I travel a lot so I go through a crap load of notebook bags, some last long the majority don’t so I am always looking for my next bag just in case the one I have fails.
Recently at a press event I saw a cool looking bag, that promised to be durable and was TSA certified a big plus for getting through airport security a tad bit faster.
I got the bag about 3 weeks ago, and I liked the design of it right away and at first I thought it lacked pockets but turned out it had more than enough. It had a pocket for a water bottle or umbrella to a pocket with a keychain.
So on my recent trip to Austin to visit with AMD, I decided to test out the TSA feature. The TSA has teamed up with various bag makers to create a detachable or foldaway pocket for notebooks. Where only the notebook is in the pocket and nothing else. The TSA does not want any cables around your computer when it goes through the XRAY machine as the cables tend to get in the way.
So the TSA created some standards and there have been already a lot of bags on the market that are TSA certified. Most are fold away where you unzip the pocket and fold it back kind of like a loose-leaf notebook others detach completely.
I personally hate the zip away system as it takes forever to unzip and rezip and I found myself just taking the notebook out of the bag.
However with the CorePack Fly the Notebook pocket opens like a loose-leaf notebook but it’s attached with Velcro so no zipping required. It was fast.
Another cool feature about their notebook pocket is, if the TSA agent instructs you to remove your notebook from the bag, the zipper is on the side so while its laying down on the conveyor belt you can unzip it and pull it out, instead of standing it up and opening it from the top.
So for the first time, I can say I was 100% happy with the way the bag was designed for airport security.
I then put the bag through some durability test. I basically put 4 notebooks in the back each weighing approximately 5 pounds each and I swung the bag up and down, left and right and it handled my little torture test pretty well.
It also survived my trip to Austin and I wasn’t kind to the bag while I was there. I tossed it around my hotel room, into the back of the car and even left it out in the hot sun. It got back to NY filthy but it cleaned up easily with a damp paper towel. I wiped it down and it was clean as if it were brand new.
I really am in love with the bag and I recommend it to everyone. The CorePack Fly Messener Bag is available in two color choices a Pixel grey which kind of looks girly and the Speakeasy grey Pinstripe which I have and really like.
The bag is available from http://www.SpeckProducts.com and will run you $89.95
Comments: (1)
neilkevin on Mon, Mar 08th, 2010 at 07:21 AM
I’ve always used a targus backpack and it works great. Those side bags are easy to over fill with extra stuff and to much is exposed when you open the flap. My backpack had 3 main zippers, the one close to my back was where the laptop had it’s on little protection area and was visible to slide out without other stuff getting in the way.
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