I typically agonize over bag sizes. A part of me at all times needs to go greater, simply in case. However then I find yourself with messenger luggage and backpacks that really feel too cumbersome to hold round daily. If I go for the smaller one, it is typically too small to suit the issues I want and finally ends up overstuffed. The merchandise I typically carry with me that appears to complicate this challenge is the 11-inch iPad Professional. It is mild however inflexible, and in small luggage it may possibly really feel like carrying round a plank of wooden flapping in opposition to your leg. Smaller luggage can be too slender, making it a good match for every other objects you need to carry. WaterField’s Shinjuku Messenger goals to resolve a few of these issues with a design purpose-built for the iPad.
On a regular basis Carrying
Popping out of the field, it appeared means too small. There was no means this one was going to comfortably match my iPad, water bottle, chargers, and different stuff. It appeared doomed to be one of many tiny messengers that could not fairly minimize it.
Till I began placing stuff inside. The iPad slipped into the padded pill sleeve with ease, a slender water bottle match comfortably on the backside of the primary pocket. The opposite inward-facing pockets had been spacious and expanded a bit as I put in a charger, my pockets, a pair of earbuds, and a sun shades case. There was room for every thing, and the bag wasn’t even stuffed to capability. Its exterior form nonetheless felt mushy and pliable, not taut and stuffed to the brim the best way an overloaded messenger can really feel. Flipping open the lid, every thing was inside view, and each merchandise was reachable with out shifting something—a should for any bag so far as I am involved.
{Photograph}: Waterfield
Slung throughout my physique, it did not even appear like a messenger bag. Even totally laden, it seemed smaller—extra like a handbag or only a small crossbody on your telephone and some different objects. I additionally observed how evenly distributed the burden felt. The straps connect to the bag itself at a slight angle, reasonably than being sewn on straight up and down; it is simply sufficient of a course to the bag that it falls in opposition to your physique properly regardless of the place you could have it slung—hip, decrease again, entrance, throughout your chest, hung from one shoulder. It is the form of quiet, intuitive design flourish that tells you this bag was designed by individuals who know what they’re doing.
Adjusting the strap can also be simple as you’ll be able to lengthen or shorten it with out taking it off. The strap itself is a thick weave, virtually like a automobile seatbelt. It’s a bit thinner than the straps on different WaterField luggage I’ve used, and the sides are a bit of laborious and might rub in opposition to your neck uncomfortably, although like different WaterField straps they’ll in all probability soften up over time.
The highest flap seals with a magnetic closure. It is sturdy and snappy however not so sturdy that you must combat it. As with all magnetic closures although, I fear about their sturdiness over time. I’ve a pair different WaterField luggage I’ve examined, and the magnetic closures are nonetheless going sturdy on these, however I’ve misplaced so many luggage to the damage and tear of magnetic closures abrading themselves free from canvas that I’m inherently distrustful. I didn’t discover any uncommon put on and tear on the canvas the place the magnets sit whereas testing, which is at all times a great signal.
The inside is brilliant orange with a textured sample. That’s one in every of my favourite issues about WaterField Designs. I’ve come to dislike luggage with dark-colored interiors; it’s means too simple to lose issues in the dead of night. In opposition to a brilliant colour, I can at all times spot a lacking hair tie.
{Photograph}: Waterfield
Canvas, however Completely different
I examined the black canvas model with leather-based accents on the flap. I used to be a bit of cautious of its materials development; canvas may be finicky and scuff simply, or develop into waterlogged on the mere sight of a raincloud. This canvas, WaterField assured, was completely different. It is a materials known as X11 Cotton from X-Pac, an organization that spun off from Dimension-Polyant, a producer of high-performance sailcloth. In accordance with X-Pac, the fabric is a specifically handled canvas with an inside layer of fibers woven in a diamond sample to boost sturdiness and weight distribution, and it is also water resistant. That waterproofing is achieved by way of a PFAS-free DWR coating. X-Pac makes different DWR supplies that do use PFAS, however I confirmed with WaterField and X-Pac that the X11 Cotton is PFAS-free.
{Photograph}: Waterfield
