Style, capacity, comfort, durability...these are some features that make a bag great to carry around for the day. The Nayo Defensor ticks all of the above plus, the ability to be able to hide the shoulder straps to convert the backpack into a neat hand carry bag.
The Nayo Defensor has a 20 litre volume capacity so, it's a small daypack backpack that can store enough gear (up to 8kg) for a day's travel whether commuting to work or business meetings.
When empty, the Nayo Defensor weighs a little over a kilogram (1.2kg) and measures 45 cm tall, 14cm thick and 30 cm wide (from side to side). The Defensor bag is relatively lightweight and compact to fit inside a luggage suitcase to use for international travel.
The Nayo Defensor is made with nylon and thick polyester fabric, using 900 Denier polyester, which is the same type of heavy duty fabric used in anti-theft bags to make them slash proof .
With such heavy duty fabric, you can expect the Nayo Defensor backpack not to wear and tear easily and last you a long time.
The slash-resistant fabric should make it more difficult for someone to cut open the Nayo Defensor, using a razor, which is a tool commonly used by many pickpocketers.
The swing tag on the Nayo Defensor doesn't specify the percentages of nylon and polyester used but it does feel like most of the bag is made of polyester, while the grey trim around the inner edge of the front of the Nayo Defensor feels like nylon because of how much softer it is.
Polyester and nylon are naturally water resistant but without being chemically treated with PVC or PU coating, polyester and nylon cannot resist the ingress of water.
Waterproof PU coating has been applied to the shell of the Nayo Defensor but there is no waterproofing along the seam of the outer zip; hence the Nayo Defensor is not 100% waterproof. The outer zip does have a reverse coil design, which is better than the standard coil zip design at minimizing water ingress.
Speaking of the outer zip of the main compartment, it is located on the backside of the backpack, making it impossible for anyone to unzip the Nayo Defensor while it is on your back. The outer zip consists of two metal zips with eyelets large enough to be able to pass-through a wire lock although one isn't needed because the Nayo Defensor comes equipped with a TSA-approved combination lock built-in to the top of the bag.
Internally, the Nayo Defensor features two padded sleeve compartments for a slimline 15.6-inch screen laptop (32 cm long and 24 cm wide) and a tablet up to 10 inches. Of course, you can also use these sleeve compartments to store an A4 binder, a couple of books, a note pad, etc.
The sleeve compartments are located on the backside of the Nayo Defensor so, the laptop will be resting towards your back rather than towards the front of the bag, which is obviously more secure.
There are also elastic straps sewn to the top of the sleeve compartments to prevent the laptop and tablet from coming out.
The other half of the Nayo Defensor features a daisy chain elastic webbing, a detachable keychain clip, a small zip pouch and two open pockets, which seem to be made of the same neoprene material used for surfing bodysuits.
The velcro loop strips you see on either side of the Nayo Defensor are designed to attach to the velcro hook strips integrated on the side hinges to prevent the Nayo Defensor to open clam-shell style.
The side hinges on many backpacks are usually sewn to the backpack so they aren't removable like on this backpack, making the Nayo Defensor more versatile to adapt to different situations.
The clam-shell (suitcase-style) opening is very convenient when packing stuff because the sides can lay flat on the ground.
The "side-hinge" opening style is useful too when the suitcase style opening isn't as convenient or needed like on a bus or train commute. The side hinges help keep the front side of the backpack upright.
On the top corner of the inner side of the Nayo Defensor, there is also a long, removable pass-through USB cable, which feeds to a female USB outlet on the outside of the backpack.
Below the USB outlet, there is also a small zip pocket that contains a deployable waterproof drawstring pouch.
Moving to the outside of the backpack again, the Nayo Defensor integrates two grab handles. The top grab handle seems to be made of aluminium and has the same design as the grab handle on the Almighty backpack.
The grab handle on side is made of thick foam padding and it's very comfortable to hold with the hand. Out of the two handles, the side grab handle feels like the more secure one because of the top handle design.
The fabric covering the underside of the side grab handle seems to be made of lycra, while the fabric, covering the top of the handle is made of the same PU waterproofing material found on the outer shell of the backpack. It's worth mentioning also that the front of the shoulder pads and base of bag are also coated with PU waterproofing.
The backside of the Nayo Defensor bag has a large pass through trolley sleeve that is padded and covered with breathable material.
This trolley sleeve has three functions: 1) trolley sleeve 2) backside padding and 3) to conceal the shoulder straps and convert the Nayo Defensor from backpack to briefcase.
The snap fasteners you see on the corners of the pass through trolley sleeve are designed to help lift the trolley sleeve just enough so, you can neatly hide the shoulder straps inside the trolley sleeve.
The trolley sleeve does not completely detach from the backside as it's sewn to the bag. Beneath this trolley sleeve, there is a small secret zip pocket, large enough for a smartphone.
The under side of the trolley sleeve is made of the same baby blue polyester lining found inside the main compartment. The actual backside of the bag is made of Oxford fabric.
The backside padding of the Nayo Defensor is comfortable and ventilated, thanks to a large air flow channel, running vertically across the centre.
The foam padding being used for the shoulder straps and backside of the Nayo Defensor seems to be closed-foam, which is second to EVA foam in comfort and more comfortable than open-foam. The shoulder straps also feature small zip pockets and large webbing loops. Check out the review of the Nayo EXP Backpack.