I’m surprised that some companies – and not rando small companies – major brands such as Patagonia and The North Face make sling bags that cannot be used by lefties.

I’m not a manufacturing — anything – I have 0 knowledge of how to manufacture a backpack nor a sling but a small loop on the other side of the bag doesn’t seem that challenging.

Where does this frustration come from? I wanted the 8L Patagonia Atom sling. When I realized they left out the lefties, I turned towards The North Face Borealis sling and that was a no go too!

Below is a list of 3 slings that I am going to cover in this article. I have used each of them for different amounts of carry.

I have used each of them for travel, hiking and everyday carry (EDC). Aside from the Sherpani sling, my husband would carry each as well, so we can both get use out of them.

Beis Survival Sling $58USD
Osprey Daylite Sling $45USD
Sherpani Women’s Pike Travel Sling ~$65USD

Before I get into them, let me distinguish slings vs. belt bags. Belt bags, especially for women, are very popular right now. The difference is sling bags are designed to be carried on one’s back whereas belt bags can be on the waist, front, or side.

Beis Survival Sling

Beis is an affordable high end brand that’s known for durable, stylish and feature-packed luggage and bags. Given how small the Survival sling is it carries a fair bit. I use it as a purse/handbag replacement for everyday use. I can put my small wallet, lip gloss, sunglasses in a regular-sized case (not one of those slimmed cases), iPhone 15 Pro, and earbuds in their case, iWalk phone charger.

I cannot fit my 16oz. Zojirushi water bottle in it, but an 8oz. bottle would fit if I removed the sunglasses case. I like that you can hide away the slack from the strap when tightening the bag. (Strap slack is a personal pet peeve).

For 2-4/4.5Hour Hikes. This is all I carried to hike the Kalalau Trail in Kauai last year. I was wearing my prescription sunglasses the whole time so I left the case in the car. That freed up space for:

1. 1 Clif Bar
2. a few band aids
3. iPhone 11 (not Pro)
4. 8oz. water bottle
5. 5 coin towels
6. selfie stick (Atumtek)
7. hand sanitizer
8. iWalk back up phone battery
9. rain jacket – not inside the sling but hanging from the strap

The Beis sling was perfect for me during that hike. It was light weight, fit snugly and had everything I needed. The only drawback is I wish it was a little bigger to fit more water. Before going on the hike, I tested walking with another 8oz. water bottle in the pocket of my rain jacket but that weighed me down and was uncomfortable.

Shorter Hikes and Walks
I also use the Beis Survival Sling for shorter walks and hikes with friends.

Beis brands themselves as an affordable luxury travel brand hence the steep price on the sling relative to quantity of space. When I checked the website before publishing this article in October 2023, the black and beige were both out of stock but there is a waitlist to get informed about a restock.

Beis Sling For Travel
I used this as a small handbag replacement for a short domestic flight and trip. I would not take this on international trips – it’s too small. I’d opt for the Osprey or Sherpani instead.

Osprey Daylite Sling

This 6L sling has been great for day hikes and traipsing around a city. Sometimes I use it for everyday carry (EDC) as well. In my opinion you get a lot of value for money with the Osprey Daylite Sling.

For comparison the Patagonia Atom Sling is $65. The Atom does fit 2 liters more than the Osprey and has straps on the exterior to clasp your rain jacket, helmet or yoga mat, but Osprey has priced their sling to be affordable. That said, I preferred (and still do) the Patagonia Atom and if it was designed for lefties I would have bought it instead of the Osprey Daylite.

The Osprey Daylite can fit:

1. 16oz. Zojirushi water bottle
2. a big wallet
3. keys
4. earbuds in the case
5. lip gloss/chapstick (dedicated stretch mesh pocket built into the strap)
6. hand sanitizer
7. sunscreen (small 3oz. bottle)
8. other knick knacks
9. iWalk back up phone charger

An iPad Mini and/or Kindle would fit as well.

It comes in many different colors and I like the padded back panel and strap. I also like that you don’t have to flip it over your head to get it off. It has a quick release – which I started using after I lost a couple earrings in the process of getting the sling on/off. It also has a double zipper which, in my opinion, is a necessity for any sling – as the whole point is easy access to your gear while you’re wearing it without all the contents spilling out. Basically if you find a sling that doesn’t have the double zippers, run away – abandon cart – game over…you get the idea.

For hiking with the Osprey Daylite, I’d trade the big wallet for a packable jacket. There’s a small strap at the top which is perfect for a carabiner and/or my Klipsta hat clip. Which, by the way, comes in very handy when I go hiking with friends followed by a meal and don’t want to wear my hat inside the restaurant.

Side note: I bought the Klipsta in early 2023 from Amazon but it looks like it’s no longer available. You can buy it directly from their website though. Or here’s another hat clip that is available on Amazon. I haven’t used it though.

Update on Klipsta hat flip December 2023. I have abandoned it as the magnets randomly come apart causing the clip and my hat to fall on the ground. I bought this clip and have recently used it on two international trips and it’s much better because the carabiner-like attachment for your bag is separate from the clasp for your hat.

Cons of Osprey Daylite. I noticed that the padding on the back of the bag started pilling pretty quickly. I have had this bag for a year and taken it on a few domestic and international trips and use it on/off for everyday carry. To be clear, on domestic trips it’s my EDC bag but on international trips it’s my use-at-night – EDC bag – not a day pack replacement.

In other words it hasn’t been through a ton of use. So I was surprised that it started pilling so quickly. It’s not so bad and hasn’t stopped me from using it but still surprised that it started pilling so quickly.

As a small framed woman I fasten the bag as tight as it can go which means a lot of slack from the strap hanging loosely, (first picture below) which I find annoying. I recently purchased these velcro cord ties. I bought them to organize the cords for my tech gear but they also worked to wrap the slack from the sling strap to give it a cleaner look.

Sherpani Women’s Pike Travel Sling

This is my favorite sling. (see photos below). It’s feminine, has a strap pocket for the phone (game changer!), side water bottle pockets, a magnetic closure, theft resistant front pocket, key chain clip, cord to wrap to around the leg of a table or chair as a theft deterrent, and space for everything that I need. Oh also, an iPad Air fits inside with room to spare.

The theft resistant pocket isn’t slash proof like you see in some Baggalini or Travelon bags – rather it’s a theft deterrent. The additional knot that you thread through makes it harder to open. Oh also, on the back mesh panel there’s a pretty butterfly or something design which is just a cute nice touch.

It can fit:

1. phone 15 Pro Max
2. big wallet
3. keys
4. 16 oz. water bottle
5. Kindle and/or small iPad
6. iWalk phone charger
7. sunglasses in the case
8. earbuds in the case
9. medicine organizer
10. lip gloss
11. mall bottle of sunscreen
12. small bottle of hand sanitizer
13. iPad Air
14. Selfie stick (Atumtek and/or DJI Osmo 6)
15. Even my Canon T6S can fit inside with a 100-400 lens attached – as long as I put very little of anything else in the bag.

As I said the strap phone pocket is a game-changer. It’s a zip around pocket, not stretch mesh, so you don’t have to worry about the phone falling out. I can’t tell you how convenient it has been to use my phone/put it back. It was SO useful when passing through Customs and Immigration – to put my passport in there too.

I went to India for a month earlier this year and when the auto wallah (driver) was going the wrong way, between the cow that passed by on the road and smacked me with its tail, to the scooter drivers zipping past and cutting us off because #India, I was relaxed and nothing but amused smiles as I whipped out my phone with ease, to direct the driver with Google Maps.

After I got back from India, I went out for brunch with friends — they wanted to see photos from my trip. I made a point of showing off how awesome I am with my awesome sling bag by making a show of unzipping the strap pocket – all while obnoxiously trying not to be obnoxious.

There are two side stretch mesh pockets that are deep enough to secure my Zojirushi water bottle. I tried to put a Yeti bottle in there, but that was a no-go. The pockets are not wide enough. But it’s perfect for my slim Zojirushi. The pockets are deep enough to really secure the bottle in there.

The only cons about this sling are:

On my small frame, the phone pocket can look kinda big and dorky. Yes, that’s me dancing…with the sling on. I was at my cousin’s wedding in India. I didn’t know that all of a sudden a percussion band was gonna appear from nowhere and that we were supposed to start dancing in the middle of the resort….so I did! As you can see it’s not a flattering look.

There’s also no quick release, so you have to pull it over your head to put it on and take it off and I have now lost two earrings in that process.

I can use the Sherpani for EDC as well as for hiking when I want to carry my 16oz. water bottle. It’s also better for when you just need more gear, i.e. rain jacket, small camera, travel tripod to go directly from one event to another.

If $65 is a bit steep, Amazon has this Waterfly Sling which is a Sherpani dup for $25.

Sherpani Pike For Travel
This made a great personal item on my flights to India as well as Vietnam. I could fit mostly everything that I needed for the flights inside the bag. I wanted my Trtl travel pillow and my Blue Hills travel blanket and those did not fit inside the Sherpani sling, so I strategically placed them in my carry-on so that when I boarded the plane and got to my seat, I could quickly take them out and put the carry on in the overhead bin without holding up the line for too long.

Then before landing I put the pillow and blanket away, so that I was completely hands-free during boarding and landing.

Note about the Blue Hills travel blanket. Since I mentioned my travel blanket, there are a lot of reviews that said it’s bulky and therefore kinda hard to travel with. They’re right. It is bulky. And I found a solution for the “kinda hard to travel with” part which I share below. But what’s the point of a blanket? To keep you warm. The Matador blanket and other thinner, smaller travel blankets have a lot of positive reviews on Amazon and honestly I don’t get it. I have tried them.

Those blankets are so thin and have one great feature – they’re packable – but they do nothing to actually keep you warm. I don’t know about you, but I’d be super annoyed if my travel “blanket” on a 15 hour flight turned out to be nothing more than a glorified small bed sheet.

The Blue Hills blanket that I bought, has a luggage pass through strap…which is handy…if you’re traveling with a roller bag. If you’re not, I bought some straps from REI to fasten the blanket to the outside of my carry-on backpack so that it doesn’t take up space inside the backpack. That has worked very well. You might be wondering why take a blanket at all? I find planes are either hot or cold. And when they’re cold, I get really cold.

I’ve been on flights where I was supposed to get a blanket but didn’t or even with the airline’s blanket I was still cold. I’d rather rely on myself to ensure my comfort. The blanket has also had an unexpected side benefit of keeping me warm on long drives in hot climates as my travel companions want you to crank the AC.

Honestly, more than the bulkiness, it’s the shedding that threw me off. ProTip: wash it before you use it to get rid of the shedding. I looked like a Smurf when I landed back in LA.

Honorary Not-Mentioned Slings

I didn’t purchase any of the Peak Design slings for myself but have given them as gifts and tried them out to determine if any were a good fit for me. I like Peak Design and own a fair number of their products but, I did not like any of their slings.

They are heavy, stiff, and though are unisex, veer more masculine looking. The stiffness made it not easy to use. It was difficult to put items in and take them out. The removable shelving, designed for camera bodies and lenses is handy and unique to Peak Design but did not overcome the cons, for me.

When the sling is full, the front slit pocket is unusable. For me that’s a deal breaker. It does fit a 10th generation iPad Air but it was cumbersome to put in/take out if you placed it in the inside slot pocket – which is the logical place to put it.

Even though it’s meant to be a camera bag it can be used in a multitude of ways. And like all Peak Design products it is made with quality materials. You can also fit your Capture Clip onto it.

The 10L is the largest size that this bag comes in and for me personally, if I need 10L of space, at that point I’m going for a backpack, not a sling.

But I should say that I’ve watched and read a TON of reviews from men and women about the 3 Peak Design slings and lots of people love them, including those to whom I gave it as a gift. So it could be that it just isn’t right for me but could be great for you.

Conclusion

I hope this review of 3 sling bags for left handed women has been helpful for you. There are sling bags for us leftie ladies, just fewer options. Happy travels!