tldr; Ultralight travel perfection. Sub-2lb, 30L, carries well. Gram counters rejoice.
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Best praise vs top criticism for ULA Dragonfly
“BEWARE: WAY TOO LONG. Good question! I'm probably personally responsible for the recent upsurge because I've posted too much since buying an ULTRA Dragonfly, being really happy about it, and having some thoughts and questions about it. Aside from my own contributions (lol), the main thing is how damn LIGHT the pack is. Lots of backpack folks nerd out (apologies) over whether a pack is a pound or a half pound or even a quarter pound less than some other pack. I think the only "real" [review](https://youtu.be/Kafo3qadRXo?si=7xNWqHhmNdOqd6Ey) of the ULTRA version of the pack spends about half its time simply gushing about how when you pick the pack up, it feels like it weighs . . . nothing. I'm looking at mine right now: the thing is completely empty and holding its form (largely because of the nature of the ULTRA fabric) but when I pick it up, it feels like I've picked up a single sock or something. It really is staggering. Some of the more recent fuss about ULA and the recent Dragonfly is that it's one of the only decent-sized brands that makes an EDC pack (more or less) in ULTRA fabric, which is the cool kid on the block right now for some pretty good reasons IMHO, not that that extra functionality means much to 95% of the backpack owners out there. Then for me, there's the crazy comfort of a pack that's so minimalist that it simply shouldn't be that comfortable. Much of that depends on whether the unique very wide, S-shaped straps fit your body type. ULA is also pretty unique in offering a choice of two different strap shapes based on the structure of your shoulders: a "J" strap or an "S" strap. One more reason is that they actually make the packs by hand in Utah rather than offshore somewhere, which matters to some people for good or not-so-good reasons, though I think most of us believe it means the packs are "better made" in general. Finally, though I don't think it's intentional, ULA has adopted the pretty brilliant marketing strategy of only releasing 25 or 50 packs at a time. That means they're always sold out, yet there's another bunch put up for sale every week or two or three. Folks smarter than me can tell you about the mass hysteria surrounding "the drop" as a sales strategy. Yet for ULA, they say they simply want to sell them as fast as they can make them, which I believe. And finally, the current Dragonfly has ZERO branding, though I'm not sure about their other packs. Strange, right? Do any other packs made by companies rather than solo craftspeople have their name nowhere on their product? I guess that's a kind of uniqueness of its own that might say something about how confident the company is in the product selling itself rather than it being sold as a "brand." Oh yeah: at least one of the company owners, Peter Longobardi, replies quickly and directly to all customer questions, leading some folks--even me, though I look back in embarrassment--to write things like, "Peter told me this or this about the pack." I think that's fair”
“FWIW I'm on the hunt for a Dragonfly myself (either a 30 or 36l, but leaning towards 30l) and it's a bag I've been curious about for a while, but have also thought that it wouldn't be a good fit for me. What I did was I bought the Able Carry Max, which is a beautiful bag, and it turned out that it just didn't have the volume I needed; it doesn't pack that much more than my 24l Aer City Pack Pro, so I returned it so that I could get a bag that packs usably more than my Aer. Hence my realization that I'll of course need to compromise if I want to one-bag travel \*and\* fit my bag under an airline seat. This lead me to the Dragonfly, since my research indicates I should be able to pack usably more into it than my Aer and, really, the layout of the Dragonfly seems well judged for a lightweight travel bag. I don't know how helpful this is to you, but maybe it provides some added context. Regarding what you get for spending $300 compared to $200, then generally you're probably getting higher quality materials and/or better/more advanced solutions. This is better to deal with on a bag-to-bag basis I think, though. Again FWIW I recently bought a Moment MTW 17l backpack which has been discontinued and MTW was selling them discounted at $50. The listed price was $130 for reference. This bag is a steal at $50, I think, and $130 seems kinda reasonable for it. As I moved over the stuff from my Aer City Pack Pro (currently $239 on Aer's US site) it really set the Moment bag into context. First thing you notice is the lovely and beefy grab handle up top on the Aer, made of seatbelt material (which I am a sucker for), and then the thick and firm padding on the shoulder straps. Contrast this with the slim, simple webbing grab handle on the Moment and how the shoulder straps are much slimmer and with less and lower quality padding. The exterior material of the Moment is simply put not very nice and attracts hair and lint like crazy. People have different feelings regarding X-Pac, but I think there's no argument that the VX42 of the Aer is leagues above the material of the Moment quality-wise. At list the difference between the bags is $109 and I don't think most people are down with paying $239 for a backpack, but to me this difference is absolutely worth it. That doesn't make the Moment a bad bag, as I said for $50 it's a steal. For $130 (which is not far off from what I actually paid after international shipping and taxes) you're probably better off with maybe a Fjällräven Räven, but the Räven not having a sternum strap is a dealbreaker and the MTW at least having three quarters opening is important, as I prefer panel opening bags. Sorry for what has turned out to be a wall of text. Again, hope it was helpful to some extent.”
352 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 2/24/2026