This is a great bag. I finally decided to go function over form and find a practical, durable bag that I could wear as a backpack (my aging 40 year old back takes a beating with all the business travel I do), and could convert to a crossover for meetings, as I think that backpacks look a little less professional. I'm a 5'5" woman and was concerned that most of the BR stuff was geared toward men sizewise. With the straps shortened all the way, I found this bag very comfortable.Organization is great. My 14" Lenovo (which is pretty bulky for a 14 inch screen) fits with an inch to spare. My power cord is pretty compact, so that helps too. It also easily fits two medium notepads, Kindle Fire HD (I put this in with the laptop in the padded section), folder with papers, and a few other odds and ends. It's not going to hold a ton, but I didn't need it to.
I was really excited to use the bag, but on the first trip, I discovered a possible design flaw: The top connector to convert it into a backpack is set in a way that the connector slides in from left to right. Which means it slides back OUT from right to left. Most people are right handed, thus they put on the backpack with their right hand and over their right shoulder first. They also may sometimes just wear the backpack with one strap over their right shoulder.
Because of the way the connector hardware is oriented, that meant that sometimes when I put the backpack on, or wore it only on one shoulder, the strap comes completely undone, causing the bag to fall and slam into my lower back or back of upper legs. Ouch! This happened 3 times during my first business trip with it. Now, it doesn't come EASILY undone if you were simply trying to unattach the strap, but somehow a higher force (like swinging the backpack on) could cause it to come undone if the strap wasn't caught on the lip of the hardware.
I was disappointed that I would have to be somewhat careful when putting it on, and I didn't think I could get used to putting it on my left shoulder first. So I emailed Briggs and Riley using their online form on 1/24 in the evening (7:05pm) after I got back from my trip, explaining the issue.
The next day (so basically the SAME business day) at 2:30 pm, I got an email from a BR customer service representative stating that they would be happy to turn the hardware the other way under warranty. She also had CALLED me a few minutes prior (I was on the phone and missed the call) to explain this to me as well. In her email, she gave me the contact info of the nearest authorized repair shop with the contact person's name. And going EVEN a step FURTHER, she let me know her warranty manager had called the shop, talked to the owner, explained the situation, and told them to be expecting me to come and drop off the bag.
Wow.
I called the repair shop and they already knew who I was. The shop staff was excellent as well extremely helpful and turned the bag around faster than their normal time because I needed it for another trip. I just received the bag today and the repair is excellent, and obviously didn't pay a cent for the fix. Problem solved!
The customer service rep also sent the info to the production team, so maybe they will change it for the next version. The repair shop agreed that it should be on the other way. I have also posted an picture of the connection hardware here on Amazon (click on customer image link below the main image).
My husband was so impressed, he went out and bought a BR rolling carry on to replace my travelpro, stating BR had earned our loyalty. So yes, this bag is great, just be aware that you may have the same issue with the hardware orientation that I did, and know you are getting a company that obviously values exceptional customer service.
Thank you, Briggs & Riley!
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