Citta launch feedback
I know the Nomads Nation / Fyro team are active here, and I wanted to provide some constructive feedback on the launch of the Citta backpack.
Firstly, congratulations on the launch! It’s no easy feat to start a company, design products and launch them successfully. I’m sure it is an extremely gratifying feeling and you should be celebrating, you definitely earned it. Having watched a lot of reviews, the backpack has gotten a lot of positive reviews and will definitely make a lot of customers very happy. Great job on building a product and selling out of all the stock in a few days.
I’m just a random person on the internet, so take this for what it is worth. There are a few complaints I have the launch that can hopefully be dealt with in future product launches.
Firstly, signing up for the mailing list to get early access to a product rubs me the wrong way. It makes people sign up for a mailing list when they don’t need to, we all have way too many emails these days. Also the email announcing when it was going to be launched was just a day before and we had just two hours of lead time before it went live. Some people here even found the link ahead of time. That’s quite annoying for those that were not able to plan a purchase around that time of the day.
Secondly, the bag links went live at the same time as the embargo for the reviews. The fact that the bags sold out is because of the trust the community put into the Fyro company. I’m not sure how many people could have even watched reviews of a bag, it seemed like the 25L and 18L black sold out basically instantly. The embargo should have been lifted at least a day or week in advance.
Ideally we’d just be able to preorder the Citta. The number of units (700 of each?) was way too small a number to start with, especially with all the advertising about the bag earlier and with it being sent out to so many reviewers that all dropped a review at the same time. I planned to watch some of the reviews and buy the bag over the weekend but every bag is sold out now. Ideally, a preorder system would have been implemented with a limited number of orders with reviews without such a tight embargo.
Lastly, I think given the constraints on the product launch (Fyro being a small company), having different fabric options (and sizes?) was a mistake. Just one color and one fabric to launch would have been great. Everything in x-pac or (preferably) everything in cordura nylon in just one color would have been simpler for the company and for customers. Having to choose between the fabrics and colors between sizes really muddied the decision process.
Also, it does feel like this bag design was rushed in some ways. No zipper garage on the top access pocket seems like an obvious oversight. Having pull tabs for the main zipper compartment that could have doubled as lash points would have been nice. A front flat stash pocket for things like a granola bar would have made this bag even better. The lack of a tablet sleeve in the laptop compartment is unfortunate. The side access pocket could have been made bigger, similar to that into the Sympl Commuter v2.2. If it could fit an internal water bottle for example I think it would have made the bag more versatile (use the external water bottle pocket for a tripod and the internal side pocket for a water bottle). The zipper direction for the side access should have been in the other direction and the flat security pocket could have been mirrored on both sides. There’s so many minor improvements like this that I think would have discovered if more time had been spent testing prototypes and discussing with the community. It would have been the end game backpack.
I hope this doesn’t come across as too critical! I love a lot of about the bag in theory, and trust the company and the reviewers. I love that everyone said it is the most comfortable bag and the admin panel with a deep pocket for jackets or headphones is amazing. I love the side access pocket (storing a battery bank and my phone there would be amazing) and love the top quick access pocket for sunglasses or airpods.
My ideal end game backpack would be the Citta with the Sympl commuter pack’s internal water bottle pocket + front quick access vertical zip + a tablet sleeve with the laptop + a one side handle. I hope Fyro can make that happen some day; maybe a Citta v2.2? :) I hope these are addressed in future versions or other bag makers take note of all the positives and the ways to improve this to get to the ideal backpack.
Congrats again on the launch!