DAKINE Men's Heli Pro Snow Pack

Fits my laptop and some books. Straps are easy to keep out of the way when you're not using them.

Bought it to go skiing with and to be a general laptop carry bag. Its very comfortable.

Only thing is that it has a lot of straps that get in the way sometimes but its a minor inconvenience.

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My son convinced me to spend more for this backpack after having to replace his cheap ones bought at department stores several times each school year. This cost 2 or 3 times as much but it is 3 years old looks brand new. He uses it for school, skiing, and year round for many other uses. He likes it so much he bought his GF one too (pink of course :) I wish I had bought it in grade school, he'd prob. still be using it.

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I bought this pack having never actually layed hands on one, and I NEVER do that. I used to be a manager in camping retail, guide, and a scout leader and I am getting back into scouting and hiking with my kids. I needed a really narrow profile pack with a hipbelt that is bigger than some of the hydration packs, but smaller than my 2,000+ plus internal packs. The quality is excellent easily on par with my Gregory Mountain Products, The North Face, and Eagle Creek packs. I am 5'10", but have a hard time fitting packs due my short torso and it fit well enough. I completely overloaded it for a six mile hike and it was the most comfortable small pack I have used. Pocket and zippers are all well thought out and provide a a lot of options as to how to use the pack. The pack is designed first and foremost for snowboard/ski use, so my only complaints come from designs that are of benefit to to snowboarder: too many little straps and clips to hold boards in a variety of configurations, and the padded hipbelt does not extend more than a few inches and the web strap is a 1" strap. I would have liked the padding to extend all the way and have a 2" webbing, but I did buy a snowboarding pack so it is not a mistake on their part. Do I recommend it? I plan on buying one each for my wife and kids.

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This bag is perfect for up to a 15.4" laptop, and at least 4 large textbooks. I would've liked to have seen an additional pocket on the front or side, something small that could keep fragile stuff(mouse, glasses, etc)seperate from the rest. The straps are pretty heavy duty until you get to the adjustable portion, the part of the strap you adjust is flimsier than I'd like, yet still stronger than the Oakley backpack offerings. I guess I only think it's flimsy because I've had a Dakine Quad pack for the last 6 years and its a backpack much smaller but with a super beefy strap, so I feel like this larger backpack should've at least had the same. Granted it's probably overkill, and if I hadn't owned the quad previously, I most likely would've been happy with it. It's very comfortable, it does have a lot of straps but nothing some creative tucking can't overcome. Overall I'd give this a 4.5/5 star, but Amazon has never come around to the half ratings.