it and just put my laptop in my backpack.

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