Fjallraven Ulv¿ Hip Pack Medium

Best lumbar pack I’ve ever had (and I’ve owned several)! This one is durable and very comfortable to wear. It works nicely as a cross-body, but I generally wear it as a fanny pack. The medium size holds my iPhone 16e, disinfectant wipes, wallet, pen, keys, and a snack, with room left over. It’s more spacious than I expected. There is a mesh divider inside to help with organization, and a separate zippered compartment against your body, perfect for hiding money and ID. Both zippers are YKK and work smoothly. When the bag is not filled, it has this way of flattening nicely against you, so it always looks good. It is important to me that the strap on my cross-body / fanny pack bag have a tough plastic snap closure. Those popular magnet closures aren’t a wise choice because the bag can be snatched off of you with one quick yank from a thief. This is very durable and so much more secure. Regarding the color, I normally choose quiet neutrals, so I really stepped out of my norm by taking a chance on the Red Gold color. So glad I did! LOVE IT!!! It’s a beautiful butterscotch color which adds a little pop of color to my outfits. My one and only complaint: The white and red tag in the middle front of the bag is unattractive, so I removed mine with a seam ripper. Yes, the tag is reflective, but too much of an eyesore for my taste. A small round faux-leather tag with Fjallraven’s famous fox logo would be so much more attractive and classy. But the bag still earns a 5-star rating, because in every other respect it’s my absolute favorite.

The Ulvo Medium Hip Pack (pictured in Red Gold, which I'm going to call the Ulvo HPM for this review) an interesting hip pack - It's a bean shaped, round, organic design that wants to curve around the body. The body of the main compartment sticks out a little bit when fully packed but the wings in the ends of the pack that attach to the strap are hollow. This gives it that longer bean shape and allows you to pack a little bit into the corners. I wanted to try the slightly longer design of the Ulvo Medium after using Fjallraven's High Coast Hip Pack (HCHP) and see how it compares. The Ulvo is made of what Fjallraven calls "Bergshell", a 400D Nylon with a waterproof TPU laminate on the inside. The material does do what it's supposed to do. It's strong, a nice weight, feels high quality, and has no problem in wet or rainy conditions. The seams and the zipper of the Ulvo MHP might be the only weak points on waterproofing. It's important to make sure that the top flap covers the main compartment zipper in rainy conditions. The colors Fjallraven released for this lineup are beautiful. Red Gold is better described as Saffron - It's not orange, goldenrod, or yellow. It's distinctly saffron as described. The other colors are pleasing, classic colors. If Red Gold is too bold, Black, Mountain Blue, or Green are safe bets. It seems to be relatively stain resistant. When I got a little dirt and scuffs on it, I used a Fels-Naptha soap bar and some warm water to remove the dirt and let it air dry - No problem. The weight of the Ulvo HPM is 155 grams, empty. The interior of the pack has pretty minimal organization. You have one main, long compartment with a mesh pocket against the back. On the reverse, side of the pack against the body, you have a long security pocket that can take a wallet, phone, or passport. On the Ulvo HPM, this compartment is a bit tight. Part of that is because the zipper's flap does not sit at the very top, but just a little bit offset, creating a small lip. It does fit a cell phone like an iPhone 17 but couldn't go much larger than that. A passport does fit but you'll need to put it into the pocket and then pull the top lip over it. The HCHP is deeper with a higher zipper, without the lip and doesn't need the extra effort. This might not be bad from a theft-prevention point of view. The tight security pocket means that removing a passport is a very intentional action. But if you use a passport cover or case, the fit is just too tight. It feels like you're straining the pocket and zipper with a cover on it. I used a well tested and liked leather cover and a slim hardshell cover and it was bordering on too tight. You're probably better off putting the passport in a plastic ziptop bag and inside the pocket. The main compartment is longer, but with a few tradeoffs we'll talk about in the next section. The extra length means that you can just barely fit in a mini umbrella (9" x 2" or 23cm x 5 cm) or a 500ml bottle of water but that's an advantage it has over most 2 liter packs due to its unique dimensions. The pack is somewhat short vertically and because it pushes out and away from the body, books and tablet shaped items will make the pack flatten out past the seams like a flattened pancake and extend vertically to fit. For example, the Ulvo HPM can take a Kindle Basic/Kobo Clara without changing shape. But a Kindle Paperwhite can fit if the hip pack is mostly empty. The pack will flatten out and accomodate it (see the grey Paperwhite case in the photos). An iPad Mini will not fit. The zippers curve around the shape of the pack so it sometimes takes more effort to unzip the pack: Not a difficult amount of effort, but it's not as simple as the straight zippers on the HCHP. You probably won't notice it with standard load outs, but if you pack e-readers and books in this, distorting the shape, the zippers do become a little harder to open and close since they're curved instead of straight zipper tracks. You can see in the example photo there's a bottle of water and a granola bar, and a Kobo Clara BW in a blue case. This is a pretty comfortable load out and I could also get a small power bank and cable in if I needed (or another snack or two). But the Ulvo series of hip packs want to curve around the body. Packing these flat items like books, e-readers, tablets or long items like umbrellas and water bottles mean that the pack doesn't curve as easily so it may not fit as ergonomically as before. As the pack curves around you it can start to pull against the back panel which can put a little tension on a phone or passport in that back security pocket. It's best not to push the limits and size up if you frequently need to carry larger or longer items. Because of the small back panel and the design that sticks out from the body, this pack doesn't really feel great as a front or back sling if loaded up heavy but it can do the job and well enough for light loads and especially during quick rides on public transit. But it really shines when used as intended as a hip pack or carried under arm. It's stable on the hips in front, or my favorite placement: in back as a small lumbar pack. You may even forget it's there in the lumbar position. The 1 inch hip belt works well for this. It's best suited for carrying lighter loads of about a pound or half a kilogram and maybe up to 2 pounds or a kilogram at most, give or take. The longer dimensions put the Ulvo HPM in a really interesting spot that gives it more utility for carrying these slightly larger and longer items than the High Coast Hip Pack. If you need to carry anything larger and want to stick with Fjallraven's lineup, you'll want to size up to the Ulvo Hip Pack Large. The High Coast Hip Pack is the everyday carry/lightweight travel option with better organization but a smaller overall footprint. The Ulvo Hip Pack Large (pictured in black) keeps the excellent Bergshell fabric, nearly doubles the capacity, uses a wider 1.5" belt, adds compression straps, and a zippered mesh pocket in the main compartment. You can flatten the pack against the body when its under packed using the compression straps and the security pocket is significantly larger, making it way more comfortable to use with a passport or phone. It is definitely a more "lumbar" oriented hip pack (especially if you fill it up with more weight) and feels great worn on the hips, in back, but can work under the shoulder too. It the Ulvo Hip Pack Large also can fit an iPad Mini or Kindle Paperwhite comfortably. The Ulvo HPL is my favorite of this lineup although it comes in far fewer color options. The High Coast Hip Pack (pictured in green) is a true pocket reliever - Anything that a jacket pocket could do, this is where it shines. It has a more basic "polyamide" nylon material that's much lighter at 125 grams, has mesh pad in the back, features a smaller, boxier, and flatter "Belt Bag" shape with a front pocket, main compartment with a nylon mesh, and a back security pocket. The material is fine but is nowhere near as waterproof or durable as Bergshell. But the lightweight design of the High Coast Hip Pack hides even better under jackets, its security pocket has just a bit more space than the Ulvo HPM, the main compartment has a key leash, and the front pocket is perfect for a transit/subway card or some small change. However, the HCHP is absolutely smaller than the Ulvo HPM. It can barely fit a Kindle Basic/Kobo Clara and there's no way you can fit a Kindle Paperwhite in it, let alone a mini umbrella. It's "another pocket" and doesn't open up the same options for carrying slightly larger and longer items that the Ulvos do. For everyday and travel use there might be better choices in terms of the organization. This Ulvo is really meant to fit a more outdoors niche with playful and bright colors and excellent construction and materials. But it can do double duty as a travel and everyday carry. I really want to emphasize that I don't think of this as a "sling". It's a true hip pack but it's one of the best hip packs I've used - The quality is excellent. If you like the durable and water resistant materials, organic shape, beautiful colors, and intend to use it for hip pack/under shoulder use, it's a fantastic bag.

This is one of my favorite bags I've ever owned and I get tons of compliments when I wear it, even from random strangers in public. For starters, it's very comfortable to wear and it's made from a thick, nylon fabric that is durable and wipes clean easily. Secondly, it's a great size. I can fit so much into it, without it becoming overly bulky. Typically, this is what I carry in this bag: a slim, credit card size wallet; my sunglasses in a slim case; a travel pack of disinfectant wipes; a travel pack of kleenex; a travel size bottle of hand lotion; a powder compact; a small box of floss picks; eye drops; a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer; and a couple tubes of lip balm. All of that fits with no issue! I'd recommend this very cool and functional bag to anyone who likes to wear the fanny pack style of sling bags!

Nicely made one compartment pack. Interior has a small mesh area along the back for loose items, and there’s a snug passport sized exterior pocket on the inner side (facing your waist). Zippers are all excellent and smooth. Fabric feels durable and of the high quality you’d expect. Not a huge pack, but just what I needed for a passport, compact camera, spare phone power pack, camera battery, AirPods case, and a small usb cable. Worked great during the past two weeks of flying, driving, buses, hotels, and daily sightseeing. I’d buy it again. Strongly recommend.

Love it. Use it everyday for essentials depending on our day’s adventures. Snacks, mini first aid kit, sunglasses, wallet. It has one elastic mesh pocket where I keep my phone, just wish it had one more so that items in the big compartment could be more organized.

Love this thing! Perfect size, I think it looks cool. I don’t know what others think of it, but I love that I can carry things around that won’t fit in my pocket but also don’t have to put extra weight on my shoulders carrying items in a back pack.

My wife loves this bag.

Was looking for a bumbag I could fit a small cycling pump, inner tube, tools, phone etc in as was sick of carting around rucksack on my back which caused sweaty back. Bought this as was right length to fit pump in. Does what it says on the tin. Its a bum bag that you can put stuff in 👍

Very practical bag

Excellent for carrying small items when walking. Concealed pocket at the back is great for passports and credit cards. Very pleased with this purchase.

大きさ色、とても良かったです。

Viel braucht man nicht dazu zu sagen. Ein typisches Fjällräven Produkt, hochwertige Verarbeitung von hochwertigen Materialien. Lediglich ein Haken für einen Schlüssel könnte man als fehlend bemängeln. Aber dennoch ist ausreichend Platz für alle Utensilien die man dabei haben muss oder will.