Skooba Design Techlife Netbook Messenger
Dec 20th, 2010 | By SimonTo me, it is very important for the bag to be built of high quality as well as having lots of storage space while looking sleek and modern. While I need the bag to be functional, when the bag starts to fall apart it’s useless to me. It doesn’t matter how much it can carry or how it looks. The Skooba Design Techlife Netbook Messenger bag is made with care and out of quality fabric. The zippers, which get used daily and take a lot of abuse, are protected from the elements, you can barely see the teeth. When the teeth are protected I find it less likely to bind or get caught on something causing them to distort and not line up.
Another point of failure is for the carrying strap to rip off the bag due to excessive weight or tugging. Both ends of the strap are stitched to the body of the frame in a box with an x pattern inside. The strap then continues inside the water bottle pocket where I can only assume it is stitched again to the bad. The weight of the bag is distributed at multiple points. If the strap was secured to the bag at just the box with an x pattern stitch, it could prematurely shear off.
If you’ve ever carried a messenger bag around for a few hours you know how painful it can get with a poor shoulder strap. You always want a nice wide strap that can distribute the weight evenly over your shoulder. The Techlife Netbook Messenger has a nice 2.5″ wide padded strap. It’s about 9″ long so it wraps around your entire shoulder. I found it to be quite comfortable even with a huge weight inside the bag.
After loading up the bag, the most important thing is for it to safely carry my netbook around. With my Samsung NB30 deep in the pocket I was relieved the surrounding padding would protect it against any bumps the bag made suffer during train and bus commutes.
I fully packed the bag with two text books and went for a stroll to see how well the bag felt with what felt like a ton of bricks for such a small volume….The total weight I was carrying was 13 lbs.
I’m happy to say that the bag is very comfortable to walk around with. The adjustable straps let me position the bag so it didn’t swing into my leg or arms. The weight was evenly distributed over my shoulder and it never curled or rolled up to jab into my shoulder.
When moving the bag around with the carrying handle instead of the shoulder strap I kind of wished the strap was more in the center of the bag than off to the one side. This just helps carry the bag dead center instead of swaying. I realize that the compromise Skooba had to make for this and I’ll admit I much prefer the zippered top access than having a centered carrying strap.
After using the Skooba Design Techlife Netbook Messenger I’ve grown very fond of it. I use to put my netbook in a sleeve and toss it into my regular messenger bag but the Techlife Netbook Messenger has totally eliminated that bag.
With the Techlife Netbook Messenger, I now have quick access to my netbook without having to undo any buckles or pull apart any Velcro, which can be loud and annoying inside a lecture hall! There’s a ton of extra storage space and with the durable design it is no wonder why Techlife can offer a limited lifetime warranty. I love how comfortable the bag is to use and would be happy to recommend the Techlife Netbook Messenger to those looking for a discrete but superb messenger bag.
- Advantages
- Lots of pockets for organizing
- Spacious interior
- Good quality fabric and assembly
- Disadvantages
- Limited local retailers
I’d like to thank Skooba for making this review possible.