MEGATech Video Reviews: Case Logic Griffith Park Backpack

Whether you’re heading out to the neighborhood coffee shop to get a little work done or you’re traveling halfway around the world, it’s important to have the right backpack to hold all of your precious gear. The MEGATechNews team is here in Taipei, Taiwan for Computex 2014 and the bag that I’m using on this trip is the Case Logic Griffith Park Backpack.

It’s geared toward gadget geeks like me who need the space for all of your electronics, but we don’t want a backpack that screams out we are carrying around a bunch of technology.

A Backpack for Gadget Geeks on the Go

The particular version that is featured in this review is the grey one with orange accents, but the Case Logic Griffith Park backpack is available in other color combinations too, including black with green accents or red with black accents.

Case Logic says that you can “step into the urban jungle prepared with full electronics protection and capacity” with this bag. The primary compartment toward the rear has a pocket to fit a 15.6″ laptop, but while I had plenty of space to stow my Ultrabook in a sleeve, bulkier 15-inch notebooks may not find enough depth to handle the larger profile. In front of that is an additional smaller pocket for a 10-inch tablet or, in my case, my Kindle e-reader.

There is also a more cavernous main compartment in front of that for the rest of your stuff and this compartment comes with four additional pockets for managing your electronics, like your travel SIM, camera, SD cards, flash drives, headphones and so on. You’ll find additional pockets at the top of the bag, the bottom of the bag, and two zipped up water bottle pouches on either side. All said, you get a total of 1282 cubic inches of volume.

As can be expected, the Case Logic Griffith Park comes reasonably padded throughout and they’ve worked to ensure it is comfortable to wear too. With many backpack straps, you’re left with a bunch of extra strap material after you’ve tightened it up, but the Griffith Park has a stretchy management system so you don’t have dangling straps.

The Video Review

After landing in Taiwan, we put together a video that goes over many of the key features of the Case Logic Griffith Park backpack, giving you a better sense of how the relatively compact bag can hold a fair amount of stuff.

As you can see in the video, the Griffith Park backpack is well laid out with plenty of compartments for all your stuff and it addresses one of my main qualms about other similar bags: it still has a relatively slim profile overall, but there is enough depth for me to stash my Olympus micro four-thirds camera with a lens attached without too much trouble.

The orange highlights against the grey give the back a little more personality and I really appreciate the strap design to avoid having extra strap material dangling in my way. There is a sternum strap for added stability and comfort as well, though I find that I don’t use it all that often. It can be slid up and down to suit your preference, but I would have preferred if there was a management system — like the rest of the straps — or even if it could be removed completely for a cleaner overall look.

MEGATechie Case Logical or MEGATechie Stuck in Park?

The Case Logic Griffith Park backpack is a solid choice for anyone who wants a bag for their notebook, tablet and other electronics without having it look like a laptop bag. This is a decidedly different approach from a thicker and heavier bag like the Mobile Edge backpack, for instance. This means you get a little less padding overall, but the Griffith Park is also roomier and lighter.

If you do find that the base Griffith Park bag isn’t big enough to suit your particular needs, you may want to look into the Griffith Park Deluxe and Griffith Park Plus variants as well. They are similar in many ways, boasting several similar features, but the designs are a little different and they are also a little bigger.

For me, the Case Logic Griffith Park backpack gets the job done and it looks pretty good doing it too. You can pick it up for between $50 and $60 at the retailer or e-tailer of your choice.