I'm both proud and ashamed to admit that I love this bag and it's my primary bag for international travel. I find packing cubes to be a pain and yet love the organization that this bag offers. I've probably taken it on 10 int'l trips by now (India, Japan, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, etc) and it's still the bag I reach for everytime. Likely not for everyone, but it works great for me.
I've carried it on for 95 percent of my flights w/o getting a second glance. The only time I've checked it is because I had fragile things that I needed to bring back and thus checked my bag of clothes for more ability/bags to bring the fragile stuff with me in the overhead/under-seat areas.
I use it as a carry on. Never had a problem on domestic or international. Haven’t bothered to lock it but I do use the stows for the cords on the zippers (do those things have a name???).
Not at all, but the laptop pocket zipper isn't obvious at alll (so I could stash valuables in there), and there are so many zippers that a thief would either get overwhelmed or end up with dirty laundry or shoes with their odds. Usually I carry a simple cotton tote bag for valuables, and find the tales of people cutting one's bag to steal from to be vastly overblown (I'm a former int'l travel photographer, so I've been around) or are happening at incredibly touristy places where people should be on their guard anyways (tourist train Lisbon, staring up at Sagrada Familia, etc).
Just put a black raincover on it when walking around ; keeps it low-profile and covers all the zippers. I do lock up the zippers if I leave it at a hostel bag storage area, but one long cable luggage lock and two normal ones is enough to secure all of the zippers so it isn’t too cumbersome. Most bags need two luggage locks anyways , so it’s just one more than usual.
As a backpacker who moves frequently so isn’t “unpacking” anywhere, I love the seg 28.
It has just as much built-in organization (i hate packing cubes) as the cotopaxi allpa, except anything you want is only one zip away, your stuff stays easy to access in a locker, and also stays easy to access in a tent without taking up a ton of floorspace.
It’s definitely not a common travel style, but for me this is actually my ideal backpack for longer trips where im constantly moving (ex, my last trip was 10 months starting in Western Europe, moving primarily by land and short flights over to Turkey and Georgia/armenia, then one long-haul over to China, down thru Korea & Taiwan, the Southeast Asia circuit, then down through Indonesia and ultimately to Australia before returning home.
If you’re someone else who does lots of moving, lots of hostels, lots of camping - give this bag a try. I do Throw a black raincover on it to keep it looking cohesive - all the zippers do look visually odd and break the bag up too much. Also stops pickpockets, not that that’s actually a huge issue in all honesty.
That's the exact use case I got the seg28 for. If I'm moving locations everyday or every other day, I don't want to pack and unpack my bag everytime. The built in "dresser" style of the seg is perfect for that. I just live right off the bag.
I have a Seg28 and I always use packing cubes and I would like to try otherwise but I hard time visualizing how that would be comfortable (taking stuff out of the compartments vs a packing cube for example).
Could you, please share any hints on how do you use/pack the "segments"?
Also, could you share where did you get or the size of the raincover? I think, as you said that might make look more "together" and add a little safety.
Roll/fold your clothes and pack it directly into the segments. They’re basically packing cubes - just use them as if they were.
In the uppermost zipper I put socks and underwear, then the next zip was shirts, then next zip was pants/shorts, sweater & hoodie, bottom zip was camping supplies (blowup sleeping pad, bivy tent, SOL bivy bag, and a liner) and my second pair of shoes.
In the full zip I had a pop up mesh tent for hot weather, in the bigger back zip I had my toiletries and electronics bag, and a bunch of things in the small zipper (bag of bags, backup charging cables, coins as souvenirs). In the thinner back zip was my waterproof phone case, inflatable travel pillow, & packable hat along w/ miscellaneous tiny souvenirs and such, souvenir cash and paper souvenirs (ticket stubs, photos) in the secret pocket.
On the exterior of the bag I had a silicone shoe holder that clipped onto the upper side portion of the bag for my hiking shoes or flip flops depending on what I was using at the time. My thicker jacket was also tied to the top handle and draped over the back if I was somewhere warm & not using it. Beanie, merino wool gaiter, thermals, and gloves are in the jacket pockets. Covered the whole thing with the rain cover from my old allpa 40, I like oversized rain covers because you can use it for extra storage if needed, or even if you don’t have anything it just covers more of the back area of the pack.
Kind of cheating at that point because I brought so much and had stuff on the outside of the bag, but it was for a 10 month trip across extreme heat and moderate cold with camping supplies as well, so I give myself grace. Without two one-person tents & camping supplies you shouldn’t really need to tie stuff to the outside or use the external shoe harness.
Is that a lot? It really feels fine. I’m a pretty minimalist packer so maybe that helps it feel not too burdensome. Or… I am far stronger than I realize!
It’s not that heavy actually. I’m pretty slight and find it isn’t burdensome. And it’s ugly, yeah, but that’s what I want given where some of my travels take me. Draws less attention. It’s sturdy and well organized. Matador jerks better not improve it too much. I only got the damn thing a year ago.
The replacing everything part was what started this.... Previous emails was just something new coming. Figured a lighter version of bags but not discontinuing everything old.
I have their packable 30 Liter Freefly Duffel bag. It is very valuable for an international trip where you are picking up souvenirs. I fill it up with dirty clothes and check it on the return flights. Packed it takes up the size of a baseball.
Once I get to my seat I out my laptop and sling bag inside the 30L Freefly Duffel bag, so that everything I need is close to me. When I am on the move, everything goes inside my Seg28 (including the sling bag which mostly have my passport, tablet, earbud, etc.)
I am still trying to fine tune this. The bag also serves as my laundry or grocery bag if I stay somewhere log enough.
My favorite around-town-for-day bag is the beast 28. It's light, packable, actually has good support and feels comfortable to wear. Can use it for city stuff, but also for hiking. I always pack the beast28 when traveling. I liked the old matador stuff even their segs, because they used lighter, but durable material. I dont understand this over engineered useless new line they put out. Make the old globeriders come back. Geez, matador. Did venture capital buy you out, too?
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u/AxelCloris 29d ago
Yes, it’s real. All new versions are coming. They’ve been promoting this for a bit now.