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Cabin Zero Military 28L Rucksack
Cost: $100
Capacity: 28 liters
Dimensions: 15.7″ x 11.8″ x 5.9″ (40 x 30 x 15 cm)
Style: Panel Load
Weight: 1.87 lbs (850 g)
Laptop: 15.5”
Materials: 1000D nylon; water resistant coating; YKK zippers
Origin: Made in China
Cabin Zero Military 28L Rucksack
I’ve been testing packs for my summer travels, and I’m focusing on smaller personal item size packs that can fit under the seat on an airplane. Cabin Zero makes great inexpensive packs using high quality materials and simple designs.
They make two packs that work great as a personal item, the Classic 28, and the Military 28. They have similar dimensions and capacity, but I prefer the Military version here because it has a much better backpack carry system than the Classic.
Dimensions
There’s no standard size for personal items, the dimensions will vary widely depending on the airline. This pack measures in at 15.7″ x 11.8″ x 5.9” or (40 x 30 x 15 cm) . It will easily fit as a personal item on US airlines like Spirit, Frontier, and American. And It’s very close to the more restrictive dimensions of Ryan Air. But this pack is flexible, so it can squish down to a smaller size if needed.
Materials
Fabric
Cabin Zero doesn’t skimp on materials and manages to use great fabric and hardware on a pack I bought for $70. The fabric 1000D basketweave nylon. It’s a great high-quality fabric, good balance of weight, durability, and texture.
Compared to some other common nylon fabrics, it has a similar look my Tom Bihn Tristar, made from 1050 ballistic nylon, which is stronger and smoother. Like the Evergoods CPL24, which uses air-textured 500D nylon. Good abrasion resistance but is rougher and tends to collect lint. While a bag like the Aer Duffel, made from 1680D Cordura ballistic nylon, is strong and durable, but doesn’t have as good abrasion resistance as the Cabin Zero pack.
Zippers and Hardware
In addition to the great fabric, they also manage to use high quality zippers and hardware. The Military 28 has a large #10 YKK locking zipper on the main compartment and smaller #5’s on the exterior slash and interior divider pockets. They also use large, high-quality nylon Duraflex buckles and adjusters throughout the pack.
External Components
The exterior of the Military 28 has some features that make it work great as a travel pack. Including a comfortable carry system, side and top carry handles, water bottle pocket, side compression straps, and the mollie webbing if you want to attach extra gear.
Organizational Pockets
There’s only one exterior organizational pocket. A large side access slash pocket that runs most of the length of the pack. There’s no further pockets or dividers in here, but it’s large and sticks out of the pack with its own volume. So it’s a great place to store smaller organization pouches.
Water Bottle
The water bottle pocket lays flat on the side of the pack. With a button snap hiding a stretchy expanding fabric. However it is way too small for any normal sized water bottle. About the only thing you can fit in here is a very thin bottle, or a travel umbrella.
Compression Straps
These compression straps are awesome. Two on each side that do a great job squishing your gear down.
Carry System
The Cabin Zero Military 28 has wide padded shoulder straps, thick back padding, and top load adjustors. The carry system on the Cabin Zero Military 28 is great for such a small pack.
Shoulder Straps
The shoulder straps on the Cabin Zero Military 28 are 2 ½” wide with thick foam padding and a breathable mesh back. They attach permanently to the top and bottom of the pack. Have a sternum strap that you can detach and reattach through fabric loops on the straps, as well as top load adjusters. It doesn’t have a waist strap. But you shouldn’t need it on a pack this small.
Interior Design and Organization
The Military 28 opens from the top with a zipper that does down about ¾ the length of the pack. This is a large compartment that works great with packing cubes for your larger gear and clothes. While there are two zippered pockets on the lid for smaller gear.
Laptop Compartment
There’s also a laptop sleeve in here on the back. It’s just a simple nylon sleeve that holds up to a 15” laptop. The back is padded with the backpack padding and a thin foam backing. There’s no padding on the top, but it will be protected by your clothes and The sleeve is sewn a few inches away from the sides and bottom of the pack offering some additional protection.
I like this design because it doesn’t take up any space if you’re traveling without your laptop. I often find that bags with dedicated laptop compartments take up a huge amount of space in the pack. Which is wasted if you don’t carry a laptop. If you’re worried about damaging your laptop in this pack you can always pack it in a separate padded sleeve.
Packing the Cabin Zero Military 28
Packing this bag is easy, it holds a lot more than packs of similar dimensions, because it makes good use of space. The goal with traveling with a bag like this is to pack enough clothes and gear for indefinite travel. In a bag that will allow you much more freedom and flexibility on the road, not to mention saving in checked bag fees.
I tend to use compression packing cubes, because they allow you to take a lot more clothes in a smaller space. However, this is still a small bag, so I’m only taking 2 outfits, plus the one I’m wearing. Meaning I’ll have to do laundry on the road every 3 days. Here in a 14x10x3.5” eagle creek compression cube packed with 2 T-shirts, 2 pairs shorts, a long-sleeve button up shirt, 2 socks and 2 underwear.
Clothes:
(1) Long-sleeve shirt
(2) T-shirts
(1) Pants
(1) Shorts
(2) Underwear
(2) Socks
(1) Windbreaker
Electronics:
(1) Travel Adapter
(1) Battery pack
(2) USB-C Cord
(1) Phone
(1) Zipper pouch
Toiletries:
(1) Hanging toiletry pouch
(1) Hand sanitizer
(1) Shampoo in silicone bottle
(1) Alum deodorant
(1) Solid bar soap and/or shampoo bar
(1) Soap holder, cloth bag or Flatpak
(1) First aid kit, bandaids, medication
(1) Razor
(1) Hair gel
(1) Toothbrush
(1) Toothpowder/paste
(1) Nail clippers
(1) Plastic hair comb
Misc:
(1) Travel towel
(1) Water bottle
(1) Headlamp
(1) Packing cubes
(1) Travel wallet
(1) Pen/Pencil
(1) Sunglasses
(1) Daypack
Carry Comfort
This is what the Military 28 looks like on me fully packed. It’s decently comfortable for such a small pack. There is no stiff framesheet but the back padding is very comfortable and gives the pack good structure. The straps are easy to adjust and it sits comfortably on my back.
Cabin Zero Military 28 Summary
Pros
I like Cabin Zero because they make high quality packs with simple designs, good solid materials, lightweight and inexpensive. This is a great personal item travel backpack that has a large capacity while still fitting under the seat on most airlines. I purchased this for only $70 from the Cabin Zero website.
Cons
The biggest con on this pack is the large non-removable logo and the mollie webbing gives the pack a tacti-cool look. However this is the Military version and if you don’t want the webbing the Cabin Zero Classic 28 is almost identical but with less comfortable carry system.
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