High Sierra Opie Backpack

I am a school teacher and a mom. This is big enough to fit my laptop, a few books and a makeup case, I take this to work and home everyday, or if we are going somewhere, change of clothes for kids. I did not want big and bulky backpack. This is just perfect. However, if you are a student that carries multiple books and binders on a regular basis this may be too small.

I started college with a backpack my mom got for me from costco (ful I think) which I found very cumbersome with regards to the height (especially when biking which is my only means of transportation aside from walking), shoulder straps, and the sheer ridiculous amount of pockets it had. I started looking for a new backpack with the following in mind: it had to comfortable size wise (so shorter than 19"), had to have 4 or fewer pockets, no computer/tablet slot, and be sturdy enough to withstand the constant strenous strain of college. Overall, I freaking love this thing. I didn't think I'd ever hold this much affection for an inanimate object as I do for my backpack. I normally never write any reviews since I don't usually find the product important/satisfying enough to bother with one. But I have to say this backpack deserves it!

Pros:

Color: I bought this in the ash/chartreuse and I must say I love the color combination! It's just enough green to make it stylish, but not gaudy; and I found the grey to be more feminine than the standard black fare.

Size: The size is deceptively small. On the outside it looks quite svelte, but you can fit a lot stuff without too much trouble. I generally carry 4-5 notebooks, 1 1" binder, 2-3 smallish paperbacks, 10" tablet w/case, and if necessary during midterm/final's week my ochem textbook which is a bit thicker than a 2" binder, and a pen case along with other knickknacks like my phone, water bottle (1L so bigger than most), etc. It fit everything nicely and without any problems!

Construction: I have to hand it to High Sierra, they made this backpack quite resilient. I've had my backpack since October of 2012 and have stuffed it with books and textbooks until I thought I would break my back and still it withstood it all quite well. There has been no fraying around where the straps connect and I've had no problems with the zipper, even when I stuffed it. I'm not sure if it's waterproof or not, but when I was drenched, my notebooks and thankfully my notes were all dry.

Cons:

I find that with a heavy load, the straps get rather uncomfortable and with extended wear start digging into your shoulders (heavy load as in 2-3 textbooks and 4-5 small hardback books).

There is only ONE! side-pocket. This is a bit annoying since I generally take my water bottle and coffee cup/thermos thing with me; I have to put my waterbottle inside the pack which reduces the amount of total stuff I can carry around and messes up the weight distribution. Moreover, the mesh of the side pocket tore after a month and I had to mend it by sewing a protective patch around the mesh.

It doesn't have a body of it's own so it slouches if you take a lot of stuff out. It might not be a big deal to most, but it drives me insane when it slouches and falls around while in a cramped lecture hall since it makes taking things in and out a bit trickier. Of course this was remedied with the binder, but otherwise it doesn't stand on its own.

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Bought these for bug out bag. Has ,almost, enough pockets to store everything I would need for a 72 hour event.

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I bought this bag for my first grader. It has worked well so far. He carries a good number of books and it has held up so far. The three compartments are a nice touch as he is able to compartmentalize his books based on size and keep his stationery is a separate compartment. Really good purchase.

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it is much smaller than i had hoped. but it works as a good backpack so i would say that im happy with it