Peak Design Everyday Messenger

User report

What is particularly noteworthy on the Everyday Messenger is the way each element seems to have been thought through. Little has been left to chance, and there are many small touches that improve the looks or functionality.

The company name is discretely embossed on zippers and the top flap, as well as etched on the MagLatch. The zippers are all weatherproof. The sewing is strategically reinforced for durability. The internal pockets and sleeves are well sized and easy to access (bonus points for the inner “passport pocket”). The bottom offers better protection and is mostly flat.

Every bag on the market lets the user adjust the length of the strap, but none makes it as easy as the Everyday Messenger. Not many bags offer storage for the extra lengths of stabilizer straps. Few have thought of a place to store lens caps. Even fewer have gone the extra mile to include a pivoting joint to allow the strap to move more easily.

The consistency and integration between the brand’s products is also a high selling point. The strap system will be immediately familiar for anyone used to any other Peak Design bag or strap. The Flexfold dividers work slightly differently in each bag to conform to the design and size, but they remain mostly similar and intuitive. There are dedicated bands to attach the Capture Clip. The pocket on the reverse of the top flap is just the right size to store a Slide strap. The pattern on the back is reminiscent of the dividers and is used on all of the company’s bags. The list goes on. In short, there is a high level of uniformity in the design language.

An evaluation of the general appearance of a bag is subjective. Nonetheless, we will venture to say that the Everyday Messenger is superb. The designers struck a good balance between the classical and the modern. The result is an elegant product, well-proportioned and functional. The choice of materials is first-rate and the bag should be durable.

In use, the Everyday Messenger is about as comfortable as other bags of the same type. The bag strikes a good balance between rigidity and flexibility, except if a laptop is inserted, in which case it becomes more rigid. The padding on the strap is thick enough and generally well positioned for comfort, although with a heavy load a wider strap might have been useful. As mentioned earlier, using two sliding buckles, like on the Slide strap, would have made fine-tuning the adjustment easier. It might have been more difficult to make the strap as short as it can be with the current design, however. The stabilizer straps are easy to use. Including two of them allows the user to create a waist strap in a pinch, taking some of the load off the shoulder. Note that in particular for the 15 version, the large size means that the total load can become significant, and increase the weight accordingly. The basic hip strap is a definitive advantage in this situation.

Shortening the shoulder strap with the bag full can be difficult at times, and is best done with two hands, one supporting the bag and one pulling on the buckle. Lengthening the strap is easy at all times.

Using the MagLatch is a breeze and the closure is more secure than expected. Accidental spills are extremely unlikely to occur even if the bag is turned upside down.

Accessing items in the main compartment via the top zipper is easy as long as said items are near the center. Larger objects near the sides will be more difficult to remove. The small, multi-purpose pocket inside the main compartment is ideally located for both security and quick access. By using the Capture Clip and the top zipper, it is possible to use the bag for long periods without ever lifting the top flap.

Organization is easy inside the front compartment. The color coding and stretch fabric make it easy to store and sort items such as batteries, memory cards, lens cleaner and such.

For its part, the main compartment presents more of an organization challenge. If only one camera and one or two medium lenses are carried, then almost any configuration will work. On the other hand, to really make the most of all the provided space requires more thinking. The Flexfold dividers offer numerous configurations but they will probably be unusual for many users.

The challenge is even more important considering the small size of most Pentax lenses. The folded dividers are really meant to store medium-sized lenses such as a DA 16-85mm or DFA 24-70mm. With Limited primes, the volume created by one divider is too large for a single lens, which is thus likely to move and bump around. What’s more, the divider’s surface will not let Velcro attach to it, so using generic dividers to create subdivisions is possible but not perfect, as we show on the picture above. In that example, folding the right divider down creates a nice little box where the two lenses are contained, with a shelf above.

Folding the first section of a divider is a nice feature because it offers a thicker protection and lowers the height of the divider. However, items tend to snag and pull the fold back up when they are removed. This is particularly true with reversed lens hoods. In many cases, we have found that it is simpler to just leave the dividers in their regular, upright position.

Creating a larger shelf by folding two dividers side by side is a useful system. By doing this, it is possible to create two distinct pockets below, and one shelf large enough to hold a K-1 with 60-250mm mounted (including the foot). The thing to bear in mind is that the right divider (based on the picture above) should be close enough to the left one to touch it when folded in order to create one continuous shelf; otherwise the divider will tend to collapse partially, especially if bearing the full weight of the camera.

Verdict

There is a lot to love about the Everyday Messenger. It looks good, is solid, durable and backed by a lifetime warranty. It packs many well-thought elements, a mature and consistent design language common with the rest of the company’s lineup. Its storage compartments and pockets are numerous, well-positioned and always easy to access.

The Flexfold dividers are one of the best elements of the bag, but also one of the most challenging if you want to use the bag’s volume to its fullest. With regular camera bags, finding the right configuration is fast and simple, in part because of the limited possibilities. With the Flexfold, the configurations are different, and there are more possibilities, leading to a longer learning curve. On the other hand, adaptaility is unmatched.

We look forward to seeing the improved dividers which are supposed to be released in a few months. For the moment, potential buyers should make sure they understand how the dividers work before committing to a purchase.