When I saw on Joi Ito’s web site how much gear he had in his bag and heard his raving review for Waterfield bags, I had to give them a try.  The customer service I received set a new standard of excellence for web transactions with personal follow-ups to my order and incredibly quick shipping.

Since buying this bag, I’ve retired about 15 other bags I used to use.   The Waterfield has become the “go to” bag for all of my travel which has included Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.  The separate laptop compartment makes airport security lines a breeze and I use a combination of internal pockets and small gear bags inside the Waterfield Cargo (large) which allows me to neatly store all the gear and accessories I need.  Despite years of abuse this bag has yet to pop a single stich and all zippers are fully functional, which is more than I can say for most of the other bags I’ve used.

A typical load for extended travel with this bag includes the following:

• MacBook Pro (and power adapter)
• iPod video with MyVu glasses
• iPod Nano
• Bose noise reduction headsets
• iPhone
• Nokia N95
• Amazon Kindle
• PSP with a few games
• Duracell battery (for charging the above during long flights
• Asus EE PC
• Pacemaker DJ device
• Canon Digital Camera
• First aid kit (6″X6″2″)
• Foldable spork
• Business card holder
• Moleskin notebook (with fisher space pen)
• Spare batteries (AAA, AA and CR123)
• Flashlight
• Random cables and connectors
• A few magazines (usually bought at the airport)

It is a tight fit, but I get it all in there and everything is easily accessible.  The shoulder strap is comfortable, though I do experience some pain based on the excessive weight of the stuff I carry.

If you have to buy one gear bag, Waterfield would be my top recommendation. (SFBAGS.COM)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Tech Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.