ok, the Brenthaven bag came in today.

First, I want to say a word about their customer service. I ordered the bag over the weekend and paid for 3 day shipping. It said it should be available to ship on 2/29, which was a few days BEFORE I placed the order. After placing the order, got an email saying I'd placed an advanced order and they'd let me know when the bag was available to ship. Say wha? So I called them up on Monday and politely asked what the gig was. Talked to a woman named Jillian. Very nice and helpful, she apologized for the bad info on the site and said the bag was scheduled to ship today, 3/9/12. I asked if they'd just ship it normal ground and to please refund my express shipping charge since it was going to be delayed anyway. She said no problem. Later that afternoon I got an email from her saying they were going to give me a free upgrade to 2-day shipping. Very nice! And then I got notice that it actually shipped on Wednesday, hence today's arrival. In short, I had great interaction with a real person who took ownership of the situation and provided great customer service.

Now on to the bag.

This is a great bag. The laptop protection compartment is well designed and holds my laptop firmly. I have no issues there whatsoever.

The bag has nice organizational detail and functionality. Now, I honestly think I like the organizational structure of the Briggs & Riley bag a bit more than this one, but it's still very solid. The material on the inside is a dark gray. I've come to appreciate the orange interior of the Briggs bag, makes it easier to find stuff. But this isn't a deal breaker by any stretch. I had no problems finding places for all my stuff, and there are still about 5-6 pockets I'm not even using.

One thing I like about the Briggs and eBags bags that the Brenthaven doesn't have is a dedicated pocket for cables and power supplies. But the Brenthaven bag is so roomy that it's not really an issue. But it is nice to be able to segregate those things on their own so cables don't get wrapped around other stuff.

One thing this bag and the eBags bags have that the Briggs doesn't is the ability to carry a water bottle on the exterior of the bag. I'm not a fan of putting a water bottle into the same backpack where I'm putting my expensive laptop. With the Brenthaven, not an issue.

The styling is definitely more backpack than business case, but to my eye it's a much more attractive pack than the eBags pack. The Briggs pack doesn't look at all like a backpack. It looks like a business case you wear on your back. It would look very out of place taking it on a hike, and honestly, I dont' think I'd be comfortable taking it out into a rugged environment like that. It would hold up, I'm sure, but I'd hate to mar or scuff it up. It's a "pretty" bag, if that makes sense. The Brenthaven is the type of pack I'd have no problem taking on a hike once I got to my destination.

There are a few features on this that I really like. One is that it's expandable. There was one zipper where I wasn't sure what it did. I unzipped it expecting to see a compartment, and instead it allowed the bag to expand but 2-3" in depth and revealed another zipper. Unzipping that revealed another compartment with no organizational structure to it, just a big compartment where you could put files, notebooks, magazines, books, clothes, whatever. This could absolutely be used for power cords and cables, for example, to make up for the lack of a dedicated compartment for those things. My only issue with that approach would be this thing might not slide under an airline seat when expanded, though I'm pretty sure it will un-expanded.

Also, the two side pockets allow you to stash stuff like water bottles or an umbrella. The eBags model lets you attach a water bottle, but it only has that functionality on one side. With the Brenthaven, you could attach a water bottle on each side, or a water bottle on one and an umbrella on the other, for example.

It also has a nice, velour padded compartment where you could put more fragile items.

The back and the shoulder straps make for a very comfortable fit, and it has a chest strap for added stability.

The build quality of this bag is excellent. It's obvious it's a quality bag. Now, of the ones I've reviewed so far, to me the Briggs back is on a different level in terms of materials and construction. It just has a different feel to it. It absolutely feels more like a piece of fine luggage, or a fine business case, than a backpack. The Brenthaven has the feel of a very, very nice backpack, but it's still a backpack. That's not a criticism, just an observation.

The Brenthaven can also stand up, particularly with the laptop out. The Briggs absolutely cannot. To me, this is a plus.

At this point, I give the edge to Brenthaven. Honestly, I'm rooting for the Briggs bag, I just love the design of it, the black with orange accents (orange is my favorite color), the materials and construction, and I really like the organizational features. But the only way you're carrying a water bottle or umbrella with the Briggs bag is putting it into the inside of the case, something I'd rather not do. Not a deal breaker, but a disadvantage. Also, I'd be very reluctant to use it as anything but a business case. So if I was traveling and was going to do some hiking or sightseeing when I got to my destination, I'd probably want to use a different backpack for that. With the Brenthaven, that would not be an issue. This pack could serve both purposes very easily.

The capacities between the two bags are probably pretty similar until you expand the Brenthaven, then I'd be surprised if it didn't have significantly more capacity.

So, at this point, I could recommend any of these three (Briggs & Riley, Brenthaven or eBags packs). They are all quality units that are well constructed and feature-rich. Which would be the right choice for you? Depends on your tastes, preferences and needs. Do you wear a suit and you're going to take your pack into meetings? You'll want the Briggs. Want a bag that looks and functions more like a backpack? The other two will probably be a better choice.

Comparing the Brenthaven and the eBags models, they are fairly comparable. The Brenthaven will have more capacity, the eBags will probably have a bit more organizational features. If I liked the styles equally well, it might be a tough choice for me to choose between them. As I said above, though, I just don't care all that much for the eBags style. So for now, I rate them as 1) Brenthaven 2) Briggs & Riley 3) eBags

The Tom Bihn Brain Bag arrives on Monday. I'll be very curious to see how it stacks up. As it stands, I could be happy with either the Briggs or Brenthaven bags and if I had to choose right now would likely pick the Brenthaven. But all 3 of these are genuinely solid bags from companies with great warranties. You could pick any of these 3 and be confident you're getting a quality unit. But all 3 have VERY different styles.

I hope this is helpful. I'll post more as I have it, and will review the Brain Bag early next week. It has almost a cult-like following so I'm excited to see what the fuss is about.

One update....the Briggs & Riley bag is definitely out. Have already printed the return shipping label.

This weekend I went back over it just to see if I could find a way to be happy with it. First, the laptop security issue remains a concern. Second, one design flaw in my mind is that most of the compartments don't open up fully enough. The zippers only go part of the way down which makes pocket access a bit more difficult.

The fact that it won't stand up on its own is more bothersome than I thought. I'd really like a bag that will do that.

Then there is this weird quirk. I'm going to see if I can post a pic of the bag, hopefully it comes through:

http://www.suitcase.com/media/catalo...mage_40257.jpg

See the very front part of the bag, this section that sits in front of the main body of the bag right in the middle of it? See how the top goes along level from left to right and then maybe 2/3 of the way over it drops down about half an inch? It's actually an attractive and distinctive feature, but the problem is the material used isn't sufficiently rigid, so it bends. It's already bending out on me, so when viewed from the side, for example, it's not straight but wavy. It's annoying me and I've had the bag less than a week.

Also, as I said earlier, there is nowhere to put a water bottle or umbrella except in the body of the bag.

I considered looking at their executive clamshell model, and I went back through and did another search of, for example, every computer backpack ebags offers (from all manufacturers), and I've realized that for me, I want something that acts as a briefcase AND a backpack. I like the storage potential of bags like the Brenthaven Expandable Trek and the Tom Bihn Brain Bag. On trips where I'll be doing some hiking or daytripping around town, it eliminates the need to pack a separate backpack. Get where I'm going, take out the briefcase-type items and now I've got a backpack. And I absolutely want the ability to attach a water bottle and umbrella, but NOT on the inside of the case. Just imagine it's raining, you use your umbrella, now the rain stops. Well, what do you do with it? Are you really going to fold it up wet and put it back INSIDE your case? I don't want to do that.

So for me, this has been an interesting exercise and I'm really glad I purchased bags with different styles and strengths from various manufacturers. It's helped me narrow down what I really value in a bag. Again, if you want a backpack to go with your suit, or a dressier pack that looks less like a backpack and more like a briefcase, the Briggs pack is a good option (if you are ok with the issues I describe above). The Victorinox would also be good here were it sufficiently sized. I almost ordered a bigger model yesterday until I realized the point above about wanting a backpack orientation, water bottles, etc...

So again, waiting on the Bihn Brain Bag which will arrive tomorrow. If for some reason I don't like it more than the Brenthaven, I'm fine with the Brenthaven. It's a very solid bag. Not perfect, but no bag will be.

The others are going back.

Ok, the latest update:

First, many thanks to baghoarder for encouraging me to take another look at the Tom Bihn products. The Brain Bag showed up yesterday and it's just an outstanding bag. As I wrote earlier on this thread, when I first visited their site I was put off by all the options. And yes, it DOES take some time to review their site and decide what you need, and that could involve some trial and error. It's definitely not the 'no fuss/no muss' approach of buying another bag that comes as a self contained solution, like the Brenthaven. But there are rewards for taking the time to do such customization.

Here are my initial thoughts.

First, the Brain Bag is hands down the bag that does the best job of protecting my laptop and it's not even close. The Brain Cell into which you put your laptop is just terrific. I would literally feel confident that if I droped my bag with my laptop in it from the roof of my house (admittedly, a single story), my laptop would be just fine. The way the Brain Cell hooks into the compartment of the bag so that it's suspended is ingenious, and taking the computer out and putting it back in is simple.

Second, I like the look of the bag better than the Brenthaven. The Brenthaven is a nice looking bag to my eye, but I like the look of the Brain Bag better.

Third, the fit and finish, the quality of materials and construction of both bags is first rate, but the Brain Bag just has a more upscale, solid feel. And there are some small touches that might not be so small in the long run. One example is the zippers. On the Brenthaven, they're exposed. On the Brain Bag, they all have a flap covering them. Makes it a tad more cumbersome to find and open the zipper, but the bag will be more secure in inclement weather.

Both are comparably sized and I would guess can hold about as much stuff, which is saying a lot. Both bags make a great use of space. They don't look huge to my eye, but they can carry an immense amount of stuff. The Brenthaven has a zipper that when unzipped expands the bag's depth by a couple of inches and reveals another storage compartment into which you could put all kinds of stuff. But my guess is once doing so, it would no longer fit under the airline seat in front of you. The Brain Bag is not expandable, per se, but has cinch straps so once you have in it what you're going to put in it, you can cinch it down to narrow the bag up and keep the contents from shifting.

The Brenthaven excels at organization, it's the prototypical bag with a lot of pockets to stash your stuff, but it also has a lot of space. I was concerned the Brain Bag would not have sufficient organizational features, but the Freudian Slip accessory helps greatly in that regard. I'm also buying a few organizational pouches that will further assist with this. I will have no problem getting all the organization I need from the bag.

In terms of feel, the Brain Bag is more comfortable on my back. The shoulder straps are a bit more comfortable and I like the feel of the pack on my back. That initially wasn't the case, where I had the laptop compartment positioned was digging into my back. But I've remedied that and it's all good. Both are just fine in this regard, this is not a knock on the Brenthaven, but the Brain Bag fits me just a bit better.

If anyone has any questions about any of these bags, fire away. At this point, I'm strongly leaning towards the Brain Bag. My wife just ordered another bag from Tom Bihn, the Smart Alec, and I want to wait until it arrives before making my final decision, but right now, the Brain Bag is firmly in the lead.

So here's kind of a short summary.

If you're looking for a professional bag that will fit with your suit and not look out of place in meetings, the Briggs & Riley is a nice choice.

The Victorinox in the size I got is simply too small to be functional.

The eBags backpack is a terrific value play. If you want decent space, strong organization, a good feature set and a cost under $100 with a lifetime warranty, this is the bag for you as long as you're ok with it looking pretty much like a student backpack.

The Brenthaven is a great bag. Honestly, if I go with the Brain Bag there will be some features of the Brenthaven that I will miss. I could absolutely make this my new bag and if I hadn't liked the Brain Bag as much as I do, I wouldn't hesitate to go with it. The cost is very reasonable and I highly recommend this bag.

But if you're ok with the cost (once you add in the requisite accessories) and the look of the Brain Bag, you would absolutely be remiss to make a selection without first trying it out. One caveat, the only thing I've found disappointing about the Brain Bag experience is that if you wish to return something, you have to pay the return shipping costs. All the other vendors provide a prepaid return shipping label on request. Not so with Tom Bihn. But I would absolutely NOT let that keep you from exploring their products. The designs, material and construction are fantastic, the customer support is great, and they have an incredible community of users at their online forum who stand ready to answer questions and make suggestions if needed. Seth Godin writes about Tribes, well, they have one for sure. And the available accessories means you can really tailor the bag to your specific needs. The other thing I like is that as I mentioned above, once I get where I'm going, I can take all that stuff out of the pack and now I have a terrific backpack for day tripping around town, or going on a serious hike. I would have no problem taking this pack out into rugged wilderness, and it would probably look about the same when I got back. Not sure I can say that about the other packs.

Hope that helps. I'll post more feedback on my final selection once I've had a chance to use it more extensively, and outside of the house in the 'real world'.

What Brain Bag configuration and accessories did you end up choosing?

I got the black and steel brain bag with the horizontal brain cell and the vertical freudian slip. I wanted the vertical brain cell, but they were sold out.

One note: I didn't like the way the horizontal brain cell rode in the back compartment, I could feel it pressing into my low back. So I called them up and they now have the vertical ones in my size back in stock so I'm swapping them out. I was able to move the horizontal brain cell to the second large compartment and that problem was remedied, but I'd prefer not to have to do that and the woman I spoke with said the vertical brain cell should take care of that issue and be a better fit for the bag.

And FYI, I was so impressed with the quality of the bag, as was my wife, that she decided to check out their stuff and ordered another one of their bags, the Smart Alec. That will arrive next week. I'll report back on that when it gets here.

Thanks. Good luck with your final choice.
Please also share your flight experience and how it all fits under your seat.

OP I think you may be selling the Targus bags short. I’ve been quite happy with my black Targus backpack. I take it places the average FTer won’t ever see. Yes it goes on commercial aircraft but also military aircraft and helicopters in wonderful places with both sand and or humidity. I’ve had both transmission oil and hydraulic fluid dripped on it. If it doesn’t come out it blends in quite well. It’s never gone completely through.
I use it as my regular carry on, nice and flexible fits under almost any seat. Of course you don’t put it under the seat on some military aircraft for safety reasons. It also has plenty of compartments for separation.
Scott

I've been eying targus for a while, but the reviews on Amazon are so so - Curious to know which one do you have?
thanks.

I may well be selling Targus short. But when I've handled their bags, nothing whatsoever about them screamed high quality of materials, construction or design. They struck me as an ok bag at a budget price.

The Brenthaven REALLY impressed me as far and away the best of the bunch, until I got in the Tom Bihn Brain Bag. That's just in a different class. Hard to describe until you handle one, feel the material, examine the construction and features, put it on your back. Just a great bag.

I have the CVR-600 Groove and it has taken a beating and still looks great.

http://youtu.be/vuw-QGqAQpI

What I use currently. Great backpack and very low profile

I've always very much liked Tumi products and designs. But given how badly my most recent Tumi purchase has fared, and how the company has dealt with it, I'm done with Tumi and no longer recommend their stuff to anyone. The company has lost their mojo, in my opinion.

If a company doesn't believe in their products enough to give them a robust warranty, don't expect me to believe in them, either.

Ok, a couple of updates.

I've had the chance to review two other very nice backpacks. Neither is moving me off the Brain Bag, but I thought I'd write them up here.

The first is the North Face Surge. I kept running into comments on different review articles in the last week mentioning this bag. Has a bit of a cult following so I thought I should see what the fuss was about. Stopped by REI last night to take a look.

If you want a backpack that looks like a standard hiking backpack, has what looks like basic backpack materials and design, and has a LOT of pockets and organizational features, this is a pack you should take a close look at. It has a great reputation, has a large carry capacity and looks to be well built. I believe it's backed by a lifetime warranty.

It's not the pack for me. One thing I've learned on this quest is that a pack or case needs to strike (for me) a balance between simplicity and complexity. Give me places to put all my stuff, but I don't need 83 different nooks and crannies to put my stuff. This pack has, in my opinion, an overkill of pockets and organizational features. Also, I want a pack that makes it easy to access my stuff. This just has too many compartments, and some of them are a pain to access. The very front of the pack has an organizational section but to get to it you have to unhook a clip, then unzip two separate zippers. Really? If I want to grab a pen or a business card I'm not going to all that trouble. I read reviews where people said they just left that section empty because it was too much a pain to access. I also read where one reviewer literally lost something he stashed in the bag, couldn't remember which of the myriad of pockets he'd put it in.

If you want a LOT of small little hiding places for your stuff, if you tend towards the ADD side of things, this could be the pack for you. Cosmetically, I think it brings nothing to the table. To me, there are two basic categories of these kinds of packs. The ones that look more professional, like Briggs, Tumi, Victorinox, and then those that look like hiking gear or a student backpack. And once you get into a niche, to me, they all look like they're made with pretty much the same bland material using the same bland designs and they all look a lot alike. Just didn't appeal to me personally, your mileage may vary.

And that's one thing I really like about the Brain Bag. It's not going to look like a briefcase on your back. If you're looking for something to take to the board meeting, it's probably not your choice. But for a backpack that wants to be a backpack, it has a very distinctive design and look that appealed to me right away, and the more I use it, the more I like it. It just LOOKS great to my eye and the materials and colors are special. Not sure how to describe it, but the pack has a bit of a chameleon character to it. The color and appearance is constantly changing slightly based on the light hitting it. It doesn't look like any other pack out there, and for me, that's a good thing.

The next pack was the Tom Bihn Smart Alec. The reason I had a chance to check out this bag was my wife ordered one after checking out my Brain Bag. She really liked the quality of my bag and the materials and design but wanted something a bit smaller. The Smart Alec fits the bill.

This is a well made, well designed back with the legendary Tom Bihn quality. But it's not the pack for me. Why? First, I don't care for the design all that much. Would probably like it more with one of the different color combos. My wife got the all black version and it just doesn't appeal to me. But it does look nicer in person than I thought it would.

Functionally, my issue with it is it just has one compartment into which you put your main stuff. It has other smaller compartments, but your computer and all your other big things will go into the one main compartment accessed from the top. I put my Brain Cell (the laptop case) and Vertical Freudian Slip (organizer insert) into the bag and they both fit easily and nicely and there is still room in the bag to hold a lot more stuff, but accessing the compartment just got more cramped. I much prefer the Brain Bag's dual main compartments.

There you have it.

On a side note, I'd emailed Tumi about my decomposing briefcase. After some give and take, they've concluded that a failing zipper is "normal wear, but looks to have worn prematurely" so they're offering me a new bag up to $395 if pay $100 and return my current bag. My initial reaction was I was going to tell them no and just throw my broken bag away. Then I figured that was dumb. I'm asking them to send me the Tumi Alpha Ballistic laptop backpack so I can check it out, but what I'll probably do to be honest is sell it on ebay. It retails for $395, I'll see if I can sell it for $200-$250 brand new with original packaging and tags still included.

As I said, I used to be a big Tumi fan, but they've lost me. If anyone would be interested in getting this Tumi, feel free to PM me, or you can email me at rjmathes23ATgmailDOTcom.

And after using the Brain Bag for another week, I can confirm I made the right choice. This is just a beautiful bag, with exceptional design, materials and construction. It's very usable, very flexible, and the organizational paradigm is really growing on me. At first I wanted the bag to have all that built in. And this bag has a lot of that built in. But one of their paradigms is to give you a lot of accessory choices so you can customize the organizational solution to fit your unique needs. For example, there are small plastic o-rings at the top of each main compartment. To those o-rings, you can clip their organizational pouches, which can be purchased in a variety of configurations. So rather than taking 4 different pieces of small electronics and trying to force them into some pre-built pouch in the pack that may or may not fit or even properly protect them, you get an organizational pouch that fits them perfectly, clip it using one of their key straps to one of the o-rings (or just slip it into a side or main compartment, and now you have your stuff neatly tucked away, protected, and not loose and jumbling around your pack. It's a nice approach, but not for everyone. At first I resisted it, but it's really growing on me.

A month ago I really didn't know what Tom Bihn was. Now, I'm a huge fan. If you're reading this thread looking for a quality computer backpack, I would definitely give their stuff a look. And if you've got a small laptop, like a 13" or less, I would take a hard look at their Synapse pack. I haven't seen one in person, but it looks to be a really, really cool pack. Just too small for me. Wouldn't hold a 15" laptop safely.

Hey, just wanted to follow up as I am in a similar boat with regards to trying to find the best laptop backpack. I bought a Swissgear ScanSmart pack in May of last year, and I enjoyed the design of the bag and it was a good size for all the things I have. However, the right strap is already disintegrating, and I could tell from my first trip abroad that this bag is just not the rugged bag I need for the often heavy loads and daily use it will incur. I am likely going to send it in for repair, but will just sell whatever they send back as I can't bring myself to be in a foreign country with this bag.

So, as of yesterday I am following in your footsteps to try out a couple of bags. In this case, I have narrowed it down to 2 bags:

• The Tom Bihn Brain Bag ($160 + Accessories + Shipping = $267)
• The Everki Concept Premium Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Backpack ($295)

For the Tom Bihn, I ordered the Vertical Freudian Slip, a travel tray, and a vertical cache. I of course wanted to get the Brain Cell, but my job has cursed me with a large Dell laptop that has an extended battery that juts out the back and won't fit in a vertical Brain Cell. The only option is either a vertical cache or a horizontal Brain Cell - based on your feedback I didn't want to go the horizontal route, so we shall see how the vertical cache does. All the snake charmers are out of stock, but my current plan for the electronics is try to using a large Eagle Creek packing cube i have to throw all the electronics in, as well as a small Eagle Creek packing cube and Eagle Creek pouch with clip.

For the Everki, it seems very durable and it has a similar setup to my crap quality Swissgear bag. There is a fold down checkpoint friendly area for my laptop to make screening easier (at least in the USA - doesn't work in Europe and some Asian countries) as well as an area for my tablet. There are plenty of organizational areas such that I don't need to buy or use any other pouches or cubes. I am especially excited about the hard sun-glass case on the top so that I can bring my sunglasses with me w/o their case and always have them handy.

Anyway, these two bags both seem to be high quality, but they are definitely at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to how you go about organizing them inside. I am still unsure which one I will plan to keep, as I definitely can see the usefulness of some of the features in the Everki, but at the same time can appreciate the openness and flexibility of the Tom Bihn. The Everki might have an advantage when organizing small bits and bobs and ease of checkpoint clearance in the USA, but the Tom Bihn would have the advantage in places like China and India where they give the edict "ALL electronics out of your bag sir" and it would be easy to pull out one or two packing cubes vs. going through each individual little pocket.

I'm off on a trip in two days to Boston, then off on Monday to Portland, then next week maybe to Singapore... so I'm upset I haven't done this a week or two ago before this trip. Stuck doing this one with an old Targus backpack that is still trudging along and that I thought my Swissgear had replaced. When I get back, I'll update on my comparison and findings of the two bags.

All of those bags are kind of small for what I need (which is a bag that hauls safely 2 laptops and a camera body and a lens or two, and work files and a book and stuff.) I need 2 large compartments and at least one smaller compartment at minimum. I used to have a Wegner backpack that fell apart; now I have the High Sierra Swerve and I am ecstatic with its functionality and what it fits for me. Last week I popped it on one of those check in bag scales and it was 25 lbs (more than my carry on :) ). And it did not feel that bad...