Intrepid Bag Co. Leather Tech Roll – $139

Picture this scenario: You’re traveling with a cellphone (as most would), a laptop, tablet, camera, and perhaps a kindle. You open your briefcase to retrieve the said cord to charge the right device and the inside of your briefcase is a tangled knot of cords and wires. Even worse, you can’t locate where one cord begins and the other ends.

Well in our age of multiple devices and other digital equipment, a professional and functional solution is needed to save time and perhaps embarrassment.

Intrepid Bag Co. has just released a new set of leather accessories to complement their original designs. Among them is this beautiful full grain saddle leather tech roll.

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Construction

The leather used in this piece is full grain USA saddle leather with a rich Mahogany color. The interior features a gray canvas lining with 3 cord slots, one middle pocket with a leather flap closure, and a large zippered pocket on the opposite end of the cord pockets. The entire piece is stitched with top quality nylon stitching.

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The roll is secured with two straps that fasten into simple leather closures.

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Rolled, the tech roll measures 7.5 inches long by 5 inches across and 1.5-4 inches deep (depending on how much you stuff in there). Unrolled it measures about 15 inches.

Having never really owned or used a tech roll before, I can say that at first I as hesitant to give it a fair shot in my daily carry as I usually like to pack as light and minimally as possible. But as I recalled SEVERAL incidents when traveling where I got slightly frustrated that I couldn’t find a cord or the cord I needed was wrapped around an article of clothing, so I decided to give it a fair chance.

One thing that was a little awkward was getting the cords in the pockets, but I imagine that in time it won’t be a big deal at all for the time and headaches you save on the road.

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 The function of the piece is to neatly organize cords, chargers, battery packs or external hard drives as well as a few other accessories like adapters or cleaning clothes. The interior’s 3 cord slots have slits in the bottom to allow the cord to feed through so it can be used without having to remove the whole cord.

The center pocket is large enough to hold a smart phone or thin battery or external hard drive with, again, a small slit in the bottom to allow a cord to feed through. As the zippered side pocket is all canvas, a good amount of small accessories can be stuffed in. However, the more stuff in the roll and pockets, the bulkier the piece is when rolled.

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 The mahogany saddle leather on the roll is very sturdy and already is breaking in nicely. As mentioned above, the roll does get bulky when crammed with a lot of stuff but what doesn’t? I really love the simplicity of the case and can tell it will age for many phone and device updates.

 At $139, I feel the tech roll Is well worth the money considering the material used and the design. Anyone who is looking for a solution to organizing varies electronics while maintaining a look of elegance, professionalism, and function will be happy with this piece. Check it out -here-!

Intrepid Bag Company Expanding Its Product Line with Kickstarter

Back in June 2014, we introduced our awesome readers to Intrepid Bag Company with a review of its Journeyman Messenger – a unique, attractive, minimalist take on traditional messenger bags.

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Now Intrepid Bag Company has teamed up with the folks at Pad & Quill to introduce a new line of products. In keeping with their “go anywhere’ mindset, this new line of bags is called the Explorer line and features five great looking new products:

  • The Wayfarer Messenger – which appears to be a more robust Journeyman Messenger.
  • The Zinnia Convertible – a great take on a vertical-oriented messenger bag with a unique strap setup allowing it to also quickly and easily be carried backpack style.
  • The Tech Tool Roll – looks like a great organizer roll to keep all of the cords and wires for our wireless technology untangled and under control.
  • The Camera Strap – looks like a very comfortable, functional take on the traditional camera strap featuring a nice, wide padded strap and a great mounting system.
  • The Slim Wallet – should be attractive to those who prefer a minimalist approach to wallet carry (should be able to carry it in a front or back pocket with ease).
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Stephen & Tiffani, founders of Intrepid Bag Co, have turned to Kickstarter again to launch their Explorer product line. The designs appear to be very solid and given the nature of the materials used they will last for many, many years to come. Take a few minutes, check out their great looking Kickstarter and back their efforts. You’ll be rewarded with a great product!

Intrepid Bag Co. Journeyman Messenger Review – $369

It seems that today’s traveling is all about minimalism and finding a shoulder bag to not only take as a carry-on at the airport, but also a bag that you can walk with for a period of time that is not too heavy, cumbersome, or restricting.  The design of the Journeyman from Intrepid Bag Co. is purposely designed with the traveler, adventurer and minimalist in mind with its lighter-weight construction, fit, and function while maintaining a sleek and stylish appearance.

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CONSTRUCTION

A two-year-old company based out of San Francisco, Intrepid Bag Co. sells just 2 leather travel bags–one for him and one for her with underlining themes of travel, comfort, minimalism and quality.

The Journeyman features a rich dark brown, full grain latigo saddle leather that is very soft and flexible and requires virtually no break-in period.  The stitching is a marine-grade nylon thread.  A herringbone fabric lines the inside of the bag, pockets, and shoulder strap.  On the inside, the main compartment of the bag features a sewn-in 13-inch padded laptop sleeve with a leather pocket for an iPad or other accessory on the front.  Behind the laptop pocket, there is another slightly concealed pocket for items such as a passport or cellphone.

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 A leather/herringbone divider features a large pocket with a leather flap and closure, another cellphone sized pocket and three pen slots.  There are also two exterior pockets on both the front and the backside of the bag.  Being a messenger style bag, the bag’s lid is secured with two buckle closures made from a lightweight steel.  The shoulder strap is 2 inches wide and is reinforced with two steel rivets on each end. It can be adjusted for length with a free floating pad to tuck away the excess strap tail.

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FUNCTION

The dimensions of this bag are 15″ x 10″ x 3,” making it a smaller bag.  In the world of the minimalist, this may be a good thing.  Smaller bags force you to pack light and take along the very basics.  That being said, the bag can hold an 11-inch or 13-inch MacBook Air no problem.  A larger laptop may not fit in the designated laptop sleeve, not to mention with the power adapter and other electronic accessories.  With a laptop and a power cord, there really is not much room left in the bag.  A few additional books or magazines, a pair of sunglasses, a point and shoot digital camera and a passport wallet maxes out the space without the bag looking overstuffed and awkward when carried.

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The shoulder strap features a cross body design that holds the bag flat and firmly against one’s back as opposed to the side.  The bag also has a handle which is more tucked away in the back rather than directly on top of the bag.

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AESTHETIC

The leather on this bag is rich and will most likely take on a lot of character with wear.  A few scratches on mine already look great.  With a name like Journeyman, a piece that acquires scratch marks and a patina contributes to the bag’s journeys and stories.

As mentioned previously, this is a small bag.  While a thin laptop, a charger, and a few accessories can fit in the bag, there is not much room for more.  This may not be a great bag for briefcase items such as larger notebooks, folders, or books.  One may see this more as just a laptop bag with other every day carry items.

Empty, the bag weighs about 2 pounds.  With a 11-inch MacBook Air, charger, point and shoot camera, 2 small notebooks and a couple small accessories, it weighed about 9 pounds for me.  Anything more, I feel, would make the back bulky and heavy–thus defeating the purpose of the minimalist design.

I am 6’1″ and am about 180 pounds (on a good day), and the bag fits my frame well while only looking a tad small.  I have been using it almost every day for a week and I appreciate the size.

Having always worn a messenger bag hanging to my side, the design of the shoulder strap was awkward at first since it only allows you to have it sit snuggly against your back.  After wearing it a few times, I got used to it and it doesn’t feel like a burden when walking or riding a bike.  This is what this bag was meant for (hence the name).  Although it would be nice to have a different option with the shoulder strap (or even the option of removing it), it suites the theme and design of the bag quite well.

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Although the hardware on the bag is lightweight, it appears to be of lower quality than most other leather bags on the market.  I appreciate the lighter weight buckles, but I worry that they might not hold up getting banged around with travel and regular wear.

Another feature I thought was awkward was the handle.  The handle is behind the bag rather than on top and seems a tad flimsy.  After using it for a few days, I again realized that the handle being tucked back and hidden contributed to the minimalist design.  Having a bulkier handle directly on top would definitely stick out like a sore thumb.  Since one cannot carry a lot of heavy things in this small bag, I do not forsee any issues of the handle coming unstitched or ripping from the weight of the bag.

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Lastly, the herringbone fabric lining the leather is a nice touch and pads the contents of the bag very well.  Again, not being leather, I suspect it will wear thin and require extra attention to clean for it to stay in good shape.

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BESTLEATHER CONCLUSION

The Journeyman Messenger from Intrepid Bag Co. speaks to its name.  It is a smaller minimalist bag that is very comfortable to wear while walking long distances or even biking.  The bag comes with a 10 year warranty which also makes me wary of the quality, but after using it for a week, the bag seems pretty durable and reliable.  The price is what you would expect from a domestic made product with full grain leather and herringbone fabric.  Being a new company, I am curious to see what other consumers think of the Journeyman and what other products lie in store for Intrepid Bag Co.

Check it out here.