An Epic Travel Backpack or an Epic Dud? The Matador SEG28 Review

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I freaking love a good travel bag. Especially one that prioritizes organization. I travel too often to use luggage that doesn’t keep all my stuff together and in its place (which is why I love my Topo Designs carry-on and Cotopaxi Allpa backpack so much). So when I got a look at the Matador SEG28 travel backpack, I had to try it.

I mean, look at this thing! Look at all those dang pockets! I love pockets! But frankly, a backpack can have plenty of pockets, but if they’re not functional, it’s a real deal breaker for me. So I had to take a closer look so I could investigate for myself whether this bag is all it’s cracked up to be or if it’s an overhyped dud. Read on to find out.

Matador SEG28 Travel Backpack: The Deets

We’ll start with the main attraction: all those pockets! That is what makes this travel pack so unique, after all. There are a total of four pockets on the front, one large main compartment that opens like a clamshell, one water bottle pocket on the side, a dedicated laptop sleeve pocket, and a top organizational pocket. Plus a luggage pass-through on the back so you can drop it over the handles of your rolling carry-on with a hidden passport pocket tucked in there. 

There’s also a Speed Stash strap pocket you can purchase separately to attach to the shoulder strap and hold accessories like your phone, snack bar, etc.

The front pockets include a 4-Liter pocket on the top, followed by a 6-Liter pocket, an 8-Liter pocket, and a 10-Liter pocket on the very bottom. Which, for those of you who were paying attention, adds up to a full 28 liters, the entire capacity of the bag.

Which, sidebar, I actually have a hard time believing because this thing looks like a monster. But if Matador says it’s 28 Liters, then it’s 28 Liters. Which means it will fit in an overhead bin on an airplane, no problem.

The Matador SEG28 also has completely removable hip straps–a nice touch–compression straps on the sides of the bag, zipper locks on both ends of most of the zippers for security, and super sturdy grab handles all over the place.

Rad, I know. It’s really set up well as a travel backpack, whether you’re exploring by air or car or anything else for that matter. It’s made of super durable, mostly recycled materials that meet Bluesign criteria and the pack is PFAS-free. Plus, I do love me some white gear–but it also comes in black.

Basically, on the surface, this looks like a baller travel pack. But is it?

Matador SEG28 Travel Backpack: The Review

I gotta say, when this bag arrived on my doorstep, I was super excited. Until I tried it on. Then I was extremely disappointed.

Because yeah, those pockets were even more beautiful than I anticipated, but the minute I actually put the backpack on my back my spirits deflated like a seven-day-old birthday balloon. Because in that moment I realized that I would never be able to carry this Matador backpack because it’s not designed for women or any small human in general.

Now, I realize I am a smaller than average human, so I had other people (including women) try it on and test it out, but even Josh, who is only slightly smaller than average for a male, found it fairly uncomfortable and oversized.

That’s because the straps are pretty wide. Wider than most other straps on most other backpacks I own. Plus they kind of curve outward instead of in, which means when wearing the pack, the straps hung completely over the edges of my shoulders. Even Josh couldn’t walk around with a full pack without fastening the sternum strap. The shoulder straps were just too wide-set and uncomfortable.

And speaking of the sternum strap, if you are on the shorter side and happen to have breasts, you’re also in trouble. I generally have to cinch shoulder straps down pretty close to as far as they’ll go for a pack this size, but when I did, the sternum strap, which is not fully removable, just adjustable, cut across an uncomfortable part of my chest. And I had it as high as it would go.

It hit in a more appropriate spot on more average-sized women, but still, none of them found the pack comfortable. Meaning you have to be an average- or larger-sized human for this pack to fit comfortably. Maybe I’m nit-picking here. I realize not every pack is perfectly suited to every body, but it feels important to point out for my fellow petite peeps.

But let’s talk about the pockets on the front, which are unique for one main reason: they all extend into the main compartment of the backpack but also can be entirely compressed to take up almost no space inside the bag at all if you would prefer to use one large main compartment instead of all the pockets. Which is rad!

They either expand to fill the entire interior compartment if you want to keep every single item you packed in its own individual space, or you can use packing cubes or insert bulky items into the main compartment, whatever your heart desires.

Or you can do a combination of both, though this scenario got tricky to control. By which I mean when we had part of the inside of the bag packed with clothing, and then added items like portable backup batteries, power cables, books, GoPro accessories, etc. in the exterior pockets, they sort of got lost in all of the excess fabric.

Plus, if you put a bunch of heavy items in those exterior pockets, and need to open up the bag to get into the main compartment, it’s a little unwieldy. Things shift and flop around and it’s hard to get everything perfectly situated again.

BUT! We found the best case scenario for packing to be to fill all the outer pockets with soft goods that really fill up the space–say, workout clothes in one pocket, socks and underwear in another, goin’ out duds in another, you get it–and the inside with heavier, bulkier items like shoes, books, tech stuff etc., perhaps in their own organizational pouches or whatever (like Matador’s Pack Cubes). Packing this way seems to make a lot more sense, but means the pockets aren’t quite as endlessly functional as I initially anticipated.

On the upside, though, those pockets are wonderfully useful if you’re the type of traveler who’s always reaching into your bag for snacks, a book, charging cables, etc. It sure beats digging around in an oversized black hole. Also interesting to note: there’s a SEG45 45-liter version of this travel pack that’s actually less expensive for some reason.

Bottom Line

Is the Matador SEG28 for every traveler? No. Does it require a bit of trial and error to find the best-case packing scenario? Yes. Will it work for smaller travelers? Absolutely not. But is it a durable, sustainable, well-made bag? Yeah, yeah it is.

I’m not saying it’s going to become our go-to travel pack–that would be a lie–but I can see using it for gear-intensive road trips when we want to keep clothing or gear organized in the backseat of the car or when quick trips necessitate bringing more clothing than tech. It’s an organizational powerhouse, to be sure, and if you are average-sized or larger and your packing list and style are a match for the pack’s functionality, I do think you’ll really dig it. Hopefully we helped you figure out if that’s the case.

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