The Moment DayChaser Travel Camera Pack Review

The DayChaser is a travel camera backpack designed to look good while withstanding the stresses of travel and fitting a great deal of gear inside.

It’s the latest offering from popular brand Moment and boasts a healthy capacity of 35L-38L in combined storage capacity.

With a long feature list, including a custom designed harness, the DayChaser is undoubtably a backpack ready to join you on your next photographic adventure.

With the world generally back open for travel, is the Moment DayChaser up to scratch? Let’s take a look.

The Moment DayChaser Camera Pack Specs

 

Capacity:
Overall: 35L (+3L Expandable)
Expanded: 38L
Top Compartment: 14L
Camera Compartment: 16L
Other Pockets Combined: 5L
Laptop: up to 16″ Macbook Pro

Dimensions (W x H x D):
Overall: 53 x 28 × 23 cm (13″ x 21″ x 9″)
Expanded: 53 x 28 × 25.4 cm (13″ x 21″ x 10″)
Top Compartment: 31 x 23 x 17 cm (12.2″ x 9″ x 6.75″)
Camera Compartment: 31 x 28 x 17 cm (12.2″ x 11″ x 6.75″)

Weight:
2.3kg (5.1 lbs)

Package includes:
– The DayChaser Camera Pack
– Removable hip belt
– Sternum strap
– Packable rain fly
– Multiple removable dividers

• 16L Fully Padded Camera Compartment
• 14L Main Compartment for accessories and other gear
• Channelled Back Panel
• Spacer Mesh for Best Airflow
• Full Frame, Military Grade Harness
• 4 points of Adjustment
• Full-Size Hip Belt
• Custom Foam Packages
• Spacer Mesh (avoids chafing)
• Super Rugged – DWR impregnated 500D KODRA main fabric with a double layer waterproof backing
• Light Weight
• Fast Side Access
• Laptop Protection
• Buckle Secured Flap for External Carry
• Oversized Water Bottle Pocket
• Tripod Stabilizing Strap

Build & Appearance

The DayChaser is a camera bag designed for all kinds of adventures! Built to last a lifetime and stylish enough to stick around just as long.

From big city adventures to those that take you far away off the beaten path, the DayChaser will withstand whatever you endure, even if you don’t!

Being made from 500 KODRA DWR combined with 2 layers of waterproof coating to help endure the weather.

While the base is constructed with 800D Ballistic Nylon with a waterproof face coating and a helpful additional 2 layers of waterproofing; indicating it’s not likely to fail you under wet conditions (unless submerged – but by then I’m sure you have bigger problems).

Additionally, the base is flat and firm, therefore the DayChaser stays upright should you place it down fully loaded. Something noted in many other bags that don’t consider this rather simple issue.

Available in a discrete black on black or a more stylish blue and gold configuration, the DayChaser is a stylish piece of kit made for all adventurous occasions.

Looking more like an adventure backpack rather than the usual camera bag, it’s classy enough to blend in to whatever environment you’re trekking through without drawing any more attention than the next hiker.

For added protection on the inside, the main compartment features 210D Nylon with 2 layers of waterproof coating for the lining with light-weight impact-resistant foam padding throughout the backpack.

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Exterior Features

The shoulder straps on the DayChaser are incredibly comfortable and features a custom designed military-grade harness with 4-points of adjustment and a full-size removable hip belt.

Those of you who are camera clip users and accessory carrier type peoples, you’ll find an attachment points on the shoulder straps for your convenience.

For additional comfort and support, the back panel is heavily padded and has channels for airflow. Although, my unfit lazy-self tends to work up quite the sweat easily anyway… Perhaps air-conditioning could be an additional feature seen down the line?

While the weight distribution on the fully-loaded backpack is quite something, and was quite surprising just how long I could actually carry all the gear! Perhaps I’m not as unfit as I thought? Or credit to how well the bag is designed!

For ease of grabbing and shifting the backpack to get up and go, there are padded handles on both sides and one across the top (plus an additional hanging loop between the shoulder straps – it’s not a grab handle!).

To access your camera gear on the move, the DayChaser contains a handy quick access door that’s actually part of the full-access lid of the camera compartment.

The full-access lid is safely held behind a pair of buckles stowed within a security flap; pop open the buckles and you’ll have full unrestricted access to your camera gear.

You can also utilise this security flap as an external carry point for bulkier items. Just loosen the buckles and you’ll create yourself a handy external pocket!

Placed on the opposite side of the quick access door is an oversized water bottle pocket. It’s large enough to hold a travel tripod or one of those extra large bottles for those more adventurous folk. You’ll find cargo straps for additional stability on the side too.

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Interior Features

The DayChaser comes equipped with a number of pockets and pouches for you to stash your belongings in to. Notably, on the inside, the DayChaser has been segmented in to two main compartments.

Working from the top down, we’ll explore the numerous pockets and gear stashing locations found on this equipment hungry 35L travel backpack, the DayChaser.

The main compartment is accessible through the top and is designed to be your go-to for everything other than your camera gear. It is also expandable by 3L by unzipping the top gusset, allowing you to squeeze in some extra bits and pieces should you be a compulsive over-packer.

Found on the top front face of the DayChaser is a slim front pocket which contains multiple small pouches for organising simple items in a spot where they’re easy to find.

On the top of the DayChaser, but toward the back, is another pocket for stowing gear. There’s some smaller pouches also included in there too for keeping things in place.

Additionally, there is a side pocket for stashing some more softer items in an accessible location, such as the included rain fly or perhaps a physical map (if tech isn’t reliable on your trip), etc.

Below the front flap held down by the buckles is a super slim, discrete, and secure pocket for holding important paper documents (or passport, visa, etc). Notably, it wasn’t large enough for my iPad; but a smaller tablet may fit.

The camera compartment is found toward the base of the backpack and features heavy padding and soft Velex fabric to protect your gear from marking and scratches while packed away. It comes with multiple removable interior dividers to organise your gear how you see fit.

Within the lid itself is another stash pocket for additional loose items, great for lens filters (within protective sleeves or cases), cables, and other riff-raff you find yourself hauling. There are also 4 memory card sleeves capable of fitting loose SD, SD within a case, and CF cards.

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Storage Capacity

The DayChaser has up to 38L of capacity when expanded, which is quite a good deal when you’re considering a travel camera backpack to take with you.

You’ll find the top main compartment suited to fit jackets, snacks, and whatever else you feel is necessary on a trip. Consider this section like a smaller backpack in itself, coming in at 14L it should be enough to fit a days worth of necessities.

The camera compartment is essentially a heavily padded camera cube built in to the base of the DayChaser. Coming in at a thick 16L, that’s a healthy amount of capacity for most adventure photographers. It’s wide and tall in size, equipped with a capacity allowing telephoto lenses and full-frame big-boi cameras to fit.

My Sony a7 III looks pretty small within it, but the Canon 5D MkIII fit’s well. It’s a tall enough compartment to create a small shelf as well!

Digital nomads will appreciate the padded laptop compartment that fits a 16″ MacBook Pro. Pictured is a 13″ Dell XPS laptop, but additionally my 14″ Dell Inspiron also fits.

Pictured within my flat lay is:

• Sony a7 III with Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 or Canon 5D MkIII with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
• GODOX TT350S TTL flash
• McKinnon battery case with 3x batteries
• DJI Mini 3 Pro
• DJI RC Controller
• DJI Mini 3 Pro Fly More Kit (2x batteries, multi-charger, etc)
• 1x Lens filter for the Sony (more would fit)
• 13″-14″ Dell Laptop
• Manfrotto Tripod
• Apple iPad
• Sony battery charger
• SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD
• USB battery charger with 3 sets of cables
• Apple AirPods 3
• Packable rain fly (included with bag)
• Large water bottle
• Passport pouch and Ausair face mask (essential for travel!)
• Spare jacket
• Peak Design Packable Tote
• Bellroy Slim Tech Pouch with power supply and travel mouse
• Various other small bits and pieces…

However, with all this capacity, I would like to have been able to adjust the ratio of the main and camera compartments. By that I mean reduce the size of the camera compartment when not utilising it’s full capacity (ie: 1x camera, no drone or additional lenses).

In saying that, I guess you could always just place other things you may not need as easy access to within that compartment. But I feel it would just be such a great extra touch!

Ease of Use/Comfort

I’ve written this before, but the DayChaser is very comfortable to wear!

The adjustable custom designed harness system along with the full-size removable hip belt combined with the back panel makes for fantastic weight distribution and for a comfortable wear.

Additionally, the shoulder straps feature a contoured unisex shape so that the harness system can be easily adjusted to fit different body shapes and sizes.

It also has easy to find large zipper pulls for those of you who may need gloves during colder temperatures or face dexterity challenges.

You’ll find that the compartments open wide enough to access your items wherever you’ve stored them, so there’s no fumbling around with tight spaces. Including the bottle pocket, which is also easily accessible and isn’t super tight to expand; another issue I notice on some bags!

While also, having the quick access opening for your camera is helpful, but having the option to also have full unrestricted access is a great benefit! Many bags I’ve had were exclusively either/or regarding this.

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Alternatives

Generally, 35L is quite a healthy capacity for a backpack used for travel. It’s not too large and not too small for more day or multi-day trips. Depending on the kind of adventure and how far off the beaten path you’re going, it could be considered the ideal size.

However, it is quite a standard size, so you’ll find a wide array of other camera and travel bags featuring that level of capacity.

Peak Design Travel Backpack‘s are a pair that come to mind. Available in two sizes, the 45L (which is actually 35L expandable to 45L) and a 30L (which is actually 27L expandable to 33L – I know).

However, they’re travel backpacks and not “camera bags” per se. So, should you need a camera pouch that is an additional cost on top, but they conveniently attaches inside the main compartment. You can also combine them with other travel cubes should you need to compartmentalise the backpacks.

Similarly sized is the GuraGear Kiboko 30L Camera Backpack that I have recently reviewed. It feels more like a dedicated camera bag than a multi-purpose travel backpack, but with a clever vertical storage separation between the main compartments, it could be similarly utilised.

Lastly, to fit more with the capacity in question, the McKinnon Camera Pack 35L. That is a beautiful beast, but bear in mind it’s made of heavier, yet, tougher stuff. More along the lines of a travel backpack but heavily weighted towards camera carry, it comes with dividers that fit anywhere within the main compartment and other handy packing cube storage solutions.

Value for Money

Coming in at around USD$300/AUD$450, it’s not a cheap piece of gear for many to purchase on a whim. But this is a backpack that has been designed and built with purpose.

You’ll likely find that the DayChaser will outlive you and that you can pass it down for generations to come. When your grandkids grandkids start using it through the apocalypse, they’ll be grateful that you spent the money.

In saying that, it appears to be priced at a point that is rather competitive with the other brands I mentioned in the previous section.

Great value? Well, I own all of the other ones so I can attest to them all being great products. Each solves slightly different challenges in different ways.

This one feels more towards the adventurer who tends to carry a lighter load so they may embark on longer hikes through towns, mountains, lakes, forests, cities, and more. But is also partial to the beach and coastal areas too, since getting a bit of water and sand on the backpack won’t do any harm.

The Moment DayChaser Camera Pack Review | Conclusion

I had a great deal of expectation when I received this backpack, and I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed. It really is a fantastic backpack, but will it stick around in my collection? We’ll see, there’s more travel on my schedule coming up, it may just be accompanying me on that!

Personally I prefer to use it without the hip belt, through my recent uses I haven’t had enough gear or a long enough adventure to warrant the additional support provided by it. I also prefer the slimmer feel without it as well.

Being dynamic in use is a fantastic value add. Capable for tough adventures but great capacity and style for low intensity usage too. With enough space to fit a bunch of baby essentials in the top, but protect the camera and other items in the base makes for a great day-tripper!

I will finish this by saying, the material used on the outside of the DayChaser is quite susceptible to animal fur. Jasper’s hair floats through the house… Anywhere I place the backpack it ends up with hair on it.