I purchased this bag thinking it might possibly be the last bag I ever need to purchase for my mobile computing needs. I have a feeling I am going to be very wrong about that. While the quality of the leather, stitching, etc. is definitely top-notch, it has numerous pockets and hide-away spots for smaller items such as sticky notes, credit cards, pens, etc., there are a couple of items that buyers DEFINITELY need to be aware of. First let me say that overall, I'm FAIRLY satisfied with my purchase. It even comes with a rain cover AND a large cloth tote bag inside it! But when they say "you get what you pay for," more true words were never spoken. I can't imagine this bag originally costing close to $600 as some sites tend to state...it just doesn't have THAT kind of quality to it. For example, the detachable plastic base that has the wheels on it is quite flimsy. If you intend to put more than 5 pounds worth of equipment in this bag, you'd better be prepared for the back of the plastic base to bend and flex when the handle is in the upright/extended position and you're pulling it along - because it's sure gonna'. I was surprised by this. Now bear in mind, I carry an 11" MacBook Air and adapter, a small portable hard drive for it, the portable CD/DVD player/burner, a portable Canon iP90v printer, about 20 sheets of blank paper, 5 empty file folders, an iPad 3, a padfolio for the iPad/MacBook, a stash of sticky-notes, a supply of various pens, pencils, binder clips, charging cables/adapters...you get the idea. I have to travel a lot for business and my work is such that I need a totally portable office capable of doing everything on-the-road that I can do in my home office. So by the time my bag is fully loaded and ready to hit the road, I've got maybe about 15 pounds worth of stuff in it. But I still need the carrier mechanism to hold up...and this one simply doesn't. This bag holds all my stuff just fine (I'm actually surprised at just how much this bag WILL hold - it's quite deceiving!). The issue is the carrier, as I mentioned a moment ago. If you have much weight loaded into the front pockets/sectioned storage area(s), you're going to experience the flexing issue much more severely than someone who leaves the front pockets fairly empty - but why have all that storage space if you're not going to use it? So be prepared for the flexing. Oh, and the retractable pull handle? It wobbles. It feels like it could literally pull right out of the carrier/bag assembly. Also be prepared for the bag to tip forward all the time if you put much in the front pockets. Again, it's gonna'. In addition to the handle/carrier issue, I find the carrying/shoulder strap to be totally worthless. It bears mentioning that I stand 5'7" tall. While I may be shorter than a lot of guys, I'm certainly not the ONLY person that stands less than 6' tall. I mention this because the shoulder strap is not very adjustable at all. It has grommets around the pre-punched holes, and you can only make the strap so short. I have the strap on the shortest adjustment possible, and when I have the bag hanging from my shoulder, the bag literally bangs my leg below my hip, around the side middle of my thigh. I don't know about you, but I usually carry my bags in a fashion that they rest right around my upper-hip area. Otherwise, I feel like I'm going to be pulled over sideways, not to mention the confounded hitting-my-thigh as I'm walking down the sidewalk with it on my shoulder. Not only is the strap not able to be shortened by much, but it is INCREDIBLY narrow. I'm not kidding when I say this thing is no more than 3/4" wide. Keeping in mind the 15+ pounds I have loaded into this bag, when I tried to put this bag on my shoulder, the strap literally felt as if it were going to break! No exaggeration! So I pretty much removed the strap and resigned myself to the fact that I am either going to have to tote this thing around by the carrying handles, or it will have to be wheeled anywhere/everywhere I go. I don't know how most folks intend to use this bag, but it's not always practical to wheel it everywhere you go. For example, if you are just going down the hall for a meeting/conference, do you really want to have to extend the handle, wheel it where it needs to go, collapse the handle, unsnap the carrying handles, etc.? But if it's heavy, as mine is, it's pretty awkward trying to carry it around by the carrying handles, too, so the shoulder strap sure would have come in handy...but I don't dare use it for fear of it breaking. In conclusion, the quality of the leather is excellent. The storage capacity exceeds what I expected of this bag. The look is quality, it gets a lot of compliments, and I like the way it feels. However, had I known the plastic carrier is flimsy and the shoulder strap worthless to me, I might have reconsidered purchasing this bag. Advice: think about how you will use this bag on a regular basis. Base your decision on whether the issues I've mentioned will impact you or not, and go from there.
