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The O.G. and O.M.G. bags – for when you need an everything EDC bag

Some days you can carry light, and other days you need everything plus the kitchen sink.  For days when you need everything, the O.G. and O.M.G. bags from Lo & Sons can carry your heavy loads and still look stylish.  The dome-shaped bags can serve as a travel bag, a commuter bag, or a trip-to-the-gym-after-work bag.  The bags have a zippered exterior pocket to organize wallets, phones, pens, and similar items.  There’s a zippered pocket on the bottom to hold a pair of shoes, and the big center pocket can hold up to a 13″ laptop, plus tablets, books, sunglasses, and clothes.

The bag is easy to carry on your shoulder with the attached straps or crossbody with the clip-on long strap.  A large strap across the back of the bag slides down over the handle of your rolling bag for hands-free carrying.  The bags have a nylon exterior with leather trim and a premium poly jacquard fabric interior.  The O.G. bag is 15″ tall x 17″ wide; the O.M.G. bag is 13.5″ tall x 16″ wide.  Both bags are available now in a variety of colors for 30% off the normal price, with the O.G. for $206.50 and the O.M.G. for $192.50 at Lo & Sons.

Douchebags Carryall 65L duffle bag review

The Douchebags Carryall 65L duffle bag is an unfortunately named, versatile, cavernous bag that is solidly built. It is a little over-engineered and has some small design defects that make it difficult to justify the $199 price tag, but its durability and multitude of handles redeem it slightly.

What is it?

The Douchebags Carryall is a 65L duffle bag that fills the gap between a large suitcase and a standard airport wheeled carry-on. Packed conservatively, it will easily work as a carry-on. Jammed with clothing and accessories, and with the shoulder straps utilized, it works great as a long weekend getaway bag. It’s described as an “active duffle bag” that could be used for work or the gym, but it’s a bit too big for everyday carry in reality.

Technical specifications

  • Width: 36 cm / 14.7 in
  • Height: 60 cm / 23.6 in
  • Depth: 30 cm / 11.8 in
  • Weight: 1.6 kg / 3.5 lbs
  • Volume: 65 liters
  • Outer Shell: Polyester 600D / TPE 500D
  • Inner Lining: Polyester 200D-PU
  • EVA back panel
  • Thermal formed 1680D ballistic polyester underneath
  • Interior mesh pockets

Design and features

Before I get into the design and functionality of the Carryall, let’s first address the stunningly offensive and crass name of the company, Douchebags. Nowhere in the About section of the company’s website is the name ever addressed, which says to me that this choice was made without irony. It sounds like a name two fratboys would come up with after a night of binge drinking and objectifying women.

“Bro, we should totally start a company making backpacks and call it ‘Douchebags’!”

“Epic, Bro… epic!”

As a constant reminder of how proud they are of this sophomoric innovation, the initials of the company are emblazoned on seemingly every surface, zipper pull and panel of the Carryall like a childish inside joke. The name is so offensive and crude that it negatively affects my perception of the brand and, by extension, the product. I, personally, would never give money to this company for any product regardless of its functionality. I don’t want to use this bag after the review.

Phew, ok, got that out of my system, so now let’s talk about the design and features of the Douchebags Carryall.

The Carryall is a really good duffle bag, with some great added features. It takes a bit of exploring to figure out the best way to open and load it to your liking. The feature I like the most though are the deep pouches on the top and bottom of the bag.

The pouches for these pockets extend deep into the bag. So if the bag is fully packed you can still find ways to cram more stuff into the pockets. Or, you can load these pockets first and then pack the interior. The top pocket also has a useful mesh pocket in the lid.

Access is key to a great bag and the Carryall has a really good setup.The access for the interior is at the top of the back panel when using the Carryall in the backpack configuration, with the deployed shoulder straps.

The back panel unzips fully to give you full access to the interior. This is a little backward compared to traditional backpacks which would have the zipper and access to the interior on the top front of the bag. The interior of the back panel has a sectioned zipper mesh pocket as well.

I loved having full access to the entire interior of the bag and it made packing a lot easier as compared to top-loading bags. Another great aspect of the Carryall is that there are handles on the top, bottom, and sides of the bag. Every time I went to reach for this bag, I was able to easily find a handle.

The shoulder straps are conveniently stored inside the back panel and easy enough to pull out, but it’s a bit difficult to lock them into place.

Two hooks on the ends of the straps need to be slid into corresponding loops on the bottom of the bag. It took a bit of wrangling to get the hooks in place, and once they were they felt really secure.

The problem is that to adjust the straps, you have to pull up on loops on the bottom of the straps. This was impossible to do while wearing the bag. Typically, the adjustment straps for backpacks sit about midway up the strap. You can adjust them easily by hiking your bag up on your back and pulling the straps tight.

This does not work with the Carryall straps. The only way I was able to get the correct adjustment was to take the bag off, adjust the straps and then put the bag back on to check the adjustment.

It’s not a deal-breaker, but while wearing the fully loaded pack, I found myself constantly trying to tighten or loosen the straps to no avail.

One other design flaw I found was that when the top pocket wasn’t zipped completely shut with the zippers pushed to the back of the bag, the top flap would unzip and open if the bag was picked up by the top handle.

This happened to me several times. The best way to secure the top pocket and handle would be to put a small travel lock through the zippers on the top pocket, but that negates the convenience of having the pocket in the first place.

The hooks used to fasten the shoulder straps show up elsewhere on the Carryall but have no real function other than aesthetics.

When filled to capacity, the Carryall is pretty unwieldy and difficult to carry without using the shoulder straps, but it’s manageable. The overall large size of the Carryall, even when empty, is the main reason it wouldn’t be useful as an everyday carry bag.

Positives

  • Handles everywhere
  • Fits very comfortably with shoulder straps once properly adjusted
  • Holds a huge amount
  • Top and bottom pouches very useful
  • Full access to interior

Negatives

  • The name
  • Expensive
  • Shoulder straps very difficult to adjust once deployed
  • Top and bottom pouches can unzip when using handles

The Douchebags Carryall 65L duffle bag is a decent bag with great capacity and some unique design elements. It functions well as a weekend travel bag, but some flaws like the difficult shoulder strap adjusters and the top flap opening if not secured properly, take away from its overall usefulness.

Plus, that name is just horrible.

The Carryall comes in black, white, and green.

Price: $199
Where to buy: Douchebags
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Douchebags

Forget yoga. Get your workout by toting around some beverages!

A recent trip to the local wine store has opened my eyes to the many possibilities for smuggling alcoholic beverages with you in a variety of purse styles.  Apparently, now the seemingly health-conscious can also smuggle in their potables (potent or not) in this yoga mat-like Sling Beverage Cooler.  The sling measures 28″ long x 3.25″ in diameter to hold 6 12-ounce cans.  It’s made of polyethylene and hemp, and the insulated bag is waterproof, with a seam-sealed lining to contain any condensation or spills.  The adjustable strap allows you to carry it on your shoulder or crossbody.  The Sling Beverage Cooler is available in tan for $21.95 at UncommonGoods.

TiBag review

The Gadgeteer will turn 21 years old this summer and that means that we’ve reviewed a LOT of products over the last 2 decades. One of our favorite products to review are bags, and we’ve sure reviewed a lot of them. A few weeks ago I was asked if I might like to review the TiBag. The brand sounded familiar to me so I used the site’s search feature to search on the name and sure enough, we had reviewed the original TiBag back in 2002, over 15 years ago. I look a little different than I did back then, but how has the TiBag changed? Let’s find out.

What is it?

The TiBag is a shoulder bag made of Polyester canvas material that has been designed to hold your laptop or tablet.

Design and features

The TiBag is a vertical oriented shoulder bag that is available in a color that goes with anything – Black.

The bag has a flap with a built in zippered pocket on the exterior that is large enough to hold magazines and other flat items. The only branding on the bag is the TiBag logo on the flap. The logo is not bad looking, but it is kind of large. I’d rather see the logo under the flap instead of on the outside.

The flap is held closed with a large strip of Velcro. When opened, you will see a small zippered pocket with 3 pen slots next to it, an open-topped pocket behind them, another large zippered pocket behind them, an open-topped pocket behind that one and finally the main compartment. This bag has quite a few pockets, which means it can hold a lot of gear.

To give you some idea of the size of the pockets, you can see that a typical 3.5 x 5-inch notebook fits in the open pocket behind the pen/pencil slot organization panel.

Speaking of the pen slots, I noticed that they are pretty short, which means that some pen clips barely clip to the edge. This might be an issue if you carry your favorite pens with you and don’t want to chance losing one.

Here you see my 12″ MacBook in the large zippered pocket. Although this pocket isn’t meant to hold your laptop, it can easily hold other gear. The front of this pocket is padded, but the back of the pocket is not.

The open-topped pocket behind the zippered pocket is also very large and easily swallows magazines (the magazine in the image above is pulled out just to show it, but the pocket is much deeper) and is meant to be used as a sleeve for laptops and tablets.

The main open compartment is padded on the back, sides, and bottom, and is very roomy. It can hold even large 15-inch and maybe even 17-inch laptops, but if you use this compartment for your laptop instead of the TiBag’s built-in sleeve, you will probably want to put the laptop in another protective case since the main compartment is large and your other gear might rub against the laptop when you’re mobile.

Here I am carrying the bag. For reference, I am 5’6″ and weigh about 129 lbs.

Positives

  • Inexpensive
  • Plenty of room for gear
  • Removable shoulder strap

Negatives

  • No grab handle
  • Pen slots too shallow

Final thoughts

There isn’t much to fault with the TiBag. It’s made well, has a simple design and enough pockets to carry all your gear. I do wish it had a grab handle to make it easier to move into and out of a vehicle, but for less than $40, it’s a bargain for someone looking for a good deal on a basic shoulder bag to carry their laptop and everyday gear.

Price: $34.95
Where to buy: tibag.co
Source: The sample for this review was provided by TiBag.

Buckle & Seam Sienna 15″ Messenger Bag review

I have developed a real affinity for leather products. When they are well made, they are sure to last a lifetime. When Buckle & Seam offered their Messenger Bag – Sienna 15″ for review, I was eager to give it a try. I found that it is an attractive bag and has a variety of pockets and slots to organize my materials, but for $320 + shipping, it is not as well made as I had hoped.

What is it?

The Buckle & Seam Messenger Bag – Sierra 15″ is a leather messenger bag for business use and accommodates 15″ laptops.

Package contents

The Buckle & Seam Messenger Bag – Sienna 15″ came in a navy blue non-woven polypropylene material bag (or poly non-woven which is the same material used in reusable grocery bags) and also came with printed materials about the leather and leather care and about their commitment to educating Pakistani girls. The cards were actually printed in German, so I had to use Google Translate to help me understand the information.

Design and features

This messenger bag is the larger version (Sierra 15″) that Buckle & Seam offers and will hold a 15″ laptop (there is also a 13″ version without a handle – Cara 13″). The bag is made using full grain leather (their website states that the bag is made with the “entire grain – meaning that all layers of the leather have been kept and worked together”).

The leather has been vegetable tanned which is more environmentally friendly than Chrome VI tanning or other chemical tanning processes and takes four to five weeks to complete. This leather is susceptible to scratches and will develop a patina over time. They call the leather Crazy Horse Full Grain Leather.


The true colors of the bag were difficult for me to accurately replicate using a camera. The color displayed on the left in the photo above has red tones in it that my bag does not have. My bag is actually very brown – no red at all as depicted in the photo above on the right.

The front of the bag shows how the bag is assembled with a double stitch using recycled polyester thread. The main compartment flap uses a tuck catch lock closure.

The plain navy blue custom lining of the bag was “developed by our in-house design team and [is] manufactured only for us out of premium cotton” according to Buckle & Seam’s CEO, Marco Feelisch. There are different lining colors and patterns to choose from: Dots, Checked, Boats, Paper Planes, and Plain.

The bag comes with a key to lock the tuck catch lock closure. When the bag was shipped to me, the key and the Buckle & Seam tag were tied to the bag through one of the pen/pencil slots using a strip of leather as shown above.

Here is a close-up view of the tuck catch lock closure. I’m not sure what kind of metal the bag uses in order to determine if the hardware will endure years of use (perhaps brass?).


The key is very small and thus very easy to lose. However, the locking mechanism is not complicated. The two prongs on the key insert into the lock and when turned in a clockwise direction lock the bag such that the button can no longer be pressed to release the closure. So, if you should lose the key, a paper clip or similar device could be used to access your contents.


The above photos show how the metal D-rings are attached to the sides of the bag. The D-rings are used to attach the leather shoulder strap to the bag. 

Here is a close up of how the D-rings are attached to the bag using stitching and two metal rivets. You’ll also notice that all of the edges of the leather have been turned in and sewn (I kind of like seeing the raw or burnished edges of my leather products which also helps me to see the quality of the leather being used).

The back of the bag also shows the stitching and another zipper pocket. YKK elastic zippers are used on Buckle & Seam’s business bags according to Mr. Freelisch.

The back zipper pocket will hold more of your documents (11.5″ wide x 9.5″ high) but, in addition, it also has a trolley strap so that you can slide the messenger bag over a suitcase handle to make traveling easier (Buckle & Seam calls it a “hidden trolley solution”).

The trolley strap is attached to the bag using elastic fabric and can be tucked back into the pocket until it is needed again. I do wonder if the elastic fabric will hold up to traveling over time. 

The bottom and sides of the Sierra messenger bag are made from three pieces of leather. The seams of a bag can be weak points especially if there is weight or stress exerted on those areas. Such an issue can be eliminated by using a single thick piece of leather to make up the sides and bottom of the bag. 

The handle is sewn and riveted onto the bag.

The Buckle & Seam website states that they use leather that is on average 1.8-2mm thick. However, the handle of the bag is one of those areas where two thin layers of leather were sewn together to make a handle that measures about 2mm thick. This is thin for a handle and since this is a high-stress area, could very well fail if it is used a great deal. 

The leather shoulder strap is adjustable by using the metal buckle. 

The shoulder strap is made up of what looks like three thin layers of leather sewn together but I also noticed that in order to get the length that they desired, the strap is made up of sections that are spliced together as well. The seam you see above also exists on the other side at the same point. Again, the shoulder strap is a high-stress area of the bag and thus has greater potential to fail in the future because of the design of the strap. This could be eliminated if the strap were made entirely from one or two thick layers of leather without splicing.

The shoulder straps are attached to the bag using swiveling metal lobster claw clasps. 

The main compartment of the bag is entirely lined with cotton lining. This compartment contains a padded laptop pocket. The material that separates the laptop from the main compartment is sewn into the inside of the bag using two 2″ wide strips of elastic material on each side (top and bottom) so that the pocket can stretch to accommodate thicker laptops. The top of the laptop pocket uses a round magnetic closure (about 2 cm in diameter). This pocket will accommodate 13″ and 15″ laptops according to the Buckle & Seam website. 

The main compartment’s internal measurements are about 14″ wide x 3″ deep x 11.5″ high.

Besides the main compartment, there are a couple of other pockets located toward the front of the bag. The thin zippered pocket shown above has internal measurements that about 11.25″ wide x 9.75″ high.

The open front pocket, which measures 14.75″ wide x 8.5″ high internally, contains all the organizing slots and pockets which include places to hold three pens/pencils, a pocket for business cards, and a phone pocket. You may also store more documents here if desired.

Use

After filling the Sierra messenger bag with some of my materials, I found that it could comfortably carry a 1″ binder and a couple of thin paper folders as well as a pencil case. In the laptop pocket, I was able to store my portable keyboard which measures 11.75″ x 7.75″ x 0.75″ (my laptops are larger than 15″ and thus do not fit). 

In the front pocket, I stored two pens, an insurance card, my Nexus 6 phone (without its case), and small zipper pouch.

The pens fit snugly and were a bit difficult to retrieve as was my phone. My phone measures 6.25″ tall x 3.25″ wide x 0.375″ deep. If your phone is any larger, it will not fit in the phone pocket. I normally have a thin case on my phone and it would not fit in this pocket with the case on.

The Sierra messenger bag organized my materials well and the padded compartment was nice and seemed to provide enough protection for my portable keyboard.

However, when the bag was full, the above photos show how much stress is placed on the handle when carried this way (and I do not even have a laptop inside the bag). The leather that the handle is sewn and riveted on is not very thick here but they have included under the handle attachment sites a 7″ long x 0.5″ wide rigid strip of reinforcing material hidden on the underside of the main compartment flap behind the lining of the bag.

The Sierra messenger bag was easy for me to carry using the shoulder strap but was a little bit of a challenge for my husband to keep it on his shoulder when worn as shown above. However, you can use the shoulder strap as a cross body strap as well.

Buckle & Seam products can stand a small amount of water but are not waterproof. And according to Buckle & Seam’s website, if your bag gets scratches on it, they can be minimized or eliminated by rubbing your finger or a clean smooth soft cloth over the marks. For deeper scratches, you can apply a neutral leather wax to the area but be aware that the leather may look darker for a while.

The humanitarian side of Buckle & Seam

Buckle & Seam makes their leather bags in Pakistan. The founders of Buckle & Seam traveled around and worked in Pakistan and were drawn to the country and its people. They are committed to providing the highest standard of working conditions for their employees. And for each bag sold, a part of their revenue goes to sending a girl to school in Pakistan.

According to UNICEF statistics, Pakistan’s Adult Literacy Rate is 54.9%. Already one of the lowest rates in the world, the situation for women is even worse. Only 45% are able to identify and write their name – the only two criteria to be considered literate according to UNICEF. Such circumstance in a country vast of resources and craftsmanship, is a true inhibitor to greater growth of Pakistan and improvement of living conditions for millions of Pakistanis. (Buckle & Seam – One Bag, One Child Program)

What I like about it

  • The messenger bag has an attractive design
  • The bag has a hidden trolley strap to make travel easier (strap that fits over a suitcase handle)
  • The leather is vegetable tanned which is more environmentally friendly than other chemical tanning processes
  • The founders of Buckle & Seam are committed to the people of Pakistan and providing good working conditions for their Pakistani employees
  • They are helping to fund the Anum School for girls located in Pakistan to help decrease the illiteracy rate among women in Pakistan

What needs to be improved

  • The handle is way too thin; much thicker layers of leather should be used to make the handle more resilient
  • Sections of the shoulder strap were spliced together to make up the desired length which weakens the strap; eliminate splicing and use thicker layers of leather to make the strap
  • The sides and bottom of the bag are made using three pieces of leather; improve strength by making the sides and bottom of the bag out of a single thick piece of leather
  • I personally, would like to see the bag made of thicker leather all around for a more robust feel

Final Thoughts

The Buckle & Seam Messenger Bag – Sierra 15″ is an attractive business messenger bag with many pockets and slots to organize your materials. It is made from vegetable tanned leather which is more environmentally friendly than chemical tanning processes. Buckle & Seam also donates a part of their revenue to send Pakistani girls to school to help increase the literacy rate.

However, I was disappointed in the quality and craftsmanship of the bag. The handle was made from thin layers of leather which make me question its durability. I also had the same feelings about the shoulder strap because it was made of what looks like three thin layers of leather sewn together and in order to get the length that they desired, the strap is made up of sections that are spliced together as well. The strength of the bottom of the bag could be improved by making it out of a single piece of leather instead of three. The zippers were YKK elastic zippers, but I could not tell what type of metal the hardware was made from and whether or not the hardware would be durable over time. Buckle & Seam uses recycled polyester thread in assembling the Sierra bag, which sounds great but will it last?

In addition, the Buckle and Seam leather products are backed by only a two-year warranty. It has been my experience with other companies that create premium leather products that their products are backed by a much longer warranty. Thus, the length of the warranty will tend to reflect the quality of the materials used and craftsmanship.

Buckle & Seam is environmentally conscious and has a wonderful commitment to the Pakistani people and more specifically, educating Pakistani girls. However, I personally would not purchase the Messenger Bag – Sierra 15″ at this time because it was not as well made as I had hoped for the price you pay. They seem to be committed to improving their products, so I look forward to their future bags.

Price: $320
Where to buy: Buckle & Seam
Source: The sample used in this review was provided by Buckle & Seam. Please visit their website for more information.