The best travel backpack on Amazon.in

The reasoning

The Vanguard is a 40-litre laptop backpack meant for weekend trips. Its listing's title names a rain cover, a shoe compartment and a hip belt, and the details table lists all three (the belt as a waist belt). TRAWOC's own page adds that the rain cover is kept in a zip pocket at the bottom. The title and TRAWOC's page both name YKK zippers. It weighs 920 g in the listing's details table, and 931 g in its description and on TRAWOC's page.

What decided it is the warranty. The title gives a 3-year warranty and the details table a 3-year manufacturer warranty, the longest term written into any shortlisted listing's title, feature text or details table; CarryPro's 730 days comes next. TRAWOC's warranty page says the cover is the same whether you bought from its own site or from Amazon, that your order number or invoice, plus a few photographs of the problem, is enough to claim, and that TRAWOC arranges the courier both ways. TRAWOC decides whether to repair or replace the bag. The policy excludes normal wear and tear, misuse, accidents and transport damage, moisture, extreme temperatures, chemicals, and damage caused by an airline or courier.

Several bags beat it on size or weight. The Wesley Spartan holds 45 litres, weighs 750 g in its details table, takes a 17.3-inch laptop and has a rain cover, but its listing gives a 12-month limited brand warranty. The Wesley Luxur gives 45 litres at 800 g, Lunar's 45L and FUR JADEN's 40L weekender weigh 700 g, and Impulse's Commuter 40L weighs 500 g, but none of those four mentions a rain cover in its title or details table, and each gives a 1-year term. Impulse's 60, 75 and 80-litre rucksacks and MOUNTILE's 60-litre HikeMate are lighter than the Vanguard and list rain covers, but they are trekking rucksacks with 1-year terms.

The reasoning

The HOBO25 V3.0 closes with a roll-top over the main compartment, so its size changes with how far you unroll it. The title gives 25-30L, and CarryPro's page says it starts at 25L compressed and expands to 30L. Inside sits a removable hardshell camera box, which CarryPro says you can take out to make a shoe compartment reached from the side. A separate laptop section takes up to 16 inches, and the page says the rain cover is included.

CarryPro also publishes the conditions of its warranty. The listing's warranty field says 730 Days, and CarryPro's page says 730 days of warranty for manufacturing defects. CarryPro's policy page adds that it applies only to the first purchaser or gift recipient, and doesn't cover neglect, accidents, abrasion, extreme temperatures or transport damage. To claim, you email photographs first; if they don't settle it, CarryPro may ask you to ship the bag, and refunds the shipping if the replacement is approved. The policy talks about replacing a product, and offers a comparable CarryPro bag if yours is no longer made.

The trade-off is size and weight. It holds 10 to 15 litres less than the TRAWOC and weighs more, 1 kg 300 g on the listing and 1300 gram on CarryPro's page, against the TRAWOC's 920 g, and its 730 days is shorter than TRAWOC's 3 years. Swiss Military's LBP130 is also 30 litres and states an 18-month international warranty, but its listing mentions no rain cover or camera space, which is why the CarryPro gets the nod for this job.

The reasoning

This is a different kind of bag from the TRAWOC: a 75-litre rucksack that closes with a drawstring, 85 cm tall on both the listing and F Gear's page, which gives it as 32 x 29 x 85 cm. F Gear's page lists a rain cover kept in a concealed pocket, a hip belt, a helmet compartment and ladder locks to set the straps for your height. F Gear's page and the listing's feature text both give 1 huge compartment, 4 pockets, 1 hidden pocket and 2 side mesh bottle holders, though the listing's title says "1 Compartment & 2 Pockets".

We chose it over the other big rucksacks because its warranty is spelled out in the listing, on the product page and in published terms. It's a 1-year carry-in warranty for manufacturing defects. F Gear's terms say you deliver the bag to its service centre at your own cost with the invoice, that its liability is limited to repairing the defective piece, and that the warranty applies only within India. They exclude accidents, normal wear and tear, extreme heat, and exposure to rain or water.

It is not light. At 1 kg 560 g on the listing, it is the heaviest bag on the shortlist. Impulse's Banyan 75 (800 g) and 80-litre Curve (670 g), MOUNTILE's 80-litre Treksphere (950 g) and Lifelong's 80-litre LLCRS01 (1 kg) all weigh less, and the Impulse and MOUNTILE listings mention a rain cover and a 1-year warranty too. We chose it over them because its listing gives the most warranty detail (carry-in, non-transferable, from the date of purchase), against "1 year" on the Banyan 75's listing, "1 Year Warrenty Only manufacturing Defect" on the Curve's and "1 Year Manufacturer Warranty" on MOUNTILE's, and F Gear's own terms set out how a claim works. We could read no feature bullets for the Impulse or MOUNTILE bags, we didn't read Impulse's own site, and we couldn't load MOUNTILE's. If weight matters more to you than warranty detail, the Banyan 75, at the same 75 litres, or the Treksphere is the one to look at.