Review: Urth Utility Sacoche Bag

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago, Urth released its ‘Carry’ range of bags primarily aimed at photographers. These include the Urth Arkose and Norite bags, followed by the Dolomite 5.1L & 8L slings, Arkose 18L Tote, and the Andesite, designed for smaller compact camera systems. Although these were mainly designed with photographers in mind, the Arkose & Norite bags used modular camera inserts, allowing you to utilise the bag on non-photography days.

In late 2025, they introduced the Aerolite Tote and the Utility Sacoche bags to their Carry range. On first inspection, these bags are very much in line with their Andesite and Dolomite bags with a very minimalist look that caters for both minimalist photographers and non-photographers. This is a smart move, as it positions the company in a broader market where photography accounts for only a very small percentage.

Urth kindly provided us with the Utility Sacoche Bag for this review. Although we received the bag complimentary, this post is an unbiased review. Please read our disclaimer at the bottom of this post.

We’ve been reviewing and using Urth products for many years now and absolutely love their quality, price, and contribution to the environment through tree planting in some of the most deforested regions of the world.

THE BAG

Firstly, to address the elephant in the room – what exactly is a sacoche bag? Sacoche is a French word denoting a small cross-body bag that was originally designed as a utility bag for carrying tools or small essentials. In French Quebecois (French dialect spoken in the Canadian province of Quebec), it principally means ‘the handbag of a woman’. This is the literal translation; however does not mean that this product has been designed primarily for the female market. Urth has designed the sacoche as a unisex product, but it may be more desirable to a more feminine market. Time will tell.

Although the zipper, once closed, runs the full width of the bag, a small hole still remains below the zipper on each side. This could allow water to seep into the bag if caught in heavy rain. The extra zipper flap offers some protection, but not complete. It’s not a major issue, but just something you should be aware of.

Inside the bag, there’s a wide and deep zippered pocket on one side and two (2) equally-sized deep pockets on the other. These are large enough to accommodate a small point-and-shoot camera and would be a perfect spot for our Sony RX100 V camera.  There is ample room in the main compartment with its 1.4L capacity for other items.

Keep in mind that this bag is NOT designed to carry many items. The more you put into the bag, the more uncomfortable it will be to carry. It will work perfectly with compact cameras with lenses that recede into the camera, such as our Sony RX100V, and it may work with compact mirrorless cameras with a pancake lens. Anything larger may be a struggle with this bag. This is not a negative, as the bag was not designed to hold anything other than a point-and-shoot style camera. In fact, the bag was not necessarily designed with photographers in mind; instead, it was designed more for non-photographers with an interior pocket that could carry a small compact camera. 

This bag caters for a much wider audience, and based on that, it is an excellent product. However, our first field test with the Sacoche bag was extremely disappointing. Unfortunately, a good product has been let down by inferior strap adjusters. We carried the bag with 600g of contents (not including a camera), and after a while, the strap adjusters began to slide. This progressively got worse to the point that we had to tie a knot below the adjuster to maintain the length of the strap. Hopefully, Urth will fix this issue, as we cannot recommend this bag as it stands.

• Relatively Small Capacity: At 1.4L, it’s very compact, limiting what you can carry.
• Strap Buckles: These do not lock into place and will not hold. Also, it would have been good to integrate their current camera straps with the bag
• Limited Volume for Bulky Items: The slim depth (25mm / 1 inch) means it struggles to carry bulky items.
• Specific Camera Fit: It is limited to a point-and-shoot or compact mirrorless camera (depending on the lens).
• Potential for Overstuffing: Its slim nature might tempt users to overstuff it, compromising its shape and comfort.
• Colours: Only available in Charcoal (Black); however, this may change in the future.

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CONCLUSION

We started really liking the Utility Sacoche bag. The bag in itself is well designed for its intended market, but unfortunately, the strap adjusters really let this bag down and virtually render it useless, as they will not hold a minimal weight. Hopefully, this is not an issue with all the stock. Fortunately, Urth offers a Lifetime Warranty and 30-day Returns.

We generally love Urth products, and at their level, we would assume that comprehensive testing is done before releasing the product, so maybe we received a bad copy.

If you have any questions about this product, please leave us a comment.

PRICE

The Urth Utility Sacoche Bag is reasonably priced. To buy the bag, click on the BUY HERE button below.

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Disclaimer:  This review is totally unbiased. As Professional Photographers we would never recommend the use of any product unless we have used the product ourselves. We always strive to give you our honest opinion in order to help you make the best choice. We did receive the product with compliments of URTH but were not paid for this review. We may also receive commissions on other links in this post.