Lowepro Flipside 500 AW, reviewed by Lester Wareham

A great bag in many respects.

I am disappointed by the weakish elastic mesh pouches on both sides. They easliy get distended and offer little support for bulky items.
I would welcome the tripod strap at a higher position to really avoid any tilting of the tripod on rough terrain. I loop another strap through the sturdy upper carrying handle of the Flipside 500AW to avoid that sort of problem.

it's my main bag for travel, fits a ton of stuff. The mesh bags on the sides are junk, I never liked mesh bags unless they're for a wet swimsuit or something like that. I just don't use them. But other than that it's a great bag, very comfortable to carry even fully packed, mine scales in at over 30lb when full. I've carried it around for entire days with no problem, I don't ever leave my gear in the car.

To go smaller but still fit my Tammy 150-600 I just got the Lowepro Flipside Sport 20L AW, also a great bag, fitted for a camelback bladder. I love the flipside idea (other brands offer this back access too) since it's much safer in a crowd. Nobody can get at your essential gear.

On the mesh pouches, I mostly use one for a 1ltr water bottle and the other for a kneeling pad (folded up bit of thick material ~1x1 metre from a gardening store).

I have not had any trouble with the pouches for this use yet, but clearly they are only intended for lighter items.

On the tripod mount; A perennial problem for me is I don't like the position on the rear. I have a bad back and I find attaching a 'pod to this point makes the CoG too far back and gives me problems. A side mount would be preferable for me (like Karta bags?), but in the end I just carry the pod or use a 'pod strap.

True, that combination in case of back problems is plain murder, but as I need two free hands when hiking amidst rocks and on very uneven and slippery ground I have found no alternative for the tripod especially when I have the gimbal mounted.

I also use a one liter bottle with a convenient loop in the screw top that enables me to secure it with a long velcro strap looped through the lateral sliplock fixture. That saves it from dangling around. On the other side I often attach collapsible hiking sticks but miss a strap where the mesh pouch hangs. Perhaps I will end up sewing one on the bag as I did with my old Flipside 400 AW

@phantelope

Comfortable to a point though. When the bag is fully loaded in warm weather you come to miss the type of ventilation found in Deuter backpacks, but then again these are not really suited for photo gear unless you customize them with inserts and such things. You can't have it all it seems, but I think we are close to it with the Flipside. 500 AW

I have the 400 and looking for to upgrade to 500 version. Thanks for the review.

nordlysBW wrote in post #17404257
I would welcome the tripod strap at a higher position to really avoid any tilting of the tripod on rough terrain. I loop another strap through the sturdy upper carrying handle of the Flipside 500AW to avoid that sort of problem.

The two straps on either side can be clipped together giving your tripod support at a higher position than the single intended tripod strap. When both of these are used it holds the tripod quite nicely. I agree though about the position of the intended tripod strap.

Mesmer wrote in post #18150964
The two straps on either side can be clipped together giving your tripod support at a higher position than the single intended tripod strap. When both of these are used it holds the tripod quite nicely. I agree though about the position of the intended tripod strap.

I have tried this, but even a small tripod sits high, a full size 'pod would be very high.

Each to his own but it didn't work for me.

To carry a pod I use a 'pod strap on my sholder (head low) and keep it in place using the pack chest strap, this keeps the centre of gravity low.

I really like this pack. It holds a lot of equipment and I have a tendency to try to carry to much. I have to agree, carrying a tripod on this is not ideal.