Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

It might seem pricey, my first saddlebag was an as new Archie's grobag (which I paid £75 for, think they originally sold for more) and the main compression strap buckle failed and snapped after 2 days (due to being cheap tat) leaving me to bodge it with bungees and a suitcase strap to make it through the rest of the trip.

When you have the restrap one in your hands, you realise no expense has been spared, no corner cut, the materials and buckles/magnets are all top quality and solid as hell. 13 rough days on the road with mine and not a whisper of an issue, and they are offering a guarantee on the workmanship for the lifetime of the product ( not sure exactly what that means) but I expect if something went wrong, they'd sort you out.