Trakke Largo Sling Review

At just a glance, the Trakke Largo Sling looks the size of a small daypack. It has a large footprint and takes up most of your chest or back, depending on how you wear it.

When reviewing Trakke’s Banana Crossbody Bag, we liked the sleek and minimal style but thought it could use more organization. We wonder whether or not the Largo will have better storage options to match the sleekness we have come to expect from Trakke. Let’s find out!

Materials & Aesthetic

The sling is crafted from Dry-Finish Waxed Canvas, which has a durable yet soft and heritage feel. We know it’s odd to describe something as feeling heritage, but once you get your hands on this thing, you’ll understand. It feels like something your grandpa would have owned, and in the best way possible. It’s almost like it’s been worn in for you already.

At the time of writing, the Largo Sling comes in Black, Olive, and Whiskey colorways. We have the Black colorway on hand and dig the black on black, but it does pick up dust and hair pretty quickly. We assume that the Olive and Whiskey colorways do the same, but given their color, they may not show as much as the Black does. If you have a pet, be ready for the world to know it when you carry the Largo around. It cleans up fairly easily with a lint roller or tape, but it’s noticeable.

The patch on the front of the pack is black and spells out Trakke, underscored by “Handmade in Scotland.” The tag blends in nicely on the Black colorway and adds a bit of contrast to the Olive and Whiskey options.

This is as good a time as any to mention that this sling comes in at 5.5 liters, or as our friends in Scotland would say, litres. We feel like it almost qualifies as a messenger considering its size, but with such a small literage, it fits into the sling category.

We have YKK #5 AquaGuard zippers throughout this pack—even on the interior—and they all have Trakke’s metal circle zipper pulls. They’re super easy to grab hold of, even when it gets wet or cold. The inclusion of an AquaGuard zipper on the interior is a little puzzling, but we’ll get into that later.

The buckle on the strap is a uniquely sturdy 50mm COBRA Buckle. It has a pretty big footprint but is very thin, so you can hardly feel it while wearing the sling. Latching and unlatching it does take some getting used to compared to a standard buckle, but we dig the security and vibe that the buckle gives off. There’s a ton of technical information on the front face, which we like for a pack like this. We’ve found a lot of love on Reddit for COBRA buckles due to their strength and versatility, and we have to admit, this is one of the more durable buckles we’ve seen on a sling to date.

The strap adjustor is crafted from hard metal and is easy to use. It’s relatively shiny but picks up fingerprints and smudges fairly easily. It doesn’t look bad when it isn’t “clean,” but we think it’s worth noting. Considering the COBRA buckle choice for closing the strap, we’re happy to see something just as durable to adjust it.

When empty, the sling has a half-moon shape; the back panel curves slightly, which helps it conform to your body. It’s extremely comfortable when empty, which isn’t that important in the grand scheme of things, but it’s so comfortable that we couldn’t not tell you.

External Components

The strap is quite durable but doesn’t have any additional padding. We’ve run into many straps like this while reviewing packs and slings, but this one is very soft in comparison. The softness is great for wearing the sling with thinner clothing, like a t-shirt or tank top. However, the lack of padding and aeration is still noticeable, especially when the pack is loaded out or you’re wearing it for an extended period.

Similar to the strap, the back panel has little padding and no aeration to speak of. There is a thin layer of padding on the panel, but it doesn’t offer much support when fully packed out. This is especially true when you stuff the pack with oddball-sized items, as the waxed canvas doesn’t provide much structure. Oblong items can manipulate the fabric easily, meaning that they can push into your back, side, or chest. This is only the case for strangely sized items, so it shouldn’t be a huge issue in most carry situations.

The bottom of the back has two cotton webbing loops. We don’t find these particularly useful, as the pack is already quite large, and attaching something to the bottom feels a little too daunting. We find this an optimal place for a carabiner like the Nite Ize S-Biner, making the sling easier to hang on various mounting points.

Inside The Sling

The interior of the pack is orange Dry-Finish Waxed Canvas with black accents. The orange makes finding items a lot easier unless all your items are the exact orange color Trakke decided to go with for the interior. If that’s the case, you obviously like that color, so maybe you should go with the Largo anyways.

The front compartment is shaped like…well, an almond. If you’re allergic to nuts, it’s shaped like two parentheses shoved together. It has just two pockets, but they’re ample sized. Sticking with food references, they’re shaped like the last slice of pizza in the box that nobody wanted because it looked weird. The bottom of the pocket is curved, which can cause items to slide to the corner, but doesn’t affect usage other than that.

Smaller items do well here, like your phone or wallet, but larger items like over-ear headphones can be tight as they share space with the main compartment. It does have a little depth of its own, but larger items push on the exterior fabric and look a little wonky. There’s small cotton webbing on the top of the pocket for your keys or a carabiner, which is a nice addition. If you opt to place your keys here, it doesn’t have a leash or any stretch, so you can’t pull your keys out very far to open the door without taking the keys off.

Moving into the main compartment, we see the same orange fabric and black accents as in the front pocket. The back pocket lies flat with the back panel, and documents as large as A5 fit here. We’re able to fit a Kindle here, and most smaller tablets and eReaders will do just fine in this pocket.

If you put a flat, hard item in this pocket, it affects how the sling wears. We mentioned the half-moon shape earlier, and placing a flat item in the A5 pocket removes the curvature. This makes it less comfortable, but not uncomfortable.

There’s a little padding on both sides of the A5 pocket, but not enough to justify shoving tech in without a case. There are two liner pockets on top of the A5 pocket, which are larger than the two we saw in the front compartment. If you place a flat and rigid item in the A5 pocket, like a tablet or eReader, it’s hard to place anything but flat things in the two pockets in front of that pocket, as the waxed canvas can only push one way.

Opposite the A5 pocket and two liner pockets is a zippered pocket. It’s secured with a YKK #5 AquaGuard zipper we saw on the two exterior zippers, which is odd because it’s inside the main compartment, but we can’t complain. It’s smooth and easy to manipulate, and we’re a fan of the circle zipper pull on the interior.

There’s a ton of space in the main compartment, but it’s an odd size. The storage goes up into the corners, but there isn’t much of a use for those spaces. It’s so tight that there isn’t much you can use it for other than overflow clothing storage when the pack is completely full. Even then, it’s hard to push gear up into the corners, and the space feels wasted.

When the sling is completely loaded out, it looks like a banana that is mildly allergic to bees and was stung with no EpiPen in sight. There isn’t much of a back panel when it’s overstuffed, as the canvas doesn’t hold its shape. This isn’t an issue, but it looks a little odd if you were to shove a few larger pieces of clothing inside.

We feel that it has a large footprint for how much you can fit inside the sling. It has a larger footprint than the Bellroy Venture Sling, which is 9L. The Largo comes in at 5.5 liters, just 61% of the volume of the Venture. The style of each bag is dramatically different, but when it comes to how much gear you’re able to fit inside, the Largo might not be the most bang for your buck, especially compared to an urban sling like the Venture. However, we completely understand that sometimes style is just as important as how much you can stow inside. We can’t decide whether or not you’ll like it for you, but we can say that we really dig the unique style of this sling.