GRAMS28 Voyager Duffle Review from a Working Photographer
Grams28 181 Voyager and it’s perfect airport companion the 132 Essential Case Pro.
Why the Grams28 Voyager Duffle earned a place in my kit
Why this bag even entered the conversation
When you travel for a living as a photographer, bags stop being about looks and start being about problem solving. Storage, protection, access. Before long, you find yourself hauling around ugly ballistic nylon tech bags that scream function over form. I’ve been there. At some point, you quietly give up on aesthetics.
But you don’t have to give up completely.
Grams28 caught my attention because their bags feel restrained and intentional. Minimalist leather, no loud branding, and a design language that feels timeless rather than trendy. If the iconic sneaker brand Common Projects made travel bags, this is probably what they’d look like.
This article focuses mainly on the 181 Voyager Duffle, with the 132 Essential Case Pro playing a supporting role. The Voyager isn’t a camera bag and it’s not trying to be one. It’s a travel and business bag that happens to work very well for photographers who travel and still care about how they look without sacrificing functionality. To be transparent. I was initially eying a bag similar to this from AWAY that cost significantly less, but it’s not nearly as premium.
She’s such a sexy bag not just in style but in functionality as well.
Where this actually fits in my travel setup
After hundreds of assignments and a lot of time in airports, I’ve learned that no single bag does everything well. It’s always about combinations.
When I’m traveling for work, my camera gear almost always comes onboard with me. That usually means a dedicated camera backpack takes my main carry on slot. Once that’s spoken for, I still need a second bag that works for my laptop, tech, plane essentials, and sometimes a small personal camera.
That’s where the Voyager fits. It works as a clean personal and business bag when my camera backpack is already full. On trips where I don’t need much gear, it can even replace a camera bag entirely.
The 132 Essential Case Pro complements it nicely. I use it as a small cross body bag for things I want immediate access to while flying or moving through airports.
The 132 Essential Case Pro is my new plane bag and dressed up EDC bag, AKA Man Purse.
How I pack it and why it works.
On a recent trip back to the USA to see family, the Voyager ended up being my main plane bag. What stood out immediately was how flexible the internal setup is.
The bag comes with a standard packing cube, which is useful for general organization, but if you travel with a small rangefinder sized camera, I’d strongly recommend adding the padded camera cube. I used one with my Leica M11 and it worked perfectly without making the bag feel like a camera bag pretending not to be one.
The main compartment opens wide with a dual zipper system and lets you organize things however you want. I usually keep a pouch for cables and chargers, and still have room for a hoodie or light jacket. There’s enough structure to keep things from becoming a mess, but not so many dividers that you’re wasting time hunting for items.
The dual zipper set up makes it open wide, great for access, especially when you’re rummaging through it on a long flight.
The secondary compartment is more structured and works well for tech. The padded laptop sleeve is solid, and the internal pockets make sense without feeling overdesigned. There are plenty of zippered pockets, a few flap style ones, and a luggage pass through, which is a must these days with airports only getting larger.
The laptop compartment opens cleanly and lays flat, which makes security easier. That kind of simplicity matters when you’re traveling internationally with cameras, laptops, and chargers.
Premium quality details throughout the entire bag.
What it feels like to live with.
The leather is genuinely premium. It dresses the bag up just enough to work for business travel, editorial assignments, or meetings, without feeling flashy or precious. I usually fly in comfortable athleisure, and it’s nice when a bag elevates that look instead of dragging it down.
It also works extremely well for non work trips. If I’m traveling purely for pleasure for a few days, I can pair it with a duffle or a small roller bag and skip a dedicated camera bag entirely. I’ll throw a Leica M body or a small camera in here, my laptop, the essentials, and I’m set.
Paired with the 132 Essential Case Pro, it makes a lot of sense for how I travel. That smaller bag holds headphones, phone, passport, boarding pass, and snacks. I don’t like stuffing my pockets, especially when flying, so having a small cross body bag works perfectly.
Their bags even match my style and decor of my home.
When I don’t want to use it as a personal item, the 132 fits neatly inside the Voyager. The materials match beautifully. Same premium feel, same design language. It doesn’t feel like a random accessory tossed into the bag.
Both bags use a simple quick clip system that’s clean and well executed. They only come in black, but that works for me. It matches everything and never feels out of place whether I’m on assignment or traveling casually.
Key features and essentials
The following is Grams28’s own description of the 181 Voyager Duffle, not mine, but it does a good job of outlining what the bag is designed to do on paper.
“Designed for lovers of creation and travel, the 181 Voyager Duffle is a spacious and versatile duffle bag with built in segmentation for tech and travel essentials. The double zipper flap top opening allows for easy access and clear visibility of everything inside, while the separate tech compartment and included packing cube help keep things organized whether you are in transit or on location.
Price: $949
Key features
Separate tech compartment
Organizational interior pockets
Interchangeable strap
Travel ready luggage pass through
Complimentary packing cube
What is included
38mm basic strap
Packing cube L “
A few honest notes.
If I have one real complaint, it’s weight when the bag is packed completely full. The detachable shoulder strap also isn’t padded, which surprised me at this price point. That said, even fully loaded, it was more comfortable than I expected. An aftermarket shoulder pad could help, but in practice I often carried it by hand and relied on the luggage pass through.
With airports getting longer and immigration lines taking more time, I won’t buy a bag without a luggage pass moving forward.
Design wise, the bag is smart and minimal, both in function and in style. Everything feels intentional, which is something I look for in both photography gear and travel equipment.
As for specs, the bag uses full grain leather, has a structured but flexible build, a padded laptop sleeve, and supports removable camera inserts and other cubes sold separately. The size works well as a carry on or personal item depending on how you pack it. I’m not a specs person, so if you want exact measurements or material breakdowns, Grams28 presents that information clearly on their site.
Price and who this actually makes sense for.
There’s no getting around the price. The Voyager Duffle is $949, and the smaller cross body bag is close to three hundred. That’s expensive. But these feel like forever products. The kind you buy once, use hard, and don’t think about replacing. If you compare to the AWAY Weekender it seem extremely expensive, but you’re paying for the premium leather and functionally. If you compare to any designer weekender bag you’d fine at MrPorter.com you’ll find this bag a great value with equivalent if not better looks and the functionality easily surpasses any of the bags.
So who is this bag for. It’s for me. I’d buy it again without hesitation after using it only a few times. It filled a real gap in my travel setup. I love how it rides on my Rimowa carry on using the luggage pass through, how easy it is to work out of in hotels, and how it never feels too big to carry around. Like I mentioned before It sits somewhere between a briefcase and a larger duffle, and paired with the 132 Essential Case Pro, it’s the perfect combo for how I work.
Thanks to the team at Grams28. I hope to meet you in Hong Kong someday. Since releasing these bags, they’ve announced a few other photography focused designs that look genuinely interesting. Maybe I’ll take a look at those next.
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Justin Mott is an editorial and commercial photographer who’s been based in Vietnam for almost 20 years. In that time, he’s covered over 100 assignments for The New York Times and shot global ad campaigns for Fortune 500 companies across Asia and beyond.
