Have a bag I’ve owned since middle school. Back up (my “personal item” for flying) is a few years old. Guess which one is starting to lose stitching on the straps
My old bag was pretty far gone when I finally replaced it, got a hole in the bottom corner. I’d been carrying it around daily for more than a decade, put everything in it.
Finally got a new Wirecutter-selected backpack. It has less volume, and is therefore inferior to the old one. So far, it’s held up. Been maybe a couple years?
30 year old Eastpak I bought when I was traveling extensively. Has a lifetime warranty. Eastpak seem to have made this one to last, avoiding warranty replacement costs. Unlike current products with a lifetime warranty which are made cheaply enough they can afford to replace the items several times under warranty and still turn up a profit (Autozone’s Duralast auto parts for example?) This old pack has probably over a hundred thousand miles on it and is still going strong.
In fact i just got back from a trip to Colorado where everything I needed for 6 days fit in it as free carry on on Frontier.
My daily bag to carry stuff back and forth to the ER (work) is a bright yellow Eastport bag that’s so old it doesn’t even have a laptop sleeve in it!
@chienfou I have this same bag. Probably got it from the same place.
I dragged this thing all over Europe last spring and it shows. The zipper on the main pouch only opens; no matter which direction I pull it never closes.
May be time to retire it. Sad, because it’s been a great bag!
PS: If anyone knows where or how to replace / repair the zipper, whisper me!
@chienfou This one is my daily to-and-from work backpack, so I’ve probably used it about 500 times so far since April 2019. The lunchbox I keep inside it is fourteen or fifteen years old.
@TrophyHusband Does neither pull work? (I think there are 2 on mine… I’d look but I’m at work and it isn’t with me…) You can try squeezing the zipper pull together with some pliers. Sometimes that will help (squeeze each side of the pull from “outside” to “inside” of the bag… i.e… both sides of the pull tab while it is all the way to one end or the other. )
@TrophyHusband I would definitely agree. I love this bag and use it for travel a lot.
My daily bag (the Eastpack from the local WM) is my back-and-forth to work bag for the past 10-15 years at least. It has all my stuff I keep for the ER like my stethoscope, battery packs, extra cables for EVERY conceivable phone (for patients that inevitably have their phone crap out while in the ER), extra pens, name badges, drink packets, Tums, Motrin etc. Safety glasses, hemostats, Band-aids, and so forth.
i used to empty it out to travel with it, but now the Dopp is my go-to bag for that.
For day-to-day stuff, a brown canvas messenger bag with the Ankh-Morpork City Watch emblem. My wife gave it to me a few Christmases back. For travel, a matching backpack (minus the emblem) I bought after my old one disintegrated at Sea-Tac.
I also have a small military surplus bag I bought in college that traveled with me for years. It’s almost solid souvenir patches now, but it’s just not big enough anymore. So it stays at home these days, but still gets a new patch after every trip.
I think y’all should find us a decent camera back pack. One for hiking that has a special camera compartments/ storage. Currently on the market the bags are cool but they want to break the bank. Boo.
@sheikbatman
I would especially be interested in a sling bag. I had one that I used until it started separating at the seams. It was great for my DSLR and accessories. You just slipped it around to the front to access the camera and lenses… I drug it all over, including climbing Huayna Picchu to get pics of Machu Picchu when I was shooting 35mm 20+ yrs ago
My daily bag is 6 years old Swissgear Scansmart 1900 (thank you ebags) and I just took it this summer to a seamstress that is a legit miracle worker. I also own several other bags for different purposes. If I had unlimited funds I would own hundreds of backpacks and watches. Ironically, I would probably become dissatisfied and opine for the days when I only had one of each and the familiarity with an accessory that I longed for…
@zinimusprime I’d have a lot of watches too because I like them; I actually have about ten or so, but then I only ever wear my good old black resin Casio G-Shock… its just right for any occasion.
@duodec I still have my old one that doesn’t work because my late grandfather bought it for me. I bought a metal solar powered G-Shock years later that I still have, but my daily driver is a Garmin 735xt. Long live the G-Shock.
I still have and do occasionally use the black jansport i got for freshmen year of HS (94-95), but my go to is one i got in an IRK sometime last year.(it almost went in a care pkg to my buddy’s brother stationed in korea, but it fit my laptop too well…)
My wife bought me an EBags briefcase/laptop case for Christmas 2013, still going strong with the only sign of wear being the velcro tabs are getting weak.
The go-to backpack is a Malice pack (US Military medium ALICE pack and frame with Molle belt, straps, and web gear adapted to it; a little heavy but comfortable and tough as hell.
A 10 or more year old patagonia one. Been repaired by me a number of times using sail mending ‘thread’, sail needle and palm (fixed a favorite pair of sandals that way too). Also burn raveling edges with a match to keep them from unraveling more. Inside water proofing layer is peeling at this point and not sure if I will recoat it or replace it. At the moment I am ignoring the problem.
Have a bag I’ve owned since middle school. Back up (my “personal item” for flying) is a few years old. Guess which one is starting to lose stitching on the straps
@simplersimon
The one you bought on Meh.com?
I have a bag that fit my laptop perfectly, and all its accessories (my portable office). No other bag can satisfy my office needs.
My old bag was pretty far gone when I finally replaced it, got a hole in the bottom corner. I’d been carrying it around daily for more than a decade, put everything in it.
Finally got a new Wirecutter-selected backpack. It has less volume, and is therefore inferior to the old one. So far, it’s held up. Been maybe a couple years?
30 year old Eastpak I bought when I was traveling extensively. Has a lifetime warranty. Eastpak seem to have made this one to last, avoiding warranty replacement costs. Unlike current products with a lifetime warranty which are made cheaply enough they can afford to replace the items several times under warranty and still turn up a profit (Autozone’s Duralast auto parts for example?) This old pack has probably over a hundred thousand miles on it and is still going strong.
For travel it’s this one
In fact i just got back from a trip to Colorado where everything I needed for 6 days fit in it as free carry on on Frontier.
My daily bag to carry stuff back and forth to the ER (work) is a bright yellow Eastport bag that’s so old it doesn’t even have a laptop sleeve in it!
@chienfou I have this same bag. Probably got it from the same place.
I dragged this thing all over Europe last spring and it shows. The zipper on the main pouch only opens; no matter which direction I pull it never closes.
May be time to retire it. Sad, because it’s been a great bag!
PS: If anyone knows where or how to replace / repair the zipper, whisper me!
@chienfou This one is my daily to-and-from work backpack, so I’ve probably used it about 500 times so far since April 2019. The lunchbox I keep inside it is fourteen or fifteen years old.
@TrophyHusband I drug mine all over central France shortly after I received it.
bag pic at CDG airport
@TrophyHusband Does neither pull work? (I think there are 2 on mine… I’d look but I’m at work and it isn’t with me…) You can try squeezing the zipper pull together with some pliers. Sometimes that will help (squeeze each side of the pull from “outside” to “inside” of the bag… i.e… both sides of the pull tab while it is all the way to one end or the other. )
@chienfou Yes; two pulls. If I use one of them it kinda-sorta works, occasionally popping open. If I use the other it doesn’t zip at all.
Need to pitch this bag or get it fixed. Hope I can do the latter, as this is one of the best bags I’ve ever owned, otherwise.
@TrophyHusband I would definitely agree. I love this bag and use it for travel a lot.
My daily bag (the Eastpack from the local WM) is my back-and-forth to work bag for the past 10-15 years at least. It has all my stuff I keep for the ER like my stethoscope, battery packs, extra cables for EVERY conceivable phone (for patients that inevitably have their phone crap out while in the ER), extra pens, name badges, drink packets, Tums, Motrin etc. Safety glasses, hemostats, Band-aids, and so forth.
i used to empty it out to travel with it, but now the Dopp is my go-to bag for that.
For day-to-day stuff, a brown canvas messenger bag with the Ankh-Morpork City Watch emblem. My wife gave it to me a few Christmases back. For travel, a matching backpack (minus the emblem) I bought after my old one disintegrated at Sea-Tac.
I also have a small military surplus bag I bought in college that traveled with me for years. It’s almost solid souvenir patches now, but it’s just not big enough anymore. So it stays at home these days, but still gets a new patch after every trip.
@dannybeans
SWMBO has a hard luggage bag, and getting a new sticker each trip is de rigeur
I don’t really use one…
My Computer bag is a Timbuk2 Messenger bag, which has always held up well, and is Guaranteed for life.
I’m currently using the M-Edge backpack from the last time they came around…
I think y’all should find us a decent camera back pack. One for hiking that has a special camera compartments/ storage. Currently on the market the bags are cool but they want to break the bank. Boo.
@sheikbatman
I would especially be interested in a sling bag. I had one that I used until it started separating at the seams. It was great for my DSLR and accessories. You just slipped it around to the front to access the camera and lenses… I drug it all over, including climbing Huayna Picchu to get pics of Machu Picchu when I was shooting 35mm 20+ yrs ago
My old bag is 50. But she’ll be 51 in January.
@cinoclav Is her stitching still intact too!?
@zinimusprime A little stretched out but she’s had a few things fixed up.
@cinoclav Those are the best ones because they’re all yours and you got tons of stories together!
@zinimusprime Usually, but I think it’s time to retire this one and get one with less miles on it.
@cinoclav @zinimusprime I can’t believe you wrote that!
Fewer miles.
It’s really not that hard.
@cinoclav @Limewater Never learned the difference, but I’m a stickler for the Oxford comma.
@Limewater
… or less milage
@chienfou @Limewater “mileage”
@Kyeh
/giphy facepalm
Because I’m not commuting to work, I can get by on my occasional trips outside with a small purse I bought a couple months ago.
My gym and commute bag is a year and a half old, and my non-gym commute bag is a good 10+ years old.
My daily bag is 6 years old Swissgear Scansmart 1900 (thank you ebags) and I just took it this summer to a seamstress that is a legit miracle worker. I also own several other bags for different purposes. If I had unlimited funds I would own hundreds of backpacks and watches. Ironically, I would probably become dissatisfied and opine for the days when I only had one of each and the familiarity with an accessory that I longed for…
@zinimusprime When I say several, I mean 10…
/giphy don’t judge me
@zinimusprime I’d have a lot of watches too because I like them; I actually have about ten or so, but then I only ever wear my good old black resin Casio G-Shock… its just right for any occasion.
@duodec I still have my old one that doesn’t work because my late grandfather bought it for me. I bought a metal solar powered G-Shock years later that I still have, but my daily driver is a Garmin 735xt. Long live the G-Shock.
I still have and do occasionally use the black jansport i got for freshmen year of HS (94-95), but my go to is one i got in an IRK sometime last year.(it almost went in a care pkg to my buddy’s brother stationed in korea, but it fit my laptop too well…)
My wife bought me an EBags briefcase/laptop case for Christmas 2013, still going strong with the only sign of wear being the velcro tabs are getting weak.
The go-to backpack is a Malice pack (US Military medium ALICE pack and frame with Molle belt, straps, and web gear adapted to it; a little heavy but comfortable and tough as hell.
My laptop case is a Logitech Kinetik that they sold back in 2008. They had a backpack version that I wish I could have got, but this thing is still a wonderful laptop case.
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-939-000032-Kinetik-15-4-Briefcase/dp/B000W00T9U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
A 10 or more year old patagonia one. Been repaired by me a number of times using sail mending ‘thread’, sail needle and palm (fixed a favorite pair of sandals that way too). Also burn raveling edges with a match to keep them from unraveling more. Inside water proofing layer is peeling at this point and not sure if I will recoat it or replace it. At the moment I am ignoring the problem.
@Kidsandliz
That is frequently my course of action for such things as well !