WANDRD DUO Camera Daypack – Astoundingly Good At Protecting Your Priceless Gear

WANDRD DUO Camera Daypack

There are camera bags and then there is this beast – the WANDRD DUO Camera Daypack. Built of crazy durable 840D Jr Ballistic Nylon with 5 pm coating to last a lifetime.

Immense organization

The DUO is very organizationally based.  If you are OCD and have a lot of expensive gear, this bag is your dream bag. There are pockets for all sorts of things (more on that below) and a protective divider to keep your camera safe.

Infinite Zipper

There are three zippers to allow full access to the backpack, from anywhere.  Meaning, you can have the zippers stationed in a way that would allow access to the top of the bag, as well as a side with ease.  I found that this worked well for getting to my camera via the side pocket.  Then gaining access to my Macbook via the top.

When you really want to open the DUO up, you can do so with great ease.  Like splaying open fish, you can access all the goodies in the bag. With a lot less stink 🙂 This was useful when I wanted to switch out lenses or get some cables from within the bag.

Padded Expansion Pockets – keep your lenses safe

There are two sizeable, stretch pockets to house a camera lens or other device.  They are robustly padded and secured my Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm lens and Zoom H4N Pro recorder with ease. The pockets measure ~3.5 x 5″ for reference.

Luggage Pass-Through – airport friendly

If you travel, you know how helpful this simple sleeve can be.  The DUO backpack is also carriable on its side.  It can then slide onto the handle of the luggage.  Makes for smoother operation while traveling.

Pockets, so many pockets

There are stretch mesh pockets on the inside of the bag, on both sides.  Easy to stuff items into them.  Below those are one zippered pocket and one non-zippered pocket.  Above that pocket is a really cool cable management system.  In fact, I have never seen anything like it. Impressive.  A zippered pencil pocket is on the inside top and a massive stretch mesh pocket is on the inside of the front lid.  That pocket was great for a rain jacket or other clothes.

On the outside of the DUO is one big pocket on the front.  I was able to fit an 8 1/2 x 11″ size book in there. But barely. The zippers on the outside pockets are remarkably well designed.  Each has its own zipper garage as well.

There is one stretch side pocket that easily holds a water bottle.  In my case, it was a Hydro Flask prototype of their new ultralight series. More on that in future write-ups! This pocket also swallowed up a portable tripod.  I was able to get the Newer 20″ tripod (which is pretty handy)

WANDRD DUO Camera Daypack Review

I used this backpack in the city of Denver and the surrounding mountains.  I left it out in rainstorms.  Kept it in the back of my 4Runner with the windows down, collecting dirt and dust.  I tried my best to beat the crap out of it.  It shows little wear and absolutely no tear.  The only signs of use are the fine dust that has permeated into the zipper track.  It has been a dry summer in the mountains!

I found the backpack to be well designed.  Stike that.  Overdesigned is more like it.  I am still finding ways to tweak the backpack to suit my needs.  I used it to carry my mirrorless camera, a budget-friendly Panasonic G7 $499 with Leica DG Summilux 15mm lens (which is the set up I used to shoot the review video).

The only gripe I can find is that the camera slot was tight with my MacBook Pro 15″.  Keep in mind, I do have a bigger case (UAG Urban Armor Gear) on it for protection.  So, that is on me and not WANDRD.  The iPad sleeve was a nice touch, fitting my iPad mini with ease.

The fleece-lined upper pocket was great for storing sunglasses and an action camera.  The DUO was just big enough to carry all that gear above, and a Mavic Air drone, with extra batteries.

I am by no means a professional cameraman, nor do I claim to be.  But I am a legit gear nerd and am outside testing and breaking gear more days than not.  That is my basic kit above.  Add in some wireless mics and a standard tripod and that is how I roll. The WANDRD DUO was just big enough to hold all that.  I am used to backpacks a little bigger, but it got the job done and kept everything safe.

When can you get a DUO backpack?

This camera bag was sent to me to test out over the last few months.  It was available to back on Kickstarter.  But, since WANDRD is so dang good at making bags, the goal of $25k was easily met (they raised $655k!) This is good news as they will probably ship in time for the holidays.  Meaning your favorite camera person, gear geek or creative will be grateful to receive one of these as a gift.

UPDATE – You can get it now!  Here is a link.

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Check out our Holiday Gear Gift Guide 2019!