Customer Reviews

Lowepro SlingShot 302 AW

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're looking at the Lowepro SlingShot camera bags for the first time, I will start by telling you a bit about how they are meant to be worn. This is a backpack with a single shoulder strap. The strap sits on your right shoulder, diagonally crosses the front of your body, and attaches to the bag again at your left side. The idea is that you can "sling" (pull) the bag around from your back to your front without ever having to take it off. The bag is designed in such a way that when you do this, the side of the bag becomes the top, and the main compartment and zippers are facing you for quick access to you gear. Because of the single "across the body" strap design, the backpack will never sit perfectly straight on your back, rather at a slight angle. To compensate this, there is a padded waist belt, which helps straighten the pack and distribute the load.

The 302AW is divided into two sections; the main compartment (measuring 11.4w x 5.9d x 10.6h") being for your SLR camera (or other gear), and a smaller, top compartment for personal items. There is also a third pouch pocket on the front for things like your wallet, keys, pens, cellphone. In addition, there are plenty of elasticized straps, loops, netted and zippered areas all your smaller items (like flash cards, lens filters), all designed to keep everything organized and easily accessible. The built-in lens cleaning cloth has a use, but it cannot be removed for laundering. Same goes for the built-in rain cover, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. If you're caught in a sudden rainstorm, it's great that you can pull it out of the bottom of the bag, and stretch it over to protect your gear, but you will likewise have to leave it hang out, flapping in the breeze, to dry because it's stitched in.

The SlingShot 302AW has ample padding in all the right places to make it comfortable to wear and to protect your gear. Although built for photographers and intended primarily as a camera bag, on another day this versatile backpack could be used for anything, by anyone after a backpack that you don't have to remove to access. The modular Velco spacers in the main compartment can be easily reconfigured any way you like. I reconfigured mine to carry a 10.1" netbook, compact camera, iPod, and all the associated power and USB cables, and still have room to spare. It's carry-on compatible (according to the tag) so it makes a great way to organize all your essential gear for your next flight.

Premium camera bag or versatile backpack, the SlingShot 320AW is an all-round winner in my book.

A hefty slingbag, the 302AW is feature-filled, but clumsy to wear.

Lowepro has been making camera bags for many years, so I anticipated the many activity-specific innovations: the built-in microfiber cloth, the tab-pockets for memory cards, the rain-proof cover, the adjustable dividers in the main body, the tuck-away pockets, low-profile tripod straps, and the rugged nylon construction.

What I was surprised by was how awkward this sling design is to wear. The bag is designed to go one way (over the right shoulder, rotating around to the left of the body). With just the sling strap, I couldn't find a comfortable place to seat the bag on my average-to-athletic male torso.

To keep the bag at a good spot on my back, the strap across my chest had to be too tight (uncomfortable, looks awkward, and can't slide it around easily). If the strap was at a good looseness for sliding the bag around, then the bag skewed off to the side of my back (bumping into things), putting all its weight on my shoulder (not against my back), and the strap was still uncomfortable on my side. While the part of the bag that sits against the wearer's back is padded, it's not contoured, which probably doesn't help it stay in the right spot.

Using the waist-belt did help keep the bag at the right spot (and distribute load to hips), but then sliding the bag around isn't possible, making the 302AW into just an ungainly one-strap backpack. Also, it would be nice if the waist belts tucked away in some fashion rather than flopping around when not in use.

Sliding around to your front, this bag is big-- you'll need some clearance, getting your SLR out will not be a subtle move.

Inside the main compartment, my Canon T1i is much less tall than the bag is deep, meaning the camera rattles around as you carry it-- there's nothing to secure it in place (this begs for a quick-release strap), and no way to adjust the partitions narrow the depth . Anything smaller than Canon 5DMarkII will be shifting around.

Similarly, some way to decrease the depth of the dividers would be great, so a slim notebook or netbook could be carried in this bag-- many travelers and photographers carry both laptop and SLR, and with a bag this large it's silly to have to carry a separate laptop case. There's plenty of space for a laptop, just no good way to secure it (a padded sleeve that velcros in would be perfect).

It's possible the smaller/skinnier Lowepro slings are more comfortable, but if you carry less gear than this bag is designed for, you may prefer the much less awkward Caselogic SLRC-205 slingbag, which has a wonderful hammock system to support the SLR body, and is the bag I carry daily.

This solidly designed bag suffers from awkward ergonomics that make it hard to wear; go for a smaller sling, or a normal Lowepro backpack instead.

I got the 102 and it was way too small for my camera, A Canon T3i w/ 50 - 200 lense. Returned it and was going to get the 202 verson..and then saw this at a really good price just a few bucks more than the 202. So figured what the heck. Got it yesterday and my jaw dropped when I got it out of the box.

Started putting stuff in it and realied my camera gear amount is going to have to grow. Regardless...this bag is the best. I really like the one strap carry and then having the belt to help take the weight when working the shoot or just walking and carrying the bag. And being able to scoot the bag around and get to the camera..., well that feature is great. Takes seconds to access my camera and be ready to shoot.

And the quality and build of this is excellent. Comes with the built-in weather shield is great and the built in cloth is a nice touch though wondering what you do when it eventually gets dirty. I guess just cut it out at that point, but in the meantime its a really nice touch and is no big deal if i need to remove it in the future.

CONS: Well, other than just being a big bag with all kinds of room. Thats no con.

If you need a nice sturdy bag with plenty of room for your gear, then this is it. No mistake. And what was nice, had it sent overnite and got it on a saturday.

I used the 300AW for over 4 years and walked many miles with it. A few years ago the teeth of the zipper started separating from the zipper fabric in one spot. I could still use the bag so long as I didn't run the zipper over that area. Because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of returning it, especially if the warranty wouldn't cover it, I procrastinated on using Lowepro's lifetime warranty. This is the reason for my writing this review.
I emailed Lowepro. They had me send them a code from a tag in the bag, and a week later I received a brand new 302AW! I didn't even have to show them a picture of the damage.
The bag will hold a body with a 70-200 or 70-300 lens with ease, plus other lenses and a flash. There are many pockets and adjustable compartments. The 302 has a better zipper compartment in the storage area and an elastic strap to hold things down. (Like a snack). I have hiked for a couple hours with this bag, and while it's not quite as comfortable as a backpack, it is well designed for carrying. It is especially handy for festivals and the like, because you don't have to set it down to get your camera out.

Lowepro is a great company, I own another of their bags that I use when flying.

I have a number of Lowepro bags. They all serve different functions. They're all really solidly built, and very well designed. They have the occasional SMALL design quirk, but easily they're the best I've used. I really want to mention their customer service, though. I had a zipper on a bag die a slow death a while ago, and I wrote in about it. They offered to quickly send me a replacement without having to ship in the original. In addition to being a really classy move, it tells me that they take product quality and customer retention very seriously; which is worth a LOT to me in today's market of caveat-ridden warranties. Any company that makes products which they're willing to back so strongly wins my admiration.

Use these bags with confidence. If something goes wrong, they stand behind their products.

This pack is stylish and comfortable to wear... the waist strap helps distribute the weight and the pack holds anything you'd need to carry with a camera - there's even a handy place to attach a folded camera stand to the bag. The inside partitions can be taken out (they're attached w/velcro) making this pack flexible. The zippers are good quality - the main zipper path goes under straps so you need to open them before unzipping or it will be a bit cumbersome. You could use this bag with a variety of camera models as well as using it as a general backpack, so it's not limited to use by camera/photography pros. It's designed to be weatherproof, so your equipment should stay safe and dry inside. This bag would be good for both professional cameramen and casual users of camera gear or other stuff that needs to be carried safely in a backpack.

First, I should point out that I'm 6'3", and a tad over 200 pounds. It's a big bag, but that's fine for me.

I previously used a caselogic backpack, but found it clumsy to take off to pull the camera out every time I wanted to use it. The sling bad solved that issue pretty easily, I'm able to unbuckle the waist strap and swing it around in front of me to get the camera out. I still can't perform that move very gracefully, but it works a lot better than taking a backpack off and bending over to dig through it. Also, having traveled a bit with it, it's also quick and convenient to swing around and hold on your lap every time you sit down on a bus, train, car, etc. And you can just swing it right back. The bag does a fine job of holding my Sony DSLR with a Tamron 200-400mm lens on it. However if I switch lenses, that lens has to go back into the center of the bag and the camera can't go back into the bag without putting the Tamron back it. None of my other lenses are an issue, even the old Minolta beercan style telephotos fit fine, but using a Sony with in body stabilization none of the lenses have the additional bulk from the in lens stabilization.

I'm very comfortable with waist straps, in general, even on any backpacks I ever use, so I use is almost always on this bag and the one strap on my shoulder isn't an issue with the waist strap tight enough to hold the weight.

Changing lenses is my one big complaint. I'm not sure how others are managing to do this, but I have to set the bag down to fully open the side packets around the camera pocket to get other lenses, flashes and such out. Having these accessible from the "side pocket" with that zipper pulled halfway down would probably be an improvement, but would probably also limit the number of slots to carry items.

I do still get confused sometimes trying to quickly through the strap over my shoulder and forget to get my head and left arm through it, and get all tangled up with it. I'm getting better, but if your generally a bit clumsy, expect a little embarrassment.

The sling design was a novel idea when I saw it. But I'm finding that with my 6' plus frame it isn't comfortable. I love the pack it's self, but I now hate the sling system. The pack portion of the system affords lots of room. I love all the little pockets and the space for all my camera gear. As a backpack it would be perfect. but the sling rides up onto my neck making it very uncomfortable for long trips. I am going to replace it, unfortunately, I can't deal with the sling any longer. If you are looking for a good storage bag and don't plan on long hikes, it is a top notch bag. If you are a hiker, it isn't for you. Also, the option that sold me on the bag is the ability to access your camera without removing the bag. I loved that. I've had the bag all summer and have used it a lot.

Very roomy and fits all of my gear nicely. I was looking for something that would hold everything in one case. This does the trick. Lenses, power adapters, lense hoods, battery packs, chargers, cables, books, cleaning kit, filters, and more. I have a small satchel style bag that really can only handle the camera with a lense on it, a spare lense, batteries and a cleaning kit. I had to use a second bag to carry all the adapters, cables, power packs/chargers and miscelaneous stuff in. I will still use this bag if I am taking select stuff for a shoot but it is more convienient to have all my equipment in one location so I know where it is, plus it frees up my hands for carrying stuff and opening doors.

Let me start with a little honesty. I am not a small person. I am a large person even. I was really concerned that this bag wasn't going to fit well or be comfortable. I was wrong. The adjustments are very forgiving and its incredibly comfortable slingshot design is terrific!

I love that the bag spins around and I can access my camera without having to take off the bag and find a safe place to set it down and get out my camera. It's perfect for long walks; I forget I'm carrying it most of the time.

I also love that the inside is all changeable. I can adjust the bag to fit my equipment, not try to adjust my equipment to fit my bag.

One of the best features in my opinion is that it has an extra compartment on top that is entirely separate from the rest of the bag. I can keep sunscreen and a bottle of water in there and not worry that it's going to end up all over my camera.

Finally, it holds my tripod. Some other bags also hold the tripod, but they change the centering and comfort of the bag. That is not the case with this bag. It's still easy to carry and comfortable to wear with the tripod attached.

I was a bit hesitant to spend so much on a bag without seeing it and trying it out, but I am glad I did! If you're willing to spend thousands on a camera and equipment, then a hundred bucks on a bag is a no brainer if it means your camera is safe!