The 7 Best Sling Bags for Everyday Carry
They&#;re not quite backpacks. But they&#;re not quite shoulder bags, either. And they&#;re much more stylish than fanny packs.
What are they? They&#;re sling bags &#; the latest and greatest trend in everyday carry.
But in our opinion, the sling bag goes way beyond being a momentary fashion trend. They fit in a narrow category between backpacks and shoulder bags, with many of the benefits of both, slimmed down to a perfect size for more minimalist EDC. And they&#;re darned convenient too, with grab-and-go functionality that&#;s perfect for urban everyday carry.
Through the process of putting a ton of time into designing our own sling bag, we have been exposed to a huge range of brands that are doing this type of bag right. So we figured: Why not put them all to the test, head-to-head?
In this review of the best sling bags for everyday carry, we&#;ll give you the inside scoop on what each bag does best (starting with our own). And once you have an overview of the bags we&#;ve chosen to test, you can go deeper before deciding on your perfect sling by checking out our head-to-head reviews and our YouTube video showing how the bags work hands-on.
The NutSac Sling
Our take on a sling bag comes in two different materials: A rugged waxed canvas that will take a great patina, and a tactical-friendly D Cordura that&#;s tough as nails.
We designed the NutSac sling with both the urban adventurer and the tactical operator in mind, equipping it with the right specs to hold an iPad Mini as well as an internal molle panel for modular customization. It has a vertical orientation that&#;s somewhat unique in this category of bag, and a padded back panel for more comfortable carry.
We&#;re especially proud of making all of our sling bags right here in the USA, and offer a lifetime guarantee to back them up.
Dimensions/Capacity: 3.5" x 11.5" x 8", about 5 liters
Materials: Waxed canvas OR D Cordura
Notable features: Internal molle panel, padded detachable strap, four-way zipper
Best for: Urban or tactical EDC, buy-it-for-life quality
Country of origin: United States
Price: $189
Alpaca Bravo Sling Max (Pro)
If you&#;re looking for a minimalist sling bag, look elsewhere&#;but if you&#;d like to replace your usual backpack setup with a slimmed-down bag, Alpaca&#;s Bravo Sling Max (Pro) will do the trick.
The Bravo sling is one of the largest we&#;ve tested, and it&#;s big enough to hold a 14-inch MacBook Pro comfortably. A lot of the interior is lined with microfiber cloth, and there are plenty of pockets. It seems pretty clear that this sling is designed for the tech-centric urban professional.
Dimensions/Capacity: 15.35&#; x 10.24&#; x 5.51&#;, 10 liters
Materials: D ballistic nylon OR 750D nylon/polyester blend
Notable features: Aqua guard zippers, magnetic buckle, large capacity
Best for: Tech-centric everyday carry
Country of origin: China
Price: $129
Tomtoc Compact EDC Sling Bag
The most budget-friendly of the sling bags we&#;ve tested here, Tomtoc&#;s Compact EDC Sling Bag feels very &#;standard issue&#;. It&#;s neither outstanding in its field nor particularly troublesome.
Tomtoc&#;s sling comes in three sizes, from a petite 4.5 liters to a larger 9 liters that can fit a small laptop or tablet. Most of the hardware is plastic, and the zippers have a tendency to be a little tough to work with. But we like its fast and easy access, as well as the approachable price point.
Dimensions/Capacity: Three sizes, ranging from 4.5 to 9 liters; 8 inches at the smallest size, 14 inches at the largest.
Materials: Cordura (no denier specified)
Notable features: Three sizes to choose from, plenty of internal pockets
Best for: Budget-conscious buyers
Country of origin: China
Price: $43 to $70
Black Ember TKS Sling
Small but packed with features, the Black Ember TKS Sling seems like a very good fit for someone who always needs to stay connected. It&#;s made with a tough but flexible material that&#;s entirely waterproof, and aqua guard zippers just for good measure.
Overall, we like the general design of Black Ember&#;s sling. The magnetic buckle system is particularly cool. The zippers can be a little bit hard to work because of their locking system &#; but if you&#;re traveling in a new city, that added security might be just what you need.
Dimensions/Capacity: 11&#; x 5.5&#; x 3&#;, 2.5 liters
Materials: Microhex HTX, a high tensile strength waterproof fabric
Notable features: Magnetic key ring, magnetic buckle, aqua guard zippers, waterproof shell
Best for: Digital nomads and other tech-centric carriers
Country of origin: Unknown Price: $109
Nomatic Navigator Sling
In both its shape and its dimensions, Nomatic&#;s Navigator Sling is very similar to our NutSac Sling. And it has the same vertical orientation that we&#;ve come to love, too &#; heck, it&#;s even made in America as well.
The main difference between the two bags is the materials used. The Navigator is made from a water-resistant polyester and nylon blend, which combines nicely with the tech pockets inside to keep your gear safe and dry. Thanks to the addition of reflective bars on the outside of the sling, we could see this one being quite a good choice for anyone who commutes by bike.
Dimensions/Capacity: 13.5" x 9" x 4", 6 liters
Materials: 80/20 nylon/polyester blend
Notable features: Water-resistant and tamper-proof zippers, reflective bars for nighttime visibility
Best for: Urban commuters
Country of origin: United States
Price: $130
Waterfly Crossbody Sling
Okay, we won&#;t pull any punches here: Waterfly&#;s Crossbody Sling is the least expensive sling bag in this review, and also the lowest quality. If you like the look of this bag and don&#;t know if you want to really invest in a sling bag yet, it could be a good way to test this bag style. Other than that, we would give it a pass.
Dimensions/Capacity: 12.4&#; x 2.3&#; x 6.3&#;, capacity unknown
Materials: Nylon, denier unknown
Notable features: Lowest price sling bag in this review
Best for: No comment
Country of origin: China
Price: $26 to $36
PacSafe Vibe 325 Sling
It&#;s an unfortunate reality that when you&#;re out traveling in a new city, you&#;re a target for petty theft. A lot of bags aren&#;t made of tough enough stuff to resist the most common way of doing this either: A slash and grab, where the thief will simply cut your bag off at the strap and run.
PacSafe&#;s Vibe 325 Sling is specifically designed to prevent this, with a whole host of anti-theft and slash-resistant features. That&#;s the main draw here: Keeping your valuables (up to an 11 inch tablet) safe from harm while you&#;re out and about.
Dimensions/Capacity: 15.7&#; x 9&#; x 3.1&#;, 10 liters
Materials: 400D Econyl Nylon and recycled polyester
Notable features: RFID blocking internal pocket, slash guard strap, locking zippers
Best for: Travelers who need anti-theft protections
Country of origin: China
Price: $130
How to Choose a Sling Bag for Everyday Carry
Now that you have a general overview of the sling bag styles available to you, it&#;s time to narrow down your options.
When we&#;re looking for the perfect sling bag for ourselves or a friend, we pay attention to these qualities and categories:
Capacity and dimensions: How big is the sling? If you&#;re using it just for your , wallet, and keys, you don&#;t need more than about 3 liters of space. But if you&#;re packing a book, tablet, or water bottle, you&#;ll need a larger bag.
Strap or carry style: Is the bag vertically or horizontally oriented? Does that make it easy to access what you need to carry with you? And how comfortable/padded is the strap?
Waterproof: Do you need water resistance? We certainly recommend it. And if you&#;re carrying some expensive tech gear, you may need to go all the way to waterproofed zippers, too.
Country of origin: Aside from national pride, a bag&#;s country of origin determines a lot about the quality of its manufacturing. We&#;re biased, of course, but strongly prefer American-made bags.
Durability and warranty: How long is this bag supposed to last? If you&#;re going to invest any substantial amount of cash in a sling bag, you should have a guarantee that you&#;ll be using it for decades to come.
Take all of those into account, compare them to your budget, and you should get a clear picture of which bag is best for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
And to round things out here, we&#;d like to take just a moment to answer the most common questions we hear guys asking about sling bags.
How should a man wear a sling bag?
So you can find either vertically- or horizontally-oriented sling bags, and each one has its own wear style. We prefer the vertically-oriented style as a general rule, since it fits almost more like a backpack. Horizontal slings are usually smaller and provide quick access to your keys, , and wallet.
Is a sling bag the same as a crossbody bag?
Yes and no. All slings are crossbody bags, but not all crossbody bags are slings. If you wear a messenger bag across your body, it could also be called a crossbody bag.
Are sling bags a good look for men?
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It really comes down to the sling itself. Is a high-quality, thoughtfully designed sling a good look for men? Heck yeah. Is a cheap, mass-produced nylon bag? Probably not so much.
Why are sling bags becoming so popular?
We think slings bags have taken off in popularity because the combine the best of backpacks and messenger bags in a more convenient, travel-ready size. They wear comfortably and allow quick access to your essentials, which is pretty awesome.
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We&#;re partial to small slings since they are, point blank, the best for travel. Small slings are more comfortable to carry, easier to pack inside a larger travel backpack, and will be considered a personal item on most airlines (in the States, anyway). At some size, a sling bag just becomes an uncomfortable backpack.
While a sling&#;s size is measured in liters, the liter size of a sling bag can vary from company to company. One brand&#;s 5 liters is another brand&#;s 2 liters (exasperating, right? Get it together, people!). So it&#;s equally important to consider the shape of the sling bag, the internal organization, and the thickness of the material&#;all of which will impact the amount of usable space available. Let&#;s break that down.
We know we just said judging a sling bag by liters isn&#;t the most accurate way to determine volume, but it still works well as a benchmark. We recommend staying between one and eight liters and keeping the weight less than four, maybe five, pounds&#;this weight includes your stuff, of course. Since a sling bag wears over one shoulder, a big, heavy sling may, at best, get too uncomfortable to carry, and at worst, hurt your back. Plus, it&#;ll look awfully strange sitting across the chest.
Some sling bags are expandable, which is excellent for travel since they&#;ll take up little space when not in use or when you don&#;t have much to carry&#;but you can still fill them with a decent amount of stuff when expanded. This trick works well on small sling bags but can be overkill on bigger ones, which expand to be comically bulky.
CODEOFBELL
X-POD
With an expandable main compartment, the CODEOFBELL X-Pod works equally well on days when you only need the essentials and on trips where you want everything but the kitchen sink. Plus, it never looks too bulky and manages to stay comfortable even when fully packed&#;an impressive feat we don&#;t often see.
See Full Review & Buying Options Check Price at CODEOFBELLThe profile of a sling bag has a significant impact on its overall look and comfort level. Most sling bags have an oblong shape to better fit the chest and back. As we mentioned earlier, sometimes hip packs try to be sling bags&#;some are even successful at it&#;but they won&#;t be nearly as contoured to the chest and can hang in such a way as to look unbalanced.
With sling bags, you&#;ll usually find one of two orientations: tall or wide. They&#;re both equally great options that work better or worse for different use-cases and style preferences.
Tall sling bags are just that&#;tall&#;and wear more like a purse or mini-backpack. As you would expect, they work well for things that you want to pack vertically, say a case with bunny ears. Tall sling bags aren&#;t usually tight against the body, nor can they only be worn on your back.
If you want to look like you don&#;t know how to wear a fanny pack correctly, then a wide sling may be your style of choice. That&#;s to say, they are more closely related to the fanny pack in the looks department, for better or worse, and usually sit tightly against the body.
You&#;ll likely carry important gear in your sling bag such as your cell , money, and passport. Unless you&#;ve got special powers that allow you to avoid rain and snow indefinitely, a bit of weather resistance is a major plus, as it will protect those essential items from damage. Plus, a weather-resistant sling can be wiped down quickly, meaning you won&#;t have to wear a sopping wet bag against your chest&#;not a fun experience.
On the other hand, too much weatherproofing is overkill. Full-blown waterproof or super weather-resistant materials are built for just that&#;resisting water. Generally speaking, they&#;re not going to hold up to everyday use as well as other fabrics (more on that below), and they may not look as nice or feel as comfortable on your back/chest.
If push comes to shove and you need to protect your sling from a sudden rainstorm, they&#;re usually small enough to fit under a rain jacket. Just beware&#;people may think you are either smuggling a small animal under your coat or have a bizarrely shaped chest. (This could be a pro or con depending on your personality.)
With the popularity of sling bags on an exponential rise, you&#;ll find sling bags ranging from ten bucks to thousands. While we don&#;t recommend going out and buying a sling bag that costs as much as a car (unless you have money to burn), we do recommend purchasing a sling made of durable, high-quality materials&#;and that may cost you more than ten bucks.
That said, the same fabric that&#;s ideal for a travel backpack can be a bit much on a sling bag. You have to balance durability with weight and interior capacity. When you&#;re looking at quality, be sure to pay attention to:
A broken zipper may lead to a broken heart while traveling. That may sound dramatic, but if you&#;ve ever had a zipper break on you while abroad, you&#;ll know exactly what we mean. We usually trust zippers from YKK, RiRi, and SAB&#;all of which have solid track records for making quality products, our favorite being the Japanese manufacturer, YKK. YKK zippers have rarely let us down, even when we&#;ve put them through the wringer over years and years of testing. They account for about half of all the zippers in the world for a reason.
Beyond the brand, it&#;s important to consider size, which is measured on a scale of one (small) to ten (large). While the main zippers on sling bags fall all over this spectrum, the most common sizes are #5 or #8&#;seriously, out of the 50 + slings we&#;ve tested, a very, very high majority have either #5 or #8 zippers. Anything less than a five and you&#;ll likely run into durability issues.
With sling bags, you also don&#;t need&#;or want&#;anything too beefy, like a #10 zipper. If they&#;re too big, the zips can jingle, which gets annoying for us around the five-minute mark. Maybe you&#;re more patient than we are. Larger zippers can also rub against your chest or back, which is just as uncomfortable as it sounds.
Some companies purposefully design their sling bags with oversized zippers or zipper teeth to look extra dope. If you&#;re into this aesthetic, you may have to get used to the jingling. Fashion is pain and all that.
For the zippers on internal or less-frequented pockets, you&#;ll be okay with a smaller size. They can also help with the aforementioned weather resistance. When looking at zippers, you may see the letters RC stamped next to the size (#5RC, #8RC, etc.). RC stands for reverse coil, a term that describes zippers with internally&#;rather than externally&#;facing teeth, which helps prevent water from percolating into the bag. But a reverse coil zipper isn&#;t that water-resistant. So don&#;t go thinking it&#;ll protect your in a monsoon.
For further protection, there are water-repellent zippers&#;like the YKK AquaGuard zipper&#;which have a thin polyurethane coating to, you know, repel water. If you&#;re planning on going to an unusually wet area with your sling bag, then you may want to look for this style of zipper. Otherwise, you&#;ll likely be fine without that extra water resistance.
Buckles are a major component of most sling bags, and if there&#;s no buckle, there will be some sort of clip. You don&#;t want the hardware to break on you because that&#;ll make the sling practically useless. Unless you MacGyver up a big knot, which will help with the usefulness but, let&#;s be real, look totally ridiculous.
Again, the brand matters here. Some trustworthy companies are Duraflex, YKK, Woojin, and ITW. As long as you stick with them, you should be good to go. We also love metal buckles&#;as opposed to plastic&#;but when it comes to slings, they can be uncomfortable and add a good bit of weight. If durability is a priority however, metal buckles can&#;t be beaten.
Unlike in the s&#;or even the mid-s&#;bag designers (engineers?) have a ton of fabrics to choose from to make their bags, all of which have pros and cons. As we&#;ve already mentioned, you want to balance durability with weight and capacity. A sling bag won&#;t have to do as much work as a travel backpack; therefore, it doesn&#;t have to be as tough. Some materials you may run into are:
You&#;re probably familiar with nylon since it&#;s a common synthetic fabric that manages to be soft, durable, and lightweight (go science!). These qualities make it suitable for a variety of products, and slings are no exception. That said, it&#;s more of a blank canvas these days and is often infused with weaves, sewing patterns, or extra fibers that make the fabric more durable, tear, or weather-resistant.
Initially developed for military body armor, ballistic nylon is strong&#;and possibly a bit overkill on a sling bag. While we love that you won&#;t have to worry about the exterior of your bag falling apart on you, it does weigh more than other fabrics and feels stiff against the body. Still, it&#;s a great choice thanks to its exceptional resistance to pilling and water. Plus, it won&#;t do any damage to your clothing as it rubs against it.
The magic of ripstop nylon is all in its name. Due to its magical properties&#;AKA, the extra fibers that are sewn into its square weave&#;ripstop nylon prevents punctures from spreading into full-on rips. Moreover, like plain old nylon, ripstop has a high strength-to-weight ratio, meaning it&#;s lightweight but still remarkably strong&#;a significant asset for a sling bag. Plus, it&#;s currently used in ejector seat parachutes for fighter pilots(!), and if it&#;s good enough for fighter pilots, it&#;s good enough for us.
Polyester is another standard synthetic fabric, but clocks in at a lower price than nylon. It&#;s generally heavier, too. If you&#;re looking to buy a cheap sling bag to hold some beer at music festivals and you don&#;t care that it won&#;t last more than one season, polyester will suit you well. We should point out that there are some reasonably-durable polyester sling bags out there, but those are usually blended with other fabrics (especially in the lining and/or other sensitive areas).
CORDURA® is a brand, not a fabric, but it&#;s still worth mentioning since you&#;ll likely run into it more than a few times. CORDURA® nylon and polyester is the exact same as traditional nylon and polyester, the only difference being that the fabric has come from a CORDURA®-approved mill and production line. The CORDURA® label is basically a stamp of quality assurance&#;it&#;s pretty much a guarantee that anything CORDURA® will have excellent abrasion resistance and an impressive strength-to-weight ratio.
You aren&#;t going to see a lot of canvas sling bags out there, but the few that do exist have an antiquated and sophisticated air about them. That&#;s because canvas&#;particularly cotton canvas&#;was the fabric that started it all. Canvas is heavier and more susceptible to abrasions than synthetics, but unlike synthetics, its weatherproofing is usually obtained by wax, which can be re-proofed, ensuring continual water-resistance and durability.
Remember when we just said that canvas is the fabric that started it all? Well, technically speaking, that isn&#;t entirely accurate because leather has been around a lot longer. But in today&#;s day and age, you aren&#;t going to see a ton of leather sling bags&#;especially in a travel context (they&#;re more common on runways). Leather isn&#;t great for travel since it&#;s heavy, sensitive to the elements, and requires a decent amount of maintenance. We suggest sticking with a leather wallet and finding a sling bag made of basically anything else.
While this isn&#;t a comprehensive list of all of the fabrics you&#;ll run into while shopping (sorry sailcloth and polypropylene) a majority of sling bags will be made with one or multiple of the materials mentioned above. But the material itself isn&#;t the be-all, end-all.
Usually, you&#;ll see a number followed by a D associated with the material&#;250D, 950D, D, etc. The D stands for denier, which is the unit that measures the weight or thickness of fabric. In general, the higher the number, the more durable the fabric&#;but higher numbers also mean higher weight.
Because every fabric has its individual strengths (nylon is inherently stronger than polyester) the denier won&#;t help you much when comparing two different types of fabrics, or even two types of weaves within one fabric family. Instead, it helps you compare two fabrics of the same type. 500D Ballistic nylon is less durable than D Ballistic nylon, for example. But the 500D Ballistic nylon will also be much lighter (about half as light, in fact!).
When it comes to sling bags, higher denier is generally better, but you start maxing out around 500D. As far as we&#;re concerned, any fabric over 500D is a bit overkill for a sling bag. As you get up into the 500D range, the weight of the fabric will start to become more substantial, but because sling bags are small&#;and thus don&#;t have a lot of fabric&#;you&#;ll hardly be able to notice this difference in weight. And because sling bags don&#;t take as much abuse as, say, a full-blown travel backpack, we don&#;t think the extra durability of 500D+ fabrics is necessary.
Moreover, the other aspects of a sling bag, including its zippers and hardware, also have to be high-quality. It does you no good if your ballistic nylon exterior has held up if your zippers break on week three. Best to keep everything well-rounded.
Aer
City Sling 2
Bordering on too durable, the Aer City Sling 2 is made of some tough stuff&#;D CORDURA® Ballistic nylon, to be precise. If you&#;re looking for a sling bag that will keep up while you roam the world, this one should be on your radar.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Custom Tactical Sling Bags. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
See Full Review & Buying Options Check Price at Aer