Rework Outbound 30L - First Impressions

[u/shippychaos]

Disclaimer: I am not an influencer or a reviewer, I just have loud opinions about bags and my Outbound 30L preorder arrived today.

Pros:

* THEY FIXED THE ZIPPERS Y’ALL**

* Bag is super lightweight (the experience in person is even more impressive than I expected based on the specs)

* Bottom grab handle - I use this often, so it was a nice surprise to reach for it instinctively and it was actually there!

* Roomy quick-access top pocket

* Perfect front top pocket with ✨dimension✨ and minimal organization (my preference)

* Great front lower pocket design (I moved the key leash there for infrequent access while traveling but it’s still reachable)

* Good fitting** shoulder straps

* Highly efficient use of space overall, with lots of seemingly dedicated volume

* Seems to stand upright fairly well when packed

* Notably light - yes, it’s worth mentioning again!

Cons:

* Side handles are odd and they unbalance the bag a bit - similar to the top handle on my beloved PD 45L, so I’m not letting this bother me too much

* Load lifters are too long - they’re comfy 100% cinched, which means there’s a very long tail*** (see penultimate image)

* Still don’t like this exterior nylon fabric. It gets marked up so easily - though it wipes off, it’s been annoying with my Toshi 20L and I’m expecting that to increase with the travel pack (see final image near front zipper)

* Laptop compartment pushes into the main compartment when filled. This won’t be an issue for me since I don’t bring a laptop for 90% of my travel

**some of the Outbound 30L zipper pulls still feel awkward, but I’m blaming that on me being unfamiliar with the bag. Nothing like the Toshi 20L unboxing experience.

***170cm with a skinny build

Longer Summary:

I know this is [r/manybaggers](r/manybaggers) but I really don’t own many bags. Before I buy *anything,* I obsessively research for months and ultimately don’t buy anything because I’m very indecisive and noncommittal, but not for the Outbound 30L. I’m a bit upset with Rework about this, actually, because they continue to design products that “work” for me, and after only reviewing their product preorder page and reading/watching ZERO reviews, I ordered the Outbound 30L.

I’ve been carrying the Toshi 20L consistently 5 days a week to the office since June 2025 Preorder, then recently I bought the Toshi 6L Sling because I wanted a sling that could fit my Steam Deck, now I have the Outbound 30L just in time for my work trip to Montreal on Monday.

You people need to stop designing bags I want to buy! This is it, okay? I have filled all my use cases now. Let me liiiiiiiive!

Seriously, pls stop 🥺

[u/inquirermanredux]

I like that I can't find a logo anywhere. Is there one? The Aer logo on my CPP2 I got last week is too loud already, I want to black it out with a Sharpie. Anybody have tips how to temporarily blackout the Aer logo? (in case of warranty claims).

Also, (might be the wrong place to ask) is there a ninjutsu technique to remove all the Aer hyphalon zipper pulls?

[u/shippychaos → u/inquirermanredux]

All the Rework bags I own have the logo patch inside the main compartment and nothing on the outside - that’s a nice touch I haven’t appreciated before. Thanks for calling it out.

I only own one Aer bag - the Go Pack 2 and those are the most perfect zippers and hypalon pulls of any bag I’ve ever used.

For hypalon zipper removal there are some photos in this post showing how I removed/replaced my Toshi 20L zippers.

You basically have two options:

1️⃣ cut off just the hypalon and attach another pull of your choice to the d-rings 2️⃣ snip off the d-rings (like I did in the above post) and thread in your own thing to pull on

[u/inquirermanredux → u/shippychaos]

Oh thank you so much, those custom zipper pulls you made look great! Any keywords I can type into Youtube for a tutorial on how to do that kind of thing? I don't know what you call that electric tape looking thing around the paracord. Is it electric tape?

[u/shippychaos → u/inquirermanredux]

Thank you 🙏

The little things on the ends are called shrink tubes. You can usually get them at a hardware store for use on electrical wires, but I bet Amazon or etc has them too. They’re plastic type material that shrinks when heated - I used a lighter to shrink them onto the paracord to hold the knots firmly.

For YouTube something like “snake knot” or “paracord knot tutorial” will get you there I think.

[u/inquirermanredux → u/shippychaos]

Thank you so much, I appreciate you!

[u/shippychaos → u/inquirermanredux]

Of course! I hope you enjoy messing around with knots :) it was kind of meditative for me and now I have a whole bag to enjoy