I love the panniers - they are great for commuting to work and for transporting my laptop. The rain cover works OK. My only complaint would be that you have to make sure you secure the drawstring - I had to get this replacement as the drawstring got caught in my gears and wrapped the cover off (hence the replacement). If you are careful though this should not be a problem (I was lazy once and paid the price).

Overall it works well to repel the rain and I'm sure it would work well while wearing the bag as a backpack. However I sometimes I must ride in wet conditions during my commute but the entire back of the pannier backpack bag gets wet and dirty therefore I cannot wear as a backpack until it is fully dry. I really wish this was made so the backside would be protected from splashing from my bike tires.