SwissGearMen's Laptop

We love this backpack! Great design and well made.

Nice size, not too big to fit under plane seat and also doesn’t stick out far off the back, knocking into everything. Lots of pockets are great for organizing!

First off, I want to start by saying that I had a Swissgear backpack previously that I used almost daily for about 5 years and had no problems with it. When I say almost daily I mean nearly EVERY day for 5 years. I used it every single work day (mostly in the field on construction sites), for overnight stays, and on vacations. It held up incredibly well. Finally a few days ago one of the zippers broke loose and would no longer close, so I bought this one.I've only had the bag for a few days now, but these are my initial impressions:1. It feels even more well made than my previous pack and that's saying a lot.2. The padded section for the laptop and tablet is great and is the biggest reason why I chose this pack. It protects both items pretty well and will fit even the largest laptop and a 10" tablet.3. In general I like the layout but there are two things I don't like: there are only two slots for pens/pencils, and the water bottle pockets aren't really big enough and should be mesh, not zippered. Also, the little section up top for sunglasses is basically useless if you don't use it for sunglasses, which I don't. I wish they had made it a little larger for use a general purpose quick access pouch (which my previous pack had).

Ripped within 6 months, not worth the price.

Not for travelers Not for commuting backpack is too small and awkward.(Construction)Main issue is shoulder strap position, they are sewn on at an awkward angle. The handle looks as though 4 or 5 good “I gotta go” tugs on it will do it in. The zippers are small and glitchy.( Performance)For short commutes ( parking lot to gate) I sling the bag over one shoulder this backpack. literally it fell off my shoulder caught on my forearm and spilled my un-spillable mug.(Comparison) I have an old old Swiss-gear backpack that has quite literally been half way around the world. I have slung it over one shoulder too many times to count, and ran through hundreds of airports.(Catalyst) The old Swiss gear has seen better days now. So I was on the hunt for a replacement. The old backpack was roomy enough I could get three days worth of clothes a laptop, all chargers and cords, airport legal toiletries, and still have room for a trinket or two for the girls when I headed home.(Downfall)I’m working a long duration project and in/out of the facility daily. The trek from the parking lot to the office is just over a mile (literally) so the wear and tear is getting to the old backpack.(How’d we get here?)I do a bunch of research, on everything I searched and searched and finally I feel that I’m informed enough to make a purchase, however I’m not happy that there is not an clone of the old backpack with improvements. so I decide to try something new, the security features on this model sound good to me, and it looks to be roomy enough, so I plop down the $109 thinking that over 15 years the price has doubled.(Particulars)This backpack arrives and right out of the box I begin to question my research as this backpack doesn’t even approach the old backpack for comparison.(Punch line)After dropping this thing off at Kohl’s I went to Sams for something else in the process of “shopping- something I almost never do” I walked right up on a display & couldn’t believe my eyes, there was a close enough clone for just $39, it doesn’t measure up 100% but I can live with the short falls for $43