A great review from OBOW reader Holly:
As promised, a short review of the LL Bean Quickload based on two weeks in Switzerland and Germany at Christmas time.
Two adults, two kids, two weeks in Europe during winter, 4 “luggage” bags and 4 small, personal bags. The 4 “luggage” bags included an eBags Weekender, the LL Bean Quickload, an ancient Eastpack convertible bag and a 24 inch wheelie.
The LL Bean Quickload had very good capacity. I was able to easily fit in: 2 pairs long pants, 4 pair underwear, wool base layer top and bottom, five shirts (one short sleeve, the rest long sleeve), wool sweater, 2 pair wool socks, laundry kit (included clothes line, microfiber towel and some detergent), the toiletry kit for the ENTIRE family, a bathing suit (for the hot tub at ski resort), two paperback books to read and leave along the trip, cache of spare zip lock bags, gloves, hat, a pair of pajamas (a luxury I allowed myself when I found I had plenty of room) and, here’s the kicker—one pair of insulated ski pants.
I know I had a few more items in there, but I just can’t remember what they were right now.
All of this fit, with room to spare! At the Swiss check in, the bag weighed 7.5 kg.
In fact, none of the convertible bags weighed over 7.5 kg. (I recognize this is easier to pull off when you have a 24 inch wheelie that the heavier items can go into. But honestly, we weren’t taking anything too heavy anyway.)
The empty LL Bean bag was definitely lighter than the empty eBags Weekender, which meant we could put more in it and not worry we were going to go over the limit.
The inside of the bag is fine and the compression straps are the garden variety ones, but work well. The compartment in the inside “lid” is mesh, but has a zipper only on one end. I prefer the Weekender’s design of having the zipper go around three sides of the same compartment. Also, I like the Weekender’s feature of a small, flat, zippered compartment on the inside on the “hinge” part of the bag. We used it for stashing our drivers’ licenses, which we didn’t figure we would need but brought along anyway just in case we decided to rent a car spur of the moment.
The straps on the Quickload are curved and a bit wider than the Weekender. I am narrow shouldered and have a slight preference for the narrower Weekender straps as a result. If the Quickload had included a sternum strap, which it does not, I think I would have found it more comfortable. It was fine, so this is not such a great issue.
The smaller outside pocket on the Quickload is a disappointment. It has some organizer features, but the zipper is just straight across the pocket and does not extend down the sides. As a result, it’s difficult to efficiently use the organizer features. This is a bad design flaw. However, as a practical matter, I used the organizer panel in my small messenger bag so I didn’t really get too hung up on this. I ended up simply using it to stash receipts and used maps, etc.—essentially stuff I wasn’t going to need to access every day.
The smalller outside pocket did include a little lanyard clip that was on an elastic cord. That elastic cord feature is an improvement over a standard key clip. I ended up attaching a little “squeeze” flashlight to it, which we used multiple times. The ability to pull it out a bit with the stretchy elastic was very useful.
It does have a larger outside pocket, which does zip down on the sides. It was spacious and this is where I easily stuffed those ski pants.
All in all, it’s a good bag. If you need your one bag to include a highly usable organizer pocket, don’t buy the Quickload. On all other fronts, it’s a solid bag. And the weight difference between it and the Weekender is nice. Also, the lifetime, satisfaction guarantee from LL Bean is worth quite a lot. (I have NO affiliation with LL Bean.)
In short, it held all my stuff with room to spare. As a result, I had no trouble fitting in my purchases from the trip on the way back.
One side note: The person at the Swiss check-in counter simply could not believe that 4 people going to Europe in winter (and skiing—at that) could travel with so little luggage.
(From LL Bean site: Made of rugged 420-denier nylon.
2,961 cu. in. 21¾”H x 14”W x 9”D. 2 lb. 2 oz. Imported.)