#flaptop

One of the best parts of running this blog is connecting with independent bagmakers. I've spoken with, emailed, and met so many cool people doing amazing work. One of them, Chloe Miller, is the owner and bagmaker at Siren Bags. She single-handedly designs and constructs everything that comes out of her shop in North Carolina.

I've introduced you guys to Chloe's work before. Well, she's finally had an opportunity to send me a backpack for review, and I've been using it for the past few months. So here's my impressions.

The bag Siren sent me is their Long Haul, a combination rolltop/flaptop backpack.

The materials are the standard: 1000D Cordura, a 14 oz vinyl-coated polyester liner, and nylon webbing.

The construction on this is not bad - there are places where the stitches were a bit crooked, and some extra threads hung out, but it's a solid bag and feels very well built.

At over 42 liters of storage with the rolltop extended, this bag can hold just about anything. The main compartment is in a box shape, and I've hauled a case of beer with plenty of room to spare on more than one occasion. Room for two cases, in fact, if you're hauling cans.

The combination rolltop/flaptop was interesting. The bag compresses down very small, thanks in part to the flap that comes over the rolltop opening, and thanks also in part to the side compression straps that Chloe included. With the flap down and the compression straps cinched, the bag evokes the image of a randoseru, albeit one built for a college kid or a bike messenger.

The flap did get in the way a bit when the rolltop was extended and in use, though - it falls down over the shoulder straps and grab handle, which could be annoying. I don't think a detachable flap is the answer (although that would be a unique design), but some kind of retention would be nice. Maybe the flap could be rolled tight and clipped into place with a flap?

Each side of the bag has a pocket - while wearing it, a U-lock pocket is within reach of your left arm, and on your right side there's a much taller pocket for a big water bottle, an architect's tube, or in my case, a portable bike pump. I don't think it would fit a yoga mat, although I could be wrong. On the other hand, the compression straps are more than large enough to handle a yoga mat. So worry not, yogis.

On the front of the bag are two square, flapped, 3D pockets that go under the flap, and a larger rectangular 3D pocket that goes the width of the bag. These were easily accessible, secure, and great for all the stuff I wanted to grab without opening the main compartment. Behind these is a "secret" pocket of sorts - there's a velcro strip above the two 3D pockets that splits open for a small compartment that you could use for your laptop.

Note that this pocket itself isn't lined with vinyl-coated polyester - however, the pockets in front of it and the main bag compartment behind it are, so it should be pretty water resistant.

So I've mentioned that hauling heavy stuff is possible with a bag this big, but a serious test of the design is whether or not it's comfortable.

This bag makes carrying heavy loads easy and comfortable. The straps are about an inch and a half wide, padded and covered with Cordura. They were pretty comfortable.

There's a sternum strap attached to them with webbing, which is always nice to distribute the load and keep it secure.

The sternum strap is only adjustable on one side, which meant I couldn't get it as tight as I liked, but it still helped. In addition to a sternum strap, the bag sports a small padded hip belt that rests comfortably on your hips and further distributes the weight.

The hip belt could be a little awkward, because on occasion I'd leave it clipped and not wear it, and it would catch on my bike seat when I stood. But if you look at the picture on the Siren Etsy page, you'll notice that she buckles it in front of the bag when it's not in use. This works for me. Still, I'd love to see the belt be fully detachable, just to get it out of the way if you know you're not going to use it.

Another great feature? Siren includes two straps for cinching down the flap, sure. But the bag also includes two ADDITIONAL straps that are long enough to hit the flap even when the bag is chock full.

This is something I've talked about before - designing for edge cases and extreme situations. In my case, I ride my bike and haul things everywhere, and so I've had to max out every single bag I've ever been sent to test. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine asked "well, what if the bag is completely full? How does it close?" and I was able to show him the straps. He was really impressed. The long straps are managed with a little velcro strap you can wrap them around to tuck them away. The velcro strap wasn't sewn in, though, so I was a little afraid of losing them. Roam Ready sewed their velcro tabs into their long straps, and I think that should come standard on longer straps like this. Nonetheless, a great way to manage large loads.

The back of the bag is nicely padded with sewn-in foam. The bag, as I've mentioned, was perfectly comfortable regardless of the load. There's a diamond-shaped quilt-style stitch on the back, ostensibly to help with movement and flex while wearing the pack.

Not much to say about the inside, except that it's seriously water-resistant. No internal pockets or dividers inside, which means you'll want a sleeve for your laptop if you're not comfortable putting it in the outside pocket (but who doesn't have one of those?).

The inside seams were a little messier, but look solid enough. For serious weather, it's possible but unlikely that water could get in, but I'm talking hurricane style. I rode with this thing in many Philadelphia downpours with no ill effects.

So, apart from the above mentioned nitpicks, I will end with this: This bag was a joy to use. I love it - it's got great capacity, it was comfortable, and it had a bunch of features I really appreciated. If you want a hardcore cycling pack, you would do well to get one of these. At $270, this bag is not cheap. But you're support a woman-owned independent business and getting an awesome bag.

warrabaduna says:

U.T.I.C.A. Takes you through a quik tour of Downtown Denver along with the help of fellow CO native Sid Madrid

So a few weeks ago, Greenroom136 sent me one of their backpacks to review - the Bootstrap Genesis. I've covered Greenroom136 before, and after going in-depth on their product offering, I was pretty pumped to get the chance to review one of their bags myself.

The Bootstrap Genesis is a pretty interesting flaptop backpack. The outer is 1000D Cordura, with a 420D ripstop interior. 24 liters of capacity puts this bag in the "large everyday" category for me. Not so big that you'll lose your stuff in it, but pretty big.

The front's got two buckles for keeping the flap down (and Velcro as well), which was nice. When the bag was COMPLETELY full, the straps didn't reach the buckles, but I emailed Patrick about this and he said he's going to lengthen them so that they'll hold the flap down even when the bag is stuffed to the brim. I also complained in that email that the strap pulls were way too short (we're talking half an inch, nothing to grab), and he said that he would change the design to make them more grab-able, as well. Gotta love a responsive designer.

The bag is definitely waterproof. And snowproof, actually - soon after I received the bag, there was snow in Philadelphia and I rode home in it. Not a drop on the inside. The inside liner extends past the mouth of the bag:

This is cool because when you close the bag, the liner gets folded down with the flap for extra protection. When the bag was at capacity I DID have to pinch the sides of the liner (push them inwards) to prevent a gap, but that happened rarely and overall the bag definitely stayed waterproof. I DO wish the outside flap had a biking light loop, but that's a pretty minor quibble.

Each side of the bag has a small pocket, perfect for a mini u-lock or a water bottle:

Above this pocket is a side-compression strap, for cinching the bag smaller when it's not stuffed to capacity. These straps are also awesome for holding stuff like tripods, yoga mats, etc. (I didn't test this myself, but from experience I can say that compression straps are ALWAYS good for this).

I used the side pockets for my travel mug and my u-lock, and both fit perfectly and always felt secure. Bonus points because the u-lock was really easy to pull out and put back by swinging the bag around on one shoulder strap to grab it.

On one side of the bag, there's a side-zipper and a huge pocket. This was easily accessible and fit my 11" Macbook Air very well (you can see the pocket unzipped in the u-lock picture above). It was even accessible with the flap down and buckled, which was also great. The pocket's so big that smaller things can get lost in it, but if you keep bigger stuff in it (think Kindle in its sleeve), it's really great.

Under the flap on the sides, there are gigantic deep pockets between the ripstop liner and the outer of the bag. These pockets were actually a surprise to me! I didn't catch them until a bit later. Oddly enough, the first thing that came to mind is that they would make a great pocket for a machete or something similar. They're quite thin and somewhat narrow, but very deep. I didn't really use them much (except to store a pouch or two on occasion), but they were a nice addition and I think would be great, depending on what you want to throw in them!

The straps of the bag were wide and comfortable, not overly padded, and included a chest strap and accessory loops.

Same problem with the pull tab on the chest strap - it just was too small to conveniently adjust on the go. Apart from this, however, the chest strap did what it said on the tin and worked great to make the bag feel more secure, stable, and comfortable when hauling massive loads (like 40 lbs of groceries).

The padding on the back was comfortable, including mesh and foam. The foam was very comfortable, and I never felt like anything was poking me (it's extra nice if you don't put anything between the integrated backpack sleeve and the back of the bag, since you get even more padding if you do that). The padding on the straps was a little on the light side, but the bag was always comfortable and the straps were so wide that I never felt like they were cutting into me.

Above the straps is a grab strap that goes most of the width of the bag. This is a departure from the typical top grab handle, which is usually just the width of a large hand. The grab strap is just a strap of nylon webbing, but its width meant it was easy to grab and use. I typically use my grab straps to pick up my backpack, put it behind me, and slip into it, and I was definitely able to do this with the Bootstrap Genesis. It's not padded or anything, though, so be warned if you are used to carrying bags by their grab straps for extended periods of time.

Under the flap there are two rows of velcro and a set of pockets. The pockets appear to be designed for a smartphone and pens and pencils:

But be warned - these pockets are pretty deep. Pens and pencils that aren't clipped to the mouth of the pocket will disappear inside the pocket and take some fumbling to get to.

7 inches deep.

I used these pockets for my phone, some pens and markers, a comb, a mini ruler, and my Japanese fan. They did a great job and felt very secure when the flap was down.

Behind the three outer pockets, there's a deeper inner pocket before you get to the main compartment. This pocket is very large, and could also fit a laptop if you so wanted.

The main compartment is behind this and has three sections - the main section, for all your cargo; a laptop sleeve that is huge, plush, and also acts as a divider, and a small pocket that sits between the laptop sleeve and the back wall of the bag.

I found the bag's capacity to be great for the day to day. This past Thanksgiving I was also out of town for five days and brought with me:

5 days of clothes

running shoes

my laptop

a dopp kit

a hoodie

misc. chargers, cables, pens, pencils, etc.

The bag was full but not over capacity, and was a great size for a trip like that. Occasionally I did have to crush things a little to make sure the bag stayed closed, but overall it did the job admirably.

The inner compartments don't have much in the way of organization, but the laptop sleeve was awesome. Lined in soft corduroy, nicely padded, and large enough for a 15" laptop (I believe), it swallowed my Macbook and kept it nice and safe on the bike and off.

The laptop is also secured in the sleeve with a strap:

Great protection.

So here's a few pictures of me wearing it. I'm 5'6":

This bag was a pleasure to use and review. I was always pleasantly surprised by its performance, quality, and design. I also love that it's manufactured and designed by one guy in Malaysia. Say what you will about outsourcing and cheap foreign goods and blah, blah blah - Patrick has proven that there are still people designing and making cool stuff on their own in other countries, and that "overseas" is NOT synonymous with "cheap" or "outsourced."

One last niggle? The buckles were very grabby towards all the straps on the bag, making them difficult to adjust on occasion. Once in a while I even had to take the bag off to pull the straps. I think this will get easier as the straps are worn in, but beware of that.

I would definitely recommend this bag to anyone who wants a larger capacity daily backpack. This will fit your work/school stuff with plenty or room to spare. It's resistant to the elements, comfortable, and extremely well made. If you're going to order one, I'd make sure to mention that you want longer flap straps and pull-tabs for the straps, just to make sure that you don't deal with some of the trouble I had.

So there you have it - the Bootstrap Genesis by Greenroom136. You can pick one up here, and see the rest of Patrick's work here. Thanks for sending me a bag, Patrick! Here's a few more shots:

Inside Line Equipment makes some great looking backpacks, mostly aimed at the photography crowd. Their new Flaptop (coming soon, pictured above) looks pretty great, too.