ORBITGear R104-ADV MK23 “GLOBEMASTER” Review

ORBITGear is an Indonesian soft goods company making technical packs and apparel. What caught my eye is their design language. Each product they sell contributes to a sleek and techy aesthetic that I can totally get behind.

It’s not all looks, however. Their R104-ADV MK23 “Globemaster” has epic materials and construction. While maybe lacking for daily use, the travel capability of this pack is nothing to scoff at.

Design

Let’s talk about the good first. ORBITGear did an excellent job with the construction. This pack feels sturdy and well-built, with clean stitching and no loose threads. Their choice of materials is killer too, resulting in a pack that feels indestructible. The top grab handle is cushy and made of a leather material that’s also on the bottom of the bag to protect it from surfaces you place it on. The hardware feels premium as well, with YKK zips and solid buckles.

It’s a very comfortable, albeit heavy bag, with great shoulder straps and comfy padding. This is essential for a pack that’s meant to carry large loads like this one. It’s also a darn good-looking backpack, perfect for urban dwellers with its sleek, techy look.

Where this bag falls short, for me, is in the pocket layout. There are almost too many pockets to know what to do with them. Let’s use the front flap as an example. The slip pockets are awkwardly shaped, so it was hard to find stuff that fit in them and the liner feels thin and a little flimsy, so it’s hard to organize with one hand due to the lack of structure. It’s also tight and hard to access or see what you’re doing.

You could opt for their modular pouches and use that as your quick access instead, but that’s another expense. Their accessories, although feeling great on their own, are not the easiest to put on securely. So, in my experience, the accessories were either too loose and slid around, or they were too tight and hard to put on. The slotted loop attachment allows, generally, for easy on-and-off, but they may not be the most secure.

I love what ORBITGear did with the main compartment, however. Aside from using the pack as a regular roll-top, you can also access it from both sides. What’s even cooler is that the bag can open all the way in a clamshell-like style. I love their thought process here. For everyday carry, everything kind of falls to the bottom and gets mixed up, but for travel the capacity, layout, and ease of access are excellent.

The laptop compartment is fine in its own right. It offers good protection, it’s spacious, and is easy to access. My only problem with it, however, is that to access it from the back, there’s an elastic strap with Velcro that just doesn’t feel good to use. It’s a small nitpick but it feels a bit out of place given the construction of the rest of the bag.

Features

There are a lot of cool ideas in this pack. As mentioned earlier, I love their solution to the roll-top problem. It provides great access to the main compartment without you having to open the whole thing. The laptop sleeve can be accessed from the back, or from the main compartment too, which is great. The dual water bottle pockets can fit a decently large water bottle, fitting one of my 32oz ones just fine.

If you’re the type to love having a ton of pockets, maybe you’ll enjoy the fact that this backpack has a ton of them. In my opinion, however, they just don’t feel great to use and they can be overwhelming. It’s also easy to forget where you’ve put stuff.

There’s PALS webbing everywhere which is great for modularity, and I love that it’s not proprietary too. You’ve also got a sternum strap, load lifters, and mesh for ventilation. There are good ergonomics on this pack, and of course, there’s the insane weather resistance due to the materials and construction.

Performance

Despite not being the best for everyday carry, this pack was a solid travel bag for my short weekend trip to Miami. The aforementioned issues still remain of course, but having the huge main compartment and the ability to open it all the way made packing and unpacking great.

Although it’s accessible to open, it’s not necessarily easy to see what you’re grabbing unless you open the whole thing up. This wasn’t too much of an issue as when I got to my destination I unzipped the bag all the way to unpack anyways.

The pack is comfortable to wear, but it was very tall. For reference, I’m 5’9″. It definitely will look out of place in the office even if your workplace is more casual. As a travel bag, however, I think this looks just fine. It definitely blends into urban cityscapes with no issues.

The durability of this pack is exceptional. It held up to the elements very well, which is super important for a bag you’d be traveling with. Although I tested it for three weeks, I feel confident it will last a very long time. I trust it to keep my gear safe and dry from the weather.

Verdict

In my experience, I realized that I didn’t know what to expect from the ORBITGear Globemaster. I was hoping it would be a solid everyday backpack, but I soon realized that it was better suited for travel. Once I realized that I started to appreciate this pack more. The issues of the excessive pocket layout, external access, and limited visibility still remain. However, now I’m able to enjoy this backpack more for exactly what it was designed for – being a globemaster.