ECBC Lance Executive Daypack Review

As I have written before on how brutal I am on Backpacks, Rolling bags you name it. Rarely does a year go buy in which I don’t have to buy a new one. Part of the reason is I am on the go continuously and I am bit of over packer stuffing the bag full and then shoving bags in airplane bins, back of my SUV or working at the beach. I am the right guy to really stress test bags In fact my wife laughs ever time I tell her I broke a wheel, busted a strap, ripped the fabric, broke a zipper etc and I have the dead hulks here to prove it. So ECBC took a big chance on letting me put one of their bags through my abuse.

My first impressions of the ECBC Lance Executive Daypack upon unwrapping the bag was this is a nice bag. It has a nice smooth outside finish with sturdy straps. The way the bag sits on your back and across one or two shoulders has me convinced that they really thought about the guy or gal on the go. Some backpacks have a tendency to slip when your wearing it on one shoulder, and I did not experience this. The padded straps make for a comfortable wearing experience. The Back of the bag has what I am going to call cooling channels when you are wearing the bag segments of the back of the bag have small pockets where the air can flow. Everyone hates a backpack that sticks to your back. The material that ECBC used insures this is not the case and the cooling channels is a help.

One of the first thing I check on a bag are the zippers, as they seem to be the first things I bust. Examining the zipper lining is important to me as I hate it when internal material gets caught in the zipper, this is usually from the vendor having excess material in the pockets. Under close examination I do not see any catch points, and the zippers are isolated well in the pockets from the material. Internal material has been stitched tight and their is no fluff that you sometimes see. Stress testing the pockets purposelessly putting to much stuff in the pockets over the month I have been using the bag did not stretch the zipper or cause the zipper, to not open all the way.

Lets talk about compartments This is a two comnpartment bag. The aft compartment is TSA approved, you can unzip the compartment all the way down and lay your laptop flat with it still in the bag. The laptop compartment has a restraining strap and a unique modular insert that can be removed in the bottom of the compartment to accommodate a larger laptop. Padding was about standard and provide adequate protection for an older 17″ Macpro around what I call the edge strike zone. Unique to this bag was a sort of barrier between the zipper and the compartment. The design team at ECBC put a lot of thought into this bag design.

The forward compartment shocked me a bit. The compartment would easily hold one day of clothes and even a separate pouch for the tablet. Yet it does not make the bag look big. The way they incorporated two external water bottle compartments allow for the forward compartment to have the extra room. This bag just went up in usability for me, and I see why they named it the Executive Daypack. There are an assortment of pockets some lined some with mesh to store all the little stuff.

The front pocket though is where my OCD kicks in, I want stuff organized and easy to find. Internal to the front pocket are two zippered pockets and two Velcroed pockets and plenty of room for Glasses, Passport, Pens, Business cards, cables etc. The team even included an really sexy 4500mAh battery with a finish which is executive worthy.

Overall I am very impressed with this backpack, and it is worth every penny of it’s $149.00 price point. It has many of the qualities of a bag that is 2-3 times more expensive. This was my first exposure to ECBC the design team has really done their homework, and built a bag that is super functional and yet durable. See their product Video. Based on the build quality they is no reason this bag will not last the average person 3-4 years.