This "High-Performance Parenting Pack" is a game changer for active, adventurous parents — (especially those who don’t want a diaper bag, but need one anyway)

by Kieran Thomas (KT Design)

Today we’re taking a look at the Parenting Pack R1 by Beau Industries. New York City based Beau Industries has just come onto the scene with some really interesting offerings, including this 4-piece diaper bag set. They aim to provide “performance parenting gear” for discerning parents.

The Parenting Pack R1 includes the diaper pack itself, a foldable changing pad and two insulated, water resistant pouches for $125 (MSRP). That strikes us as a great value, if the pack lives up to the brand’s claims on material quality and durability.

Lets jump in:

OVERVIEW:

At first blush, the Beau Pack R1 is…different. In a good way. This unassuming pack doesnt look or feel anything like a typical diaper bag. The closest I could think of is a high-end EDC pack like GoRuck, or LexDray. This is the type of backpack that last for years, not the few years you have to care for a little baby.

The material and hand-feel of the Beau Pack exudes quality. According to the brand website its 100% recycled with a special post-consumer yarn called “ReboYarn”. It feels ultra-durable, probably because it is also stacked with a thin later of PU foam in every exterior panel. The feel is like a high-end computer bag, like an InCase or top-tier Samsonite pack. Certainly not a diaper bag, thats for sure.

The Beau Pack R1 is an all-purpose parenting pack.

DESIGN:

If the concept of the Beau Pack was to be discreet, they have accomplished the task. The pack looks nothing like other parenting packs on the market, and has a decidedly unisex appearance, if skewing a bit masculine. They say its “designed for dads, made for everyone”, and are marketing it as the Ultimate Dad Bag, so I guess thats a sign that while it is unisex technically, it’ll probably be more interesting to dads than moms. But in 2021, we dont think thats particularly relevant anyway.

The layout of the Beau Pack R1 is very comforting. Its like a backpack you know and love, before you even touch it for the first time. Similar in some ways to the North Face bags I had in high school and college, this pack has three vertically stacked sections, starting with a laptop sleeve in the back, moving to the largest main compartment in the middle, and then the small organizer pocket in the front. More on that soon. Further to the front still is the built in wipes case and microfiber lined device pocket.

The pack is sold as a 4Pc set, including a backpack, a changing pad that doubles as a laptop sleeve, and two accessory pouches.

The brand says they are trying to thread the needle between a diaper bag and a great EDC pack. “A diaper bag for people who dont want a diaper bag, but need one.”, as their website states. With the only identifiably “baby care” component about this pack being the changing pad, and maybe the wipes case in front, its easy to see this product carrying over to other users, who appreciate the layout, durability and style of the pack.

FEATURES:

The Beau Pack R1 has a lot of features, but somehow still feels “simple”. There are tons of pockets and places for things to go, but I rarely lost anything in this pack. I think this has a lot to do with the layout of the bag, and its overall construction. Lets get into some of its features, and drill down to what makes this pack work so well.

Provided by the brand’s website, we can see above a basic listing of all of the features included in the pack itself. We will start from the pack’s ergonomic center, the backpanel and straps, and then move into the bag’ storage compartments.

ERGONOMICS:

The backpanel of the R1 pack is pretty fantastic. Its extremely plush and outrageously comfortable. With its tangible PE stiffening sheet embedded at the base of the material stack, it is really stiff and confidence inspiring. There will be nothing in your pack that awkwardly presses into you. Its just plush and flat and stable.

We loved the air channel construction on this pack, and felt like it actually worked a little, which is very rare for anyone with experience with these designs. The placement of the pads is great for long treks, and even feels a little massage like in the upper back area. Its just really well done. It shines the most when the pack is filled to its limit, where it still feels good even weighed down.

The straps of a pack are often the most overlooked, yet important part of a backpack. Most brands use a combination of PU foam (the soft yellow stuff), or PE foam (pool noodles) in cheaper bags, which tends to degrade quickly and irreversibly. We love straps in bags like GoRuck or Peak design, because they use EVA foam, which is much more durable and supportive.

Beau Industries also uses this premium EVA foam, but does something unique with the rest of the strap construction. They add a soft layer of PU foam under the EVA, so that the strap is both “thick” and supportive, while also being soft to the body. This is a really, really nice touch, which is beneficial most when the pack is full.

The straps features an adjustable chest compression clip with elasticated tensioner, ergonomic s-shape design, a full width connection to the bag for added durability (single straps. are more prone to failing and tearing off), hypalon abrasion resistant areas, two elastic water tube tie downs and a really neat little strap pocket.

This strap pocket is just really well done. Most strap pockets are floppy and made with cheap mesh. Not this one. It disappears when you arent using it, and holds AirPods with ease when you need to put something. small away, like keys, AirPods, a lighter, pacifier, whatever. Also we liked to put our bag tracking airtag in the pocket as well, for safety:

ORGANIZATION:

The changing pad/laptop sleeve component of the Beau Pack R1 fits neatly into the laptop section of the bag, which on its own is one of the most protective Ive seen.

Starting from the rear of the pack, we have the laptop section, also used for the baby changing. pad, should you want to store it there (you dont have to). This section is padded on all sides, and includes a 1” thick foam roll at the bottom that Beau calls a “crash pad”. This seems like a great idea, and one we’ve seen before from other brands. Add to that the laptop sleeve component of the pack set, and you have yourself an impenetrable fortress for your computer. We stan the foam usage here, big time. There is also a PE stiffening sheet on the rear section of the backed, providing a strong platform from which the rest of the pack hangs.

These rear hanging pockets are awesome. Helps keep small stuff off the bottom of the bag.

Moving forward to the main compartment we have the largest compartment of the bag that isn’t quite as accommodating as bigger travel packs, but certainly big enough for most outing needs. Beau Industries has assured us that the soft fold seams of the R1 pack are designed to stretch with increased load, and the bag is deceptively larger than it appears when empty, as the soft fold seams tend to draw the bag inward.

My favorite part of this compartment, without a doubt, are the hanging rear pockets on the back wall. These are so well needed in bags, once you use them its really hard to go back to a bag without them. What the are for is small, and dense items that typically fall to the bottom of the bag when you’re using it. Chargers, toys, wallets, keys, pacifiers, baby bottles, small cameras, and on and on. I loved using mine for my MacBook charger brick, a super heavy item that falls to the bottom of every bag I have, except this one. I use them for my keys and wallet all the time, especially the ones on the top. The bottom ones I was using for the pouches (included) or my iPad.

The organizer on the Beau Pack R1 is, in a word, fantastic.

The organizer section of the Beau Pack R1 is efficient and clean, well padded and smartly laid out. A total of 9 pockets grace this section, with. a mesh zippered pocket on top of a larger lining zippered pocket, followed on top by three padded slip pockets (think hard drives or passport case), and four pretty generously sized pen slots. Theres a key fob that hangs off one of the sections near the top.

This panel is very easy to get used to, as its familiar with other products Ive used, but somehow epitomizes that design. Its like all you could possibly fit in the space, and to that end it does cannibalize itself from time to time, and if one pocket is too filled, it impedes the function of ones behind or in front of it. This is a problem with all backpack organizers though, from any brand.

The device pocket of the R1 pack is lined with a soft fleece, and it set behind a PEVA pouch and under a water-resistant zipper. Its a well-protecting pocket, to be sure.

Upfront of the pack we have the device pocket on top, which is a micro-fleece lined affair sealed off with a water-resistant zipper. The pocket itself is cushy and unquestionably protective. Its set behind the PEVA wipes pocket at the front of the pack, so its protected both from bumps and moisture from these assets. I cant recall seeing a phone pouch this good on a pack of any type. Its big enough for an iPhone Pro Max and a few other items.

The wipes pocket is awesome for parents with babies. I found that I kept wipes in there even when I wasn’t caring for a baby. In these times they are just generally useful, certainly with older kids in tow.

The front post pocket of the Beau Pack R1 is the PEVA lined, and seam sealed(!) wipes pouch. This pouch is topped off with. a water resistant zipper as well. We loved the accessibility and “out of the way” nature of this pocket. Wipes always at the ready, but not getting in the way of other stuff. And not getting anything wet and damp. We kept our wipes in the disposable pouch they came in and just put the whole insert inside, as Beau Industries recommends, and it worked superbly.

I found that this section is useful even when. not caring for a baby. My older kids need wipes all the time it seems, and in these times its perhaps more useful than ever to have wipes at the ready. While there are other places to keep wipes in this pack, I liked this designated place the best.

ACCESSORIES:

The accessories of the Beau Pack R1 are included at the point of sale, and so we are including them in this review as an integrated part of the pack design itself. The parts are designed to work with the bag in an integrated way, for example fitting perfectly into certain pockets of the backpack. They are also, however, sold separately and designed to work independently from the bag as well.

The changing pad of the Beau Pack R1 is also a laptop sleeve. Its got an iPad sized pocket at the back as well.

CHANGING PAD/LAPTOP SLEEVE:

We’ll begin with the most important component, at least as it relates to diaper bags, the changing pad. This changing pad is made from he same premium materials as the rest of the pack, which. is a very good thing. We know we are dealing with a water resistant and durable recycled exterior fabric, seatbelt webbing, and a water-resistant and wipe clean PEVA lining.

What makes this changing pad better than the competition, as a changing pad? Hard to say, but if I had to apply some superlatives it would be to the plush PU foam used in the padding, as well as the neat design, foldable in two configurations (flat and folded again in half) to integrate into either the laptop section (while flat) or the hanging large pocket in the main compartment (folded).

Its a plush changing pad that babies seem to enjoy

But what undeniably sets this item apart from the competition is Its other use case: as a laptop sleeve. We didnt know what to expect with this, but we were pleasantly surprised with this functionality. Beau Industries tells us that they have. designed the changing pad with this functionality so as not to alienate customers who are parents, but dont have babies. This makes the component useful to any user, parent or not, and functions quite well in this regard to boot!

It fits a 15” MacBook Pro or smaller, and we found it to be a perfect fit for our 15” MacBook Pro. IT also stows perfectly int he laptop section, providing a truly insane level of protection for your computer. Additionally, we get used to using it as a work station as shown in the picture below, providing a soft and waterproof platform to place our water-unfriendly devices. It worked great in this way, and we’d even suggest that customers use their sleeve like this, and buy a cheaper one for their baby! Its just too cool to waste on your baby’s butt!

The WR treated exterior fabric and PEVA lining of the laptop sleeve will protect your devices from spills.

The laptop sleeve changing pad is sold separately, but we were happy to see it integrated with the R1 set. Its actually essential for a ”diaper bag” to have a spray clean changing surface.

Beau Industries says that this component is CPSIA certified non-toxic and safe for babies. This is a huge aspect of the product’s benefit, and we’d love to see more brands doing this and publicizing it. We dont want to lay our baby down on a toxic, allergy prone material, but its exceedingly hard for a customer to know what their products are made of absent an official claim from the brand. Beau does this for the entire pack set.

The padded pouch accessory's best feature is that there are two of them.

PADDED ACCESSORY POUCH (2X):

The other accessory included with the Beau Pack R1 Set is the padded accessory pouch. The set includes two of these, and they appear to be identical. Without going into too much detail, we can report that these pouches are highly functional, and perfectly sized for what we needed them for. They also integrate neatly into various parts of the pack, namely the side exterior bottle pockets and the main compartment’s largest hanging pocket. We loved them, and our favorite part is there are two!

Getting into the details, these are pretty well thought out components. Firstly, as the changing pad, they are made from. the same materials as the pack. This is great because the pack materials are great. Water resistant 900D, ballistic bottom corners, NIFCO D-Ring, seatbelt webbing, water-resistant coated zipper and a full water resistant PEVA lining. Thats a long way to say what you put in, will not affect whats outside of it, and vice versa. Keep dry stuff dry, and wet stuff wet. Cold stuff cold and hot stuff warm.

We used one for bottles or snacks and one for digital accessories like chargers, wires, dongles, USB sticks, card readers, camera batteries etc. The one frustration was telling them apart easily. I put a little colored loop on the D-Ring of each one to know which was which without opening it.

These accessory pouches are clutch, full stop.

MATERIALS AND HARDWARE:

The materials of the Beau Pack are the first thing we noticed when we got the testing sample. They. are very nice to the touch, and give the feel of extreme durability and strength. Every panel of the Beau Pack is lightly padded, which means that the entire pack is technically insulated. Its an extremely overdone construction for this type of product, but we love it.

The exterior fabric is made with a 100% post-consumer yarn called Reboyarn. This material is recycled, and also extremely durable. Beau Industries tells us that it surpasses the standards expected of RPET fibers, and test at the level of virgin material, which is great for the user and planet.

The fabrics of the Beau Pack R1 are gorgeous. And recycled.

Woven to a crisp and clean 900D denier, the exterior fabric is both slightly shiny, and tastefully matte. The 900D weave resists tears and snags, and it is WR treated for water resistance.

We detected no hint of water ingress into our pack, and mostly we couldn’t imagine where it would come from? The bag has so many layers of material and foam that rain would have to really work its way in before getting anything inside damp. Maybe the zippers of the main compartment are the weak link? Ours didn’t leak.

The lining is actually exterior pack fabric. Its not ripping.

The lining of the Beau Pack itself is made from 420D ripstop polyester. I want to pause here for a moment and point out that many backpacks use a similar spec material for the outside of the bag. This lining is simply insane, and very very durable. Its bartacked and stitched well, with binding edges and foam inserts. Its a lining you’ll never need to think about. Its not ripping.

The hardware of the Beau Pack works well.

Moving on to the hardware, the Beau Pack is similarly well appointed. With Premium SBS zippers, some with a water resistant coating, NIFCO plastic hardware, custom glove friendly zippers, and seatbelt style nylon webbing, its loaded with parts that wont fail.

The zippers on this bag are dreamy, even the coated ones. Which is rare. These slide effortlessly and are self repairing to boot. The coil is reversed to the back side, which looks modern, and the pack is overall a great functioning bag because of these premium components.

CONCLUSION:

After testing the Beau Pack R1 we came away with one primary question, why is this pack only limited to parents? It seems to us that this pack incorporates everything a true EDC lifetime pack would, from versatile design to extremely durable construction and smart functionality. This is the type of pack everyone can enjoy, almost regardless of the specific use case.

We loved the Beau Pack R1 in almost every way. We still came up with a few cons, as you can see below. But all told, this is a superb pack in nearly every way, and blows away anything not he market thats sold as a “diaper bag” or “parenting pack”:

PROS:

Versatile, clean design
excellent ergonomics with great body feel after long outings
Superb laptop protection, both integrated into the pack, or with separate included case
Main compartment hanging pockets (I loved these)
Well-arranged and pocketed organizer
well padded and protected fleece lined device pocket
integrated wipes case was easy to use
deep water bottle pockets fit huge bottles and more
Curved straps with great little strap pocket for AirPods or pacifiers etc
Excellent fabrication, with great hand feel
top-shelf hardware and trim
seatbelt style webbing straps
Ballistic padded bottom panel
Included accessories, changing pad and two matching padded pouches
Excellent value at $125 for the full set

CONS:

Main compartment could be a little larger
Main compartment zippers could stop a little further down the sides of the bag
Some might like a waist belt, this pack lacks one

The wipes pocket on the Beau Pack is nicely out of the way, but perfectly accessible.

In summation we highly recommend the Beau Pack R1 to new parents, old parents, or even non parents. This pack is made very, very well, with premium materials and an easy to learn design and layout. It’ll feel like you have had it for years only a few days after owning one, and moving out will be exceedingly hard.

Shop now at Beau Industries’ website, and get out there and enjoy this great pack with your family!

Beau Industries: Parenting Pack R1 - Product Review