“A Beautiful Bag Which Emphasizes Form Over Function”
Wandrd is a camera bag company with an apparent dislike of vowels and millennial themed branding. They launched in 2015 with their Original PRVKE bag and this is part of their new “V2” redesign, with numerous improvements like more comfortable straps, better design, and the launch of this bag, a “lite” version which is technically more than a standard PRVKE for the bag alone but this one has a built-in, color matching camera cube which makes it cheaper than buying a backpack and camera cube separately. This bag has an 11L capacity, expandable up to 15L with the roll top. The PRVKE Lite launched with a marketing video showcasing its features.
The Lite backpack comes in a variety of eye-catching colors, from Aegean Blue to Datoll Yellow, Lavender, and more.
I had a hard time choosing between Aegan Blue and Wastach Green, but I ended up choosing the sage green color as I have other sage colored things to match.
Wandrd’s bags, in particular this one, are very eye-catching. They have a smooth, sleek feel to them. It’s a minimal, modern design, but also one that does comes with a few compromises in capacity.
I was quite excited when my bag came in, because it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The Wasatch green is a unique and eye-catching color. I thought the Peak Design Everyday Backpack was the best looking back when it first launched on kickstarter many years ago, but Wandrd has really innovated and made one of the best looking bags I have ever seen.
This bag is also unique in how slim it is, which contributes to the aesthetic. It isn’t bulky like most camera bags. However, this slim form factor does come with compromises, and this bag is hard to recommend as the “one” camera bag simply due to its space-limiting, minimal design and some design choices which force compromises in the gear you carry.
Exterior, Build, & Features
The Wandrd Provoke Lite is made in Vietnam and the exterior material is high-quality Tarpaulin, which is one of best looking (subjectively) and most durable materials out there. Its water resistant and super durable, although susceptible to scratches. The latch for the roll top is nicely made of metal, and the stitching and materials are all high quality. It also has magnetic tote handles with the words “Wander Less, Worry more” inscribed at the top. Kind of a gimmick, but they are functional. A padded felt-lined zippered pouch is at the top, which is nice for sunglasses and other things.
There are 4 attachments straps at the top, and two on back, so you can strap on tripods and such. It has a slim water bottle pocket which can be zipped to minimize the profile of the backpack, a quick access door, laptop compartment and the camera cube separated from the top compartment by a divider. The straps are also some of the best, most comfortable straps and padding I have ever used.
The front has a long zipper to access a front pocket. This pocket is meant for uh… idk like long flat things. Cards, cash, etc.
Although it so accessible maybe not cash or cards. Like papers or something. I put my keys in there, but because of the pocket not having any interior depth, anything bulky you put in here will stick out and bulge on the front of the bag.
It’s not the most useful front pocket, but its better than nothing and works for…some things. You could fit a bunch of memory cards in there I guess. Or very small batteries. Camera batteries will bulge out, but they do fit. Barely.
This bag doesn’t have the best when it comes to external pockets. There’s a felt lined pouch at top which is so nice sometimes I don’t want to just throw anything in there, and the front pocket is mostly only suitable for flat items.
The Prvke backpack is quite small and looks great on smaller frames, but would probably look too small on a larger body.
The Camera Cube
Let’s start with the most important part of a really expensive backpack, the actual camera compartment. The cube actually has quite a bit of space for a mirrorless camera, a lens or two, and even a drone, but it doesn’t fit most telephoto lenses very well.
The camera cube overall is excellent quality, but the quick access door is a bit too small and it is still a small backpack which means limited gear capacity. However, this backpack actually carries way more than I would expect a small backpack like this to carry, however it still won’t hold a huge kit and can feel very overloaded when fully filled up with gear. It can even fit a Sony 100-400…. just barely.
You can basically fit like one camera and an extra large lens, drone etc. or one camera and 2 small lenses and maybe a few accessories.
If you configure properly and with a bit more efficiency you might be able to fit a full camera kit, but I often find there will be small spaces between items. Taller lenses with tripod mounts will not fit and you will need to remove the foot to fit them.
The side door access is a bit too small. It works for a small mirrorless camera like the A7Riii, but if you add an L Bracket or Grip Extender the viewfinder might catch a bit on the door.
The door is designed to be pretty much the exact size of a mirrorless camera, and not much more.
Laptop Compartment
The laptop compartment is decently padded, it isn’t quick to access without opening the entire backpack but it does have a nice Velcro tab and decent protection to keep everything in place.
Technically, it holds a 16” MacBook Pro, but a 16” MacBook Pro will barely fit and the edge of the laptop could get scratched by the zipper, not to mention it is hardly protected at the edges.
A 13” or 14” Laptop will fit perfectly.
The inside also has pockets for memory cards, batteries etc etc.
These pockets are unfortunately not very useful due to their very small size. The two top pockets can hold a filter up to about 67mm. Got a bigger filter? Too bad. It also decent for batteries.
Camera batteries, that is. Larger batteries like drone or light batteries won’t fit. The pocket below is long about only about 2 in long. This is clearly meant for memory cards because there isn’t much else you can fit in there. There are no other pockets besides these 3 on the inside.
THE WATER BOTTLE POCKET
The water bottle pocket is the perfect example of form over function. It zips up when not in use, making the backpack look slim n sexy.
But when you DO want to use it, it’s very limited. Wandrds regular PRVKE line has a strap above the water bottle pocket to hold a tripod. This backpack not only doesn’t have that, but there isn’t a loop to attach a strap at the top either, so you have to strap a tripod to the bottom.
The water bottle pocket does expand, but you have to have a SPECIFIC type of slim water bottle to fit. A smaller bottle, up to maybe 20L, will fit okay, even up to a Nalgene bottle. However, it makes the backpack look a bit bulky and unbalanced. This makes it clear this is a “city” backpack that you probably wouldn’t take on extended hikes. Sometimes I put water in the roll top instead , but that can make it feel a bit unbalanced and top heavy.
Speaking of hikes, I want to go back to the straps again. The straps on this backpack are so comfortable. There is a nice amount of ventilated padding on the back and straps and that combined with the slim design makes this backpack very comfortable to carry around. The sternum strap also secured nicely on a rail type system and is very secure, although it is made of plastic which makes it feel a bit cheap and is somewhat difficult to remove at first.
THE ROLL TOP
The roll top isn’t quick to access, but offers a bit of extra security, weather sealing, and volume capacity. When you first open it, it looks huge. However, much like a tall glass, this volume is mostly height, not width. If you stuff a jacket in, you can see how quickly it fills up.
Once you have loaded your camera gear, this is where the rest of your stuff goes. I usually put some water, some snacks, a jacket and…. Oh no wait, I’m out of room. Okay, um… lighter jacket, a bit less water, and i’ll put my snacks in smaller ziplock bags. Cool, now it fits.
Just like the rest of the bag, you have to be careful how you pack the rolltop. Ive also noted that when carrying tons of gear, the straps pull on the back zipper, and overall the bag just doesn’t feel designed to carry heavy loads. Leave your pet rock collection at home and only take the essentials.
PREMIUM TRIPOD STRAPS
The Wandrd Prvke Lite doesnt come with straps, you you will have to purchase them separately. They sell “regular” straps, at 15$, or Premium magnetic colored straps for 50$. I purchased the premium beige straps as part of my order.
The magnetic straps are actually really nice. They are super easy to unbuckle and buckle again, although they do come loose a bit easy if you apply force at the right angle to the magnetic enclosure.
One of the issues I had with Peak Design is their straps are a huge PITA to take off, sometimes requiring two hands. These straps are a huge upgrade to that design, and work really well, especially for strapping a tripod on the bottom of this backpack.
HOWEVER, you are still limited on the type of tripod. Peak designs overpriced travel tripods are a perfect fit, as are most lightweight tripods.
A heavy tripod though ,or anything that extends far enough past the backpack to allow you to comically get stuck in doorways, not only will barely fit but also would weigh the backpack too much. Leave your bulky manfrotto at home and only bring a super lightweight tripod, which will either be very expensive for a good one or cheap and somewhat flimsy.
OVERALL CONCLUSION
It is clear that Wandrds intentions was to make the best looking camera bag, and in this I think they succeeded. The Wandrd Prvke Lite is a beautiful bag.
However, this bag definitely makes many compromises for looks, which few other reviewers seem to mention. Looking at it purely from a “price per liter” standpoint, its very expensive and doesn’t offer much in terms of value for your money. At the end of the day, its still an 11L bag and is competing more with sling backpacks than fully featured camera bags that offer twice the capacity and the same features for the same price.
This bag seems best for those suffering from a camera bag addiction and need a lightweight, “day” bag because they are never happy with the perfectly functional bags they already own …. *ahem (looks in mirror)
This bag doesn’t really work as “the one”, because anyone who is serious enough to spend 200+ on a camera bag will probably at some point have more gear than will fit in this bag. Yes, this bag encourages you to be minimalist, but sometimes I just need to shove a bunch of stuff in a bag and carry it somewhere, and this bag isn’t really made for that.
As much as I love how this bag looks, and it has gotten many compliments on the street, my other issue with this as a “city” bag is that it definitely looks premium and attracts all kinds of attention. It isn’t really that stealthy, and even in black the tarpaulin has a premium “shine” that gives away its price point.
I think day bags that are a bit more understated work better but this backpack is made to look good so those that buy it likely aren’t looking to blend in too much anyways.
The issue with using this as your only camera bag is at some point you will run into some sort of compromise. Maybe your tripod is too big to strap on, or your water bottle doesn’t quite fit, or your filters are too big for the filter pocket, or your camera L Bracket makes the opening feel too small, or your drone controller is mashed awkwardly in a corner because that’s the only place you can fit it.
I have tested this backpack for many many hours, and brought it on hikes, day trips, and around town. I love how it looks, how it feels, and it is a good bag as long as your being minimalist.
But for a shoot that requires lots of gear, for general hikes and even just some more intensive everyday carry situation (you have to carry a bigger jacket or extra water, etc etc) it very quickly begins to feel limited. An accompanying duffel bag might help supplement this, but why not just have a backpack that can do both?
If you already have a big, heavy backpack and wants something slimmer and smaller that can carry basic stuff, this is the bag for you. But for such “basic” situations, the price is certainly not basic and this undermines the practicality of the bag if your only looking to carry minimal gear.
The slimness is something I want to once again emphasize. Because this backpack is the slimmest I have seen for its capacity and looks really good on smaller frames. Larger frames might find it looks too small, but for female or smaller males it fits nicely and doesn’t result in my backpack knocking things over all the time like some of my larger bags.
So much of the design of this bag is about keeping things slim and minimal, and many of the compromises are from this are as well, so when shopping for this bag, that’s the main differentiating feature that makes this backpack desirable.
While I like using this bag for daily carry, I couldn’t help but wonder “Is there anything this bag can do that my others cannot?”
Again, form over function.
When making a decision on buying this bag, I think its important to think about how much you value looks, a slim profile, and a minimalistic amount of gear, because this is what this camera bag is designed for. The pockets are all designed for a specific purpose and nothing on this backpack is really particularly versatile.
If you value frugality, understated looks, bag capacity, or want to make sure when spending 200+ on a camera bag that it is versatile and works for most situations, the Wandrd Prvke just doesn’t make as much sense. Wandrd of course sells a 20L, 30L, and even 40L Prvke that’s meant more for that audience. Yes, its slightly more for those bags, but they are much more useful and give more room to grow if you add more gear to your setup.
The camera bag space has gotten more and more competitive lately, and to me, The Wandrd Prvke Lite is an art piece. Its one of the best looking bags I’ve seen yet. But, art is still a luxury, not a necessity, and this bag is much of the same. It is a unique and beautiful bag that comes with a lot of compromises to embody the idea of minimalism.
For most people, especially those without multiple camera bags, I would save up for a more practical premium bag, such as Wandrd’s PRVKE 20L or 30L, or a Peak Design, Lowepro, etc etc. Or get a cheap camera bag off Amazon or whatever.
If you are deadset on the looks of this bag and feel you are willing to deal with the compromises and limited pockets or have another larger bag for different situations, then I think you will be happy with the Wandrd Prvke Lite. However, for most people, its a bit hard to justify for any other reason than “Damn, that bag looks good”