Review: Tylt Energi Pro Backpack, the traveling nomad’s perfect solution

Backpacks have always been a source of frustration for me when carrying around my laptop and the various tools I need with me throughout my day. I don’t carry a ton with me at any given moment, but finding a bag that can carry and handle everything has been difficult.

Enter Tylt’s new Energi Pro Backpack. While not only being incredibly spacious, Tylt’s new backpack’s attention grabber is the fact that it includes an impressively large battery in the bag. Carrying everything you lug around is not only a breeze with the Energi Pro Backpack, but charging everything while you do so is god-send.

At first glance, the Energi Pro Power Backpack looks like a bulky traveler’s bag. Akin to something an international traveler might be wearing on a long journey, its square design stands out against other backpacks, and immediately begs the question, “_Why_ is that bag so big?” Once I got my hands on Tylt’s latest backpack, though, it all made sense.

Tylt’s bag is spacious. I mean, really spacious. Not only is it big enough to carry everything you need in your bag during travels, its compartments are also built in a way to properly carry everything you have. The square design allows it to sit-up right without support, meaning there’s no more worrying about having to lean it on something when placed on the floor. The bag will just sit where you leave it.

The large interior design gave me more than enough room to carry my 2010 15” MacBook Pro, my iPad 4th Generation, my wallet, headphones, and multiple notebooks. That didn’t even fill a third of the bag. I’ve never had a bag successfully organize all my gear to the degree that I actually began wondering, “What else can I fit in here?”

The Energi Pro Backpack is also tough. The sleek gray color comes courtesy of the water-resistant weather-safe design. I feel safe putting my electronics in here knowing that the water won’t penetrate the cloth and collect, thus soaking through like my previous bags did.

The large compartment to strap down the laptop is not only TSA-friendly, it also provides a large amount of padding to help protect the investment you set in there. It was strange at first sliding my MacBook into its own separate compartment without any room for anything else, but all the other various compartments quickly made up for that.

Without a doubt my favorite feature of the bag is the included battery. While anyone can buy a large capacity battery and throw it into their bag, the Energi Pro makes the battery and charging experience a full on feature of the bag. The battery that comes with the Energi Pro isn’t actually embedded into the bag, like I originally thought, and with good reason too. It’s actually stored away in its own separate compartment on the side. This makes it easy to remove and recharge without having to dig through the other belongings. Being able to remove the battery to charge it separately, either in a wall or computer, makes it much less awkward when carrying the bag around for other necessities.

While testing the bag, I used it to charge up my girlfriend’s and my own iPhone a few times over. The battery didn’t even go down one notch on its 4-level LED charge indication thanks to its 20,100 mAh battery. Although I don’t have a MacBook that can take advantage of it, I love that Tylt included a Type-C USB output. Not only could I charge a 12-inch MacBook if I had it, but any number of USB Type-C devices that have been making their way to the market.

When I worked at the Apple retail store a few years ago the Visuals team, which was responsible for putting products out onto the floor, was obsessed with cable management. Apple always wanted to make sure that the cables that didn’t need to be visible to customers, weren’t. This habit stuck with me, and I “cable manage” every and any cables I come across. The Tylt Energi Pro Backpack is an organizer’s dream including 11 different routing pockets and routing straps that allow you to route all the cables you need from the included battery to wherever your devices are stored within the bag.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t spend some time also talking about how comfortable this backpack is. With every backpack I have ever bought, I’ve always faced some sort of back ache or shoulder strap discomfort. I could always feel the straps tug away at my arms and slide around and after a few hours of walking around the city with it on, there was never anything I wanted to do more than to just take it off. With the Energi Pro, none of those ideas even came to mind. I loaded up the bag, filled it with everything I needed and was on my way without worry of discomfort. I spent a day walking around NYC with it strapped to me, and didn’t feel any pain or annoyances where I normally would. In fact, it just felt like a secure (obviously more weighted down) jacket I was wearing. Not one for buckles on backpacks that come across the chest, I opted to use them with this bag and felt the difference even further.

I’ll be taking an international trip in the coming weeks, and without a doubt I’ll be traveling with the Energi Pro Backpack. The peace of mind in taking a 16-hour trip and having multiple battery charges available at my disposal will make the entire trip so much relaxed. The ability to carry everything I need, and more, will make it even better.

The Tylt Energi Pro Power Backpack is available on Indiegogo now at $129 for the early bird pricing.