Slappa Ballistix Aura Pro review: Slappa Ballistix Aura Pro

These days, mobility in tech carries its burdens. Sometimes we don't just need a way to carry a laptop--we need a bag for our SLR camera, our charging cables, our HDMI cables, and our rechargeable adapters. Traveling can often require a separate gear bag. That's exactly what the $129 Slappa Ballistix Aura is: a travel bag for lots of gear. Serious gear, the sort of stuff that needs dedicated compartments. If you're that candidate, then this is perhaps the bag for you.

6.0

Slappa Ballistix Aura Pro

The Good

Rugged nylon construction, removable gear/camera bag, good carry-on size.

The Bad

Slide-out inner bag is hard to access quickly; bulky inner storage area takes up most of the bag; feels rigid and too unwieldy as a backpack.

The Bottom Line

Designed as a serious gearhead's travel bag, the Ballistix Aura is perhaps too specialized for carrying just a laptop.

But if you're traveling light, then stay away. At 18 inches long, 10 inches deep, and boasting 1,700 cubic inches of storage space, this bag definitely doesn't lay low. The chief appeal of the Ballistix--its reinforced open center compartment, with a removable 10-inch by 15-inch by 4.75-inch gear bag--is also the greatest percentage of its bulk. With no other pockets or zippers on the inner compartment's walls, to not use the inner gear bag is to relegate the Ballistix to a being a glorified tiny suitcase with an outer laptop pocket.

With an exterior made of water-resistant ballistic nylon and 5-millimeter padded walls on the inner gear bag and most compartments, the Aura feels sturdy enough for airplane travel. The J. Peterman-by-way-of-"The Matrix" futuristic khaki exterior grew on us the more we used it, and the buckle-down outer flap provides a modicum of extra weather resistance, as well as keeping the outer laptop zipper out of sight from would-be thieves. The laptop pocket holds laptops up to 15.4 inches. We tried fitting a 16-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 into it, and it just barely cleared the zipper.

The interior gadget mini-bag is made of a more lightweight padded nylon, and looks like an insulated lunch sack. Its use might be limited to specific needs: while its adjustable sections can contain anything from toiletries to camera lenses, the effort required to slide the bag out the top and unzip it makes this more of a travel bag than an everyday use gear bag.

Aside from the inner gear bag and the outer laptop sleeve, the rest feels a bit bare-bones: two front zippered compartments with a few gadget pockets, two small zippered compartments on the side, and two elastic mesh pockets, and that's it. For a bag of this size, a few more messenger-bag-style subcompartments for storing magazines or documents would have been nice.

The padded straps and back are nicely designed and definitely feel comfortable, if rigid. This isn't a backpack that fits several ways; it rests in one correct configuration, and feels more like wearable luggage when using the straps. On a subway, we felt like the bull in that often-discussed china shop.

If you're a digital photographer who wants a wearable carry-on bag for weekend trips with a camera, laptop, and more, check out the Ballistix Aura Pro. Otherwise, you might be better served elsewhere.

The Ballistix Aura Pro has a 180-day replacement warranty if purchased through retail, or a 360-day warranty if purchased through its Web site (why they couldn't add five more days and make it a year, don't ask us).