Reviewing a bag like this is really hard. We all use duffle bags for all different uses so keep that in mind when reading this review, its only a part of the story for this bag.

I picked up the MEDIUM sized LCD GREEN version and when I received it from Backcountry I had no idea how small it really got! the whole bag stuffed in its internal pouch and was not much bigger in length and width than my hand ( I can palm a basketball ) so I was really impressed by that. Now I primarily use this for just hauling around 2 pair of climbing shoes, climbing harness, big bouldering chalk bag, a water bottle and extra change of clothes and with all of that in there it still has room.

The shoulder strap can come off which is nice and the handles have a velcro strap around them making it easier to carry and when you have a full size crash pad on your back it made hauling everything else around really nice. Another key feature I i really like is the amount of cinch straps on it, one on either end and two on either side and with these you can really lock everything down and know that things are not gonna go flying around inside the bag.

I could also see this bag being really good as a CARRY ON at the airport since with all the cinch straps you could really crank on it to get the size down just in case it did not want to fit in that little size regulator they make you put it in when getting your boarding pass.

My only concern is I know North face says they are using RIP STOP Nylon but I would say its more like a SNAG stop, the Nylon wont just randomly catch on things but I feel its too thin to be really considered RIP STOP, but thats me personally.