The Fjallraven Kanken is built for students, travelers, and office goers. It has a two carry system, either as a purse or a backpack. As one of the more popular brands and backpacks out there, it's a stylish option that is a little limited in storage and features. It is, however, durable enough to handle daily rigors for the long haul.
We appreciate the level of protection this backpack offers for its small package. It features a separate laptop pocket that is padded on all four sides, through the front and back. While the padding adds a small buffer, the padding isn't so robust as to protect against all shocks and bumps. Overall, the protection is reliable, but it's far from the best.
This cute laptop backpack is comfortable when it's not completely loaded. It's super lightweight (less than a pound) and sits high on the upper back. While the backpack straps are thin with high-density foam, they are narrow. They are also attached quite close together at the top of the pack, which makes it uncomfortable to wear for users that are taller or have much broader shoulders.
When we loaded this backpack with books, binders, art supplies, and our laptop, we noticed it pulling backward, with some added pressure at the top of the strap. In most use cases, this backpack was quite comfortable to wear for the day, except when stacked with heavy items. It also has no sternum strap or waist belt.
We appreciate the carry-strap that made this backpack super easy to carry through security at the airport. This adds comfort and functionality that is not comparable to other backpacks, also making it a good option for travel. Overall, we love the lightweight and small profile of this cute backpack. It's just meant more for looks than hauling a full load.
The box-like construction of this backpack makes it easy to pile in a few textbooks, notebooks, as well as your laptop. When stacking it all together, it maxed out at two binders and two textbooks, which is great for most students. However, if you're somebody who carries more with you, you might find the 18L storage to be a bit limiting.
The laptop compartment easily fits a 13-inch laptop with ease. A thin 15-inch laptop, however, just barely gets inside. If you have a thicker HP or Dell laptop that is 15-inches, there's a good chance it (sadly) won't fit inside. When we traveled with this backpack, we typically put our 13-inch MacBook Air with the power cord all together in the one separate laptop pocket.
The main compartment also has a small sleeve that you put papers, notebooks, folders, or other items you want to keep secure. This backpack doesn't have much in the way of organization, which makes it quite simple. The pocket in the very front easily functions as a pencil case or a place to store your phone or keys.
The backpack also hosts two exterior pockets that, we think, are supposed to be for water bottles. Unfortunately, when loaded, these become useless. We hardly used these pockets, except to store some random items like a paintbrush, phone, or pens.
This backpack is relatively easy to use but harder to get into than most. This backpack has two carry options.
You can wear it on your back, or carry it like a purse. In both cases, it has two large carry loops on the top of the back that need to be buttoned together. While the button isn't hard to undo and do back up again, it is a pain to have to deal with that, then unzip the compartment to get inside. When worn as a backpack, if it's not done up, the pack loses some of its structure. The contents inside pull back more on the backpack, and it looks sloppy, so you're compelled to button up the hatch.
The zippers are large and easy to pull and didn't get caught during our use period with them. We only wish this had a few more pockets sewn in for organizational purposes. Other than that, it's a pretty simple pack to use day-to-day.
This backpack isn't waterproof but offers some water-resistant properties. The durable nylon exterior beads up water, but after a big downpour or after sitting in a puddle, it'll soak through. We like the housed zippers that offer a little more water protection as well.
During our water tests, we put this backpack under the nozzle of our shower head, spraying it down for 5 minutes. The main compartment came out with some dampness inside, while the front pocket was quite literally a puddle. The laptop compartment, however, had no water inside but was a little humid from the warm water showering down on it. While we wouldn't recommend it for chilling in a rainstorm, it'll keep your laptop protected while you rush to seek shelter.
Popular and super cute! It can seem these days that everyone wants a Fjallraven Kanken. When traveling to Cuba, we noticed that this was a very popular choice of travel backpack amongst tourists. It comes in a plethora of colors and is suited for anybody to use. It does have a childish air to it, but our 30-something female tester managed to pull it off. This probably isn't the laptop backpack you're going to buy if you want to look professional and formal, but it's a great option for those seeking a more casual, cute, and petite look to don on the streets.
We scoured the internet to find a bad review that relates specifically to durability, simply because we didn't notice any issues with our backpack. The result was just a couple with what seemed like heavy-use cases. That said, all reviews are pretty great. The material seems to be durable and well-crafted. Our only concern is really how thin the nylon is, which could (maybe??) under heavyweight, tear the fabric.
Aside from that, our experience and online use cases seem to consistently say that this is indeed a well constructed and well-crafted product. For the functionality, we'd argue that the price is quite high. It's pretty simple, with no bells or whistles, with protection being fine but not great. There are better options out there that present greater value. When you buy this bag, you're buying the brand. If you're stoked on its style, and you want one, then go for it. However, there are better-priced options out there with better performance overall.
