From city streets to wilderness trails: The Hex Technical Backpack V2 does it all
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Most travel backpacks are good for travel or adventure, but not both.
A backpack with a sleeve that attaches to your carry-on suitcase might not be one you’ll want to put on your back when exploring a new city. Likewise, adventure backpacks rarely have the features you’re looking for when carrying a laptop and traveling by air.
That’s where the Hex Technical Backpack V2 comes in. It does a great job of straddling that line between travel and adventure. It meets the needs of both kinds of travelers, without sacrificing the functionality of a modern backpack.
I recently had a chance to take this backpack on the adventure of a lifetime when I visited the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of the Navy’s Distinguished Visitors Embark program. Here’s what I think about this sleek backpack.
Hex Technical Backpack V2
The Hex Technical Backpack V2 offers a balance of functionality and durability with features like a padded laptop sleeve, water-resistant Cordura shell and versatile organizational pockets. It's suitable for both travel and outdoor adventures.
What we liked about it
It’s the right size for two nights
Compared to other travel backpacks, the Hex Technical Backpack has a relatively low depth and a mid-sized height and width. Its main compartment is approximately 18 inches tall, 12 inches wide and 5 inches deep It easily fits on the back of smaller and average-sized adults alike but isn’t for those with a larger than average torso.
Inside was enough room for my toiletries, a change of clothes, noise-canceling headphones and the light jacket I took aboard my overnight trip to the carrier. In the main compartment, there’s also an internal sleeve for a laptop. Its soft lining is a nice touch that helps to protect what’s often the most valuable thing in your possession. The external pockets worked well for holding small items like charging cables, power banks, passports, keys and sunglasses.
Unzippered external compartments are welcome
Zippers are great, but not every compartment has to have one. One side of the backpack has a zippered compartment perfect for a passport or a power bank, but the other side has an unzippered pocket ideal for a water bottle. And the front of the pack has a pouch without a zipper, but one that’s cleverly closed with magnets. I found this pouch perfect for briefly stashing my wallet and smartphone as I passed the bag through the X-ray machine at TSA security.
It’s a comfortable backpack
This pack has an EVA-padded back panel and straps with a removable sternum strap. These are the kind of features I would want when taking a backpack on a hike, and they worked well when climbing the steep ladders necessary to traverse the cavernous depths of the Abraham Lincoln super-carrier.
Rugged and meant for all-weather use
This backpack features a heavy-duty, water-resistant Cordura ballistic nylon shell that incorporates antimicrobial technology. And if that’s not good enough, there’s also a hideaway removable rain cover with a reflective logo. So whether your travels take you to the Amazon jungle or just a rainy day in Seattle, you can count on being able to keep your clothes and electronics dry.
What we didn’t like about it
The sideways luggage sleeve can be awkward
This is my first travel backpack with a sideways luggage sleeve.
To place your suitcase handle through this backpack, you need to rotate it 90 degrees. Doing so makes it wider than most suitcases, which could be an issue when carrying it down the aisle of an airplane, especially on small commuter jets. The sideways orientation also mean that the shoulder straps hang down awkwardly and may shift the contents of your bag.
Detachable rain cover
Some wilderness backpacks have rain covers built into the backpack for easy deployment and retractation. It’s great that this backpack has a concealed rain cover, but I felt Hex could have gone one step further and attached it to the pack itself. This would make the rain cover harder to lose.
It’s challenging to insert and remove a laptop
The laptop compartment is inside of the main compartment, closest to the wearer’s back.
However, the zipper that opens the main compartment is along the center of the top of the pack. This creates a lip of fabric over the laptop compartment that blocks you from accessing it. This problem is especially annoying when the pack is full, and you can’t easily pull back the lip.
In contrast, dedicated travel backpacks like the Samsonite Modern Utility Double Shot have a separate laptop compartment that’s always accessible. This compartment is also smaller than the laptop compartment on some backpacks. It held my 13-inch laptop snugly, but it might be too small for larger computers.
How it compares
Bottom line
With its gunmetal gray color and versatile qualities, the Hex Technical Backpack V2 felt just at home on Southwest Airlines as it did on a helicopter ride to an aircraft carrier. Its compact size and comfortable padding made it perfect for short trips without a carry-on back, but its sideways luggage handle pass-through could make things awkward when used with a suitcase.
There’s no single backpack that could perfectly cover all of the possibilities of both travel and adventure, but this HEX backpack is one of the best solutions I’ve found.
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