Review: Small Dakota in Heather Gray

I recently bought what can only be described as a small "haul" from Dagne Dover's FW18 collection, and one of the many things that had piqued my interest about the FW18 collection aside from the small Allyn was the announcement of the small Dakota. I don't use my regular-sized Dakotas often—just for travel, which I haven't been doing much of this year—and I remember wishing there were a smaller version I could use more often. Ta-da!

The contents of my small Dakota include a Dagne Dover travel wallet, Dagne Dover Lola pouch, sunglasses case, and a bottle of water. I put my phone in the front zip pocket sometimes (and/or shove receipts in there when I leave the post office 🙈); as for my keys, I either clip them to the outside of the backpack or stuff them into the adjacent small zip compartment on the back side. I carry the backpack by one strap over my right shoulder (unless I'm on a long walk) and still find it unobtrusive. The side slip pockets are also a decent place to tuck an external battery pack or a regular iPhone/similarly sized phone, although doing so might require two free hands and a surface since it's a snug fit.

6x9 paperback (in main compartment)

5x7.5 paperback (in main compartment)

I'm very impressed with the small Dakota—it's everything I hoped it would be. I particularly like that the small Lola and Travel Wallet fit inside comfortably, and I appreciate the overall ease of use. I even have a second small Dakota in Dune lying in wait with my neglected Avas (which is a shame because they, too, are excellent bags)! 

Hand sanitizer, external battery pack

A heads up: my "ideal for/not ideal for" breakdown of the small Dakota is similar to the one I did for the small Allyn.

• Specs: 9.5" L x 5” W x 13" H, 1.8 lb weight

Ideal for: everyday use (errands, casual settings)

• This smaller backpack size is great if you're looking for something that can hold a few larger items (like a water bottle) in addition to your essentials. If you have small humans or pets to wrangle, the backpack style is even handier than the cross body option on the small Allyn!

Not ideal for: toting large quantities of supplies/documents around, carrying larger/unsecured valuables around in high-crime areas

• This is by no means a work or school bag. The small Dakota technically fits a 12" macbook sans case, but it needs to be tilted (lower front to top back) to prevent the corners from creating indentations at the top of the backpack—reference photo here. While I don't think I'd recommend it, it could technically work if you won't be carrying much else along with it (although you might want to take a look at the Ryan and Weston laptop bags that were recently released as an alternate smaller-bag option).

• Depending on how you carry/zip the backpack, you can also minimize the risk of having your possessions pick-pocketed. For example, there's a larger interior zip pocket toward the bottom half of the bag that would be great for stashing wallets/valuables, and because the interior zipper stops right around the base of the exterior zipper, it would not be an easy zipper for a thief to find, let alone grab hold of/manipulate without you noticing. (The travel wallet fits in this pocket, FYI.)

Please let me know if you have any questions or requests for additional comparison photos—I'll do my best to help. If you decide to make a first-time purchase through Dagne Dover, please consider clicking this link for $20 off your first $100+ purchase! (If you make a qualifying purchase, Dagne Dover will gift me $20 in spending credit as part of their new Dagne Rewards program!) The link will take you to Dagne Dover's home page, where a unique $20 off code should pop up after a few seconds.