Review on 🎒 Travel-Ready Lowepro Fastpack BP 250 for Ultimate Convenience by Stephanie Polomik

I was hoping to find a camera bag that ticked the three boxes: great for travel, great for hiking, and affordable. After looking at a few options I decided that a brand like Lowepro would be the best choice as they have a lot of experience making quality bags that last. I didn't want to invest in a bag that didn't protect my camera properly or a bag that started falling apart within a year. I chose this Fastpack 250 AW because it seems to have enough storage space. The basic gear for a day trip (water, snacks, jacket, flashlight, first aid kit) fits easily in my DSLR, along with two extra lenses, filters, batteries and other accessories, and maybe even a small tripod. It also had a rain cover which helps keep peace of mind when working with cameras and electronics. After taking it on numerous flights, trips, and day trips to the Grand Canyon, Colorado Rockies, and Appalachian Trail, I realized that this isn't the perfect hybrid as I initially thought. While it's great for travel, it leaves a lot to be desired when taking it with you on the road. TRAVEL Travel is what this bag is advertised for and travel is what it is good at. It offers enough space for a laptop, notebook or book, a small tablet, headphones, a few small things, a water bottle and lots of cameras. The compartments are easily accessible enough to make it easy to get through airport security, and it fits under most airplane seats (though not always very comfortably). The camera area, which makes up the entire bottom half of the bag, is surrounded by hard padding that helps protect your camera and gear from bumps or bumps. For short business trips or long weekends, this bag and carry-on is enough for most people. However, if you want to use this bag as an everyday backpack for a day trip in the city or on the trail, you will quickly notice a few shortcomings. HIKING (or common use as a daypack) on almost any terrain and any environment - in the city, in the mountains or anywhere else - the initially not obvious shortcomings of this bag become clearer. First, it's hard! With an empty weight of around 2 kg, this bag is easily 2-3 times heavier than an average travel backpack. While it doesn't sound like much, even a small difference in weight can make a difference when walking long distances. Considering you'll likely be bringing your camera and gear, water and other things you'll be taking for the day including maybe a tripod, every extra pound counts. Good design and structure can help offset some of the extra weight. Strain by putting the weight more on the hips, which this bag attempts to do with a padded hip belt. Unfortunately the height of the strap is not adjustable so you may find it too high or too low. Additionally, the padding on the hipbelt, back, and shoulder straps, while providing comfortable padding, aren't really ventilated, so I found those areas to get warm and sweaty quickly. Choose between carrying water OR carrying a tripod. It's not the best choice. Luckily, I've found that the two buckle straps that secure the outward-facing flap can also be used to attach a jacket or lightweight tripod to the bottom of the bag. You really need to stretch the straps to their widest open position, so I'm not sure how durable this solution is. All in all, if you don't mind carrying a hefty load, this bag might be for you. It fits most of your essentials, with a little extra room, but you'll feel weighed down by it. Even trying to just pack it with the things I knew I'd need on a given day, after a few miles I still felt like it was noticeably slowing me down. While this bag does a great job of traveling, it's just not made for long walks or hikes.