HAWQ High Flyer Laptop Backpack Review

So, we recently got the chance to write a HAWQ High Flyer Laptop Backpack Review.

There I was, scrolling on the codewithmike Instagram, replying to messages and responding to comments, when I saw an advert for the HAWQ High Flyer Laptop Backpack. I knew right then that I had to get my hands on one and review it for the blog.

The High-Flyer is a premium laptop and business travel backpack. It looks fantastic and the blurb on the website says it’s made with world-class materials and comes with useful features such as a weather-proof finish.

High Flyer by name High Flyer by price too, it’s not cheap at just under £200. But let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and find out if this bag is worth your money. Because, at first glance it really is.

HAWQ High Flyer Laptop Backpack Review

The High Flyer is a great looking backpack that has some awesome features, such as the expanding internal storage capacity should you need it.

HAWQ have designed a bag that will not only protect your laptop and day to day business essentials, but it also does it in a comfortable and stylish way.

Hawq High Flyer Backpack Review — HAWQ High Flyer Backpack Review: A fantastic unboxing experience.

First Impressions

The packaging isn’t elaborate by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s probably the best packaged backpack I’ve ever seen. It’s really well done.

Once I’d opened the outer shipping box I was greeted with a super clean black box with the HAWQ logo. Lifting the lid the bag is wrapped in black tissue paper.

The whole unboxing experience has been crafted with a real dedication to customer satisfaction. It really does feel premium and it leaves you with that lasting first impression.

Another thing I noticed once I’d unwrapped it from the black tissue paper was that it’s not at all flimsy or lightweight. This gives you that confidence that it’ll help protect your valuables.

I filled it up with tech and put it on my back. I needed to adjust the straps which was a breeze, just slide the tab down and adjust it as much or as little as you need.

The straps are strong, I did pull quite hard to see how much force it would take before it started to pull away from the bag and tear, I was unable too. It’s really well built.

It’s also really comfy. I purposefully carried some other bulky items including a thick book. The edges didn’t dig into my back, there’s just enough padding to ensure that it remained comfortable.

Build Quality, Style & Features

Here’s where the bag excels and makes it such a worthy investment in my opinion.

The bag’s design has been extremely well engineered. There’s a pocket or compartment for everything I could ever want to store, the abundance of these storage areas can sometimes be a bit over-done, but not on the HAWQ.

They have managed to include enough storage areas without overdoing it.

I like that the bag features zips made by Japanese zipper specialists YKK. The zippers are really top draw and they also feature the HAWQ logo, which is a nice design feature. These aren’t your run of the mill off the shelf zips, its all bespoke. It’s features like these that set a premium bag apart from it’s competitors.

The use of a premium polyester and leather in the construction ensures the bag looks awesome. The contrast between the the two textures and slightly different shades of black works perfectly.

The overall build quality is excellent. The quality build reminds me of how well the Manfrotto Street or the STM Saga backpacks are made.

There aren’t any areas on the outside of the bag that are poorly made, I pretty much inspected every stitch where leather meets polyester and there aren’t any dropped stitches or loose bits of thread. This can only mean one thing; quality control looks up to scratch, or so I thought.

There are one or two areas inside the bag that have loose stitches, which was slightly surprising considering how well made it is. The loose stitch is on key holder inside the front pocket.

But, it does’t matter too much (to me anyway), as I probably won’t use the key holder. It may put some people off though, considering it’s a £200 backpack.

More Features

Here’s the features you’ll get if you buy one of these awesome backpacks:

Minimalist Style
Padded Back Panel
Converts To Business Bag
Weather-proof
YKK Zips
Comes with 15 inch Laptop Sleeve
RFID-blocking Compartment
Expandable Bag For Carry On

External Compartments

The internal capacity of the bag is just over 13 litres, which is quite small, but you can expand that up to an extra 45% by just unzipping the middle zipper. It’s a great feature and one that makes this a viable option for use as a carry-on bag for overseas meetings.

Organised

If, like me, you’re someone that likes an organised bag, this also ticks that box. It has a pocket for most things.

On the front there are two pockets. The first is a smallish pouch that is intended to be used for storing your keys. It’s a good size and although it does have a big zip on the pouch, you can tuck it away to keep it discrete.

Tucking the zip away is helpful if you want to also store a car key, locker key etc in this pouch. It’s not a dedicated ‘secret’ pocket, but it may do the job if you stay aware of who’s around you.

You can see what I mean in the two photos below:

The next pocket is quite large. It has a side opening, so ideal for a rain jacket or something you want quick access to, such as travel documents or a guide book.

On the side of the bag is space for a water bottle. Another neat design touch is that it’s neatly hidden behind a zip. If you don’t have a water bottle in place you can zip it away and keep that sleek, clean look.

Internal Compartments

Moving inside the bag then. They’re so many pockets and storage compartments to cover.

The internal pockets look grey, but they are black!

There are separate compartments for your phone, pens, keys, chargers, power banks, documents and more! I won’t detail them all, I could tell you what I’m using them for, but everyone will use theirs differently.

But, the star of the show is the laptop sleeve.

Laptop Sleeve

I could probably write a separate 500 word review all about the included 15 inch laptop sleeve. It’s absolutely brilliant. Made using a super quality leather and stamped with the HAWQ logo, this could easily be a stand-alone product. Marketed correctly these would fly off the shelves!

I used the sleeve to carry my Surface Pro laptop and it felt really secure and protected. The laptop was easy to insert and remove from the sleeve.

Teamed with the added padding of the internal laptop storage compartment, it left me feeling confident I’d not damage my laptop, even if I ended up dropping the backpack from quite a height.

The X-Factor

The ultimate X-Factor here is that the bag fits in with most environments. Use it as a day to day backpack, expand the capacity to use as carry-on or remove the handles and use it as a business briefcase.

Where Can I Buy One?

The HAWQ High-Flyer backpack is available to buy direct from the guys over at HAWQ. You can visit their website by clicking here.

Summary and Verdict

I said above at first glance that it would be a worthy investment and that still rings true. You’re essentially getting three bags for the price of one. If you can overlook a missed stitch here or there and focus on all that is good with the bag, it’s a fairly obvious choice, go and buy one!

One suggestion would be to make the laptop sleeve optional and reduce the base price of the bag appropriately.

Score: 8.5 / 10

Thanks a lot to HAWQ for sending out the backpack for review, go check them out. I’m excited to see what other products will be joining the line-up in the future.