I really like the style of this bag and have been a Baggalini fan for a long time, but this laptop bag misses the mark in a couple of important ways for me. I travel overseas frequently and as I've gotten older, dragging around a pile of heavy luggage has become more wearing on me, so I'm always on the lookout for lightweight solutions to get all my gear from point A to point B. This is probably the lightest laptop bag I've ever found, but it needs a couple of things to make it more suitable for traveling. First, and most importantly, this bag can't stand upright on its own. This makes it troublesome for toting my laptop whether I'm traveling through an airport or just taking it down to the local cafe to catch up on some work. While I'm aware that Baggalini's soft-sided bags are in keeping with the brand's style, it's not entirely appropriate for a bag used to carry a laptop in my opinion. The second point of contention for me is that there's no way to lock the large central pocket of this bag. I'd like to have that extra layer of security when traveling with my laptop and while it's not a deal-breaker, it seems like an obvious and simple thing to have overlooked. Otherwise, the bag is well constructed and useful, with lots of internal and external pockets, both zippered and open, which are helpful for keeping you organized when using a larger bag like this. I like the large front zipper and separate snap-close pocket which is useful for keeping travel documents easily accessible. I do wish the exterior zippered compartment also had a place for credit or ID cards as the large interior pocket does because I don't always want to unzip the large central pocket of the bag for one little thing. The RFID protection is great, but it's unclear if it's just around the card slots or something that's been incorporated throughout the entire bag. The luggage sleeve on the back of the bag is nice and something I would use regularly, but again, this would work a lot better if the bag had a reinforced flat bottom. Baggalini is also getting on board with sustainability concerns, and this bag and its zippers are made, at least in part, from recycled water bottles if that's something that's important to you (it is to me). Overall, it's a nice lightweight bag, with a couple of caveats. It's definitely well-constructed and feels durable even when fully loaded. The shoulder strap that comes with it does not have any type of padding, so if you've loaded it up and are lugging it through an airport, don't expect it to be the most comfortable thing to carry, but you can always use the luggage handle sleeve if you can get the bag to stay put on top of your rolling carry-on bag. If you're toting your equipment to and from work in this bag, you might want to invest in a padded strap depending on how heavy you pack and how far you have to go, but the average car commuter probably won't be bothered by this issue.
