Let me say right now that I am surprised how good this bag is considering it costs $40 and I basically bought it for the parts. I was going to rip it apart and make the bag i wanted. Here were my needs and wants and how this bag stacked up against them:
I needed it to be able to carry a lot of stuff: swim fins, lunch, water bottles, shoes, wet towels, and maybe have room for some produce on top.
What I got was the most sensibly organized, rocking bag ever– that has a padded, out-of-the-way-won’t-get-crushed- pocket for my iPhone, outside pockets that hold things I want to access perfectly, safely, extra straps for lashing a yoga mat on top and side straps for long tube-like-things that you could pass through the backs of the side pockets- think Alpine rucksacks for skis-or- carrying a magazine there for your subway ride-all in a pack that was lightweight, retro-cool, super-affordable, and has a rocking guarantee, padded back, a thin internal frame sheet and comes in three groovy-ish colors. I felt good about putting a patch on my bag too- something i would not have done on a hundred buck bag.
The side pockets have expanding collars and toggle closures for over-sized items or proximity to pick-pockets. The waist belt is a good two-inch wide piece of webbing. The trade-off is the cordura is lightweight because it is not the heavy duty kind. So what? Don’t they have a killer guarantee? If the seams shred, I’ll have my bag parts finally and get another rucksack. Yes, but what about carrying stuff?
On a very typical TJ’s/Pet store run i was able to carry the following things in this bag without ANY discomfort, collapsing frame, shoulder pads, cracking collar bones, and straps ripping. I only suffered a minor myocardial scare:
an 18lb bag of charcoal, a 2 lb bag of cat food, 3 big cans of cat food, a bag of cheese sticks and so help me, one big fat steak= total weight: 23+ pounds with personals and all of it fit inside bag. For $40, as much as i hate to give LLB any props, i have to say this bag is the best day-today backpack i have used.
(For reference I also own a Gossamer Gear backpack, a Gregory fast pack, a hand-made Osprey pack and have used REI and military-grade packs extensively so i am not exactly the type to swoon over LLB.) Most of their products smell like cheap knock-offs, IMO, but this bag they have been selling for forever, and at the same price since that time.
Isn’t just so freaking cute too?
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