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review

Deuter Giga Office Pro rucksack

8
£90.00

VERDICT:

8
10
Almost the ultimate commuting rucksack - comfy on the bike and extremely well-organised - our only niggle is the lack of reflective detailing
Weight: 
1,430g
Contact: 
www.i-ride.co.uk

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Deuter's Giga Office Pro rucksack has a vast array of nooks, crannies and compartments to help you organise your stuff, and it's comfortable to carry on and off the bike.

The Deuter Giga Office Pro is a rucksack for the super-organised who want a place for everything, and everything in its place. Its 32-litre capacity is split between four compartments of various sizes and there's a pair of side pockets.

That's all held on to your back by thickly padded shoulder straps with a sternum strap to pull them in round your chest. If you need to stop the bottom swaying around there's a removable waist strap too, but it's too minimal to fill a supporting role.

Rammed to the gunwales with stuff, it's comfortable to carry around and there's room in here for anything I can imagine needing to take to work: shoes, jeans, shirt, etc. It's not going to fit the bill if you need to carry a suit, but that's clearly not what it's for.

It comes with a pair of very handy internal bags: a padded laptop sleeve with a grab handle; and a toiletries bag for your shower stuff if you're lucky enough to have workplace facilities.

The laptop sleeve is big enough for a 15in laptop and nestles cosily in its compartment at the back of the bag. The large main compartment does most of the kit-carrying duties for big stuff like clothes and shoes. It's lined in black with a dark grey base which does make small stuff hard to find, so best use the two outermost compartments to organise them.

Those compartments have lots of slots for pens, your phone, wallet and so on, plus a zipped compartment for valuables, and there's a clip for your keys so they don't get lost in the recesses of the bag.

I have to admit to not being a big fan of carrying stuff in a rucksack; I'd rather use panniers and avoid a sweaty back. But if you are going to use a rucksack, this is as good as it gets. Not only is is festooned with places to organise your office and work gear, but the padding comprises two strips of foam with ventilation channels, contained by mesh, so your sweat has lots of opportunities to escape. Unless you go like the clappers, you therefore don't get too sweaty.

It's not big on visibility, though. The light loop has reflective fabric over it, but that's about it. If you like your rucksack to help you be seen, you're going to want to add a cover with some reflectives.

That niggle aside, though, this is a spacious, comfortable rucksack with some really useful extras and very handy organisation features. If you can't keep your stuff in order with this bag, you're probably a lost cause.

Verdict

Almost the ultimate commuting rucksack - comfy on the bike and extremely well-organised - our only niggle is the lack of reflective detailing 

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Deuter Giga Office Pro

Size tested: Black

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Deuter says:

Deuter's transportable offices are spacious and highly organised. Reach your destination by bus or tube in style and relaxed in the knowledge that your laptop is safely stowed in its padded compartment. For those needing a larger portable office, the Giga Office Pro has ample room and a separate padded laptop bag and excellent organisation .

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Large folder-sized main compartment padded base

Compression straps

Comfortable grab handle

Large front pocket with organiser

Divided compartment for computer accessories

Removable, padded 15,4' laptop bag with grab handle and laptop accessories pocket

Detachable hip belt

Zipped front pocket

Separate stow pockets

Stretch side pockets

Reflective loop.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10

Tidy seams and stitching throughout.

Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10

Comfortable to carry and well-organised, but loses marks for lack of reflectives.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10

Reinforced seams, double-stitching around the blocks and Deuter's rep for long-lasting bags suggests it's last ages. No visible wear after months of use.

Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
7/10

I'm not a big fan of cycling in a backpack, but Deuter have made it as comfortable as it can be here with plenty of padding and good ventilation.

Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

For the extra details and quality, £90 is a very reasonable price.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

No complaints.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Added extras; comfort; capacity.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Lack of reflectives.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Yes.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

This is my go-to bag now for nipping into town because it's comfortable and relatively cool even when loaded up with a laptop and a big D-lock. While I prefer panniers, there are times when I want something dead easy to carry off the bike too, and the Giga Office Pro perfectly fits the bill.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 47  Height: 5ft 11in  Weight: 85kg

I usually ride: Scapin Style  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, general fitness riding,

 

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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