I first heard whispers of the ULA Ultra Dragonfly when lurking on the 729,000-member-strong subreddit r/OneBag, which has popularized the idea of bringing no more than one smallish bag on trips and vacations. One Baggers, as they style themselves, are taking monthlong trips to Vietnam with two T-shirts and a dream. They’re obsessed with buying only the best and most minimal gear. They can list the key differences between a Cotopaxi Allpa and a Patagonia MLC, but the rare backpack they covet most has never graced the shelves of REI. In fact, you can only purchase it on ULA’s website every week at 3 p.m. ET. Within a couple of hours, the bag sells out and its buy button disappears for another seven days.
Manufactured by a small cut-and-sew shop in Logan, Utah, the Ultra Dragonfly doesn’t look like anything special at first glance. That’s actually part of its appeal. One Baggers love the logo-less design that’s as appropriate for office commuting as it is hiking. “It’s a comfortable carry, light, very durable, has the best water-bottle pockets of any backpack I’ve ever used,” writes one redditor. “The inside is very minimal so it’s kind of a black hole of space that can pack more than it seems, and it can be used as a personal item on most airlines.”
Although international customers grumble about the bag only going on sale in the middle of the night, if you’re based in the U.S. and willing to sit around and refresh your browser on a Wednesday afternoon, it is usually possible to snag the Ultra Dragonfly with a bit of effort. One successful (and satisfied) customer I spoke with, Mike, said he easily did so during a break from work last year: “It was a very straightforward process, and I received the bag a few days later.” When refreshing the page myself last week, I was briefly able to add a Dragonfly Ultra to my cart at around 3:30 p.m. ET.
The Ultra Dragonfly’s weekly drop schedule has definitely increased its hype, although ULA claims that it’s not a marketing strategy so much as a stock issue. The brand also sells a number of other larger backpacks, such as the ULA Circuit, which is popular among thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail. It also offers the same Dragonfly design in a number of different and slightly heavier fabrics. “We’re essentially maxing out production capacity every week between the Ultra Dragonfly and other packs we have,” says Garrett Martin, ULA’s head of communications. “Once they’re built and ready to ship, that’s when we release them on Wednesday. We don’t do a wait list because it would create too much of a lead time for our other products. We think it’s the fairest way to do it.”
As detailed in extensive Reddit threads like the compelling “28 Days in Asia With the ULA Dragonfly,” this bag does have great and relatively specialized features. It fully unzips at the front, opening up like a small suitcase, and a Goldilocks-size 30-liter capacity, meaning it can hold a decent amount of stuff but still slide underneath a plane seat if needed. There’s no hip belt, but uniquely shaped shoulder straps are designed to be worn for hours at a time without discomfort. There’s a laptop sleeve for digital nomads.
ULA’s Ultra fabric is also “very strong,” Mike says, as well as unusually lightweight and waterproof. “And the stretch enables you to load bulky items unlike a more stiff fabric like X-Pac.” He says his bag comfortably carries around 15 pounds’ worth of items for work and travel, and adds that he was initially confident in the purchase because ULA is known for responding to customer feedback and refining its designs and materials according to those needs. It has shown no signs of wear and tear so far.
At $270 with free shipping, the Dragonfly is also considered relatively affordable by extreme gear enthusiasts. It is “much lower in price than some of the much more expensive and rare bags from other boutique makers like Evergoods, GoRuck, and Romfia,” Mike tells me. “And it also compares favorably to high-end suitcases from brands like Tumi, Monos, or Away.”
Away suitcases are available for purchase at anytime of day, though. Where’s the fun in that? I’ll see you at 3 p.m..
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