The bag you carry every day says more about you than you think; both aesthetically and practically. Think about it. Someone carrying a clutch or waist bag might only need the essentials — their phone, wallet, keys, a box of tic-tacs, or some gum. Each step up you take, like a sling bag, a backpack, maybe even a suitcase — in some way, they subtly explain what you deem important in your day-to-day habits.
If you remember our review of the Peak Design’s Sling and Messenger bags, you might also remember how we valued the importance of size when using it for portable gaming. The Messenger bag was a perfect option to cover your day-to-day habits and also enjoy a few extra luxuries along the way. So, given that these bags are significantly smaller than a messenger bag, how do the GRAMS28 154 City Pack and 156 City Sling stack up for your daily needs?
Let’s start with the larger of the two — the 154 City Pack. As soon as you open the bag and you’re greeted with your hefty, leathery purchase you can already tell that you’re looking at something luxurious. The bag is beautiful, it’s timeless, and it’s minimalistic. The pebbled Italian leather is satisfying to the touch and feels like just that is worth the $299 price tag.
The sling itself is long, and because it’s adjustable you can personalize it to how you deem worthy. Thankfully, GRAMS28 didn’t run out of leather when designing this bag because some of it is used as padding along the shoulder strap. While the rest of the sling material doesn’t appear to be made with any anti-cutting material — the tightly woven fabric seems thick and sturdy enough that it won’t be easily cut through while you’re out walking. Onto the internals, there are plenty of zips and pockets to store just about any small item that you could need, there’s even a magnetically sealed pocket that snaps shut and a tiny pocket specifically for your AirTag. Everything about this bag screams luxury, and while the beauty of it is one thing – how does its actual purpose hold up?
GRAMS28 promises that you can fit many daily items in there, like your 11” iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard, phone, AirTag, wallet, and even a compact camera like a Sony Z71. But what about your gaming items? Can we fit a Nintendo Switch? How about a laptop? The Switch fits, and it fits with plenty of room. There’s even enough room to store a 600ml water bottle, a game controller, your keys, phone, and wallet too. Unfortunately, that’s about where it stops. If you’re looking to fit a 12.9” iPad Pro, it won’t even make it passed the zipper — and a laptop is without doubt not fitting in this bag. It’s kind of in a weird area between being just bigger than a sling or waist bag, but smaller than a messenger bag. So really, if you have the money to spend nearly $300 on a bag you’re probably also going to use it for college, university, maybe even work — and in my opinion, it’s not nearly large enough to cover those extra needs. But, solely for small, portable gaming devices? Absolutely. This bag covers both the luxurious image and the desire to have your gaming devices on your person at all times.
So if the 154 City Pack is meant to be the larger of the two, how does the 156 City Sling compare?
This bag has a bit more… character, when you first glance at it. The pebbled Italian leather is just as beautiful as it is with the City Pack. It’s got a large front and back pocket with a bit of depth and a deceptively larger main pocket. There are heaps, and I mean heaps of pockets. There’s at least one for a pen, elastic slots for your smaller devices, there’s a quick access slot and a zipper in front of that. There are a great many options here to store and secure your goods, and they’re all easy to access.
This bag is more wider than it is tall, so while you could fit a small iPad Air in the main pocket, you definitely can’t fit a larger device inside. A Nintendo Switch fits comfortably, and you’ll have all your other daily necessities fitting comfortably too. In comparison to the City Pack, it’s a perfect choice if you want to carry your smaller goods, but it’s just a little too small to fit a device larger than an iPad Air. Nonetheless, for gaming, it’s a great option if you’re just needing to fit any portable handheld device without compromising on space.
GRAMS28 seemed to have taken the car seatbelt design into consideration for the City Sling because the design of the clasp on the sling is almost identical (albeit quite a bit heavier). I’ve tried pulling, yanking, tugging at this clasp and it feels like it’ll never break, and that seems to come down to the design itself — two pointing edges clasp behind the latching mechanism that keeps the clasp itself extremely secure. However, the sling’s material is very thin in comparison to the City Pack and feels like it could be cut a lot easier if cut with a serrated blade. It’s almost as if GRAMS28 should consider using the material of the City Pack sling and the clasp of the City Sling, incorporate those two together, and sell that alongside every possible bag.
So which bag is the best for you? There are plenty of pockets and slots on both, the pebbled leather is amazing, and their designs (although different) are both great in their own right. I’d say vote with your wallet too, but since they’re both nearly the same price that’s not really a factor in this conversation. The main thing to focus on is the size. They both serve different purposes, so that’s very important to consider. Do you need it to store a device that’s the size of a 12.0” iPad Pro? Or one to fit an iPad Air? Those are the questions you’ll need to ask yourself.
With a deep interest in writing, Ben followed that into a Journalism degree. As an avid lover for gaming, he is constantly expanding his library with console, PC, and VR games. He's obsessed with stealth games and loves hunting down the smallest of details inserted by devs.
These nearly $300 bags are truly beautiful statements of fashion, and I’ve no doubt these will be a great fit for both practicality and purpose. The only major difference is the size, since these bags have a near identical number of zips, pockets, and slots to store every small good you’ll need. For gaming, these two would comfortably carry any portable gaming device, but that’s effectively the main limit of their capability.
PROS
- Plenty of space to store your small to medium goods
- Beautiful pebbled Italian leather is a fantastic fashion accessory
- Very durable metals and zips
- Both are a great choice for portable gaming
CONS
- Both slings could do with quality improvements
- The City Pack is just too small to fit a laptop
- The City Sling is just too small to fit a device larger than an iPad Air.
- Quite costly at nearly $300 each
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