This was the first serious bag that I've used daily. I wanted to try the things I did with the previous bag, but at full size.
I used this bag nearly daily for a year and a half (until I lost it in Russian River when I flipped a canoe and didn't have it tied down), and over time got a good feeling for what worked and what didn't:
What worked:
- A good size, holds its shape, and strong and robust (it's carried 30lbs on long bike rides without a problem, been jostled around a lot, and the fabric's not wearing out)
- The surcingles look good, and are fun to latch and unlatch.
- The seatbelt-style webbing shoulder strap looks slick.
- The method of having the webbing for the fasteners disappear between the two layers of fabric to hide the stitching works well
- The inside pockets and pen slots are decent, but there could be more
What didn't:
- The seatbelt-style webbing is slick, literally-- the bag slips around the torso too easily. This could be prevented with a different material, or an addition sternum strap.
- Even though the ends of the seatbelt webbing are folded over and sewed, the seatbelt webbing is very prone to fraying (unlike real seat belt webbing-- this webbing is a cheap imitation woven from thinner thread), so occasionally some threads come loose. Different webbing (or maybe melting the end of the webbing, since it's plastic?) are things to try.
- The shoulder strap webbing tends to bunch up in the D-rings-- something strange about the angle of the straps and the thinness of the webbing
- The stiched-border cutout "M" looks okay now, but I think it may fray or get beat up over time
- One of the pen/pencil slots in the pocket is starting to come unsewn, more stitching was needed.
- The particular metal triglide(?) buckles used for adjusting straps (shoulder strap, or the buckle straps) are sort of sharp on the edge
But overall, I'm pretty happy with this bag.
( <== back to bags )
