Today’s Review comes to us from Jamie Phelps. Mr. Phelps is a student at Texas Christian University and blogs at JamiePhelps.com or you can catch him on Twitter . He also runs Epiphany Media, a freelance design and technology firm in the Fort Worth area.
Introduction
I recently purchased the Bomber Jacket Laptop Messenger bag from Levenger. I have been eyeing this bag for quite a while and when Levenger gave me a 20% off coupon with a recent order, I finally pulled the trigger. But I have some fairly exacting standards when it comes to bags. Can the Levenger Bomber Jacket Laptop Messenger measure up?
Background
Before beginning with the review, it’ll probably be helpful if I give some background about myself and my use case. I am a nomadic programmer. I work a full-time day job; I run a freelance web design and technical consulting business; I am starting out in independent Mac software development; and I switch contexts frequently among the day job, home, school, and assorted mobile locations like Starbucks. So, I have to be able to carry with me a pretty significant amount of kit in order to be ready to work wherever I find myself with a spare half hour. As a result, I have an ongoing, near-obsessive quest for a great bag. For the past year or so, I have been carrying a Wenger backpack that I liked well enough. But something feels just a little bit out of sorts showing up to work or client meetings with a backpack. This is the color of my crystal when evaluating any bag.
Appearance and Aesthetics
Holy cow does this bag look great! The folks from Levenger certainly know how to use quality materials. The leather is soft and supple and smells great. The twill lining is soft as well. The zippers and other hardware are sturdy and made with high quality materials. The magnetic closure is cleanly hidden and keeps the flap from flying all over while I am walking. The strap is gorgeous as well. Whereas many bag makers treat the strap as an afterthought, Levenger has given the strap quality leather accents. The strap material is also found on the side ends of the bag to give the strap a sense of connectedness to the rest of the bag. As an accessory, this bag is near perfect.
Design and Functionality
For my money, I find the design and functionality of the Laptop Messenger to be the place where Levenger cut the corners. This is most unfortunate for a product as beautiful as this one.
The first thing I noticed was that the laptop pocket is the outermost pocket. This is the exact opposite of what a functional bag should do. The laptop will be one of the least frequently accessed items in the bag, particularly when on the move. The laptop pocket should have been placed next to the body instead. This would allow for faster, easier access to files or smaller items in the accessory pockets. Strike one.
The second thing I notice is that the accessory pockets are placed on the far side of the interior pocket. Again, this should be nearer to the body and ideally in the outermost pocket. Simply standing up with the bag over my shoulder reveals this clear design flaw. My accessory pockets contain a 3 X 5 Leather Rope Case (also from Levenger) that is pretty full of index cards, a Moleskine ruled pocket notebook, a brush, a pen, a pencil, a highlighter, and an eraser. When I stand with the bag over my shoulder and move the flap to get access to my items, the weight of them on the outside of the pocket makes the pocket collapse on itself. This means it is near impossible to interact with this bag without looking at it. My litmus test for a bag is how fast I can get to whatever it is I need at any given time. (My Wenger bag fails this test miserably.) For a messenger bag in particular, this is crucial, and this bag returns blue instead of pink.
Laptop-y-ness
I am giving special attention to this particular aspect of the bag since it bills itself specifically as a laptop messenger. For me and many others, laptop does not mean just the computer. If you are anything like me, then you need a variety of plugs, accessories, adapters, and other kit to work effectively with your laptop. The bare minimum requirement is to carry a power cable. There is no good place to store anything other than the computer itself with this bag. If I decide to keep this bag, I will end up purchasing a gear bag (likely of the WaterField variety) to lug around my kit. Not the kind of solution I expect to land on with Levenger.
Conclusion
Rating:2/5
In the end, the issue of reviewing this bag becomes whether you value form or function. If it’s the form and style that you are after, then save yourself $50 and buy the regular messenger bag. If you value function, then skip the Bomber Jacket Laptop Messenger. The gorgeous materials and craftsmanship save this bag a 2/5 rating. From my perspective, this bag should be sold as a messenger bag with a note that it is large enough to hold a laptop computer. But a Laptop Messenger it is definitely not.
$248 | MORE INFO
