I bet you have one bag you really love. And then an excess of other bags you don’t use at all. If you collect the goody bags at your favorite Tech/CAD conference each year, you probably have a massive stack o’ bag history in your closet. “I’ve made them into a bed. I SLEEP ON THEM.” I believe you. Some would say you can’t have enough bags, but I’ve found a bag, a messenger bag, that may be the everyday bag you’re looking for.
I’m not a messenger bag guy. Whenever there’s a choice between backpack and shoulder bag, I opt for the pack. Now, after ALPAKA sent over their new 7ven Messenger bag, I’m going through some deeply emotional turmoil, my old backpack (with steel-cable reinforced handle!) staring at me from the corner of the office with saggy mesh eye-bags of horror.
The problem I’ve had with messenger bags is a messy array of wanton necessity, too little space and a smattering of this-is-so-tweakin-my-style. Too business, too small, too brown, too tall. (I do not like them, like them at all!) And once I found a backpack that fit a 17″ laptop, well, that was just a magical moment. *pause for sunset beach moment*
Then this guy shows up…
Not that guy with the stripped shirt and over abundance of ‘you want this’ in his eye sockets, but the bag–that thing showed up. As you can see it’s about the width of a medium-sized man’s medium-sized chest and looks exactly like… a bag. OR DOES IT. It does.
Well, that’s where the comparison can stop – except to say that, yeah, it has compartments like bags, and straps like bags, and even those cute, little hidden spots you can stash your ultra-healthy homemade granola chucks in, like bags. But after that, the comparison stops. Here’s the big, massive DETAILS list.
So, as you can see, LOADS of pockets and things, but I’ll point out the highlights that, to me, make all the difference in the world. First, it has pockets right where you need them when you’re messenger baggin’ about. You’ve got one on the strap, perfect for a quick stash o’ cash, but not a phone. There’s a ‘secret’ side compartment for that phone or a quick access pocket on the flap that is somehow positioned perfectly to access even when it’s swung to your back. It has the fairly common luggage sleeve that, if just a wee bit larger, could also sleeve a skateboard. In the design they’ve considered locations for water bottles, sunglasses, headphone, external drives, power adapters and even a tripod.
The fastening bits are a first I’ve seen on a bag though. It has ‘silent’ Velcro that may wake a baby, but won’t interrupt your boss at the morning meeting when you go for that day-old breakfast sandwich stashed in the front pocket. You know those plastic pinch-latches? You won’t see those on this bag. Instead, the main flap clasp and tripod straps use magnetic latches that make you want to annoy others by playing with it repeatedly whilst discussing varieties of mustache waxes. Best of all though, it has an additional shoulder harness strap that wraps under your arm to attach to the main shoulder strap to keep the bag from swinging around in front of you.
And apparently it provides the ability to run horizontally on a shiny red walls at high speeds…
And hang from bridges long enough for your freinds to catch an impressive pose to share on the Instagrams (can I let go now? now? did you get it? now?)…
There’s something both odd and amazing about the design of this bag. The triangular shape lends itself to sitting up without tipping and laying against your body better, all while maintaining the storage capacity. It holds so much while at the same time looks like you’ve put nothing in it at all. I wanted to drop my 17″ workstation laptop in the bag’s large compartment. I was convinced it wasn’t going to fit. It gobbled up the lappy like it was a syrup drenched Parisian crêpe… AND ASKED FOR MORE. So I added a 15″ laptop, both power adapters, two Kindles, an iPad, AND a bag of Cheez-Its–All fit with room to spare.
I’ve had this bag for a week, 98% sure I’ve not found every compartment and use, but certain it’s the bag I’ll be using for years to come. It’s likely this bag will hold more weight than you can comfortably carry. It’s sturdy enough for it, if you are. Now, I’m looking forward to taking this out a bit, leaving my backpack to sulk in the corner, while I”m gallivanting around with a bag that fits my needs, has plenty of space and totally doesn’t tweak the style.
The 7ven Messenger bag is now available on Kickstarter with an earlybird price of $139 ($90 off their estimated retail price) with ship date of December 2016.
Have a question about it? What else I find useful? What else it can fit? Hit the comments and let me know. Now, onto the dramatic staring off in the distance shots.
