BagSmart Blast Backpack Review: The Blast Pro 38L After Greece and Chicago

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I wrote this BagSmart Blast backpack review after changing my whole carry-on system this year. I’ve traveled through Europe with one bag for years. For most of those trips it was a Peak Design 45L travel backpack. I still like that bag. Packed for a week or ten days with my full wardrobe and a laptop, though, it gets heavy. By the end of a long travel day my shoulders were sore. So before our autumn trip to the Greek islands I split the load: a BagSmart Blast Pro 43L Roller as my carry-on and a BagSmart Blast Pro 38L travel backpack as my personal item. This BagSmart backpack review will specifically cover the smaller of the two, the bag that went under the seat.

I bought both bags with my own money. The Blast Pro 38L has now done two trips with me. On the way to Greece it rode on top of the roller through the airport and went under the seat on the flights. For an overnight in Chicago it was my only bag. That isn’t years of use, so I’ll tell you exactly what it held, how it measures against airline personal item rules and the one small thing I’m fixing. Most of the Blast reviews you’ll find cover the original Blast. The Pro is a slightly different bag, so I’ve laid out the differences BagSmart lists between the two.

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Why I Switched to a Backpack Plus Roller

I switched because a single big backpack put the whole trip on my shoulders. With one 45L pack, everything I own for the trip is on my back from the curb to the hotel: clothes, toiletries, laptop and cords. That works for a long weekend. For a week or more, it’s a lot of weight to carry through terminals, train stations and hotel lobbies.

Splitting the load fixed that. Clothes and shoes go in the roller, which rolls. The roller also has backpack straps, which come in handy when the ground turns to cobblestones. Everything I need on the plane goes in the backpack, which rides on top of the roller through the airport and slides under the seat once I board. I still travel carry-on only (my Europe packing list has the full one-bag system), I just stopped asking my shoulders to do all of it.

The Pro version of the BagSmart Blast backpack fills the personal item slot in that system. Two trips in, I’ve used it two ways: under the seat on an international flight and as my only bag for a night away.

BagSmart Blast Pro 38L Specs

The Blast Pro 38L is a 28L backpack that unzips to 38L. These are the specs from BagSmart’s Blast Pro 38L product page as of October 2026. The inch and pound figures are my conversions from BagSmart’s metric numbers. If you’ve been searching for the BagSmart 38L backpack, note that there are two: the original Blast 38L and this Blast Pro 38L. I compare them in the next section.

The number that matters most for a personal item is the middle one, depth. Unexpanded, the bag is 20.5 cm deep. Unzipped to its full 38L, it’s 25 cm. I come back to why that matters in the under-seat section below.

BagSmart Blast vs Blast Pro: What the Pro Adds

The Blast Pro costs $15 more at list price and adds a more structured interior, an RFID pocket, a hidden back pocket and lockable laptop zippers, for about 170 grams (6 ounces) more weight. That’s how BagSmart’s own Blast vs Blast Pro comparison, posted October 7, 2026, lays it out. I haven’t used the original Blast, so this table is BagSmart’s comparison, not my testing.

If you mostly carry clothes, the original Blast’s open clamshell and lower price make sense. I’ve had a laptop in mine on both trips. That’s where the Pro’s lockable sleeve and extra pockets earn the extra $15.

Is the BagSmart Backpack at Costco the Blast Pro?

No. When I checked in October 2026, Costco’s listing (item 2011288) was the BagSmart 38L Blast Backpack bundled with a 4-piece set of compression packing cubes. That’s the original Blast, the one in the right-hand column of the table above, not the Pro I’m reviewing here. It expands from 28L to 38L like the Pro, but going by BagSmart’s comparison it doesn’t have the Pro’s lockable laptop zippers, RFID pocket or hidden back pocket. If you mostly pack clothes, the Costco bundle is a good way to get the original Blast plus cubes. If you want the laptop security and extra organization, you’ll need the Pro from BagSmart.

What Fit in the Blast Pro 38L on Two Trips

The short answer: everything I wanted on the plane for an international trip or everything I needed for a night away. Here’s exactly what went in each time, with a laptop in the sleeve both times.

As my personal item to Greece

• My laptop
• My clear bag of liquids, ready to pull out at security
• My large travel purse, packed inside the backpack
• A second toiletry bag with my dry items
• Earbuds, chargers, Kindle and the rest of the small electronics
• My 21-ounce water bottle, in the side pocket

That’s the kit I want within reach on a long flight. Everything else for the trip rode in the roller. If you’re heading that way, my Greece in October guide covers what the islands are like in shoulder season and what I packed for it.

As my only bag for an overnight in Chicago

• My laptop
• Toiletries
• A change of clothes
• Shoes

For one night, that was all I needed. It makes the Blast Pro 38L a short-trip bag I can grab without pulling out the roller at all.

Does the Blast Pro 38L Fit Under the Seat?

Unexpanded, yes. It went under the seat on my flights to Greece, including the small prop planes we took to Milos and back to Athens. On paper it clears the height and width limits of American and easyJet with room to spare. The catch is depth. At 20.5 cm, it’s half a centimeter (about a tenth of an inch) deeper than the 20 cm (8-inch) limit those airlines publish. KLM is the exception: its personal item limit of 40 x 30 x 15 cm is smaller than this bag in every direction, so on KLM it goes as your hand baggage instead. It’s a soft bag, so that’s unlikely to matter unless an agent puts it in a sizer. Expanded to 25 cm, it’s over every measured personal item limit below.

I pulled each rule from the airline’s own baggage page in October 2026. Rules change and some vary by fare, so check yours before you fly. My rule of thumb: keep the expansion zipper closed on any flight where the personal item gets measured and only use the extra 10 liters when the bag is going in the overhead bin.

Stacking It on the Blast Pro 43L Roller

This is where the two-bag system pays off. Through the airport, the Blast Pro 38L sat on top of my Blast Pro 43L Roller, held in place by the trolley strap on its back, which slides down over the roller’s handle. I was rolling one stack instead of wearing a pack. In the lounge it stayed stacked beside me with my water bottle in the side pocket. At the gate it came off and went under the seat.

BagSmart sells Blast backpacks and rollers together as a set and mine look like a pair on the move. The roller has its own write-up in my BagSmart review, including what happened when I checked it on the way home, since that’s a different bag with its own pros and cons.

How the Blast Pro 38L Carries

The Blast Pro 38L carries like a travel backpack, not a hiking pack. It has a sternum strap that clips across your chest to keep the shoulder straps in place and it has no hip belt. On the back there’s a trolley strap that slides over a roller’s handle, which is how it rode on my Blast Pro 43L Roller through the airport.

No hip belt means the weight stays on your shoulders. Empty, the bag is 1.2 kg (about 2.6 pounds) and with a laptop and a full flight kit in it you’ll feel it. As a personal item that spent most of its time stacked on a roller or under a seat, I had no complaints about how it carried on either trip. If you plan to wear a fully loaded pack on long walks, a larger travel backpack with a hip belt will carry better. Wearing it on both shoulders still beats a heavy tote on one and the research below backs that up.

The side pocket held my 21-ounce water bottle with room to spare, so a wider or larger bottle should fit too.

The One Thing I’m Fixing: Dangling Straps

My only complaint about the Blast Pro 38L is the shoulder strap tails. When the bag is under a seat, stacked on the roller or sitting on the floor, the loose ends dangle. You can see them hanging off the bag in my photos. It’s a small thing, but loose straps can snag.

The fix is cheap. I’m adding these strap keepers to roll up the extra length and hold it in place. It’s the reason this bag sits at 4.5 stars instead of 5. Otherwise I had no complaints about how it carried.

Why I Want My Personal Item on My Back

Plenty of women use a big tote as a personal item. My reason for a backpack is simple: the heavy part of my flight kit sits on two shoulders instead of one and the research on how we carry loads supports that.

In a lab study published in Gait & Posture, 22 college students climbed and descended stairs carrying 10% or 20% of their body weight, either in one hand or split between both hands. Carrying 20% of body weight on one side produced higher side-bending forces at the low back and higher loads at the hip and knee than nearly every other condition. The authors suggested carrying loads symmetrically, especially heavier ones. Travel is full of stairs: train platforms, hotel entrances without elevators and the ferry ramps of the Greek islands.

A 2025 study in Scientific Reports took the question out of the lab. Researchers fitted 26 healthy young adults with in-shoe motion sensors and had them walk for 10 minutes in everyday settings with no bag, a backpack, a shoulder bag and a crossbody bag. The type of bag changed how people walked, including stance time, cadence, walking speed and how symmetrical each step was. The study didn’t name a single best bag.

Both studies used young adults and neither tested travel bags or women in midlife, so I wouldn’t stretch them further than this: how you carry weight changes how your body moves and loading one side is the less forgiving option. A backpack I can wear on both shoulders, then stack on a roller, gets me most of the way there.

The PFAS-Free Water-Repellent Finish

BagSmart lists the Blast Pro 38L’s exterior as diamond ripstop nylon with a PFAS-free water-repellent finish. That caught my eye because water-repellent coatings on outdoor gear have traditionally been made with fluorinated chemistry. A study in Environmental Science & Technology explains that durable water-repellent coatings on outdoor clothing are based on side-chain fluorinated polymers and found that aging and washing coated fabrics released PFAS. That study tested clothing fabrics, not bags, but the coating chemistry is the same kind. If you’re new to the topic, start with my guide to what PFAS are.

Two caveats. PFAS-free is BagSmart’s claim from its product page and I haven’t seen independent testing of this fabric. I also haven’t had the bag out in real rain yet, so I can’t tell you how well the finish holds up. Still, when two bags are otherwise close, I’ll take the one whose maker says the coating is PFAS-free.

Who the Blast Pro 38L Is For (and Who Should Skip It)

Based on my two trips and the specs, it’s a good fit if you:

• Travel carry-on only and want a personal item that holds a laptop, a liquids bag, a purse and your in-flight essentials
• Already have a roller or want to pair the backpack with the Blast Pro 43L Roller
• Want one bag that also works for a night or two away
• Like keeping shoes separate from clothes and a laptop locked in its own sleeve

I’d skip it, or size up, if you:

• Fly airlines that measure personal items strictly and you plan to pack it expanded and packed completely full
• Carry a laptop bigger than 15.6 inches
• Want a single backpack for a week or more with no roller, where a 40L-plus travel pack makes more sense
• Want a hip belt to take weight off your shoulders on long walks
• Mostly pack clothes and don’t need the laptop sleeve, in which case the original Blast costs $15 less

Price, Warranty and Returns

When I checked on October 16, 2026, BagSmart had the Blast Pro 38L at $80.99, down from a $89.99 list price. BagSmart prices move with sales, so check the current price here.

The warranty is the one place BagSmart’s product page isn’t clear. It shows a “1-Year Warranty” badge, while the returns section describes a “30 days limited warranty covering manufacturer defects.” The page doesn’t explain how the two fit together, so I’d keep your order confirmation and check with BagSmart support before you count on a full year. The same page lists 30-day returns.

Is the BagSmart Blast Backpack Worth It?

For me, yes. The Blast Pro 38L held my laptop, liquids, purse and electronics under the seat on an international trip, rode on my roller through the airport and then carried everything I needed for a night in Chicago. It has earned its spot as my personal item.

The half star comes off for the dangling straps, which a few dollars of strap keepers should fix. You should also know the depth sits right at the edge of the strictest personal item limits. If you travel the way I do, with a roller and a backpack instead of one heavy pack, this BagSmart Blast backpack is an easy recommendation at around $80 to $90. You can see the Blast Pro 38L and current colors here.

How I Keep This Review Current

Everything about how the Blast Pro 38L packed and traveled comes from my own two trips with a bag I paid for. Specs, prices and warranty terms come from BagSmart’s own pages, airline rules from each airline’s baggage page and the research from the published studies, all checked in October 2026. As the bag racks up more trips, I’ll add how the fabric, zippers and straps hold up, update prices and airline rules when they change and correct anything that turns out to be wrong.