List Price: $379.99
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A nice backpack that holds my Nikon 200-400mm with D700 attached. It also holds another camera body, a 70-200mm lens, a 24-70mm lens, a flash, teleconverter, lots of compartments for spare CF cards, and three tripods, with room for more lenses and goodies. It holds almost everything camera related in the main compartment's Velcro-adjustable pockets.
What is really remarkable for a backpack this large is what it won't hold. It won't hold my laptop. The literature states that it will hold a 15.4" widescreen laptop in the sleeve. (Specifically 10.2W X 1D X 15.2H in.) My laptop measures 14" x 10" which, despite Lowepro's literature, is exactly the outside dimensions of the sleeve. It won't hold the laptop. The sleeve fits tightly into a pocket on the 400's back cover. The laptop won't fit in the pocket with or without the sleeve. I have a Thinkpad W500. The newest 15" MacBook Pro measures the same. It probably won't hold that either. My Lowepro Fastpack 350, a much smaller backpack, has ample room to hold the laptop.
The 400 AW is also short on storage options for pens, a flashlight, earplugs, iPod, and the kinds of things you would want when you check into a flight. It will hold those items, just not all in one convenient space like other Lowepro backpacks. It does have nice compartments for airline tickets, passports, books, and other flat items. Forget about packing a windbreaker, unless you store it with the lenses.
One of the storage options is a removable fanny pack on top of the 400. This is the only spot large enough to place a sandwich (outside of the lens compartment.) But you wouldn't want to put a bag of potato chips in there. They would get crushed. The fanny pack is physically large but only has two zippered compartments and doesn't offer much space for anything thicker than a paperback. It is somewhat heavy and has an extremely over-sized belt and clasp. You can detach the fanny pack and leave it behind, making the AW 400 smaller. But then you lose some storage space. You would never buy a fanny pack like this if it were offered separately.
This is an odd backpack. Loads of room for big lenses and tripods, but some of the features you'd want on an excursion or flight have been overlooked. (The Fastpack 350 has Velcro pockets designed to hold glasses, slots specifically for pens, etc.) The AW 400 is highly recommended if you have a 14" or smaller laptop, or none at all. The number of storage options for small items, while not centralized or well thought out, do suffice.
Bottom line: Great bag for traveling with your 400mm kit. For 15" laptop owners, Lowepro just barely missed the boat, but miss it they did.
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