Bags
Posted by SpikeDec 16
In the category of Things I Buy Way Too Much Of, one definite entry would be bags. Camera bags. Laptop bags. Messenger bags. You name it. Am I secretly jealous of the fact that a woman can have 27 million purses while a man should only have a single backpack? Maybe. I go through too many of these and the floor of the second bedroom in my house is currently littered with the cast-offs. (Maybe I should get it together and sell off a bunch, but the thought that I’d probably just get $100 or so for a bag that cost $1,000 isn’t that much incentive.
Anyway, this week, Crunch Gear is doing what they term Bag Week 2009 and it’s exactly what you’d expect, 2 or 3 reviews per day of different bags. And it’s getting my Bag Lust warm again.
Me, I want a bag that will carry my 13″ MacBook, my Panasonic GF-1 (or sometimes my Nikon D300 – though things get awfully heavy that way), sun glasses, reading glasses, Kindle, mints, eye drops, Netvigator WiFi thingie, business cards, keys, earbuds or headphones (depending on my mood and destination). magnifying glass, USB memory stick, light saber (oops) and whatever shopping I’ll be doing that day. So one thing I appreciate is a bag with lots of pockets. Because I don’t want to have to scrounge around through 100 objects bumping together at the bottom of a messenger bag – I want my stuff safely separated and rapidly at hand.
So right now, from the bags they’ve reviewed so far, this Booq Boa Squeeze is looking very tasty because has room for up to a 15″ laptop and sports 27 pockets overall.
Of course then I zoomed over to Booq’s home page and saw about 10 other bags that looked good, too.
One problem is that Booq doesn’t have a distributor in Hong Kong (though they are in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore) so there’s no store to go into and actually see these bags in the flesh, as it were. And at US$100 to $200 they ain’t cheap. But they do look lust-worthy, at least to my demented mind.

Hi, I’m Spike. Born and bred in The Bronx but I've been calling Hong Kong home since 1995. I'm a corporate IT professional, music and film critic and aspiring photo-journalist. I've been writing Hongkie Town since 2004 and have been writing the "Spike" column in BC Magazine since 2006. You can follow me on Twitter




6 comments
Comment by Don Quixote on December 20, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Nice bags. I like the big one that takes a 17″ macbook pro and has a front compartment for a dSLR. That could replace my current el-cheapo one for travel.
Bag I’ve just come across that I think I’ll be getting is the KATA 3N1 11 (same as the more widely available 3N1 10, but with the addition of a netbook compartment).
Comment by Spike on December 20, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I’ve got 2 or 3 Kata bags and they’re really well made. One of them can hold my MacBook, DSLR, 4 lenses and space to spare – but fully loaded, it’s just too heavy for me to walk around with on anything other than a “when I specifically think I will need everything” basis and even then, I’m thinking about using a trolley for it.
Comment by Don Quixote on December 20, 2009 at 7:42 pm
The 3N1 11 is a super slim sling. I like how that sounds, super slim sling!
Looks eminently useable, more so than my previous favourite, the Lowepro Classified (shoulder or new sling series). Lowepro wins on colour, as the sepia versions look great imho.
This is the 3N1 20. The 3N1 11 is smaller all round and has the advantage of a specific pocket for the guy’s netbook:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOxwmvBPemM
Comment by Dan on January 6, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I actually own a Booq Boa Squeeze. Size wise, I wouldn’t recommend it for more than a 13″ laptop or netbook. My 15″ Thinkpad fits inside without difficulty, but its width limits the usability of the side pockets.
Also, the top handle broke after just a few days. It will take some time to get a warranty replacement due to APAC stock issues.
On the plus side, it’s comfortable and very compact.
Comment by Spike on January 6, 2010 at 4:19 pm
When you say APAC, did you buy it in HK? Where?
Comment by Dan on January 6, 2010 at 4:29 pm
No, I bought it in Funan Digitalife Mall in Singapore.