Osprey Cyber Port Rucksack

by Simon · 19/05/2014

Some thought has been put into integrating the bag with your tablet. Once your tablet is in its holder, you can fold the outer flap down, tucking it behind and revealing it. You can then download an app that turns the tablet into a bike light. It’s a neat idea and marries your tablet to your backpack in a rather satisfying way.

Outer flap can be tucked away to reveal tablet, which can then even be used as a bike light!

Once on the road, the bag is very comfortable to wear, riding snug, quite high up the back. However, when it comes to packing the bag, its thick tweed outer is rather rigid and not as accommodating as it could be; consequently, it falls short on my list of commuting essentials. The bag has a theoretical size of 18L, but does not take so many of my essential items, though it does accept both the largest, the LP and laptop, so manages well with rigid rectangular items.

Cyber Port copes well with some of Ed’s essentials, including the larger rectangular items, but not all…

Here’s a reminder of what’s on Ed’s Commuter Backpack List:

1x 12” record
1x pair shoes
1x hardback book
1x t-shirt
1x poncho
1x pair jeans
1x laptop
1x sandwich
1x large pad paper
Assorted pens, other detritus

However, the remainder of the items prove problematic. If you can squeeze in all the clothes, then there is really no room for shoes, and the sandwich would be squashed.

Looks like Ed is going barefoot at work today…

As the bag is thick and snug, it also generates quite a sweat, which is quite a contrast to the very lightweight, cycling bags Osprey is really known for.

Bag is tough but stiff material made Ed sweatier than normal

The build quality and finish are extremely good. The bag could take, I would guess, a fair bit of abuse, and it also has a good, chunky handle. I tested the grey version, but there are red, green and black variations, the red and black perhaps the best-looking.

Overall, it’s a mish-mash. On the one hand the focus on the tablet probably hits the zeitgeist, but doesn’t make for a better bag. Probably aimed at students, who could be on a bike one minute, in a lecture the next and drinking in a park the next (or at ‘Boris Bike’ mounted, cycling salesmen using their tablets for intimate presentations), it seems to be right, but for a serious commute it’s just that bit too bulky and inconvenient.

Osprey Cyber Port Rucksack £69.99

Star ratings:

Price: 4 out of 5
Finish: 4 out of 5
Capacity: 3 out of 5
‘Sweat’ factor: 2 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5

Here’s a video of the bike light app in action.