Side by Side — Power Packer Review

I’ve used a handful of different tech and org pouches but often find myself letting go of them in the long run. They’ve been either too small for all of my tech or not offer enough adaptability to suit my precise needs. Along came Side by Side with their Power Packer. Side by Side positions themselves as a brand for digital nomads and they provide various organizational accessories, including tech pouches, org pouches, travel pouches, and dopp kits, all with nice minimalist designs.

Disclaimer: This pouch was provided to us by Side by Side as a sample to review. We are grateful for the chance to try out the pouch, but as always, our reviews contain our honest opinions based on real usage, including both positives and negatives.

Overview

I’ve used the Power Packer in a few different scenarios.

• As an EDC pouch for work — carrying my laptop charger, wireless mouse, a pen, wireless earbuds, lip balm, Band-Aids
• A tech pouch for travel — carrying all of the above, plus a few additional cables and outlet adapters
• A camera accessories pouch — carrying a couple spare battery packs, battery charger, memory cards, card reader, cables, cleaning accessories, a small lens, a Peak Design Capture Clip, and my Arsenal 2 camera assistant
• A travel case for my Nintendo Switch — Okay, I did not use it for this purpose in actuality. I did try it out and the Switch fits in the pouch, but it’s a very tight fit if you leave the controllers attached to the display. For a better fit, remove one or both controllers and toss them into one of the other compartments. Throw in a cable and games and you’re golden.

In each of the scenarios where I used the Power Packer, I found that the design worked quite well. The other pouches I’ve used haven’t been able to adapt to such a wide variety of use-cases.

Features

The Power Packer is divided into 2 main compartments, accessed by zippers.

• The first is a large compartment the size of the whole pouch and access by U-shaped zipper. One panel of this compartment is elastic, so bulky things can fit inside, such as a laptop charger. The other panel is padded. My ThinkPad’s charger fits easily with room to spare. My glasses case also fit easily in here. Even a water bottle fits in there. Unfortunately, I can’t fit both my glasses and laptop charger at the same time.
• The second compartment (I’ll call it compartment B for simplicity) is a clamshell opening and is further split into 2 large partitions by a divider that is roughly the same size as the pouch’s interior dimensions.
• On one side of the compartment B (or the middle compartment if you look at the pouch as 3 compartments), is a large elastic pocket, 6 elastic loops (2 medium and 4 small ones), plus an elastic pen/stylus holder. This pocket has a bit of it’s own volume as well, which helps with those wall outlet adapters.
• The other partition in compartment B is flat and has 4 small elastic loops and 3 large elastic loops and a mesh zipped pocket perfect for memory cards or Nintendo Switch games.

All the elastic loops work well for any cable. The larger ones work for the wall outlet adapters too.

The pouch also has a grab handle (non-adjustable) and though it’s not totally necessary (it’s very easy to grab the pouch by its body), I did find myself using the handle more often than I expected. Maybe I didn’t know that I wanted it?? Thanks, Steve Jobs…

Construction

When I first received the Power Packer, my very first impression, even before opening the zippers, was that the materials feel great. The exterior is a 300D polyester with the middle of both sides being elastane nylon. The elastane nylon stretches in all directions and is very soft to the touch as well. At the same time, it’s not overly stretchy and still provides some light compression. The hardware is all metal and feels very sturdy; the exterior zippers are #8.

The pouch is 10.25 x 3.55 x 1.60 inches (26 x 9 x 4 cm) and weights 0.5 lbs (0.24 kg). If you need the organization, it’s well-worth the added half-pound to your bag. If you’re using the Power Packer for travels, that half-pound is negligible.

Summary

Overall, the Power Packer is an amazing tech/org pouch. I’ve used a few org pouches like the Bellroy Tech Kit, Moment organizers, 8TIMBER, and a couple others. While those pouches all have their strengths, the Power Packer offers more versatility, in my opinion. The only potential drawback is that it is a bit larger, but it’s not rigid so it can be compressed and flattened in your bag too.

This pouch has a classic minimalist look and is excellent for traveling as a companion with a duffel bag or for EDC use when your bag doesn’t have a lot of organization. I continue to be surprised by how much can fit in it even after a couple months of use and in my opinion, it is well worth the modest $40 price.

I wasn’t familiar with the Side by Side brand previously, but they’ve made a fan out of me.

Check out everything else we’re testing and reviewing on our Instagram @pangolinswithpacks.