The Viral Travel Backpack One Editor Loved and One Editor Hated

The first launch raised only about $110,000 from buyers — not even enough to cover production expenses. But the bags were produced anyway, and at the same time, the company leaned heavily into creator-driven distribution rather than spending on traditional advertising. It sent demo bags to influencers, photographers, and media outlets, creating a feedback loop in which the bag was shown on gear review sites and photographers’ social media accounts, thus driving more people to buy, use, and review them. As of 2025, WANDRD claimed it had sold more than 250,000 PRVKE backpacks.

All sizes and versions of the PRVKE are weather-resistant. Photo: Suzie Dundas

On paper, it’s a great bag: almost entirely waterproof (can’t be submerged), expandable, durable, and designed to help camera-toting travelers stay organized. But the backpack market is saturated, and the PRVKE isn’t for everyone. And in 2026 it’s also hardly the only option in the camera/travel bag game, with other small but high-quality brands like Matador Travel Equipment (no relation to Matador Network) and Peak Design making gear that can give WANDRD a run for its money.

Two of Matador Network‘s own travel editors own a PRVKE backpack, and both have used them for years — but only one would recommend it. Here’s what made the PRVKE so polarizing to Matador Network’s editors, and how to figure out which side of the fence you might fall on.

Suzie Dundas: Loved it

Suzie is 5-foot, 7-inches, wearing the PRVKE 31L. Photo: Suzie Dundas

Suzie, Matador Network‘s commissioning editor, has long been a fan of the PRVKE backpack. She first tested one in 2020, and used it faithfully until 2025, when she got the newest version (the PRVKE V4). While she likes the original version better, both bags play a key role in her travel rotation. The PRVKE (along with the Travel Backpack from Peak Design) is the bag she uses most for travel.

For her, the primary selling point is the organization. She travels with a lot of gear, including heavy photography gear like lenses, bodies, a tripod, chargers, and more. That gear is fragile, and being able to carry it in a padded bag made for that purpose (with a camera cube) is a more secure solution than trying to awkwardly shove lenses and padded bags into the corners of a more multi-purpose backpack. The Pro Camera Cube, which is made to fit snuggly in the PRVKE, comes with padded dividers you can rearrange however you like. It’s a much better solution than trying to carry a separate padded camera bag inside your main bag, and when you arrive, you can remove the camera cube and have your gear easily accessible while using the bag without the cube as a day pack.

Traveling with camera gear also means traveling with lots of tiny, important accessories that are easy to lose or damage, like memory cards, lens filters, or tiny packets designed to pull moisture out of underwater camera housings. The many small, zippered pockets of the PRVKE make it easy to separate these things into their own compartments, opening them only when needed. This reduces the risk of losing those tiny accessories while rummaging around for other items.

The wraparound zipper allows for lay-flat access to everything in your bag. Photo: Suzie Dundas

She also loves the roll-top design, though admits it can be a little annoying to reach deep down into the bag if it’s packed full. However, it allows you to expand and collapse the bag’s capacity — very useful in airport terminals when she needs to haul anything from a puffy jacket for the plane to a bag of VooDoo Donuts (looking at you, Denver Airport). Other features she finds herself using over and over  include the large front zippered pocket (for easier access when shoved under an airplane seat), the hidden passport pocket, and the double external side pockets, both of which can expand to hold everything from a wide Nalgene bottle to a bulky camera tripod.

The straps attach above the zipper and can sometimes get in the way when you’re trying to unzip the PRVKE. Photo: Suzie Dundas

She has just one gripe that makes her prefer the older PRVKE to the new version. On the newest version (the V4), the backpack straps are above the clamshell zipper and hang down in front of it, so you have to push the straps to either side to fully unzip the back panel. On the older versions, the straps are attached to the back panel.

Tim Wenger: Not a fan

The travel backpack industry is always oversaturated, claims one of Matador’s editors. Photo: Hafiz Soyuz/Shutterstock

Tim, Matador Network‘s transactional content editor, didn’t name names when he wrote the 2024 article entitled “There Are Too Many Travel Backpacks. The Perfect Options Already Exist.” But the PRVKE is what spurred him to write it. After years of traveling, he wrote that he’d “never once thought” his backpack needed to do more, and found that the PRVKE had too many features he didn’t need. He found the small compartments, multiple access points, and the various straps and attachment points to be over-engineered, stating they felt like they were there to solve problems he didn’t actually have.

For Tim, the PRVKE felt like part of a much bigger pattern: a wave of new, design-heavy backpack companies trying to reinvent something that already works. He felt like the PRVKE was making travel more complicated, not less, by adding multiple layers of organization pockets and “clever” features that most people won’t use. He disliked the large, clamshell-style zipper, noting it made it easy to see the bag’s contents, but also meant items fell out when you opened it. “By the second day, I’d identified the pack’s main problem: It couldn’t decide what it wanted to be, and as a result, it wasn’t very good at anything,” he wrote, and his takeaway was that he’d rather have a specific bag for each purpose, rather than one bag he could use for adventures and photography and travel, as the PRVKE markets itself to be.

Why is the PRVKE so polarizing?

Photo: Suzie Dundas

Depending on who you ask, you’ll likely get multiple answers. Realistically, the key difference is probably due to how they travel. Suzie carries camera gear and lots of tiny travel accessories, for which the PRVKE is purpose built, and likes to keep everything well organized on the road. Tim, however, values more straightforward options that don’t reinvent the wheel, so to speak, and would rather use gear that makes travel less complicated.

While we hate to simplify it too much, and there’s certainly any number of reasons why someone may love (or hate) any given piece of luggage, our experience boils down to this: if you carry lots of gear and like to stay organized, especially camera gear, you’ll probably appreciate the PRVKE. If you’re just looking for a aesthetically pleasing, trendy bag for travel, it may be a little overkill — and certainly a little pricey, at $254 for the 31L bag and another $90 to $125 for the camera cube bundle.