Black Messenger Bag Reviews On Black Messenger Bags

SHIPPING

This bag arrived on a Friday afternoon in Seattle Washington after being ordered on Monday night and being shipped from Van Nuys California. It was sent via USPS Priority Mail in a bag and when unfolded had a couple wrinkles which disappeared on their own after a few hours.

FLAP

The flap looks like the flap in the main picture of this bag, with one minor exception. It has one long piece of olive green colored velcro on the other side of the flap from the two rectangular pieces of fabric pictured. The small red tag with white writing on it is not present on my flap, but is instead located on the end of the bag, where the strap is sewn on.

STRAP

The strap looks pretty comfortable and durable. It’s made of the same fabric as the rest of the bag. On one side of the bag it’s sewn directly to the bag, and on the other side of the bag it’s looped through a wide, flat, rectangular brass ring which is inserted through a wide loop of fabric on the bag. Another brass ring is used to adjust the length of the strap which can be as short as approximately 28″ and as long as approximately 48″. The length adjustment ring stays in place really well but is still easy to adjust and moves smoothly along the strap.

SIDE POCKETS

Each side of the bag has a pocket which runs nearly the height of the bag and has a brass snap. The main picture of this bag shows a red sports drink, which I thought was kind of deceiving until I tried to put a 32 oz. gatorade drink in each side. To my surprise, it actually fit! The pocket doesn’t look big enough to hold one of these bottles, but it just barely is. The snap won’t fasten with a 32oz bottle in the pocket, but without a bottle the snaps work very well and have a solid feel to them. Just above one side pocket is a small black tag (1cm x 1cm) which says RD in white and shows curved white lines sort of resembling wings. Just above the other side pocket is a small red tag (1cm tall by 3cm wide) that says RAPDOM in white letters. Apparently this stands for Rapid Dominance, which wikipedia says is some sort of military tactic where you just overwhelm your opponent into giving up.

BACK OF BAG

The back of this bag (the side that rests against your body) has one large pocket that is approximately 7″ tall (2/3 to 3/4 as tall as the bag’s main compartment) and as wide as the bag (approximately 14″). It has one small piece of velcro just below the top edge of the pocket to close it.

UNDER THE FLAP

When you un-velcro the main flap and flip it out of the way, you find two large pouches. Each pouch has a zipper running along the top and a small square of velcro on the outside that the flap’s velcro attaches to. The pouches are each approximately 7″ tall and 6″ wide. The zippers each have a logo like the one by the strap which says RD (same brass color as the rest of the zipper). The pockets both zip closed to the inside of the bag, so you wouldnt be able to reach under the flap and grab the zippers and open the pouches with the main flap closed. This seems more secure than the alternative. Above the right-hand pouch is an olive green tag (slightly lighter colored than the darker olive green of the bag) that says “RAPID DOMINANCE Standard Issue” and has the black RD logo and also a line for you to write your name: “Name_____________________”.

MAIN COMPARTMENT

The main compartment of this bag has a long zipper that runs the length of the bag and when you unzip this zipper you find a shiny olive green vinyl lining inside. On one inner wall of the main compartment in the vinyl lining is an inner pocket approximately the size of one of the pouches on the outside. The vinyl is pretty solid, but not too thick, so I wouldn’t put anything sharp or heavy in this inner pocket. The main compartment of the bag, however, seems very durable.

Took this bag to a conference and used it for the whole trip…from stuffed full at the airport to walking around all day, it was comfortable and extreamly functional with all the pockets and extra space.