Just bought the bag and have now been using it for a week. I won't say that I absolutely love the bag and in some ways it actually has disappointed me. But I have it three because it fullfill about 70% of my requirements.
But, before I head on to the actual review of the bag let me share with you what I use the bag for and what is important for me in a bag. I generally travel over 30 weeks in a year and often internationally.
Hence I am in and out of the airport a lot. I wanted a bag which would
a. Looks professional
b. Had enough space to put all I wanted in an organised way.
c. Light weight and comfortable to carry.
I usuall carry the following in my bag: -
Always in my bag...
1. My 15inch IBM Thinkpad
2. Charger : Iphone, Ipad, Laptop
3. Webcam
4. Two large note books.
5. My passport, and travel cards
6. A toilette kit with toothpaste, deo, mouth wash and some hand lotion (I travel internationally a lot so need it after long flights)
7. My sun glasses
8. A pack of 50 visiting cards
9. Bose Noise cancelling headphone
10. My house & car keys
11. Bottle of water
Occasionally, I'll carry
11. A neck pillow when I fly.
12. A Mac book air.
I wanted a bag which could fit all the above items. I also like to keep my items segregated based on how often I access them and how fragile they are. So it's important that the bag has amlot of pockets. For example, I will keep my passport in a separate pocket to protect it and keep it hidden away.
My budgets for the bag was around 200$.
I researched a lot of bags, before I decided on this one.
1. Thule 32L Crossover.
2. Boa Flow
3. Samsonite Pro 3 laptop Backpack
4. Brenthaven a bit pricy.
5. Ivar Pilot Backpack
What I like about the bag.
1. There are a lot of pockets. More pockets that most bags.
1a. There are 2 side pockets on each side. i.e. 4 in total, all of them have zippers.
The ones on the bottom have mesh (see through) and can store a bottle of water when un zipper. These pockets are not too large. i.e. they are big enough to store a passport with not enough depth to store a laptop charger. I use one for my passport and the other for my Ipad and Iphone charger.
1b. Then there are three pockets in front of the bag, one main compartment and another one on the top to keep your sunglasses.
2. Quality of Zippers is good, which is very is what gives away in most bags. They are big and hence are less likely to jam
3. The size of the bag is enough to put everything that I mentioned above.
4. The quality of the workmanship is great. You can say it looks expensive, and sporty.
What I do not like about the bag:-
1. Too much padding:I know padding is important in a bag, but I think RSS has overdone it. The RSS feature (padding) in the bag, which cannot be removed which makes it heavier and making it looks bigger bloated up compared to the actual space it offers.
2. The side wall and the back of the bag are rigid. The bad is rigid because of a thick plastic sheet and a whole lot of padding. I think it is unnecessary and adds considerable weight to the bad.
3. The shoulder straps have probably the least amount of padding I have seen. It is ok if you have a light bag and carrying it for 15 minutes. However, if you have a full bag and walking from one terminal to another on Chicago internationally airport, you can feel it digging into your shoulders.
UPDATE ( 23th Sep '12)
I have now owned the bag for a couple of months and have travelled for work to Europe and Asia.
There are two issues that I find negative about the backpack...
1. It is heavy ! It is atleast 2 times as heavy as other packpacks with similar capacity. When you are moving around the airport, you can feel it digging into ur shoulders. Reason why it weighs so much is because it is very heavily padded, so match that it is over done.
2. The buckles which control the extension of the straps is loose. It will automatically extend to the fullest extension, if you generally carry you backpack on one strap. What is even more annoying is that when it is fully extended, it takes a while to tighten it.
These are the two reason, why after using the backpack for 2 months, I am giving up and moving to some lighter ones..
First off, I am apparently not the typical bag-buyer. Price was probably one of the least of my concerns, functionality was the most important. For the last 4 or 5 years I've been through 2 or 3 Ameribag ballistic laptop backpacks. The factory in Barbados closed and they don't seem to make them anymore not even shown on their site so when the last was looking a little worn, I started looking for the next bag. I need to say that the lifespan of those bags was not indicative of anything wrong with the bags: I travel a lot, to some rough places, and my bags take a beating, so 2 years for me with a bag would be very rare. Those bags were great fit my 17" MBP with no issue, plus lots of stuff nice big mesh pocket inside the front, large document filing area, zipper pocket at the very front for shoving loose change before airport checkpoints, and more. In fact, many of my complaints about the OGIO are based on the things that I miss.
I'd never heard of OGIO, but saw someone with one in an airport and thought it looked good, noted down the brand and looked it up a few days later. As far as I'm concerned, it's the same product from different retailers Amazon had the best price so went ahead and ordered.
First off, the other review is entirely correct the bag will not fit a 17" MBP. Within about 5mins of getting the bag and trying, out came a sharp knife. I cut the stitching that held the laptop sleeve just below the neoprene sock absorber. Some might think that was a bit drastic, but I was traveling the next day and really needed it to work. My laptop lives in an Incase sleeve anyway, so there was no real loss of padding for me there is still some padding at the bottom of the bag, plus the sleeve. A month in, and about 10 flights later, no issues.
What I was looking for was lots of exterior compartments, and that's the bag certainly has. The sunglass pocket is my first aid pocket, the top right is a CPR mask, etc. The main interior compartment is large and I've had 3 x 3TB hard drives plus associated cables in there, the smaller one in front contains a bunch of ziplock bags with various items, and the very front one, well, that's a bit of a problem.
The "stash" pocket in there is so small I can't even put cash or anything in there. The zippered one wouldn't even do for spare change. There's nowhere to put documents nothing like the full size compartmentalized filing system on the Ameribag. A big mesh pocket on the unused interior of the flap in here would have made a world of difference. Right now, I'm either having to stuff receipts and the like just loose in here or in the top left exterior pocket. Not being able to file papers without folding them or risking getting them crushed by other items is probably the biggest issue I have with this bag. Finally, I really miss a very simple thing a small tab with a clip on the end which I would always attached key rings to inside of the front compartment. This is being done now by the water strap in one of the mesh pockets, but it jangles and is a bit annoying.
The adjusters on the main straps slip. Not badly, but a brisk walk through Miami airport and they're at the end of their travel. The sternum strap is a waste of time kept riding up as there's nothing to keep it at a given heigh, and then one side of it popped off its guide rail after less than a week.
The bag looks great, and really does hold loads of stuff. Would I recommend? Depends on what you're doing. I do love it and am considering getting someone to sew in the modifications that I would like, but I think I'll do a little more looking around before my next bag purchase to see if I can check off on the missing items.
Buy Ogio Renegade RSS Laptop/Tablet Backpack Now
I am a fan of gadget inspired backpacks. With all of the cool devices that are now available to the typical business traveler you really need to reconsider how you are going to stow all of your devices. Backpacks designed more than 10 years ago were designed to store camping gear and not much else. About 5 years ago, we saw the first of the packs that were designed to carry laptops (the highly successful Victorinox is the one that comes to mind first and you still see them everywhere). Over the last couple of years a new wave of designs has entered the market they are less interested in storing camping gear but well equipped for allowing easy access to a variety of your electronic gadgets.
In my opinion, the Ogio Renegade is the best of the newly designed gadget backpacks. It offers a decent level of protection, it is comfortable to wear, but most importantly it also provides many levels/layers of storage based on the size of the items that you are trying to store.
Notes-
The laptop storage area provides a wedge of support that encompasses you computer. It is especially, effective in supporting your laptop if you backpack is dropped straight down (like when you remove it from your back and sit it on the floor).
The design fits nicely under the seat on an airplane. This may not seem like a big deal, but trust me... it is. When you pack does not fit snuggly under the seat it causes you to lose precious leg room (and possibly exposes you to ire of the flight attendants).
It is very comfortable to wear the area supporting the laptop also provides a firm but gentle support for your back.
The exterior is rip, tea, and snag resistant.
Has a built in sunglass pocket/box that offers a crush-proof compartment for sunglasses or anything that is breakable.
The entire backpack does not have an exoskeleton or any type of rigid frame but the pack seems to be fairly resistant to collapse, and I have not had any problem with anything being damaged inside.
I do wish that there were more internal storage pockets inside the individual layersI would like to have small netted pockets to store things like batteries, medicine, and other small items. The Ogio Renegade does have a few of these types of pockets, but I wish it had a few more.
Final VerdictThe Ogio Renegade is the best blend of comfort, storage, and build quality that I have found in business travel backpack. it may be significant overkill for a middle-schoolers but it has worked perfectly for all of my business travel
5 Stars
Please Note I received this product for reviewing purposes
Read Best Reviews of Ogio Renegade RSS Laptop/Tablet Backpack Here
I now own 4 OGIO products. I have two other backpacks as well as a duffle bag. One of the other backpacks I own is one of their skate backpacks. At the time I wanted something compact, now that it has been a few years my needs have changed.
This backpack is the best I have seen from them. If you own a lot of technology and have a need to carry it with you this is the backpack to get.
Here are some things that I most always have with me, just to give you an idea of what it can hold. Keep in mind I am a college student.
Nexus 7 tablet
Cell Phone
Sunglasses
TI-84 calculator
TI-30 calculator
Erasers
At least 3 pencils
2 pens
extra led for pencils
chewing gum
clip board
2-3 one inch binders
2 textbooks
water bottle
snacks
All of those items will fit easily in this pack, with room for my camera, laptop and charger, and a mouse if I had the need to carry it with me at one time.
The backpack is not too heavy, there are more pockets than I know what to do with, and plenty of space in the main compartment, and tablet compartment for books and supplies.
Basically if you have owned anything made by OGIO before, you know it is a quality product and will last years. This is another example, including all the bells and whistles. For someone who is always on the go and owns a lot of technology, or just needs the space for other things, I highly recommend this product.
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I had the large predecessor to this bag for several years and the zippers finally gave out. I read the reviews carefully before buying this one. One of things I liked the most about the last bag was that it had 3 top compartments, but this one only has one. The top compartments are extremely handy for glasses, calculators, electronics. I think the reason they cut down to one on the Renegade was to make the bag more compact. The base is not as large at the base and it is easier to get into overhead bins on planes. What they lost in the top compartments they made up for with the side pouches. There are four side pouches that are extremely functional and are padded. I carry a PC power supply, camera, glasses cleaning gear and financial calculator in these. The laptop slot has moved from the side to the top which is more convenient. It is large, well padded and very secure. The middle storage pouch is very large. I carry project documentation, binders and headphones with no problem. This pouch keeps its size as opposed to bags that look as if they have many useful compartments, but compress to nothing when you start to load them. The next compartment forward has a pouch for electronics and has enough room for my various chargers, headsets, etc. The final forward front pouch has the pencil/pen pouches and slots for business cards, etc. This area probably shrank the most, but it is adequate. I carry too much stuff since this backpack is my mobile office, but I get everything in it and it is a great looking bag. There is enough room to do an overnight with a change of clothes, etc. One of the comments I saw in other reviews that I agree with is the inadequacy of the straps. If you load the bag the straps are not as wide or comfortable as they should be if you are hiking end to end at Denver International. But having used the bag for months and already put a lot of miles on it, I would not trade for any of the other bags I've had and there have been many. In comparing to many other bags in stores and online, it is apparent to me that the Ogio designers are giving a lot of thought to the real issues of how to build a backpack that is actually functional, does not have wasted unusable space and provides storage that is easy to access and organize.
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but hey at least this backpack is full of win! Not very good as a pillow but it's totally impervious to water and good for stuffing a couple days clothes and some tech into. If you for some odd reason ever needed to haul 30L of water around on your back it'd do a smashing job of that too. Gives everything a bit of a plastic smell but i consider that a bonus and i'm sure it can be remedied if you were so inclined. If you ever actually do use this near some sort of water it would float you if empty.
