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VSGO Black Snipe 25L Photography Backpack Review | My New Everyday Bag
Jan 28, 2024
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares review of the VSGO Black Snipe 25L Photography Backpack. Is it worth the money? | Purchase the VSGO 25L Backpack at
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Table of Contents:
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0:00 - Introduction
1:08 - Overview
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today to give you my review of the VSCO BlackSnipe
0:16
25 liter. This is a camera photography backpack with a lot of versatility to it
0:23
It was kind of perfect timing. I just basically had worn out my typical everyday camera backpack that I've used
0:32
Seams are starting to split on it. Obviously, I put my gear through a lot of use if it's something I use on a regular basis
0:39
So when VSCO reached out to me about taking a look at this bag, I thought, well, why not
0:44
give it a shot? And having spent time with it for a little while, I'm really glad that I did
0:49
The BlackSnipe 25 liter camera backpack is slick looking. As you can see, it's very well organized and it's actually comfortable enough to use
0:58
for hiking, which is a big deal for me. So the question is, is it worth $250
1:04
We're going to dive in today and try to explore whether it is or not
1:08
So how about some of the basics? As noted from the title, this is a 25 liter bag
1:14
And so for me, it's hits kind of a sweet spot. I've used a number of 20 liter bags that are just a little bit too small, but neither do
1:21
I want to go any bigger than this. So they do have a 20 liter bag
1:25
I like the added versatility of the 25 liters. For one thing, there are more dividers for different photography packouts that make it
1:33
very useful. It really is. You can organize the space inside where you can put a lot of different gear in it and
1:39
still access it, which is a big deal for me. You'll see here that there is a FID lock for the main flap and that will either auto lock
1:47
again when you set it there. And then also if someone just try to rotates it, it will snap back
1:52
You kind of need to know how to use it, which is a little bit of a, an extra security feature there
1:58
There is two quick access points to camera equipment. You can either access a camera that you have set up on the top and then also on the, what
2:07
would be the left side of the bag. There is also a flat pier that allows you access into the camera department and or compartment
2:16
I should say, and you can organize it as such. And we'll get more to that in just a moment
2:21
There is also, the bag itself is quite lightweight. I do have some gear in here right now, but the bag itself, the just kind of bare bag
2:28
is very lightweight. It's only 1.85 kilos and you can feel when picking it up that it is nice and lightweight
2:36
On the exterior, we do have a really nice, nice finish to it that is non-scratch, but
2:41
also it is water resistant. So you don't have to use a separate rain cover, but the material itself, which is a coated
2:48
canvas will actually keep water from penetrating inside. There are multiple attachment points for tripods
2:56
You can either slide one in on the side, you can use straps to attach on the bottom
3:01
Straps are included for that. And so you have a couple of different locations where you can put a tripod and carry it along
3:07
And then also for comfort, the chest and waist straps are, they are adjustable up and
3:14
down to make sure that you can get them in the proper position
3:17
Now a lot of those things that I've just mentioned are kind of standard
3:21
One thing I do find is that once one company adopts a certain thing, like FedLock for example
3:27
that pretty much before too long, everybody does. So I'm going to give you a breakdown of some things and actually using it beyond kind of
3:34
the marketing stuff. Things that I actually liked in real use and a few things I didn't like so much as a part
3:40
of using the bag. One of those first things is that I really appreciate there being a stable platform for
3:46
standing the bag. Often when I'm moving from place to place, for example, even in just going out to the
3:52
vehicle, you know, having packed out gear, getting ready to go out for a hike, I'll need
3:56
to put it down to put on my boots or a coat or something, it being winter right now
4:00
And the fact that I can just set that down and it always stands upright, even when loaded
4:04
in gear is really, really nice. I appreciate that. I absolutely love the handle here
4:11
It is very thick and very comfortable to grab, but it also feels extremely strong
4:16
And so even when lifting the bag, when it's really loaded down with gear, that handle
4:20
always stays comfortable. And I really appreciate that kind of attention to detail on that particular thing
4:27
I also really appreciate that the top divider in which you can top load gear onto will actually
4:33
lock into place. And so that it stays in a stable place where you can put gear in there and you don't have
4:39
to worry about it coming down. I've used other bags before that had a similar kind of top loading section, but because they
4:46
were just relying on Velcro, if you had heavier gear, you were backpacking for a while, sometimes
4:51
I'd open up my bag and found that the camber gear on the top had slipped down and was maybe
4:55
knocking against camber gear below. And so that top divider will really lock into place where it's not going to go anywhere
5:03
but then also it is still fully removable and it's not very difficult to remove it if
5:08
you want to orient things differently in the bag. I also appreciate the overall look of the bag
5:14
It's a very sleek looking bag that have a, as you can see, a few different texture variations
5:19
And so it actually looks really good. You know, looks are not everything, but they don't hurt either
5:24
And so I appreciate when I'm carrying this thing around, it doesn't look like I'm carrying
5:28
a, you know, a gunny sack or something. Now the problem a lot of times with bags that are designed to look good is that they're
5:35
not very comfortable. Fortunately, in this case, I've been really pleasantly surprised
5:40
And this is an area where I'm going to talk about the Peak Design Everyday 20 liter bag
5:44
It's one that I've used for over six years at this point
5:48
I don't use it often and big part of it is because the straps are not very comfortable
5:52
on it. This bag is really comfortable in the padding that's along the back
5:57
And so where all of the weight kind of rests against your back, but then these straps are
6:01
really thick. They're very, very comfortable. And so I find that once I get the weight distributed and I get the chest attachment in place, I
6:09
actually can carry quite a bit of weight. Cause when I go out a lot of times I'm testing, you know, maybe two or three different cameras
6:16
and lenses that are all out at the same time. And so I get a lot of weight in there
6:20
I've been able to hike with that and it stay comfortable is really, really huge for me
6:25
And so that's, that will actually guarantee the bag gets used. Actually the bag I wore out was a cheaper bag, but it was comfortable
6:32
And so I was using it and wore it out. Hopefully this one will hold up better for the long haul
6:37
I also appreciate the fact that you have quick access to two different camera locations
6:42
And so again, sometimes because I test gear, I'm not just wanting to swap lenses
6:47
I need to access a separate camera. So the fact that I can have one camera set up in the top, another at the side, and then
6:55
a raid for lenses inside and other places that I don't need like regular access to them
7:00
is actually really, really useful for me. And so I appreciate that
7:04
Also a clever little thing is that they've got this zip attachment. I've got it to, to help me remember, cause the bag is newer to me
7:11
You only have camera access on one side, not the other. There's just a storage on the other side
7:17
And so I've got this kind of serving a dual purpose. It's a little bit of a branding tag, but it helps me to, to remember which side is
7:25
my quick access for photography. But also this is a tool itself that gives you kind of a straight edge
7:32
And it's also, it's, it's kind of sloped in to make sure it's fairly fine where it comes
7:36
to a point. And that will allow you, if you're looking at working with quick release plates, things
7:41
like that, and you need a tool to actually loosen it, you got that attached to the bag
7:46
So another clever little addition that is there. I also appreciate that there are a huge amount of different attach points all over the bag
7:56
places where you can attach things. It's designed to where you can lock the various zippers together with attachments that are
8:03
on there to help with security. But then there are just attach points all over the place on the straps for just putting
8:09
things in place and attaching various things. If you're out hiking for a longer distance, having all those can be extremely useful
8:17
So I appreciate that. There's also the strap here that will allow you to hook on to a, the handle of a, like
8:24
a trolley type luggage. And so if you're wanting to put it vertical, make sure it's not falling off as you're pulling that
8:31
It's got that attach point. All of those little attention to detail things seem to be covered on here
8:36
I haven't really looked at anything and thought, wow, I wish it had that and it not have it
8:41
It also has, and one advantage here for the 25L, let me get my own security measure off
8:47
here, is that it has an extremely large laptop portion here. And so the laptop portion will handle up to a 17.3 inch laptop
8:57
But what I also appreciate the fact is that it's got a good magnetic attachment lock here
9:03
And so what that will do is to make sure that when this goes down, your laptop doesn't come
9:09
sliding out or iPad or whatever's in there. I have had this happen before
9:13
And so I appreciate the fact that they've thought about having some protection there
9:17
And so whatever's in the flap doesn't go sliding out when you throw it back
9:23
The other thing for as a photographer that I really appreciate that it's very easy to
9:27
not only configure this to handle a camera attached to a large lens
9:32
In this case, I had my Sony a alpha one connected to the 200 to 600 millimeter G lens, which
9:40
is a very, very large lens. So not only was I able to store that in the camera itself, which is great, but I was also
9:47
able to access the lens through the top. I could actually pull the camera and lens out, take photos and slide it back in without
9:55
having to open up the rest of the bag, which means I could still have reasonably quick
9:59
access even when having a large lens attached. So that's another thing that as a photographer, I really appreciate
10:06
So how about some things that I don't like? Some of these are nitpicky, but I do find that on coming around some of the angles that
10:14
the zippers can be a little fidgety. There could be a few points there where they catch and then obviously the fuller things
10:21
are the more likely that is to be. And so I just felt like that there were moments where the zippers would get caught on something
10:28
and not rotate quite as well as what I would like. Now it tends to be on these two sides and particularly it's around the areas where they
10:36
have to make kind of a 90 degree turn and that's where they tend to stick
10:39
But that is something that did stand out to me. One of the things I also noticed that the, while I appreciate the thought behind it
10:49
and so we have got the ability to zip this up and you can access the laptop without having
10:56
the gear portion photography, like your camera gear portion exposed. But because there is kind of two layers that you have to zip back and the fact that this
11:05
one is inset about an inch on each side, it means that if you are accessing the edges
11:09
it can be a little bit tighter. So for example, I've got another camera in over here
11:14
If I have a larger lens attached, because that's, it'll end up kind of being underneath
11:19
that inch over there of overhang and it makes it a little bit harder to pull out from the top
11:25
Again, not a big thing, but just something that I noticed that I wanted to pass on
11:29
The final thing in my relatively brief list of things that, you know, that could be a
11:34
potential not like is the fact that at $250, this is not what you would call a cheap bag
11:41
Now to put that into perspective, I did some comparisons both through experience and then
11:47
side by side with the Peak Design Everyday 20 Liter Bag that I reviewed about six years ago
11:54
And side by side, this has much better spaces. It's much more comfortable to wear
11:59
There's better access to the cameras and also better access to arranging the internal
12:04
dividers on this bag. And this bag is at least $30 cheaper than what the Peak Design bag is, even though it's
12:12
larger and I think it's a better bag in some ways. And so that tells me that this bag represents a pretty decent value, particularly considering
12:21
that there's often a discount coupon where you can get, say, another 10% off
12:26
That's going to drop you more into the $225 range, which obviously helps the value proposition
12:32
So this is a bag that after using it for a little while here for my test, I can tell
12:37
you that I will be using it as my primary everyday bag for photography moving ahead
12:43
because it just checks way too many of the boxes of things that I'm looking for in a
12:47
bag and it's actually comfortable while using it. That's a huge win for Viesco at this point
12:54
And so I can definitely recommend the Black Snipe 25 liter photography backpack
13:01
I'm Dustin Abbott. And if you want more information, take a look in the description down below
13:04
There is links there that will give you more things to look to and also some buying links
13:09
there if you'd like to follow up and purchase for yourself. As always, thanks for watching
13:13
Have a great day and let the light in. Transcribed by https://otter.ai
#Backpacks & Utility Bags