I've had it a little over a week, and so far I like the bag. I agree with "Fantasy Fiend" in that the style of the bag was a nice balance between the casual nature of a backpack and the stuffy business-like feel of most laptop bags.
I have a 16" widescreen laptop, and it's a perfect fit.
The handle is a little awkward if a laptop is not in the bag, but I intend to keep a laptop in it at most times, plus I don't usually use the handle, I use the shoulder strap. I do wish the shoulder straps had swivels attached to the ends. It seems like everytime I pick it up, I'm having to twist the strap around to make sure it's straight.
I also wish it had at least one small pocket on the outside of the pack..one that you could get to without undoing the two main clasps (for gum, pens, thumb drives, etc). It has a pocket on the back of the bag, but anything you put in that pocket is right between the laptop and the padding designed to protect the bottom of the laptop..I can't really think of anything I would put in that pocket aside from folders, papers or other soft flat items that wouldn't damage the laptop.
The pen holder is kind of strange. Look at the picture. The black patch between the two main clasps is the bottom of the pen holder, so your pens are visible outside the bag, even though you can't access them without opening the clasps. Not BAD exactly, just strange.
Overall, aside from the little issues mentioned above, I do like the bag. It does what it's supposed to, I like the way it looks.
I really wanted to like this bag, but unfortunately I just can't live with it's many flaws. First, as mentioned by several other reviewers, the handle on the bag is not centered, causing the bag to hang at an unusual and uncomfortable angle when carrying it by the handle. I thought maybe the other reviewers didn't realize it's called a 'messenger' bag because it's supposed to be worn over the shoulder messenger style. What I didn't realize was that when a bag has a handle on it, sometimes you just use it because it's convenient. Like when I'm taking the bag off my shoulder to lay down, I use the handle. However, because the handle is offset, when I try to lay the bag down on it's back side, I have to swing the bag out and plop it down quickly or it tends to want to lay on it's front because of the angle it hangs at. This, by itself, is not completely unacceptable, but this coupled with the lack of padding on the back of the laptop compartment means my laptop is susceptible to damaged every time I set it down to remove the laptop.
This brings me to another major issue I have, which is that the laptop compartment is not padded on the back side. The front, sides, and bottom are padded, but the back is just a thin piece of canvas. There is a pouch for papers behind the laptop compartment, and there is a small padded area sewn onto the outside of the back of the bag, but there is no other back padding. This made the bag unusable for me. I bought a laptop bag to protect my laptop. The lack of padding on the back side of the laptop compartment was a deal-breaker the ONE thing a laptop bag should do best is protect the laptop, and this bag utterly fails at that.
Further, I also ignored the warning that the strap connector didn't swivel, which causes the strap connector to disconnect unexpectedly. I thought surely the people this happened to were just not very bright. Well, if that's true, then count me among the less intelligent because it happened to me too... almost immediately. I grabbed the bag out of my back seat on my way in to work one morning and the strap was tangled. In my efforts to untangle the strap the connector disengaged and the bag tumbled to the ground. Fortunately I 'caught' the laptop bag with my foot before it hit the pavement, which prevented any damage to my MacBook Pro. All I did was untwist the strap half a turn, and it fell to the ground. If you've ever used a messenger bag you know that a twisted strap is a very common occurrence with a reasonably designed bag, you just untwist it, but with this bag that action can destroy your laptop. That was the day I decided that I just couldn't live with such a poorly designed laptop bag and I ordered a new, hopefully better designed bag: Targus CityGear Miami Messenger Case for 17 Inch Notebooks TCG200 (Black with Grey).
I wanted to like the bag, and I wanted the other negative reviews to be rare anomalies. I'm sorry to say that they weren't and this is just a poorly designed bag which is not suitable for somebody who takes their laptop with them frequently. I can't recommend this bag for anybody... not if you value your laptop.
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The offset placement of the carrying handle helps to balance the bag IF you are also lugging a laptop. Without the laptop in its slot and a few heavy textbooks in their logical place carrying by the handle is quite awkward because the bag is very out-of-balance.Unfortunately use of the shoulder strap does not alleviate the pressing against your lower body.
I am updating my review to report additional consequences of the offset handle. After 5 Months of use the bag is splitting, tearing at the stress point of the imbalance. This bag is misnamed. It is not a messenger bag it is a Laptop-only carrying bag.
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I purchased this to protect my laptop and carry around my books about a month ago. I must say, even with a 15.6" notebook, there is plenty of room for all my stuff. The only thing this bag is missing is a water bottle holder, I tend to just stick it in the middle inner pocket. I prefer the shoulder strap so I never use the handle on the back but the stitching seems adequate for most uses. Not Rowsdower adequate, but it would probably serve the purposes of Bob Johnson or Blast Hardcheese, whom I put my faith in. Remember, this is a notebook bag, so I try to not put anything too heavy or large in the bag. Bowling balls and/or cinder blocks probably wouldn't work. Yes the notebook carrying part is padded, but why take an unnecessary chance? It still fits my notebook/mouse/power adapter, paper notebook, various loose papers, ipod touch, and 2 of my college text books with ease (Think giant law tomes or organic chemistry, not... well I can't think of anything because all I have taken are law or science classes... nerd alert).
The bag itself is nice quality. The canvas is not as yellow as it looks does in the picture and the spots for the velcro id holder above the black straps don't look as weird either. There are two strips of black padding on the back, towards the bottom, which actually makes a difference when I walk as the bag tends to stay against my legs more instead of bouncing around (well, stays as much as a messenger bag will). The underside of the canvas is a velour like quality; I find it ero... wait, wrong review. The underside is a fancy water resistant plastic. However, I probably would not take this out in heavy rain, unless fully loaded, as the sides where the shoulder strap clips on tend to stick out a little from under the flap. When fully loaded the sides don't flex out. I put a trashbag over it when it rains. When people ask me what I'm doing I act all offended and ask them why they don't like my bags and the cord I use in lieu of a belt.
There are a lot of pockets. On the outside there is a pocket which is against your body when you wear the shoulder strap, I tend to not use this. If anything, I would probably only put loose paper in there. The flap has a zippered mesh pocket on the underside, perfect for my power adapter and usb devices. A 7 pencil holder on the front, the black rectangle on the picture is a little slot to keep them in so you can actually bring writing devices which do not have clips. There's an open pocket on the right side about the width of an ipod touch and a little taller and deeper, I wish there was a similar pocket on the left side. A pocket the size of the black strap directly behind it (about 6" across guestimating) with a slight velcro enclosure. Another pocket the length of the bag with a slight velcro enclosure. Inside the bag are three pockets: a thin one good for one of those 5 subject notebooks plus a little extra, another pocket which can fit two large text books and a supplement, and the padded notebook section which rests against you. The notebook section has a velcro strap on the top which you can use to tighten the pocket if you don't use a 16" or 15.6" notebook. The pockets are all a good size, and I can bring pretty much anything I want and not have to dig through the bag to find it.
One of the reason I got this is because I'm decently tall (6'2") with pretty broad shoulders and a lot of other bags did not have the shoulder strap length or width (so it doesn't ride off me) I look for. I like the middle of the bag to rest against my hips... ladies? This has a very long shoulder strap which does the job nicely, with enough to room to spare for a much taller person; I only have the strap loosened slightly below half-way. I tried pretty much every bag at a couple of computer stores and this was the only one that felt right, like when you try on a pair of running shoes. The shoulder strap seems sturdy, however, make sure it is not twisted when you pick the bag up because the strap-clips will detach from the bag. This really isn't a problem with me because twisted shoulder straps really annoy me when I walk, but I lifted it up off the table one time and the shoulder straps just popped off (the bag stayed on the table so nothing was damaged). With the shoulder straps straight, I put a few heavy books in and swung the bag around violently for a while. It did not detact and seemed very solid, so I'm not really worried about a repeat.
Overall I like this bag, it doesn't really scream "COMPUTER BAG... STEAL ME" when I wear it around and lets all the cool kids know that "Yes... I have a bag. So you know... yeah." I would give this 5 out of 5 if it wasn't for the clip coming off that one time, and the sides sticking out slightly further than the flap when it isn't fully loaded.
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I purchased this in anticipation of a trip to DC. First, the offset handle is completely impractical. Two handles would be a perfect solution. Otherwise, it is completely imbalanced. It was a very frustrating experience at the airport and on the Metro. The plastic clip came undone once, causing the bag to hit the floor with my laptop inside. I am returning this and have purchased sometime that will hopefully work better at Office Depot.
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This is a great backpack! Perfect first backpack for my toddler, and will last a few more years. Durable, useful and fun. Also good for helping to learn to zip zippers.
