Dakine Skateboarding Backpacks and Duffel Bag Reviews for 2007 / 2008

Dakine is a solid company that makes gear for all kinds of "action sports", and is well known for making good quality equipment. Dakine also has a skateboarding team, and makes a few different styles of skateboarding backpacks and bags. For this review, Dakine sent me the Dakine Team Skatepack, Dakine Duel Backpack, and the Dakine Skate Duffel bag to check out.

The Dakine Team pack comes in four different color styles, for each of the pro skaters on the Dakine team - Biebel, Machnau, Wilson and Haslam. Those are some pretty strong names in skateboarding! Nice work Dakine!

Basically, the Dakine Team Skatepack is a great backpack. The back is well padded, with mesh across the middle for insulation, and the shoulder straps are thickly padded and curve ergonomically. The clips are large and heavy plastic, and the shoulder straps are double stitched for durability. The whole pack is made of a rough and tough material that resists ripping, and the zippers are large and strong.

The Dakine Team skateboarding backpack holds your skateboard underneath the top pocket, and the board is held in place by a thick, heavy Velcro strap. There are even extra thick rubber strips to hold the grip tape away from the rest of the backpack, to protect your investment!

For pockets, you get one main compartment that has plenty of room, two smaller top pockets, one with a reinforced hole for your MP3 player headphone cord. You also get the large top compartment that has places for your phone, pens, and a zipper mesh bag. The backpack also has a super hidden side zipper that opens up a huge padded laptop pocket. Plus you get a zippered side compartment with another zipper mesh pocket inside, and an outer mesh pocket for a drink bottle on the other side.

The Dakine Team Skatepack is designed for school or work, for people who want to carry everything they want, and their skateboard too.

The Dakine Duel is a lighter class backpack. It has a nice large main pocket, and two smaller top pockets for smaller stuff. The Duel comes with a sweet fleece lined upper pocket that's perfect for sunglasses, and elastic mesh side pockets for drinks or whatever else you want. The Duel also has a side entry large padded laptop pocket just like the Team skatepack, and a good amount of padding on the back and ergonomically curved shoulder straps. The padding isn't quite as thick as on the Dakine Team skatepack, and there's no mesh section to help keep your back from getting sweaty, but the bag itself is a lot lighter.

The Dakine Duel features two straps for holding your skateboard, right across the top of everything. It's not a very fancy way to carry your skateboard, but it works. The pockets will get roughed up pretty bad from the grip tape if you carry your board a lot.

On the other hand, if you plan on using your skateboarding backpack for stuff like hiking as well, the Duel is lighter and more useful for activities like that than a larger, heavier pack like the Dakine Team skatepack.

The Dakine Skate Duffel is simple and sweet. It's a mid sized duffel bag, 32 inches long by 12.5 inches wide and 9.5 inches high. It has a padded skateboard pocket on the bottom with a zippered door to load your board in. The top main compartment is the perfect size for clothes, skate gear, or whatever else you need, and there's a smaller separate insulated cooler pocket at the end that you can load up with drinks.

I love this duffel. You can load it up with all your skateboarding stuff, some drinks, and even shove in a jacket if you want, and have all your skate gear in one easy to transport bag. Or, you can load up the duffel with a few days worth of clothes, throw a tooth brush and that sort of stuff in the cooler pocket, keep your board in the bottom and take a skate trip. Or any other kind of trip, for that matter.

The duffel also has two handles for carrying it, or you can use the nice big padded shoulder strap, OR you can use one of the handles at either end. That's a lot of handles.

I was impressed with what Dakine has to offer - and these were only a few of the skateboarding bags they have. Dakine has a solid skateboarding team, so you know they support real skateboarding, and they have a great reputation for making good equipment.

If size isn't important to you, I would recommend getting the Dakine Team Skatepack over the Duel. the Duel just didn't come with very much, and you'll wear it out faster by using it to carry your skateboard. On the other hand, if you don't have too much to carry and only plan on carrying your board on your back a little, maybe the Duel will work for you. And, if you want to use your skate pack for other things, like hiking or just carrying books, the Duel is lighter and you might find it more comfortable for that reason.

And the Dakine Skate Duffel is just a sweet bag. I like it, and recommend it, but only if you are the kind of guy or girl who likes to store their skateboard inside a bag. It's usually enough to just throw your board into your truck or back seat and go skate, but sometimes you want to be able to carry your board more safely. With the Skate Duffel, you can check your skateboard in for flights easier, you can carry all your skate gear in one place, or you can use it when going on short trips to carry clothes and everything else.

I think most people would be happy with these bags. They're tough enough, look cool, and work well. I recommend them.