Disclosure: Cosyspeed, of their own volition, sent me these products along with their Photohiker 44 backpack, which was extensive tested and reviewed in this thread:
BEST BACKPACK / RUCKSACK FOR HIKING PHOTOGRAPHERS (2021)
BACKGROUND
My yearly walking / running / hiking average is 2,000 miles (about 3200 kilometers.) I also am a lifelong enthusiast photographer who travels extensively for work. Hiking, including Trail Running, and Photography are my favorite activities when it comes to seeking solace from the ever-nastier corporate ponds (mostly USA, Asia and Europe for me.) Over the years I have met like-minded colleagues all around the world and many have become dear friends. We form a fairly large entity (over one thousand hikers) that stays in touch through a private network. We jump at any opportunity to do small group hikes whenever we are in the same region. Thanks to our high level of mutual trust, we often swap photo and hiking gear. This has allowed me to test all kinds of equipment. In the above-referred articles I shared the results of decades of experience with both hiking backpacks and “photo” backpacks offered by most brands. In this post, I will share our findings about the following Cosyspeed products, tested over the last few months
For the record: we all buy our own equipment. I/we do not accept any monetary compensation. Any reviewed equipment that has been provided by a manufacturer will always noted as such near the top of the article.
Head to https://www.cosyspeed.com for more on these products. Just be mindful that in spite of the conversations I had with their CEO months ago, their spec sheets are still, sadly, among the worst in the business – for example, such basic product info as product measurements and weight in the imperial (non-metric) system are still mostly nowhere to be found, even on their English-language pages. While they are not the only ones (Lowepro comes to mind) we find that placing the burden to find what a product’s dimensions are on the customer is both unprofessional and counter-productive (“why would I buy a product from a manufacturer who can’t bother to list specs that I can understand?” is a common complaint and the cause of many lost sales.)
Note: all prices listed below are before any applicable state tax and/or shipping costs.
Cosypeed ST Wallet (MSRP: $30)
This is a solid but very small mini-pouch that closes with a zipper and has three useful features:
1 – A simple insert that can take up to 8 SD cards, held in place with simple elastics – this works okay but we would have preferred an insert with clear sleeves for quicker identification of each data card.
2 – RFID protection (sides have a thin liner made of aluminum.) This comes in handy at places such as stores and airports for people whose wallets or purses are not already protected against this recent criminal scourge – do take this seriously as RFID thieving is incredibly quick and easy!
3 – A velcro flap on the back that opens up to reveal a 1.5 x 0.75 inch “”hook” pad that easily adheres to the inside of just about any ICU or small pack that has hook and loop dividers, such as the Camslinger reviewed below. While this works well, the size of the Velcro pad is too small to prevent the ST Wallet from coming loose when your pack or ICU is really full and you move bodies and lenses in and out. This happened quite a bit while testing the CP44 (Cosyspeed Photohiker 44) and could easily be prevented by using a 1.5 x 1.5 inch Velcro pad.
There is a small inside pocket for you ID or credit cards and the zipper pull is made of that thick rubberized material which we favor. We also found that the ST Wallet comes actually pretty handy as quick storage for those couple filters that you use frequently. But, because the usable inside dimensions being only 3.5 inches (8,9 cm) by 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) you are limited to a maximum filter size of 52 mm, and that is obviously without any filter box. We would love to see the inside thickness bumped up to 1 inch and the width to 3.2 inches, which would allow quick access to larger, common filters such as 77mm.
Quick Sally hand strap (MSRP: $30)
This ordinary-looking hand strap is actually made of strong ballistic nylon that has a nice feel, halfway between cotton and jute. It has, however, a few features which I think are pretty unique:
1 – Cosyspeed claims that the strap is “processed in such a way that it retains its shape,” a statement we found to be a bit of an exaggeration as the strap is not laced with the special type of highly bendable. This strap somewhat retains its shape.
2 – More importantly, this strap has a very clever two-part system that allows you to set up your most-used rig up with your very own, customized “quick reach and grab” preferences. Here is how it works: there is one magnet hidden inside the hand loop (underneath the green Cosyspeed label) and another magnet inside a 1.75 x 1.25 inch “hook” (velcro) pad which comes standard with the Quick Sally. Just drop your rig inside your bag (this worked very well with the Camslinger tested below, but also with various other belt/shoulder/holster packs worn on the belt such as my old Lowepro Nova 2), bring the pad magnet next to the strap magnet (you will feel them connect), hook the pad to the “loop” velcro in a place inside your bag that allows the strap to be left in the “open” position, and finally remove your hand from the strap. You now have your rig and your strap in the optimal position, every single time. No more fumbling to grab your cam
The end result? After just a few attempts most of us were able to perform a quick “one-hand, blind reach and grab” while hiking. That is (with eyes on the trail or on nearby wildlife): open top bag lid, reach inside and “feel for the hand loop”, pull cam out and shoot away. Speed-wise, the whole operation is nearly as fast as removing your rig from your camera clip (see Post 5 at the thread above for our findings on cam clips), with the obvious advantage of having a much higher level of protection for your rig once you’re done shooting since you just stash it back. In fairness though, this is more important for newbies or less experienced hikers who are far more likely to take a tumble while scrambling or off-trailing.
Notes:
A – the strap itself is about 7/8 inch wide and the lanyard (the end that attaches to your cam) is 1/4 wide, making it okay for most MFT and larger cams but too wide for most compact cams. This is not a big deal as there are tons of quick attach/detach clips on the market (and many of you probably use those already anyway,) just something I wanted the reader to be aware of.
B – this strap can be secured via a nice, no-nonsense slider made of the same ballistic material. Whatever the gear and shooting conditions, we found that we could have both a comfortable, reassuring wrist hold while having zero interference with any of the cam controls (something we cannot say of many other hand straps.)
Camslinger Outdoor Bag (MSRP: $130)
This is a small-ish, light, well-built hip/waist/shoulder bag that comes with a hip belt an a rain cover. Let’s have a look at its features and how they performed.
Size and design
While it comes with four handy separators that allow a great many gear combinations, keep in mind that this bag is small at only 7.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches deep by 6 inches tall (all inside dimensions.) Because it has thin TPE (plastic) “walls” however, it is somewhat flexible and any gear that is 0.75 inch larger than any of the above dimensions does fit. But, since this pack also has very thin padding between the TPE and the Velcro lining, you may run into comfort issues. For example, if the hot shoe, or one side of the body rests against your hip, you definitely feel that protrusion.
Gear protection
I would characterize gear protection as minimal, due to the thin walls and padding. If you bump into something like a tree trunk, it’s okay, but don’t expect much if you slip on the trail and crash hard.
Theft protection
Those of you who walk or hike in areas infested with professional gangs of thieves will rejoice at the following:
– Unlocking the hip belt buckle normally requires two hands (you press down on the locking pin with your left thumb while depressing the buckle itself with your right thumb and index finger) which basically makes it impossible for a thief to “unlock, rip and run” (astonishingly, this outstanding feature is not even mentioned on the Cosyspeed web site.)
– The main flap opens and closes with an elastic loop plus a clever, yet quick safety system. To open the bag, you slide the big “metal button” to the right (a thief will try to pull it straight up and fail.) To close it, do the reverse (the button automatically slides into the magnetic holder.)
– If that’s still not enough gear security for you, the inside top of the bag has a zipped flap that closes via two zipper pullers. On the top of this flap is a Velcro pad that allows it to stick to the inside of the top lid when you’re not using it and desire quickest access to your gear.
Pockets
The Camslinger is one of those packs that “has many pockets” and yet falls short on usability.
Inside the top flap is a 6 inches wide x 2 inches tall sleeve where one might be tempted to place memory cards, lens caps, etc. Unfortunately the elastic closure is on the loose side, which doesn’t inspire confidence – all testers ended up placing such accessories in the side pockets.
And yet, these small side pockets (3.5 inches wide by 4 inches tall, with great zipper pullers, a smaller inside sleeve that closes with an elastic at the top plus a small outside mesh pocket that works well for lens caps or filters) would have been far more usable if they had been larger, not to mention made expendable (no extra lens can fit in the current pockets, except very small pancake types.) On Cosyspeed’s Streetomatic+, which appears to be the same bag in a more “urban” style, one of the side pockets closes with a flap and, more importantly, makes use of the entire height of the bag, a far more sensible choice. Although I haven’t had (yet) a chance to test it, it seems to be a better choice since that pocket looks like it can fit small to medium phones – just remember to line the pocket with aluminum foil since having your phone in this pocket will place it just a few inches from your reproductive organs, a very dangerous thing to do (this is also why you never, ever want to have your phone in a back pocket, cargo pocket or jacket pocket unless it is inside a sleeve that blocks EMR, i.e. Electro Magnetic Radiation.)
The belt itself has a 4 inches wide by 2 inches tall zipped pocket, just above the bag. Here again we have a small, nearly useless size, a strange design choice given that there is room for a 7 inch wide by 2.5 inch tall pocket, which would have accommodated most sunglasses, energy bars, a LensPen, etc.
Comfort
Things are also a mixed bag (pun intended) here. While the 2 inch wide webbed belt is very strong, Cosyspeed chose to use a long Velcro band for length adjustments. While such a choice is fine on paper, in practice we have found that Velcro, be it for a belt or a backpack’s torso length adjustments, is simply not a reliable, long-term solution for the outdoors. Once the loop (soft) side is caked with trail dust and/or atmospheric pollution (chemtrails dumping) the hook side progressively loses its clamping power. Same thing with the frequent freeze/thaw cycles we often get in the mountains – if you have the unfortunate idea of trying to adjust a wet or frozen Velcro, it may never stick again, or it will stick very poorly.
Only a 21 inch section of the belt (starting from the buckle at left and including the back of the bag) has a liner made of very thinly padded mesh. While this makes the belt significantly more comfortable in hot conditions (it’s softer and absorbs some of your sweat) the non-padded section makes itself more than felt (several of us ended up sliding the bag to the front so as not to have the non-padded section slice into our left side.)
Bottom line? If you rarely adjust the belt and if you don’t hike much in tough weather you’ll probably be fine. Still, the consensus was that a traditional belt adjustment without Velcro (backpack-style) would be both more comfortable and more durable.
Versatility
At first glance we got pretty excited about these two features:
1 – A nice, 4.25 inches wide pass through in the back of the bag which would accommodate even our largest backpacks – for reference, the pass through on my trusty ol’ LowePro Nova 2 is only 2.5 inches tall, which makes it impossible for me to slide it over the waist belt of all but my smallest backpacks. Unfortunately, Cosyspeed failed to make the belt removable and it becomes a bit of an impediment once the Camslinger is over your pack’s waist belt. You can loosen the Camslinger belt and run it around the small of your back with TMP packs, but frankly it’s awkward.
2 – And those four strong corner loops at the back of the bag itself, which should have made the Camslinger an ideal candidate for chest carrying (see how in Article 5, Solution 5 at link above.) Unfortunately again, because the belt is not removable, you have to run it around your chest, which is also awkward, slow, and only really doable with TMP packs. Quite a shame really, because those 4 Camslinger corner loops make it a cinch to carry it on your chest for quick access to your main rig.
The Camslinger works just fine as a fanny pack, simply place it anywhere around your middle section.
It also works well as a sling / messenger type of pack over your left shoulder. Just keep in mind that it is the non-padded portion of the belt that is resting on your shoulder. It is slippery and tends to slide off, and it quickly starts “digging in” when you carry heavier gear and you’re just wearing a thin shirt.
Other features
– Not surprisingly, the Quick Sally hand strap works very well with the Camslinger. If you own both and you are a fan of old spaghetti westerns (as somebody at Cosyspeed clearly seems to be) you might well be the quickest photo draw in town… Yeehaw!
– Immediately to the right of the bag (looking down when wearing it) the belt has two M.O.L.L.E. type loops (always a good thing to have) followed by a weird 3 inch green flap with a double Velcro inside. This thing doesn’t seem to be documented anywhere and might be some type of attachment for accessories but, it sits in the center of your back when your wear the bag slightly to the right of your waist (as most people do) which would the make said accessories, well… quite inaccessible… Weird.
Phoneslinger Power (MSRP: $120)
This is a small bag that comes with a 10,000mAh, removable lithium-ion powerbank which can recharge (or be recharged) either wirelessly or via USB.
Of the four Cosyspeed items reviewed here, this one drew by far the most praise in our photo hiking community. Here is why:
1 – The back of this stylish bag has a great, 2.5 inch wide, 4 inch tall pass-through that closes securely via two snaps plus a Velcro pad. You can therefore attach it to pretty much anything, from a simple belt to a backpack waist belt, to a pack’s compression straps, etc.
2 – Heat dissipation is accomplished via 3 eyelets on each side: simple and efficient.
3 – Same safe, quick and clever type of magnetic open/close mechanism as the Camslinger (pull down and then up instead.)
4 – The powerbank may not have a fancy charge level LCD display (just the 4 standard LED lights) but it does use quality cells, which is far more important. When unused these cells discharge extremely slowly, which is also a strong indication of quality circuitry.
5 – Couple this powerbank with a 20W solar panel (attached to your hiking pack or placed on your dashboard, outside your tent, in your backyard, etc.) that recharges it anytime photons (visible light) hit it (orient the panel as perpendicularly to sunrays as you can for optimum efficiency) and you have basically free, off-the-grid, unlimited recharging of your phone, camera or emergency devices. This is a game-changer and a potential life-saver device, as anyone who’s been stranded out in the wilderness or victim of a natural disaster will tell you.
The only downside we found is the lack of RFID liners inside the bag for EMR protection (anybody who owns an EMF/EMR meter can verify that radiation is often off-the-charts while wirelessly charging a phone.) While you can remedy this health issue somewhat by adding aluminum sheets inside the bag – and Cosyspeed will hopefully add them to the Phoneslinger as they are already doing with their ST Wallet - for now I recommend that you do what we all did, which is use a USB cable. It’s safer and offers much quicker charge times anyway.
Warranty Terms and Coverage
I will take this opportunity to point out a major oversight on my part in the main resource listed at the top of this post (Best Backpack Rucksack…) In Article 3 (the one that reviewed the Cosyspeed Photohiker 44) I failed to report the complete absence of warranty information on that product’s page. I would like to extend my thanks to those who contacted me privately, and to all readers, please accept my apologies.
What should be disclosed? Go to the bottom of Article 4 at the thread listed above for the list of what we consider the minimal information that should be provided by any brand on any product page.
What is the Warranty Coverage of your Cosyspeed product if you order online from Spain? Canada? The U.S.? China? Japan? Good luck finding out… I addressed this issue directly and privately with the CEO many months ago. As of this writing, I still do not see any changes or improvements in this area. Most competitors disclose this critical information on each and every product page (here is a random example, note that this brand also clearly and honestly lists this item as out-of-stock.) With Cosyspeed the customer is completely in the dark. Caveat emptor !
I hope you found these reviews useful.
Questions are welcome.
Chris
