Please opinionate! Backpack - what size??

semidetatched

Hello all - I would greatly appreciate a few opinions on this matter.

I'll be wandering around India from mid Febuary - late May of next year. I don't plan on doing any treking or anything else that'll require any extra gear, but I will be talking a digital camera and either a 12" ibook or an ipod type device capable of uploading photos. I may also take some sort of sleeping tent net.. mosquitos and their biting ilk do love me, but sadly this feeling isn't mutual.
Other than that, I'll take the minimal amount of clothing and other common essentials.

What size bag should I buy? usually when I have an india related query searching here solves it, but on this matter I'm going round in circles..

Any opinion would be very gratefully received!

adam

semidetatched

Here are a few I've been looking at, a wide variety of sizes as you'll see

70L

50+20L

60L

50L

40L

30L..

Shaktipalooza

I think it mainly depends on how much stuff you plan on bringing back. You'll go there with very little.

Last trip to India we switched to a combo travel pack/luggage roller. It's excellent for moving around airports, hotels, standing in long lines, etc.

Here are a few: REI Catalog

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-m2-

Hi semidetached, welcome to Indiamike.

I've brought my iBook along the past couple of winters along with a digital camera and, last year, an iPod mini. I don't travel around much though and live in a fairly secure place so it is really no hassle having the convenience and entertainment in having them along -- I'm pretty sure that I'd leave the iBook at home and get the photo capture device for the iPod, load it up with some of my favorite as well as new music and bring the charger if I was in your position.

More gratuitous advice: forget the tent, sleeping bag, and mosquito net. Remember that you will be in tropical conditions your whole trip so don't bring a lot of clothes, pick up what you need, check out cotton sleep-sheets or sleeping bag liners. With careful packing, you would be able to get by with something that can be carried aboard; this would be a distinct advantage as long as you weren't carrying anything prohibited like a knife as it would be carry-on. There are 'rule-beater' type bags designed to be max carry-on if you want to go that way, (approx 50 liter).

If you want to bring the stuff I suggest you leave behind, you'll need a jumbo 75l+ bag -- I have one that size and still have to make *decisions* on packing night, however

Shaktipalooza

-m2-, you're recommending to not bring a mosquito net???

I have to recommend (again) my favorite Skeeter Defeater. Hanging nets might work most of the time but this one works all of the time. Freestanding is a very good thing when you want to leave the ceiling fan on.

semidetatched - The packs you posted all look fine but I would show preference for ones that have better access than a top loader. Side zips or full panel zips allow better access so you don't have to be so logistical about how you pack your stuff.

Instead of the Ipod route I chose to go with the Sony HI-MD (MiniDisc) recorder for storing our digital pics. The reason for this is it can also record high quality audio, a fun thing to do in India. Downloading is done through the seperately purchased MCM-DR1 card reader. It's a universal device that reads every card we were able to throw at it. 1 gig discs cost $6.99 each. The HI-MD disc player I bought came with an external AA battery holder that was good for about 11 hours. Made it very nice not to have to rely exclusively on charging the thing.

hoshii2000

I was wondering if most people here use internal frame or external-frame backpacks?

-m2-

Personally I wouldn't bring one for travel in winter and pre-monsoon as I doubt that it would ever be needed it as if one was really necessary, the hotel would provide one or you could easily pick one up locally cheaply. Fans (and coils, when necessary) work fine for me in low-risk situations as I don't much like nets anyway. But maybe that's just me.

-m2-

I have one of each, both of them 'travel packs' with detachable day-packs and a lockable main bag. The internal frame pack is around 50litres and is comfortable with a total weight up to about 25 lbs, or 12 kg or so. The larger, 72ltr pack with a proper external suspension can comfortably carry an extra 5kg in greater comfort. So if you want minimum weight, internal is fine. If you are going bigger/heavier, and especially if you will be carrying it for longer distances, then the external suspension is important,in my opinion. Since it has become difficult to carry on anyway, I'm finding myself opting for the big bag lately (and been tempted to bring too much stuff )

Selfdefinition

I'm trying to go with a carry-on 40L bag, plus a smallish (2L hand bag). My concern is that I will buy a lot of stuff and have no place to put it. Any advice on what i should do? (i.e., should I buy a bag there). I'm still struggling with whether to take the mosquito net--it takes up a lot of room and I'm not convinced that I would use it all that often. Do those electric mosiquito zappers that you can buy in India really work?

Thanks!

Rob_The_Pom

I use a Global 50+20 as shown in #2. I've found it an excellent rucksack (but it is certainly not a cheap one).
My advice would be, 'as small as you can, but as big as you can comfortably carry'.

If that makes any sense....

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-m2-

You can pick up a cheap bag at the end of the trip to carry any bulky stuff home with you. (I used a flour sack for that purpose this year )