Steals under $200: 10 ergonomic school bags that's worth your money

As parents, don’t you wonder why your child’s school bag increases in size every year as he/she grows older? Sometimes, you just wish that you can help them lug their heavy bags to school. But, at the same time, you want them to be independent and pull their own weight. 

That’s why you need an ergonomic school bag to lighten their load while taking care of their back. Here are 10 ergonomic school bags to add into your list of shopping essentials for your child’s next school year. 

Last updated on Dec 18, 2020. Prices and promotions for deals listed in this article are subject to change without prior notice.

1. Affenzahn Small Hilda Hippo

Price: $45 (U.P. $65) Suitable age: Kindergarten

Unique Selling Point: Cute, eco-friendly, and ergonomically designed, the Affenzahn Small Hilda Hippo is more than a school bag – it’s also your child’s study buddy.

Its cheeky design is both eye-catching and functional – pull its cheeky tongue to reveal your child’s name. The bright colours are reflective, designed for safety purposes. Its height-adjustable chest strap ensures the straps and the soft shoulder pads stay snugly and comfortably on their shoulders

2. Ergobag Mini

Price: $69 (U.P. $89) Suitable age: Kindergarten

Unique Selling Point: The ErgoBag Mini has one goal in mind – to train your child early with the correct back posture. This is achieved through its adjustable chest and shoulder straps, ensuring that the bag is comfortably close to your child’s back.

The bag has a volume of 10 litres, providing enough space to put everything they need for school. This is complemented by two external pockets to store and easily access additional items.

3. IMPACT Ergo-Comfort Spinal support backpack

Price: $59.90 (U.P. $79.90) Suitable age: Primary School

Unique Selling Point: At 450g, the IMPACT Spinal Protection Backpack is a reasonably light school bag that won’t add extra weight to your child’s back. This is especially important for kids of primary school age, given the load they will have to bear for their daily lessons.

Design-wise, the bag’s simple yet everlasting design and colour schemes has an unassuming look to it, which makes it an easy match for any school uniform.

4. Bromin Lite

Price: $88 (U.P. $108) Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: If you’re looking for a bag with great back support, you can’t go wrong with the Bromin Lite. Combined with cushy waist and chest straps, this bag is made out of lightweight material to even out the weight within the bag. Accessing the bag’s content is easy, and its large front compartment extends inwards to keep the bag compact.  

5. Dr Kong Pressure Free School Bag

Price: $88 (U.P. $108) Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: As its name implies, the Dr Kong Pressure Free School Bag is meant to reduce the pressure (literally, not figuratively) on your child. This ergonomically designed school bag comes with a patented spine pressure-free design.

The hollow tunnel design ensures there’s no unnecessary impact on the spine during movement. This is complemented by a waist belt to distribute some of the weight away from the shoulder to the waist.

6. Totem Amigo

Price: $89 Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: The Totem Amigo boasts a fully orthopaedic back support system, which simply means it balances the weight evenly to protect your child’s spine. Its extra-thick lumbar padding and wide curved, padded shoulder straps provide much comfort too.

7. IMPACT Ergo-Comfort Spinal Support Backpack

Price: $139 (U.P. $159) Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: At first glance, the IMPACT Ergo-Comfort Spinal Support Backpack looks like a sturdy bag. But don’t let its chunky design fool you, this is a bag that’s light and comes with a patented orthopaedic spinal protection system.

Besides its comfortable straps, the bag also adds more levels of comfort with its high quality ballistic nylon material and air breathable ventilation system.

8. IVAR Urban 20 backpack

Price: US$110 ($148) Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: As your kids grow older, they will be looking for a bag that is both practical and gets nods of approval from their friends. The IVAR Urban 20 does just that.

On the practical front, its lightweight IVAR-LIFT design provides superior weight distribution, load balance, and perfect organization. Design-wise, it sports a minimalistic design that attracts looks of envy, and perhaps approval, from kids in the upper primary and secondary levels.

9. Satch Sleek

Price: $179 Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: Stable, robust, lightweight and German-designed, the Satch Sleek comes with adjustable straps to accommodate your child’s height from 1.4m onwards.

With sufficient reflectors to keep your child safely visible, it also comes with various compartments and expandable pockets to increase its storage capacity. Worry not, for the ergonomic behind this back ensures your child carries the weight evenly across their shoulders, back and waist.

10. Satch Pack

Price: $198 Suitable age: Primary, Secondary School

Unique Selling Point: An upgrade over its smaller counterpart, the Satch Pack is built with anatomically-shaped aluminium rails and adjustable shoulder traps to fit your child to a tee.

It mimics the core feature and design of trekking backpacks for everyday use, providing your child with a stable and even weight distribution for easy carrying. Its back is also ergonomically shaped and breathable to provide an extra layer of comfort.

How to choose a good ergonomic school bag for your kid?

When choosing an ergonomic school bag that is good for your kid, you should definitely look beyond the aesthetics and marketing of the bag. Focus on the form factor and design that targets the fit to your child, its weight distribution and back posture. These are factors that will impact your child’s comfort when carrying the school bag.

1. Height of bag should be fitted to torso length

We know that online shopping is the craze these days. But when it comes to buying a good ergonomic school bag, you should aim to go to a physical shop to try it out. That’s because you need to know whether the height of the school bag is suitable for your child. 

According to a senior principal physiotherapist from the Singapore General Hospital, the bag should rest between the C7 vertebrae and the top of the hip bone (iliac crest). This means the bag cannot be too small or too big, so you’ll need to let your child try out the bag to know if the fit is just nice..

2. Wide and cushioned straps for better support

The bulk of the school bag’s weight lies on the shoulder of your child. Thus, having thickly padded and wide straps make it more comfortable for your child when he/she carries the school bag.

3. Padded, ventilated and posture guiding backrest

Poor posture is one of the main reasons that lead to long term back injury. To prevent that from happening to your child, make sure he/she carries an ergonomic school bag with a posture guiding backrest.

The posture guiding backrest ensures that your child maintains his/her posture form while carrying the load of his/her books on his/her shoulders. 

It also helps to have additional padding and ventilation on the backrest, which will increase the level of comfort.

ALSO READ: New study reveals how much weight kids should carry in school trolley backpacks

4. Multiple compartments for even weight distribution

Having more than one compartment lets your kid distribute the weight of his/her books. He/she can pack the heavier items closer to the backrest and leave the lighter items toward the outside.

5. Structured shape with strong base

Unlike conventional school bags, ergonomics school bags should come with a structured shape. In particular, it needs to have a strong base so that the weight doesn’t shift and sag towards the lower half of your child’s back.

Got more things on your kid’s shopping list? Here’s how you can make your deals even sweeter: Charge it to your cashback credit card!