Nomatic Travel Pack 2 Review: The Modular Bag System That Replaced My Entire Luggage Closet
Nomatic Travel Pack 2 Review: The Modular Bag System That Replaced My Entire Luggage Closet I have been writing about gear for a living for over a decade. In that time, I have rotated through more travel bags than I can count — daypacks, carry-ons, duffels, briefcases, backpack-and-rolling-bag combinations, and most of the ultralight one-bag specialty packs that hit the market in the 2010s. Some I returned. Some I gave away. A handful — fewer than ten — earned permanent slots in my gear rotation. The Nomatic Travel Pack 2 is one of those keepers. After 18 months of use across business travel, conference circuits, photo assignments, weekend trips, and one extended Europe trip where it was my only bag for 14 days, I am ready to tell you exactly what makes this pack stand out, where its compromises live, and who should consider buying into the broader Nomatic modular ecosystem. This is the long-form review. If you want a 30-second summary: the Travel Pack 2 is the best premium one-bag travel pack I have used, with caveats. The longer version follows. What the Nomatic Travel Pack 2 Is The Travel Pack 2 is a 20-liter (expanding to 30 liters) backpack-format travel bag designed as the centerpiece of Nomatic’s broader modular travel system. The bag is purpose-built for one-bag travel — the carry-on-only style of travel that has become increasingly popular among business travelers, digital nomads, and gear-minded weekenders who would rather skip checked baggage entirely. The bag itself sits at the intersection of three categories: a daily-driver work backpack, a carry-on travel pack, and a photo gear bag. Each of those categories has dedicated specialists that do their one job better than the Travel Pack does. The Travel Pack 2’s value proposition is that it does all three jobs at a high level, with a modular interior that lets you reconfigure the bag for the trip in front of you. Key specifications and features. Volume: 20 liters compressed, 30 liters expanded via a side zipper. Dimensions: 18.9 x 12.6 x 7 inches expanded, fitting within the carry-on dimensions of all major U.S. and most international airlines. Materials: high-density nylon shell with a TPU coating, weather-resistant rather than fully waterproof. Weight: about 4.6 pounds empty. Laptop compartment: padded, fits up to a 16-inch laptop. Hardware: YKK zippers throughout, hypalon-reinforced stress points, magnetic chest strap closure, sternum and waist strap with integrated phone pocket. The Modular Ecosystem The Travel Pack 2 is the visible centerpiece of a broader Nomatic system, and understanding the system is the key to understanding why this bag is worth its premium price. The system includes: Modular packing cubes that fit precisely into the Travel Pack’s main compartment. These are not generic cubes; they are sized to fill the Travel Pack’s specific interior dimensions, with handles, mesh tops, and zippered closures that turn the bag’s main compartment into a tidy, drawer-like organizational system. Camera cubes that convert the Travel Pack into a photo gear bag. The cubes drop into the main compartment, hold a camera body and 2 to 4 lenses with full padding, and zip out from the bag’s side-access panel. This is the feature that originally got me to try the bag — being able to switch the same backpack between travel mode and photo mode in 30 seconds is genuinely useful. Tech accessory pouches and small organizers that fit the bag’s various dedicated pockets and the modular cubes. Cable organizers, charger sleeves, document organizers, toiletry kits, all sized to nest within the system. Compression travel bags for the laundry compartment. Roll up dirty clothes and seal them in the compression bag to keep clean and dirty separate within a single packing system. Laptop and tablet sleeves that fit the dedicated laptop compartment with quick-access TSA-friendly designs. The point of the modular system is that you do not have to use it all at once. You buy the bag, you buy a few of the modules that match how you travel, and you build the bag’s configuration to your specific needs. You can also buy more modules over time as your travel patterns evolve. The downside is that the modules are not cheap individually. A full kit of cubes, pouches, and organizers can add 50 to 100 percent to the price of the bag itself. The upside is that, once you have it, the system genuinely works — the bag becomes more useful with every module you add, and the whole system has a coherent design language that makes packing and unpacking feel orderly rather than chaotic. The Day-to-Day Experience The Travel Pack 2 has been my daily-driver work bag for 18 months. Here is what that looks like. Loaded for a Typical Workday A 16-inch laptop in the dedicated padded sleeve. A tablet in the secondary tech compartment. A notebook, a few pens, an audio headset, and a power bank in the front organizer panel. A reusable water bottle in the side pocket. A jacket folded into the bag’s main compartment when needed. Total weight: about 12 to 14 pounds. The bag carries this load comfortably. The shoulder straps are wide and well-padded, the back panel is firm and ventilated, and the chest strap and waist strap (which can be tucked away when not in use) genuinely help on longer walks. After 18 months of daily commuting, my shoulders have not complained. Loaded for a Business Trip A change of business clothes, a casual outfit, two pairs of shoes, basic toiletries, the laptop, the tech kit, and a small camera kit for documentation work. Total volume: roughly 28 liters with the bag fully expanded. Total weight: about 22 pounds. This is approaching the upper end of comfortable single-bag travel weight, but the Travel Pack handles it. The expanded mode adds the volume needed without distorting the bag’s shape, the weight is distributed well, and the carry-on dimensions stay within airline limits. Loaded for a Photo Assignment A camera body, 3 lenses, batteries, memory cards, a small reflector, and the laptop with editing software. The Nomatic camera cube turns the main compartment into a structured camera kit, with side-access through the zippered panel that opens like a clamshell. This configuration is where the Travel Pack genuinely outperforms specialty bags. A dedicated photo bag carries gear better but cannot also be a daily work bag. A daily work bag carries laptops and notebooks but cannot also be a camera bag. The Travel Pack does both, and the swap between configurations takes about 30 seconds. Loaded for a Multi-Day Personal Trip The 14-day Europe trip was the most demanding test. Six packing cubes loaded with clothing for a range of weather, basic toiletries, the laptop, a small camera kit, a Kindle, and the tech essentials. The bag was at maximum capacity throughout the trip. It worked. Not without effort — packing for two weeks in 30 liters requires real discipline and lightweight clothing — but the bag held together, kept its shape, and survived 14 days of airport handling, cobblestone streets, and being stuffed into overhead bins on multiple regional flights. Zippers worked. Stitching held. The waterproof shell shrugged off two days of light rain. What the Travel Pack 2 Does Well After 18 months, here is what stands out. The Build Quality The materials, the stitching, the zippers, and the hardware are excellent. The bag has not developed any failures or weak points after 18 months of heavy use. The fabric resists abrasion, the seams stay tight under load, and the zippers run smoothly without snagging. This is not a $200 bag pretending to be a $400 bag. It is a $400 bag that earns the price tag in materials and construction. The Organization The bag’s dedicated compartments are thoughtfully designed. The laptop sleeve is structurally separate from the main compartment, which protects the laptop and lets you access it without disturbing the rest of the contents. The front organizer panel has dedicated slots for pens, business cards, a phone, a small notebook, and a few other small items. The water bottle pocket is positioned well and accommodates a 32-ounce bottle. The modular cubes turn the main compartment into a usable, drawer-like organizational system. Once you stop fighting the compartment and start using cubes, packing and unpacking become substantially easier. The Comfort For a structured travel pack, the Travel Pack 2 is comfortable. The shoulder straps, the back panel, and the optional chest and waist straps combine to distribute weight well. I have walked 8 to 10 miles in a day with the bag fully loaded, and it has not caused the shoulder, neck, or back fatigue that some heavier bags produce. The Aesthetics This matters less than the functional features but is worth mentioning. The Travel Pack 2 looks like a serious work bag, not a hiking pack or a tactical bag. It works in a business meeting, a coffee shop, a hotel lobby, and an airport equally well. For travelers whose itineraries mix business and leisure, this aesthetic flexibility matters. What I Don’t Love A balanced review names the gaps. The Weight At 4.6 pounds empty, the Travel Pack 2 is heavier than it needs to be. Comparable ultralight one-bag travel packs from specialty brands can come in at 2.5 to 3 pounds for similar volumes. The extra weight comes from the structured shell, the extensive padding, and the metal hardware — features that contribute to the bag’s durability and organization but do come at a real weight cost. For long walking days or multi-flight trips, the empty weight matters. If you have a 20-pound clothing kit, the difference between a 2.5-pound bag and a 4.6-pound bag is the difference between 22.5 and 24.6 pounds of total carry weight. That is real. The Price The Travel Pack 2 is a premium-priced bag. The full modular system, with the cubes and accessory organizers, can run into the high three figures. There are good cheaper bags. There are great cheaper bags. The Travel Pack’s value proposition is that it does multiple jobs at a high level, but for a buyer whose use case is narrower, a specialty bag at half the price will deliver most of the value. The Water Resistance The Travel Pack 2 is weather-resistant rather than fully waterproof. In a heavy downpour, water will eventually find its way into the main compartment through the zipper tracks. The bag includes a stowed rain cover that addresses this for serious weather events, but the cover is an additional step rather than a fully waterproof shell. For tropical travel or four-season outdoor use, a fully waterproof bag (Patagonia Black Hole, Boundary Supply, or some of the dedicated bike-courier brands) might be a better fit. The Camera Cube Compromise When the camera cube is in the bag, you lose much of the main compartment to camera gear. This is unavoidable for any bag of this size, but it means the Travel Pack works as a camera bag or a clothing-and-laptop bag, not both at the same time. For trips that require both serious camera kit and serious clothing volume, the Travel Pack is one bag too small. The Nomatic 40-liter version exists for exactly this need. How It Compares to the Competition The premium travel-backpack market has matured considerably in the last decade. Major competitors include Aer’s Travel Pack 3, Peak Design’s Travel Backpack 30L, Tortuga Outbreaker, and Tom Bihn’s Aeronaut series. Without naming specific advantages and disadvantages of each — that would be a separate full-length review — I will offer a high-level orientation. The Aer Travel Pack is more business-aesthetic and less feature-rich. The Peak Design is more photo-focused and has a larger ecosystem of camera-specific accessories. The Tortuga is more budget-friendly and travel-only oriented. The Tom Bihn is more durable and more specialized. The Nomatic Travel Pack 2 sits in the middle of these — a strong all-rounder that does business, travel, photo, and daily-driver duty at a high level, with a modular ecosystem that lets you tune the bag for different uses. The right choice for you depends on which of those use cases is most important. If you are 80 percent business travel and 20 percent everything else, the Aer is probably a better fit. If you are 50 percent photo and 50 percent travel, the Peak Design is probably the better fit. If you are an even mix across business, travel, photo, and daily use, the Nomatic is the best generalist. Care and Long-Term Maintenance A few habits will keep the Travel Pack 2 performing well over the long haul. Wipe the exterior with a damp cloth and mild soap when it gets visibly dirty. The TPU-coated nylon resists most stains, but it is not self-cleaning. Treat zippers with a silicone-based zipper lubricant once or twice a year. Smooth zippers are the difference between a bag that opens and closes easily and one that fights you. Avoid overloading the bag in expanded mode. The expanded volume is generous, but cramming it past comfortable capacity puts stress on the seams and the zippers. If you need more volume, the Nomatic 40-liter version is a better tool. Air the bag out after wet-weather travel. Closing a damp bag for storage is a recipe for mildew on the interior fabric. Replace the rain cover if it tears. The factory rain cover is well-designed but not bulletproof. Spares are available from Nomatic. Who Should Buy the Nomatic Travel Pack 2 The Travel Pack 2 is the right pick for several profiles. The frequent business traveler who wants a single bag that handles work, weekend trips, and longer-format business travel. The Travel Pack’s organizational features and aesthetic flexibility make it strong here. The hybrid creator-and-traveler who works across multiple disciplines (writing, photography, video, presentations) and needs a bag that can shift configurations between trips. The modular ecosystem is the differentiator. The serious one-bag traveler who values organization, durability, and aesthetic flexibility over pure ultralight performance. The Travel Pack delivers everything except the ultralight piece. The Nomatic loyalist who is building or expanding a coherent gear system. The bag pairs cleanly with the broader Nomatic ecosystem of accessories, organizers, and tech goods. The Travel Pack 2 is not the right pick for: the ultralight traveler who prioritizes empty bag weight above all else (specialty ultralight brands deliver lighter alternatives); the photographer whose primary use case is photo gear (Peak Design’s photo-specific bags are better); or the budget traveler whose needs are met by a $100 bag from a different brand. The Bottom Line The Nomatic Travel Pack 2 is a serious piece of travel and daily-driver gear, with the build quality, organizational thinking, and modular ecosystem to justify its premium positioning. After 18 months of heavy use across business, travel, photo, and daily-driver duty, it has earned its permanent slot in my rotation. If you are the kind of gear-minded traveler who has been cycling through bags looking for the one that genuinely solves your needs across multiple use cases, the Travel Pack 2 deserves serious consideration. Buy into the modular ecosystem, learn to use the cubes and organizers, and the bag will reward your investment with years of reliable service. Browse the Nomatic Travel Pack 2 and the modular travel system — David Holden Read the full article
