Berghaus have been making backpacks for a very long time. As a brand, they value practicality over fashion, and nowhere could this be more accurate than in the Berghaus Trailbyte 30L travel pack. Designed with longevity in mind, it’ll do basically everything you want it to do as an everyday bit of kit - but it's nothing mind-blowing in terms of style or design.
While the Trailbyte is indeed suitable for shorter walks and outdoor excursions, it’s generally more at home on the 9-5 as a commuter pack - but one that’ll happily take you overnight in a hotel too. It’s not as spacious or travel-forward as some of the other packs on offer, but it’s compact, reasonably lightweight, comfortable to carry and will fit everything you could possibly want for traveling to and from something like a work conference. It’s also smart enough, with space for several A3 files, to be a more comfortable alternative to a briefcase.
LFTOPros
- Smart
- Comfortable carry
- Lots of room for laptops and other tech
Cons
- Not large enough more than one or two nights away
- Lack of back and shoulder ventilation
Features: straps, pockets, bells, whistles, buttons
This is a relatively well featured bag. There’s internal pockets aplenty for various bits of kit, plus adjustable chest straps, a built-in keyring, a well-padded laptop compartment and two outer mesh pockets; one on each side. This is useful for travel when you don’t know if you can fill up your water bottle - just take two instead. Speaking of hydration, the Berghaus Trailbyte 30 is the only travel pack we’ve tested with a hole for a bladder tube, which comes in hand for taking it off-piste.
Pockets and compartments in detail
The Trailbyte 30 has one main compartment with a relatively substantial front pocket complete with lots of individual compartments. The main bag space is, well, a main bag space and doesn't have any particular bells or whistles. It’s nicely padded at the back to protect both your laptop and your vertebrae from damage. Inside the front pocket you’ll find a hand key holder, some open mesh pockets and a zipped pocket for valuables.
The laptop space at the bag comes with a bright green interior and also has space for tablets or Kindles in a tiered mesh pocket - a bit like a tech auditorium. The only thing which is missing from the bag is a lockable zip for laptops but if you’re keeping the bag with you, then there's little point in having this any way.
It’s not large enough even to have to be put in an overhead locker; you can keep it with you at all times. To that end, it’s probably a really handy pack for cheapo airlines which want to charge you a million pounds for having the audacity to bring anything larger than a couple of pairs of knickers and a jacket.
Back system: panel, straps, and harness
The back system and harness is comfortable enough - there are four 3mm ravines built into the back panel to help with temperature regulation, but other than that it is a solid back without much in the way of temperature control - fine for everything except sweaty summer evenings on the tube.
Padded shoulder straps ensure a comfortable, ergonomic carry - these adjust both at the top and at the bottom, and the sternum strap has four different adjustment settings too.
Volume, shape, and weight
30 litres isn’t huge for a travel pack, and this will probably only do two nights away as an absolute maximum, but the space design if you’re using it for documents and laptops as well as clothing, is relatively decent. The half-zip opening for each compartment allows the user to see most of what’s packed at a glance, which is handy. Be sure to maximize the space in the front pocket - there’s lots of it and due to the way the bag is constructed, it’s not impeded upon by a larger load in the main compartment. Things like fleeces do well here.
The pack comes in at under 900g, which is not much to write home about - it’s not super light, but it’s not hugely bulky either. A good middle ground, and boringly, as expected for a commuter-style bag.
Sustainability and costs
Berghaus have good sustainability credentials. They run their sites with 100% renewable energy, are B-Corp certified and have significantly reduced the amount of plastic which gets shipped with their products. This bag retails at £75, which is reasonably pricey for a mid-range mid-volume commuter pack, but according to Berghaus’ values, these sorts of things should be a buy-once scenario, with any repairs covered.
Verdict
The Berghaus Trailbyte 30L is cut out for commuting, but will do well as a general pack for the odd overnight stay.
How we tested this backpack
Our tester for the Berghaus Trailbyte 30L was Fliss Freeborn, a writer for LFTO. Fliss has been using the bag since January 2024 as she travels in and around her home city of Glasgow - giving it a good run for its money on her bike and on buses and trains. She has also taken it on a few weekend ambles through the local countryside, and used it as an overnight pack for dogsitting.