The Sling Combo

I have now used this sling a couple of times, and I find it to be very practical and good. It works as both a sling and a small backpack. It is easy to wear, easy to use, and the straps are also easy to change and adjust once I got the hang of it.

This sling combo is perfect for my use case: as a daily companion while I’m out and about in town and usually come back with more stuff than I left my house with. It was also the perfect carry-on during a two-week trip to Egypt, giving myself enough space for laptop, gaming console, headphones, and cables during the flights (backpack mode, which keeps my passport in the small pouch safe between my back and the backpack); and as a daily sling for adventures in big cities like Cairo and off-road. Only idea for improvement: if in tote bag mode, it would be good if the strap would keep set length more rigorously.
Thank you for your amazing work!

Versatile, it looks good, easy to clean, rainproof. I have the backpack straps as well which is really worth it.

I’ve already written a review for the travel backpack, but wanted to stop by to give a quick one for the sling combo as well. I really like it, I can fit my MacBook Air and my iPad Air together with my small essentials in the unfolded backpack state. The sling is however a tiny bit too small to fit all my essentials and a small water bottle, but I have an unusual amount of essentials that I like to always carry with me. I was a bit surprised by the colour of the sand version, it is far more saturated than the pictures implied to me I.e. it’s more yellow and red than sand in my opinion. I would definitely recommend the sling combo to anyone who is looking for the versatility it provides.

The Sling Combo

I bought the Wayks Combo and in theory its perfect, but in practice you will end up in so many situations where the Sling is just too narrow to be useful. The Mini is also a tad too small for my essentials (see below). I appreciate the work they have put into this product though, so please see this review as encouraging rather than destructive.

If the Sling was about 10cm wider it would cover most situations with ease, both as a backpack and sling bag. But right now, it does neither.

For example: If I bring a large water bottle, I have to put it upright and bring the sling as a backpack. Same with a 750 ml wine bottle. Same with my (admittedly large) foldable umbrella. This constant switching between backpack and sling bag-mode is made worse by the fact that there are six steps in changing the straps from backpack to sling: You have to remove backpack straps at 4 places, and add sling strap in 2 places - and you can't keep both on at the same time.

So you might ask: Why not just always use it as a backpack? Well, even then, it just barely fits things you'll need for a normal day.
Work? Can't fit macbook pro, water bottle, food box, and thermos.
Beach? Can't fit towel, large water bottle, and a jacket (not to mention snack food box and blanket to sit on).
Meeting friends outside on a spring evening? Can't fit a wine bottle, sweater, and either one of a water bottle or a 40cm umbrella.
Biking? Don't expect to put much more than a foldable(!) bike helmet.
Shoes? If you wear heeled shoes or flipflop, a pair of back-up sneakers probably won't fit.

If I could do this purchasing decision again, I would probably not buy neither one of the Sling or Mini unfortunately. I would buy a slightly larger sling bag than Sling Mini with as many pockets as possible, and wear it all the time. Then I would have a complementary normal-sized backpack or an XL sling bag, to put bigger stuff in while still wearing my small bum bag across my neck, so I still can access my essentials easily from it.

The reason I bought Wayks Combo was to not have to do this, but rather always just have one bag with me for all types of day excursions, from office to beach, where I can easily access my important stuff (in the Mini) but also expand and contract the bag for spontaneous situations like shopping on the way home.

The Mini can fit a lot if you cram it, so to be fair I will list what I have inside and what I would wish to have space for - maybe the 0.5 liter space will be enough place for you:
My Mini fits keys, small earphone case, earplugs, phone charger, cable, mini portable bike lights, one pen, sunglasses, chewing gum, condoms and a bike saddle cover crushed into the tiniest imaginable ball possible. Note that everything is extremely crammed in this way, which hinders accessibility. I only fit these by playing Tetris in the Mini.
I would wish for additional room for: My private and work phone, my passport, my powerbank, cash, tissues, hand desinfectant, a small lotion.
Nice to haves (but maybe not as essential for me) would also be a very small notepad, a pencil with a small packet of lead, bandaid, painkillers and sanitary pad/tampons (backup for my gf and female friends).

Now, I know what you are thinking - I could keep all of these in the Sling and just attach the Mini to it. But the Sling would then have a lot of empty space just in order to have some additional small things inside that should just fit in the Mini instead. And seeing as the size of the Sling doesn't really allow for bigger things, I might as well just put all of it in another slightly larger sling bag instead (like a 1L one). So the Sling is unfortunately quite useless for me.

One very positive note on the Mini is how the square structure keeps your stuff in place (you can stack them nicely), in contrast to many small bum bags that are so soft it feels like searching for your essentials in a plastic bag. If the Mini would have a slightly larger size to fit the things I mentioned, it would be perfect in my opinion. Or even better if it was possible to zip two minis together, in which case different needs would be met in a smooth and modular way. So the Mini is not far from being great as it is. But the size of the Sling itself unfortunately has a long way to go to in order to be practical, as some others here have mentioned.

Either way, the build quality of both products are excellent. If you are a person who usually only brings very little/small things with you, I can highly recommend the Mini at least. And if you are thinking of buying the Sling, just think twice about whether the backpack dimensions are good enough for you. Compare with Wireds backpack size guide for example. Perhaps the Sling will fit your needs, after all.

Anyway, thanks to Leonie and Fabian for the work they put into this. I'm sure it meets the needs of other customers. And if there will ever be a wider sling and/or double mini, I'll be th...

Die kleinen Details und der Rolltop sind super praktisch. Eine Sache die ich an anderen slings etwas besser finde, ist die seitliche Anbringung des Gurtes an den Seiten und nicht an der Rückseite der Tasche. Dadurch würde sie noch ein Stück besser am Körper angeschmiegt hängen, wenn man sie über der diagonales Schulter hängen hat. Und die Plastik Schnalle ist etwas bulky. Trotzdem ein super Produkt, das ich gerne und oft nutze!

Die Sling Bag ist praktisch, bietet viel Platz und trägt sich bequem. Bin sehr zufrieden!

Sehr gute Tasche das einzige was ich bemängel ist der Gurt. Er vergrößert sich mit der Zeit von selbst weshalb man ihn regelmäßig wieder nachspannen muss und die schnalle ist sehr unangenehm da sie nicht gepolstert ist

I was very excited about the modular bag, but first they sent it to me with the wrong straps (and they fixed it and sent me a replacement) but I still had to carry the bag my whole trip with the wrong straps which made the bag super uncomfortable. And anyways if I ignore the whole strap situation the inner lining stated ripping after only 2 days of using… so can’t say much about the quality.