I have been a frequent business traveler for nearly three decades now (mainly to countries in east Asia) and actually travel more and longer than ever - 3 months out of the year. Although the size of laptops and other devices have become smaller and lighter over the years, one still needs to carry around a lot of little peripherals which inevitably add more weight and bulk. At some point, I decided I can no longer carry around a large bag that weighs over 15 pounds on my shoulder, whether that's a backpack or a shoulder bag, through these huge airports in Asia that sometimes force you to walk half-mile or longer. I had been using a High Sierra rolling backpack for several years now and it has served me well, but I decided it was time for an upgrade to go along with the new MBP 15.4" I had acquired recently. So, I spent quite a bit of time researching through the options and this Wenger Synergy Wheeled 16" Backpack seemed to stand out over the rest - including the price. It looked well-built and the company has a solid reputation so I decided to order and see how it'll fit in with my travel routines. I must say, this bag has exceeded my high expectations in both build quality and features. The bag has roomy zipped compartments and pouches galore and they are very logically laid out for excellent organization of all the little things that one needs to carry around during a long business trip. The wheels and the telescope handle have a very high quality feel to them as well as robustness. You can tell that Wenger put a lot of thought into every little detail and I can certainly appreciate that as a businessman developing, sourcing and distributing high-end products. The padding for the laptop section is excellent. There are more sections for a tablet, a smaller device like the Kindle and a very roomy back compartment for clothing and sundry kinds of stuff for short overnight trips. I've always found that many bags' small items compartment in the front isn't well laid out and you end up with lots of little things scattered in a mess in little pouches. I was very impressed by how this section on this Wenger was organized for things like passport, sunglasses, keys, pens, little medicine/vitamin vials, receipts, etc. I'm quite pleased that I'll finally have this front small-items compartment neat and organized whenever I travel. The entire bag has a nice high-end look to it. The materials, the workmanship, and the attention-to-detail are all top notch and justify the premium pricing. I can envision using this bag for many years to come wheeling it through the huge airports of Asia. The airports in Seoul-Incheon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, etc. are ridiculously huge. Most have inter-terminal trains but one terminal in the new Jakarta airport is so big that it takes 15 minutes of brisk walking to get from one end to the other. I thought about using a nice shoulder bag for future trips but the thought of this airport that I go through on a regular basis prompted me to decide that I need a new wheeled backpack and this Wenger will be perfect. This bag is so nice that it's actually making me look forward to my next trips to Europe and Asia over the next couple of months. During these long stressful travels, you want the stuff you're carrying around organized and working properly and reliably. It also helps that the product exudes a high-end look and feel. This is one of the nicest items I've ever purchased through Amazon. Personally, I've never heard of the brand Wenger until I started scouring for a new wheeled backpack although I've seen Swiss around all over the place. This is an excellent product. It makes most other 5-star rating products I've purchased seem like 3 or 4-star in comparison. It's that good and I'm that happy with it. I know I'll put it to good use and make my long travels less stressful and more enjoyable. A bag like this is for the serious traveler and I guess I fit that bill when I'm on the road as often as I am in distant places. It's also great for one or two-night domestic trips. If I could give a product a 6-star rating once per year, this one would be it for this year amongst all the products I've purchased through Amazon. Addendum: October 22, 2018 So, since I purchased this bag I made a one-week trip to Sweden and a two-week trip to Asia visiting suppliers in Korea and Indonesia. One can't truly assess or evaluate a product like this until it's been road-tested. After these two trips, I can honestly say that this bag has met my high expectations after receiving it and that it will accompany me on many more trips in the future. I literally carry a mobile office with me on these trips as I need to a lot of computer display space along with a bunch of little gadgets to keep me occupied and entertained on the long flights and in the hotel rooms. I also need some space to inevitably stuff the bag with duty-free gifts and items bought at the airports. The following are the items that I put in this bag for my overseas trips: • MacBook Pro 15.4" in leather case (laptop/tablet compartment) • GeChic 15.6" portable display in a slim Tomtoc bag (main roomy compartment) • reMarkable writing tablet (laptop/tablet compartment) • Amazon Kindle Voyager (laptop/tablet compartment) • Foldable stands for the MBP and the GeChic display (main roomy compartment) • MBP power adapter and USB cable (left side pocket compartment) • Samsung T5 SSD in case (right side pocket compartment) • Sunglasses in case (right side pocket compartment) • Satechi numeric keypad fro MBP in the slim Tomtoc bag (main roomy compartment) • Manila folder with a few papers behind the MBP (laptop/tablet compartment) • Sundry and small toiletry items in a case (zippered compartment in front of the laptop/tablet compartment) - this is for the long flights and enough stuff to last a night or two if the luggage got lost or didn't make the connecting flights, which does happen... One always needs to be prepared for such things on these trips. • Two small power bank batteries and short USB cables for the iPhone (top compartment) • Chord Electronics DAC and JH Audio IEMs for my mobile hi-fi audio (top compartment) • Apple USB-to-Lightning adapter and hi-fi audio USB cable (top compartment) I'm a music freak and work in the musical instruments industry and travel with this mini and mobile hi-fi audio system and the top compartment is perfect for carrying these items. I can envision adding the next version of the Apple AirPods in there. There's still plenty of space there. The lower-front zippered compartment has the travel essentials and miscellaneous little stuff: passport, a few pens, USB thumb drive and adapters, IQOS e-cigarette, toothpicks, PostIt notes, the Bose Bluetooth earpiece, receipts, etc. It's a lot of stuff and the fully packed bag came out to 20.5 pounds when I weighed it for reference at an airport check-in counter. When I bought a hot cup of coffee at the Incheon Airport after arriving there very early in the morning, I obviously couldn't put that in the side water bottle pocket and I needed to get out to have a smoke so I used the straps to put this on my back and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. It was fine for walking a hundred yards or so to find a smoking area but I definitely wouldn't want to walk much further than that with 21 pounds hanging off of my shoulders. But it worked out fine to roll my check-in luggage with one hand, the cup of coffee on my other hand and this backpack on my back. This confirmed to me once again that I really do need a rolling backpack. The thing is that although it was fairly heavy, there was still plenty of room in the bag. I could easily put my light jacket inside when I arrived in tropical Indonesia and other duty-free stuff I bought at the airport. Space is simply not an issue with this bag. Even with all this stuff inside, the bag did not at all look like it was bursting at the seams. It looked like it was
