Patagonia Half Mass bag

Being on the move and toting a 17" beast of a laptop, I needed a bag. That bag is the Patagonia Half Mass and here is its review.

Note that this isn't my actual bag. The one I have is uniform in color - about the same color as the shoulder strap shown here.

I've had this bag for over a year and half now, lugging it and its contents back and forth to work every day. When I bought a new laptop (the Dell m6600) it destroyed my nice leather bag in a matter of weeks due to its sheer size and weight so I needed something new. After a search that involved most messenger bags out there, the Patagonia won due to cost and reviews. I purchased the previous year's model for large amount off the normal price.

After the year and a half, the bag looks brand new. Not only have I taken it to work every day, it is a fantastic piece of carry-on for my trips in the air. It's big enough to pack just about everything I need for a week on the road, yet small enough to put in the overhead bin or under the seat.

There are two large main interior compartments, the smaller of which fits my laptop perfectly - note that my laptop also has a USB dongle more or less permanently attached it it for my wireless mouse. The larger compartment houses my mouse, power supply and anything else that needs to go to work or home (or jackets and clothing for trips). There are also smaller pockets for my portable hard drive, business cards, pens, phone, chargers, etc. Plenty or room for everything. As shown in the picture, there is also an outside elastic pocket for water bottles that I've never used and a zippered pocket on the flap, which I rarely use.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I rate this at least 97 stars. It's as near perfect as anything I own. The ONLY knock is that the shoulder strap slides off my shoulder ONLY when wearing my Patagonia Nano-Puff jacket (which is nearly the same color). When I lug it around as it is supposed to (bike messenger style) there are no issues with comfort or sliding.