Tired of the same old routine and a bit burnt out, I've set off on hopefully a very long adventure traveling full-time. I’m thinking posting videos here will be a great way to document the journey and share it with you all.
Cool review, Max! Very detailed and helpful information. I'm hoping you would do a video on the new Parsec 26 to compare as it received so much positive reviews on the internet but almost nobody (only 2 persons) reviews it on RU-vid :)
I’m glad you liked the review, but sorry, I’m not doing reviews anymore, and I don’t have a Parsec 26 to review. I hope you find the information you’re looking for.
Grest vlog Max, Leros looks absolutely stunning, im looking to holiday here and wondering how you get yo the island. Do you fly to Kos then catch the ferry over?
You made quite a useful video at the time for all of us wondering after years what this trail looks like... In a Resource Based Economy we would have super scanning drones and hard terrain robots and all sorts of robot diving tools to search in such conditions. Now people are limited by HR and money when it comes to crises. This trail doesn't seem challenging... Like even if he fell he couldn't have fallen on water because of the uneven territory.. unless he went off his track to explore something that caught his attention. However he was later seen walking in Pedi meaning that he completed the walk. Now from what I understand he went back to get his mobile phone but did he ever reach the hotel? Which is the exact location that he went missing and why did it take so long to start searching for him? Was his wife at the beach for six hours and she realised that Mosley went missing after she returned to the hotel? What time did his wife go back to the hotel? Did she notify the police right after she returned or was it upon her return that she decided to wait 6 hours before calling the authorities for help?
Just having a look at the walk Michael apparently took. So many nooks and crannies where he may have taken shelter from heat or whatever. Pretty rugged terrain if you leave the track. Not looking good at this stage. Bizarre that he hasnt been found by dogs or drones. Hoping he is alive and using his Grylls skills until found.
So steep near the beach that Max couldn't film it. Mosely would have been climbing those steps in intense heat. But to go missing on a 20 min walk is very strange, that walk looked fairly easy once up that first hill. But not entirely easy, many obstacles in sections
Sadly of course we now know that Michael was found dead five days later. He took a wrong turning and headed across high terrain towards Ayia Marina. Not only that but the papers are now full of dead and missing tourists on the Greek islands. Three have recently been found dead and at least three are missing. It is of course tragic for the people concerned and their loved ones. However, it is very frustrating for the Greek authorities that mostly older people are actually setting out for 4 and 5 hour hikes in a 40 degrees plus heatwave. It beggars belief. Of course, those are temperatures in the shade. In the open countryside it is much higher. It is literally suicidal.
According to a Greek journalist on talk TV. She said he said to his wife he wasn't feeling well and was going back to Pedi. If he fainted he could of fallen anywhere, perhaps in a small gap around the rocks. We only saw a small part of that walk. No doubt before long the comments will be flooding in.
Black Friday - Paid less than 90$.The Peak D is twice as expensive and should have better build quality. The main problem with this is the space is to narow for a full size EOS DSLR with grip. Like the light weight.
Nice video. Never been impressed with lowepro. Tried there bags several times. Mostly cheaply made . Shimoda been a excellent brand so far. Lowpro photo sport 24l version 3 . Has been my go to photo biking bag though. Its small works well for mountion biking with a sony a64000 and 2 extra lenses. Most of the time though disappointed with lowpro.
Thank you! Lowepro’s part of a huge company and seem to be more about the profit. They seem to make things for as cheap as possible (low quality imo), for as wide an audience as possible. I like a lot about Shimoda, they probably overdo it in some areas for me tho… the weight and straps are too much, and the water bottle/tripod pockets really don’t do it for me. There are so many options of bags and items for your kit… I’m not carrying that much daily so I’m switching to bag inserts in pretty standard bags; I might have a custom bag made to work around inserts I like if I find the right person/company.
For small cameras like that (or phones) I think the combos can be very handy. I’m currently carrying a GoPro shorty, but do still really like the Ulanzi MT-08.
I watched a lot of backpack reviews. I feel like this one is the most honest and true backpack review, both for the lowepro and the peak design. Thank you so much for this review!
Hi Max, thank you for your video. Could you confirm that it was really impossible to fit a capture clip on this bag where the pockets are? Or do you just think it's a bad choice to lose a pocket for that? It's really hard to find this information
Sorry, I didn't end up keeping this bag, and it was so long ago I just don't remember exactly how the straps would handle a capture clip... the only thing I can say is for me personally, pockets on straps haven't been very useful, so I wouldn't care about blocking one, it's really a personal preference tho. Back to fitting a clip, it would definitely depend on how the bag fits on you/where it will fit comfortably. Meaning if you can get away with the clip low on the strap without it digging into you and still accessible, you might be ok. I suggest trying to find a store with them in stock so you can go try it out, or find a store online that will pay for return shipping if it doesn't work out. Just don't tighten your clip on all the way, from my experience they always put a permanent dent in the foam, and it just wouldn't be cool to do that to a bag you aren't sure you're going to keep.
Δέν θα σε ξεχάσω ποτέ Μαξ!!! Με ταξίδεψες σε ωραίους τόπους, είδα υπέροχα τοπία. Ιδιαίτερα στο νησί μου την Λέρο, που από εκεί σε γνώρισα. Σου εύχομαι να είσαι καλά όπου και νά βρίσκεσαι, ότι κι'αν κάνεις. Πάντα επιτυχίες προσωπικές, και επαγγελματικές 🤗
I tried a couple of other ball heads, but they really just made me appreciate the AOKA more. Since I stopped making videos, I don’t have much use for tripods and have left the AOKA behind. I still think it’s a great small/tabletop option and could see carrying it again someday.
Hi, actually a good video. But towards the end you don't really know whether you should rate the product as good or bad. A dilemma, isn't it? I've been looking for the ultimate backpack for weeks. There is no such thing as perfect. You have to make some kind of compromise. Be it the material, the fasteners, the iPad compartment, the lap belts, the possibility of attaching a large tripod, etc... But in the end I stuck with this one. He is actually a very good all-rounder.
Thx for the description! Question, do you think that the AOKA 28 in/1.1lb Lightweight could hold a Canon 5dsr, 50 mm lens or would it glide from its base grip?
I’m not real familiar with the Canon setup, but I see the body is a bit larger and heavier than the Sony a7iii… I think you’d want to set the legs out to the second setting which would reduce the height and require more setup space. I hope that helps. Thanks for the comment!
I lived on Symi for three months 40 years ago. I have to assume that the largest income to the island is now tourism, and that makes me wonder how its people survive during the winter. Perhaps the Greek government or Symi Greeks living on the mainland provide financial support (they have holiday or family homes during August, the annual holiday period). Perhaps also the young find work elsewhere in the world, as happens on other islands, and feed that money back to their families there. Hopefully, someone here can inform me. As I see here, Symi is still an exquisite island, whatever the present commercialism, and note with great amazement the room above the ζαχαροπλαστείο, the cake shop, where I stayed all those years ago! Thank you, Max. Robert, UK.
I may be wrong about this, but part of these ruins may well date back to when the islands were marauded by hostile invaders and the populace moved up to the hills to evade plunder and capture. You see this on another Dodecanese island, Halki. All churches are named after a saint, and on the saint's day, people will gather at the church to celebrate, hence their immaculate upkeep. (It is perhaps not generally known that the first names of baby girls or boys are required to have a saint's name). Symi was at one time all wooded, but boats were built here for many hundreds of years, thus denuding the island to its present (but exquisite) state. The last war and ensuing internal conflict and economic decline caused a vast diaspora of Greeks to other countries, many to America.
40 years ago, I stayed on Symi lotus-eating for three months. A Danish friend and I would sometimes go to Pedi (the 'd' is in fact pronounced as a hard 'th') for an afternoon. It was quite a tidy walk, as there was barely a road and no occupied dwellings and you went on foot as there was not a bus running then, and certainly no scooters. Pedi was extremely quiet, quite still, merely a string of small houses bordering the bay that for the main part were owned by Greeks from the mainland, coming for their annual August holiday. However, there were other people who lived there, and that could be proved when I went swimming in the sheer blue water and come across bobbing turds as there was, I came to realise, no sewage system. Another time we sat at a tiny kafenion and a shepherd brought his flock to a cement slip leading into the bay, and my friend screamed as we realised he had cut the throat of one of the sheep, and begun to flay it. The other sheep continued to graze, unalarmed. Still, the place was hugely peaceful, utterly rural, very lovely against the burnt hills, with hardly a soul about and certainly no tourists. I'm not sure if it has been 'improved' in any way since then, looking something of an untidy mess from what I see here. I'm sure I'm wrong about this. Thanks for taking me down memory lane, Max. Robert, 74, UK.
Do you think it would fit Osprey Exos 58 Pack inside it ? The Exos itself would be unpacked but its contents would be along with it in the transporter bag. Plan to take transporter to Nepal for trekking trip and need a duffle to transport my actual trekking backpack and its contents inside it on the airlines
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the Exos, so I can’t say for sure. Just gauging by the capacity “L” I don’t think you’d fit the Exos and a full load for it in the Transporter 65l, so if you plan to pack the Exos near capacity you might need the next size up Transporter (95l). If you don’t have another use for the duffel (plan to bring more back, etc.) you might just want to look into the Osprey Airporter, or similar by other companies. Hope this helps, and you have an incredible trip
Imo Peaks Design's side opening direction is a design miss. It makes it easier to accidentally drop your gear out when you open the bag. And as you mentioned it's also blocking the inside view. I definitely prefer Lowepro's solution.
I already had a Sirui mini tripod, which was fine for my Canon M50 but I bought a Lumix FZ2500 which isn't remotely stable on it. So I bought the Aoka tripod and the ballhead is nice but I bought a Neewer fluid head which makes it perfect.
Wonderful!! Thank you so much for recording your journey exploring the ruins high up in the village of Horio in Symi - you were much braver than me in entering such delapidated properties, and I really appreciate your insights. I just got back from another two weeks on the island exploring some of the same territory and fascinated by these same cobbled meandering pathways and the juxposition of renovated properties with ruins. I too am enchanted by these abandoned properties, and It's easy to romanticise. Yet their stoicism reveals the harsh reality that, for many, life in these circumstances was just not viable as political and economic circumstances changed - just as they have done in every other country over time. Stabilising these ruins, retaining their history, is so precious to the memory of those who lived on this island. Yet so many of the other ruins I saw are decaying, overtaken by fig trees and general crumbling. But that's part of our human history - civilations rise and fall alongside our concepts and constructs. All is change, and all will always be so.
The section of Symi you found yourself meandering through used to be quite bustling before Nazi occupation. In fact, the white blue trimmed church is a rebuild of the church the Nazis blew-up as they were retreating from the island. Many of the men had either long ago either immigrated to the US and Australia supporting the families they left behind. Or joined in the defense of Greece against the Fascist Italians and Nazis elsewhere. Prior to the Germans blowing up the Church of the Great Virgin Mary, its icons and treasures were salvaged by the women that remained and are now apart of the church that was built in its place. I too, in the seventies, when walking through the ruins could not understand all the talk of the fort or castle and its fortifications. It wasn't until drone filmed videos were available that you see the enormity of it all. These homes were often secondary homes which the residents of the island escaped to whenever pirates were spotted approaching the islands' coasts. That's why you'll find the paths are much like a maze. And though much of what remains are ruins, it remains the only connection families who had immigrated have to hold onto. As though to say, these piles of rocks are mine. But time will pass and these too will, as the rest of the island has, progress and be rebuilt. Time on Symi is a relative concept. Thank you for you video.
Thank you so much for showing us this. Super helpful! That little manfrotto is sorcery, wow! What a dream to find a tripod that could lock off a shot that fast. Did you find others like it? Great stuff, I’m subbed all the way!! Thank you!
I really appreciate the comment and sub! Great to hear the video was helpful! I found they’re making one very similar to the Manfrotto mini under the Joby brand (a lot of the big brands are under one parent company). It has a bit of a contoured grip and has a notch for portrait mode. The notch might work ok for GoPro’s or phones, but i wouldn’t try using it with anything bigger. I like it because it gets a little shorter which helps for packing. I think they call it the Joby HandyPod.
@@MeanderingMax I am lucky to chanced upon this video that by getting Peak Design's bag dividers really will increase the user experience for these LowePro bags Looking at the dimensions. The everyday 20L (Non-ZIP) bag dividers fits the internal camera compartment for the LowePro bags. I got these for my Protatic AW 300 II. Note that peak design site is saying the internal dimensions for the Everyday Backpack 20L (Non-ZIP) is 27cm by 13cm. While the ProActive 300 is 26CM by 13cm. Protatic AW 300 II is 28CM by 12.5CM. Height doesn't matter here. While I got the everyday 15L ZIP bag dividers for the Proactive 200 backpack. Peak design site says the internal dimensions 22cm by 12cm. Proactive 200 is 22cm by 11cm. Agree with the pointers in the video where the orange dividers have to be ripped off to access the other end. And also prefer the execution of how the cameras are accessed with LowePro bags.
