Best Top Load Backpacks: Canvas and Technical Picks

The defining feature is a main compartment you reach into from above, closed by gathering the fabric shut, with no zip tracing the bag's outline. Two of the three canvas rucksacks here state that the gathering is a drawstring, pulled tight and then covered by a flap held down with buckles, magnetic latches or a snap; the GOOTIUM's listing confirms only the flap. On the Eddie Bauer and the FUEL the main compartment closes with a zip across the top, and The North Face cinches its main compartment under a removable lid. All six are top loading. Whether any of them keeps water out is a separate question, and it splits the list by fabric.

The trade-off goes both ways. A top loader keeps its back panel unbroken, so the bag holds its shape under a heavy load and there's no zip to burst when you overfill it. The cost is access. The first thing you pack is the last thing you reach, and finding a charger at the bottom of 30 litres means unpacking most of what's above it. If that sounds intolerable, the opposite format is a clamshell backpack that unzips into two flat halves, and it's the right answer for anyone who lives out of their bag.

Material splits this list cleanly in two. Three of these are cotton canvas, and every one of the three carries a "Not Water Resistant" line in its own spec table. The other three are synthetic: the Eddie Bauer and the FUEL are listed as Water Resistant, and The North Face as Water Repellent. If you're weighing the two families against each other, we've pulled apart how canvas and nylon actually compare, and separately where nylon and polyester differ as pack fabrics.

Then there's weight before you pack anything. The Bluboon is the lightest here at 0.76 kg, about 1.7 pounds. The Eddie Bauer is 0.93 kg, a shade over 2 pounds. The GOOTIUM and the HuaChen weigh 2.1 pounds each, The North Face Terra 55 is the heaviest at 1.77 kg, about 3.9 pounds, as you'd expect from a 55 litre trekking pack, and the FUEL publishes no weight at all. Empty weight is the spec people skip and then resent, and it matters more than litres on anything you walk with. The rest of the fit questions, torso length, strap width and load position, are the same ones we work through in our guide to choosing a travel backpack.

HuaChen takes the top slot because its listing leaves the least to guesswork. Its spec table carries a closure line the others don't. It has a separate Closure Type field reading "Cover flap & Drawstring", spelling out both halves of the mechanism in one field, and the Apparel Closure Type field adds "Drawstring, Magnetic Snap". The copy matches, with "featuring drawstring and flap closure" and "a classic buckle closure flap over design with vintage brass buckles".

Its Material field reads "Heavy-duty Waxed Canvas", and it's the only one of the three canvas bags whose listing names a treatment at all. Wax is what canvas needs to shrug off a shower, though the spec table still says Not Water Resistant, so treat it as a head start and not a rating. Waxed cotton is also stiff when new and marks where it creases, which is either patina or damage depending on your temperament.

The practical draw is the interior. There's a padded laptop sleeve rated to 15 inches and a hidden security pocket against the back panel, which on a bag whose main compartment is a wide open drawstring bucket is useful for a passport or a phone. At 2.1 pounds it's tied with the GOOTIUM as the heaviest canvas bag here, and it carries full-grain leather reinforcement and brass buckles.

Half of the bags here are canvas rucksacks. The Bygone is the synthetic answer for everyday carry. It's a synthetic pack in a narrow 6.5 by 11 by 20 inch shape, and Eddie Bauer puts the format in the product name: "Bygone 30L Backpack with Top Loading Knapsack". The description repeats it twice, and the Size field in the spec table literally reads "30L (Top Loading)". No other listing here states it that many times.

At 0.93 kg it's lighter than the GOOTIUM and the HuaChen, though the Bluboon undercuts all of them at 0.76 kg. The FreeCool back panel is a ventilation feature none of the canvas listings here mention, and it takes a 15-inch laptop. It and the FUEL are the only two whose spec tables say Water Resistant, and the listing offers it in 15 colours.

Three caveats before you order. The Apparel Closure Type field says Zipper, which contradicts the rest of the listing; our read is that the top zip sits under the knapsack lid, and the seller's own repeated "top loading" language is the claim that matters. The material fields disagree too, with Material reading Ripstop Polyester while Material Type and Outer Material both read Nylon. And with about a hundred reviews, its feedback is a fraction of the canvas bags here, so we'd lean on the specs and the brand's record.

The GOOTIUM is the highest rated bag on the list across more than 8,000 reviews, and its listing says less about the closure than any other here. GOOTIUM's own copy describes the "hardware closure" and the "Gootium branding on the flap cover", and the spec table's Apparel Closure Type field says Flap. That confirms the lid. It does not confirm a drawstring underneath, and the drawstring only turns up in customer reviews, which isn't seller data, so we're not going to state it as a spec.

What the listing does confirm is the material, and that's the reason to want this bag. It's 95 percent cotton and 5 percent leather in a high density thick canvas, a heavier weave than the Bluboon's soft canvas. The 8 by 13.5 by 17.7 inch body is wider across than the Eddie Bauer's 11 inches, so bulky, awkward things sit in it more easily. It ties the FUEL for the widest body here.

Buy this one for the fabric and the record. More than 8,000 ratings at the highest average of the six is the strongest durability evidence in the set, and none of it says a word about what closes the compartment.

The Bluboon is the cheapest canvas bag here and the lightest at 0.76 kg, closer to half a pound under the GOOTIUM and the HuaChen. Its copy states the closure plainly enough: "with drawstring design for the main compartment to tight well", followed by a reference to its magnet closure, and the spec table agrees with Apparel Closure Type reading Drawstring. That's a drawstring under a magnetically held flap, the mechanism the HuaChen documents, at a lower price. It also states a padded laptop sleeve for a 15-inch machine, which the GOOTIUM never does. Soft canvas with leather trim is the construction, and "soft" is the operative word next to GOOTIUM's high density weave, so expect a lighter, more pliable bag. Its published dimensions don't agree with themselves, giving 12 by 6.5 by 18 inches in one field and 12 by 17.8 by 6.5 in another, which reshuffles the order and shifts the longest side from 18 inches to 17.8. Treat all of them as approximate and don't measure a laptop against them.

Start with the reason to hesitate. Fewer than twenty ratings is not enough to tell you how this bag ages, and everything below is what the seller publishes, not a durability record. If this is going to be the bag you carry every day for years, one of the canvas picks with thousands of ratings behind it is the safer bet.

With that said, it earns its slot on the closure, which the seller describes directly: "main compartment features a 'top-loader' zipper for easy loading", and elsewhere, "it features a top loader design which makes packing up easier than ever". The product name carries Top Loader too. So the main compartment is a zip at the top, not a drawstring, the same approach the Eddie Bauer takes.

It's the least expensive bag on this list by a wide margin. The spec table gives water resistant polyester in a 7.25 by 13.5 by 18.75 inch body, tying the GOOTIUM for the widest here, with an internal laptop pocket and multiple compartments. No litre figure and no empty weight appear anywhere on the listing. For a school run, a gym bag or a knockabout second pack, that's a sensible set of specs at this money.

Every other bag here is sized for a day. The Terra 55 is a multi-day backpacking pack, and it uses the top loading format the way trekkers always have: a cinched main compartment under a lid. The North Face puts "Cinch-Top Opening" in the product name, and its copy describes "the cinch-top main compartment" and a removable lid with "an internal zip pocket and key hook".

It also answers the format's access problem better than anything else on the list. A "full-length two-way U-zip offers quick access to the top, sides and bottom" of the main compartment, so reaching the bottom doesn't mean unpacking everything above it. That U-zip is what the Apparel Closure Type field means when it says Zipper. The listing adds hiking pole and ice axe attachments, zippered hipbelt pockets, an internal hydration sleeve and side and bottom compression straps.

Two things to know before you order. This is the women's specific fit, sold in two sizes with different volumes, 53 litres for XS/S and 57 for M/L, which the spec table rounds to 55. And at 1.77 kg it's by far the heaviest bag here, the usual cost of a pack built for multi-day loads. It has about 50 ratings, and Amazon.com sells and ships it.

Start with the fabric, because it eliminates faster than anything else. If the bag will be out in the weather, the canvas three are out; all of them carry "Not Water Resistant" in their own spec tables, the Eddie Bauer and the FUEL are listed as Water Resistant, and The North Face as Water Repellent.

Then let the laptop decide. For a 15-inch machine, the Eddie Bauer, the Bluboon and the HuaChen all state a fit. The FUEL states an internal laptop pocket and never gives a size. The GOOTIUM and The North Face publish no laptop sleeve at all, so a laptop rides loose in the main compartment, which we wouldn't do with anything expensive.

After that it comes down to what you want from the closure. The Bluboon gives you a drawstring under a magnetic closure, which is the least fiddly version of this design going by the listings. The HuaChen documents the mechanism most completely, naming a drawstring, a magnetic snap and vintage brass buckles on one listing. The North Face adds a U-zip so you can reach the bottom without unpacking. The GOOTIUM asks you to trust the photos. If water is the real worry, a roll top bag seals better than any flap. And if you're carrying 30 litres or less on foot most days, read our day pack picks first. A top loader suits people who pack once and then walk, and it gets old fast if you're opening the bag all day.

What is a top load backpack?

It's a backpack whose main compartment opens at the top only, usually closed by pulling a drawstring tight and folding a flap over it, or on more modern packs by a short zip sitting under a lid. What defines it is the absence of a zip running round the body, so you reach in from above instead of opening the bag out flat.

How can I tell if a backpack is top loading when the listing doesn't say?

Check the Apparel Closure Type field in Amazon's spec table first, because a listing that says Drawstring there is telling you the main compartment gathers shut. Then look at the photos for a zip line running up the sides of the body. If the only zips you can see belong to pockets and the top is covered by a flap, it's a top loader. A field reading only Flap confirms the lid and tells you nothing about what's under it.

Is a top loading backpack better than one that opens flat?

For carrying a heavy load a fair distance, we'd take the top loader. The unbroken back panel holds its shape and there's no long zip to fail under strain. For travel, where you're living out of the bag and pulling one item at a time, a bag that opens flat is far less annoying. The formats answer different questions, so pick by how often you'll open it.

Are canvas top load backpacks waterproof?

No, and all three canvas bags here say so themselves, each carrying a "Not Water Resistant" line in its own spec table. The HuaChen's Material field names heavy-duty waxed canvas, and wax sheds a light shower better than untreated cotton, but it still isn't a rating and it wears off, so it needs re-waxing. If rain is a regular part of the plan, the Eddie Bauer and the FUEL are the ones listed as Water Resistant.

Do top load backpacks work as carry-on luggage?

Every daypack here fits inside a typical 22 by 14 by 9 inch cabin allowance on its published dimensions, though at 13.5 inches wide the GOOTIUM and the FUEL sit half an inch under the 14 inch width limit. The Terra 55, at about 29.5 inches tall, doesn't. The opening is what slows you down at security, because staff sometimes want a clear look inside, and a deep drawstring bucket under a buckled flap takes longer to open and repack than a bag that lies flat. Check your airline's published dimensions before you fly, since a stuffed top loader measures differently than an empty one.

Why do so few listings mention the closure?

Because sellers write bullets around what they think sells, and the opening gets treated as obvious. Where it does show up, it shows up in different places: the Bluboon puts it in the description, the HuaChen gives it a spec field of its own, and the Eddie Bauer, the FUEL and The North Face put it in the product name. The GOOTIUM says only Flap, and it's still the best reviewed bag here, so the silence isn't a quality signal.