I would disagree, you just need to find that perfect water bottle that isn't too small or too big to fill out that pocket. And another thing, I have carried 1.5-liter bottles of water in that big pocket on the bottom without any problem so I think it's great. But I could see how you don't like it, the concern of a leaking water bottle making all your stuff wet is a potential risk with this setup.

If you want extremely high quality then I would recommend Woolpower. It's a Swedish brand that produce all their products in Sweden, the wool is sadly from Urugay so it's not Swedish wool but they are working on that even the wool will be from Sweden in the future when the supply of wool in Sweden is enough.

I know people that bought Woolpower garments back in the 90’s that still uses the same once and the Swedish military uses socks, thermal underwear and midlayers from Woolpower.

À Tom Bihn Synik 30. Its really great and it's so comfortable that I don't think you need a hip belt. It's also a great EDC bag when you get there. The 30 liter size may put you of but it has more space than it seems. One more thing, I really appreciate that it looks like a normal bag, you don't look like a tourist.