Bought two of these for Disney world trip. We used them every day. So many pockets to store different items in. Couple of side pockets for bottles of water or the cups provided by the resort. Held up very well to Lots of abuse. Lightweight and comfortable. I must have seen thousands of different types of backpacks and none that I thought would work as well as these for the trip and purposes we needed them for

Great Backpack for hiking with my family. I love how this bag folds down into a packable little pouch. I've used this to carry our essentials like bug spray, sunblock, snacks, lunches, first aid kit, etc. It all fit well. It is very light weight. If you carry very heavy items this bag may not be for you. For my purposes of casual hiking with my family it is the perfect backpack and very comfortable to wear. Plus my kids were so impressed with the emergency whistle ;)

Backpack performed well like other reviews. I wanted a lightweight one that I could use for when my family and I go to amusement parks. Having two zippered pockets in the front was good for holding various things. Redesigned big zipper worked well as I didn't have any catches. For the top front pocket, it should have the same zipper design as the bottom as I did get the top zipper caught on the flap a few times. The water resistant feature worked well as the splashes from a water ride kept the water out. Two eater bottle holders n the sides were nice too but another suggestion would be to make the pockets deeper (or have the top edge go higher) so that larger water bottles stay in place. The big did as promised and the price paid was worth it. Looking forward to bringing it on our Hawaii vacation.

I was looking for an ultra-lite backpack that had OK room, some useful smaller pockets, made of quality construction and materials and, most importantly two full-size external drink holder sleeves. My usual backpack is a Swiss Gear laptop backpack that is extremely high quality, very sturdy, and has everything one would ever want in a backpack, including drink holder sleeves, but it's too large for a short walkabout. And I don't go anywhere without 2 travel mugs full of coffee! The Venture Pal satisfies all my expectations for quality, utility - and ample beverage accommodation! Very nice unit!

****I have changed my review from 3 stars to 4 stars after being contacted by the company after my original review. They let me know about the lifetime warranty that comes with the bag and offered to replace it or refund me. I opted for a refund as I still would prefer a higher quality bag rather than get replacements for this one over and over, however if you are looking for a lighter weight light duty bag, this could be a nice mid-range price option.****

I got this backpack for a Mexico trip wanting something that would offer a little rain resistance if we ended up in tropical rain storms... which we did... and it was overall ok, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

PROS:
- There are lots of pockets which was super useful and helped keep everything organized.
* The front lower zipper pocket has a smaller separator inside and a additional zipper pocket. This was very secure and really handy.
* The upper front zipper pocket was great because we could fit a few snack bars and our sunglasses in it so they wouldn't get scratched.
* The side mesh pockets were a good size and we easily fit extra large Liter water bottles comfortably.
* The main pouch had two additional subdivisions, one against the front and one against the back, which were also really helpful.
- The bag itself was really light weight
- It folds up to a fairly small size and conveniently zips up into itself for easy packing
- The straps were comfortable and solid and the chest strap was nice when the bag was heavy
- The "water resistant" fabric did help keep the contents dry-ish when it rained or on a boat

CONS
- The material was too thin and by the end of the trip, all be it a month long trip but one trip none the less, it was ripped in several places.
- The "water resistance" was really more like a treatment on the inside of the fabric so after lots of wear, rubbing, heat, and, you guessed it, water, the treatment stuff was peeling off all over the bag
- The edges of the fabric where the zipper was sewn on weren't burnt or finished in any way so there were constantly strings pulling off and getting caught in the zipper. I'd yank off big balls of fluffy thread that had frayed off the edges almost daily.
- The zipper cover on the upper outer front pocket would get caught CONSTANTLY. The manufacturer seems to have responded by the overwhelming about of user reviews mentioning this problem, but their solution was to make that zipper cover flat LARGER... That only exacerbates the problem and make it worse. It would have been better honestly with no zipper cover at all and just using a WATER RESISTANT ZIPPER like they do on the lower front pocket.
- Sadly, this backpack really only lasted this one trip, which sucks. I wish I would have spent a little more money on a better backpack.