Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L Daypack review: is this hybrid backpack the best bet for adventurous photographers?

Founded in 2009, Cotton Carrier has been making quality and innovative photography bags and camera harnesses for well over a decade. The company's latest Hyker 25L bag isn't just another photography backpack. As the name implies, it's been designed specifically with hikers in mind and, as such, has some nifty features that will come in very handy for photographers who love getting outdoors and photographing nature, including landscapes, wildlife, and close-up macro.

Key to the whole operation is its modular cube system, which allows the user to insert a cube of their desired size to allocate space for their camera kit. The rest of the bag space can then be used for everyday items such as clothing, personal effects, and food or snacks.

Another unique feature is its Twist & Lock system, seen on other Cotton Carrier products, such as the G2 Skout and G3 Harness, both of which I’ve reviewed previously. This mechanism uses a metal hub that attaches to the base of your camera, enabling it to be mounted hands-free. This means your camera remains close to hand, so you’re more able to take the shot rather than miss the moment digging around in your bag trying to get to your camera.

Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L Daypack: Specifications

Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L Daypack: Price

The Hyker 25L costs a cool $269 / £255 and is available in four different colors: Photog Black, Forest Green, Desert Tan, and Alpine White. To load up your Hyker 25L with camera gear, you’ll also need to purchase one of the three Small, Medium, or Large Camera Cubes, which have been launched in tandem with the bag and are available for $55 / £58, $65 / £67, and $75 / £75, respectively. This means that you’ll need to spend at least $300/£300 to get the Hyker 25L and one of the Camera Cubes that works best for the level of kit you wish to take with you.

It does, however, come with the CCS hub, which costs $29 / £20 separately. This is the metal adapter that is screwed into your camera’s tripod port and used to hang it from the Hyker’s shoulder mounting point, or other Cotton Carrier harness. These adapters are quite steeply priced, so you really want to make sure you don’t lose yours to avoid shelling out for a replacement.

In terms of competition, the Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L is in similar territory to outdoor photography backpacks such as the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L, which also has a range of camera cubes to go with it.

Then there’s also the Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop Camera Backpack, which doesn’t use camera cubes but still has two adjustable camera storage sizes by changing a clever shelf inside to borrow space from the top personal items section above. It also has a high price tag, so I’m keeping in mind the cost of the Hyker's competition as I assess it.

Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L Daypack: Design & Handling

The Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L is a hybrid camera backpack that has some handy features for those who like to hike long or short distances, either on camping trips or full-blown photographic excursions into the wild. Cotton Carrier also claims the bag is ideal for bike rides, too, and can even be worn over other Cotton Carrier harnesses, such as the G3.

The Hyker 25L can be used purely for hiking or photography, or a combination of the two. The Camera Cubes made by Cotton Carrier are available in three sizes: Small (11x6x6in / 28x15x15cm), Medium (11x8x5.5in / 28x21x14cm), and Large (11x11x5.5in / 28x28x14cm). So pick the one that works best for the right amount of kit you wish to carry, or you can buy different sizes and tailor your loadout for each adventure you embark on.

A 'shelf' comes with the Hyker, which can be clipped into the inside of the bag to help keep your camera kit and everyday items separated. This feature solves one of my pet hates with the modular cube design fashionable in recent years. The shelf prevents your contents in the top half of your bag from falling into the bottom half when the Camera Cube is removed. There’s also great access through the side of the Hyker as it zips all the way around, allowing you to get to the Camera Cube easily – the cubes also have a side zip, so it’s fairly rare to need to take the whole cube out to get to your core camera kit, but when you do, the items in the top section of the bag are held in place by the handy shelf.

Another great addition for hikers that you won't see on everyday camera backpacks is Cotton Carrier's 'trampoline' suspension system, which is a mesh divider that keeps the bag away from your back for better airflow. Its 'ladder' system also allows the straps to be tailored with one simple adjustment – again, something you won't see on most standard camera backpacks.

On the exterior, it's easy to see Cotton Carrier hasn't scrimped on materials as the bag is made from hardy coated ripstop N400D and features military-grade Velcro, YKK zippers, UTX buckles, and anodized aluminum. The bag is water-resistant, and there’s also a rain cover, which is hidden away in a base pocket – my preference, as it doesn’t take up valuable real estate inside your bag.

There's no shortage of stash pockets, with one on the waist belt and another on a shoulder strap for your phone. There's also a 'landing pad' for a lens bag or holster to be attached to one of the hip supports. This could be a good alternative if you’d rather secure your camera to your hip, rather than the provided shoulder strap, though you’ll need to splash out on the CCS G3 Grey Wanderer to use this, and it’s not cheap, costing $59 / £53. Honestly, I wish Cotton Carrier had just put another mounting point here or included the holster add-on to give users the option.

Speaking of the waist buckle, it's dual adjustable, and there's a sternum strap, too; both of these help put the weight of your bag contents onto your hips rather than your shoulders, while the sternum strap adds a little stability to prevent the backpack from swinging from left to right as you walk.

There's a stretchy, quick-stow pocket on the front of the bag for quickly stowing small and flat items, like a map or a thin layer of clothing, while on the left of the bag, you'll find a pocket for inserting two tripod feet and a strap with a Camlock buckle above, which helps secure it in place. On the right, there's a stretchy pocket for a water bottle that has a hole cut out of it to make it easier to grab your bottle when you're wearing the bag. I thought my water bottle would fall out of this hole, but it never did, and it made it easier to access – nice!

In terms of pockets, there's an external quick-access zippered storage pocket with some sewn-in pockets for items like keys, wallet, phone, snacks, or a passport. On the inside, you'll find a mesh zippered pocket designed for camera accessories and peripherals. It's see-through, so you can quickly see what's inside it.

There's no dedicated laptop storage – more about my thoughts on this in the Performance section. Though there is a water bladder pocket on the inside, which has a pass-through hole so you can stay hydrated on the go. A soft, padded handle is featured on top and also makes it more comfortable to carry the Hyker 25L by hand.

The Hyker 25L has Cotton Carrier's patented Twist & Lock receiver, which is built into one of the shoulder straps. This is the same mechanism I've seen in many other Cotton Carrier camera harnesses and holsters, and it works with the same anodized metal hub. In the case of the Hyker 25L, this allows a camera or pair of binoculars to be mounted firmly to the shoulder strap, thus freeing up your hands and making it more comfortable to hike long distances with your camera at the ready, without hanging from a strap around your neck.

To set your camera to the right height on the Twist & Lock mechanism, you use the ladder system on the back of the bag to undo the Velcro in one movement, and move the shoulder pads up or down until the camera sits at a height where you can easily lock and release it from the shoulder strap. The customization of straps and harnesses is definitely one of the key strengths of the Hyker 25L, as it means you can really dial everything in for maximum comfort on those long hikes.

I did find the customization was so great that it was almost a detriment in one area – the waist belt is huge and can fit persons with a waist size up to 70 inches, well in excess of the 40-inch average US adult male. So while it’s great that a wide range of people with even larger waists can comfortably wear the bag, skinnier people (or even slightly overweight folks like myself) will find there’s a lot of excess waist band with no convenient solution to tie up the remaining material from dangling down and flopping around. Having the excess material does have the benefit of being able to position the belt buckle off centre if you prefer to have this on your left or right rather than in the middle.

Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L Daypack: Performance

In terms of comfort, I had no complaints with the Hyker 25L. It has a brilliant trampoline suspension system and an adjustable ‘ladder’ strap to make sure the bag sits in the correct position on your back, as well as waist and elasticated sternum straps to keep it secure. I only had one slight niggle here, and that is that the waist straps are quite long, and as I mentioned in the previous section, it leaves too much strap flapping around. There are elastic straps to keep them neatly tied up, but there was still a bit too much excess material for my liking. On the flipside, those with larger waistlines can rest assured that they'll be able to get a comfortable fit.

One of the unique features of the Hyker 25L is Cotton Carrier’s proprietary Twist & Lock system, which allows your camera to be mounted to the shoulder strap securely, so it’s quick and easy to grab and get shooting when that magical moment happens. There’s also a camera tether, which can be attached to provide a safety link between the camera and bag should you accidentally drop it.

This system reminded me of the Peak Design Capture Camera Clip (now on its third iteration and quite expensive at $80 / £70), which can be clipped onto pretty much any camera bag strap to do a similar job. However, having the Cotton Carrier Twist & Lock system directly sewn into the shoulder strap does make it feel very sturdy, while the Peak Design Capture Clip can be placed anywhere, so it’s a bit more versatile.

One area that’s a bit of a sticking point for my photography needs, but possibly less so for others, is the lack of a laptop compartment. I’ve reviewed quite a few of these modular hiking-style backpacks in recent years, such as the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L and Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop, both of which have an internal compartment for a 16-inch laptop.

The Hyker 25L doesn’t have a laptop compartment, and due to its curved metal spring suspension system, you wouldn’t want a laptop up against this anyway – so the Hyker 25L compromises on laptop space for better comfort with its much more substantial trampoline suspension. For those who can wait until they’re back home to edit their photos and videos, the Hyker 25L will be a good choice, but if you need a laptop on the go, then you’ll likely need to look elsewhere.

Cotton Carrier's modular cube system works well, and gear can be reached via a quick-access zip on the side of the Medium and Large options. The dividers are made from quite thin and hard padding, rather than thicker soft ones, but I didn’t have any complaints – they did a good job of protecting my equipment on my travels.

There are only three cube sizes to choose from, which is a little limiting. Competitor Peak Design has five camera cubes on offer, plus an additional four packing cubes for personal effects for its Outdoor Backpacks.

The ripstop nylon exterior held up to a shower well, with the inside of the bag staying dry. Shaking the bag vigorously was usually enough to remove the water from the outside. However, the stretchy mesh pocket on the outside of the bag isn’t waterproof and got soaked through in my testing – this might be where you want to stash some layers of clothing or a map. This was a bit disappointing when compared to the Peak Design Outdoor backpacks, which have a slick, completely waterproof front and rolltop design so water beads off it.

That being said, the Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L comes with a rain cover stashed away in a base pocket. I would, however, also like to point out that the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack has a reinforced TPU-coated base, whereas the Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L doesn’t. I thought this might mean water would seep through if placed down on wet ground, but I tested this for myself by dunking the base in a puddle, and water never came through into the main compartment – impressive!

The YKK zippers run very smoothly with a large orange cord handle on each to make them easy to grab and use. They also have some fabric reinforcement on the outside of the zipper to prevent water and dirt from getting inside.

Cotton Carrier Hyker 25L Daypack: Verdict

There’s no getting around the fact that the Hyker 25L is an expensive system, and you’re looking at spending at least $300 / £300 when one of the Camera Cubes is added in. But for photographers going on adventures, long hikes, and bike rides in the great outdoors, this is a problem the Hyker 25L may solve for you. It allows you to customize how much camera kit and other items you would like to bring with you on your journey.

The big drawback for me was the lack of a laptop compartment, but this is the compromise you have to make if you want its extremely comfortable trampoline suspension system and you’re able to wait until you return home to start editing.

Alternatives

Launched at the end of 2024, the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack range arguably started the hiking modular backpack trend. Available in 25L or 45L varieties with a whole range of camera and personal cubes to store your camera and non-camera items. It’s even more geared towards the outdoors, with a hardy wipe-clean front and rolltop design, which makes it possible to store items like roll mats, hiking poles, and even a tent in the larger 45L option.

The Summit Creative Tenzing Rolltop isn’t cheap but is well worth the money if you need a high-quality, comfortable, and well-built outdoor backpack that can handle everything the outdoors can throw at it. It has a rather unique divider, which can be flipped into one of two modes to allow more or less space for the main camera area or top compartment, depending on your shooting requirements.