I've owned a Makers Bag in the past and felt it worked quite well (although I preferred the pilot at the time so sold it).
But I've found from lots of trials over time, is that a better single pocket design works for me (simpler is often better).
This aligns very nicely to the needs of a travel bag. When I travel, I want to take as little as possible, which means that each item taken needs to serve as many purposes as possible. E.g. In flight personal item needs to also function as daily bag at the location for entirely different needs.
I recently picked up two new to me Makers Bags, I couldn't decide on which colour I wanted to two deals came up at the same time. I have been using a 1050 black ballistic one for work, and a 1050 burnt orange ballistic as an EDC.
For Work:
This surprised me as it's really great as a work bag. Perhaps not quite as ‘professional’ looking (but few workplaces are as conservative as they used to be). For me it works better with a laptop when also needing to carry papers as the single larger space is completely flexible.
But it's real strength is the multitude of pockets in the front inside and front outside compartment. All my lose pens, cables, ID pass, photo, wallet etc were easily swallowed up. And best of all, don't seem to eat into the space in the main compartment at all. If any compliant could be had, the weight of the items do pull the front lip of the bag down a bit and make it look misshapen but that's minor. I imagine it would be worse in halcyon or the upcoming lighter 525 ballistic.
I used it recently on an international flight as a personal item. I was a little nervous as it doesn't zip up but actually I had little to be nervous about. The closure of the flap is very secure and relatively tight over the top of the bag. I didn't see any time where contents shifted or looked like they would fall out.
It easily fitted into the overhead (and could have gone under the seat). I use a Mars Red Side Kick as my in flight bag using double carribiners to hang it from the seat back. At risk of getting off topic, you can't easily do this with the new gatekeeper design on the Side Kick. I real design disappointment in my opinion.
The SK fits perfectly vertically in the MB on one side. One of the benefits of the single open pocket design.
Another of the benefits of the top flap ‘v’ a zip closure like on the Pilot, is that you can lay a sweater or jacket under the flap and secure it when walking through the airport. A really nice feature when you're trying to keep your hands free.
I also love the internal rear zip pocket which feels really secure as a pocket for passports and crucial travel documents. This frees up the front zip pockets for less critical but more readily accessible accessories.
I used it with a roll aboard and would have loved a luggage pass through on the rear but you can't have everything.
Personal use:
The Burnt Orange MB has just come back from a vacation in Thailand. In the day, it was a poolside bag, a camera bag for day trips and even a shopping bag.
I don't carry padded inserts (although camera pouches and caches will fit). I simply folded a scarf up in the bottom of the bag for padding. Which could also be used for many other things when travelling - serving more than one purpose.
At night it carried those few essentials like my camera out to dinner but in this case was just a little too big for that. I could have used the SK for this or I might get a PCSB for use as in flight bag and night time smaller carry.
Having a shoulder bag in a hot climate was really nice as no sweaty back although the standard shoulder strap caused some rubbing and sweat if I carried it for long periods of time.
Also I couldn't get the strap length right to carry cross body without the buckle needing to go ‘inside’ the floating shoulder pad or digging into my colour bone. At times a little uncomfortable. I use the absolute shoulder strap with my work MB because of the weight of the electronics and this would be more comfortable but cause more sweat also. A trade off to be considered.
It also served as my in flight personal item where again it did a great job. I flew economy upstairs in the back of an A380, the bins are much shallower there as the plane tapers and it was the perfect size to fit. A full size item would not have.
Should you buy one?
Probably. It's become my multi-purpose TB item and because of that it's a fantastic option. It could carry a 13 inch laptop or 12.9 inch iPad Pro if you needed larger electronics. The MB Freudian Slip is also a great option as it's one of the few FS’s with zip up pockets.
One of its great features is that it stands up on its own as it has a slight teardrop profile. I didn't realise just how useful this until using the bag daily either on my desk at work or when on vacation.
If the lack of zip concerns you, it's possible to also ‘pinch’ the open top with a 8 inch keystrap so that the top flap completely closes over it allowing very little access in or out.
For those who really want to one bag travel, you can also flat pack a MB in a Western Flyer or Tristar and just transfer the strap over to it when you get there.
The clue is in its name. The Makers Bag. You make what you want of it, it can be what you need it to be. It's a bag I expect to still be using many years from now.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
But I've found from lots of trials over time, is that a better single pocket design works for me (simpler is often better).
This aligns very nicely to the needs of a travel bag. When I travel, I want to take as little as possible, which means that each item taken needs to serve as many purposes as possible. E.g. In flight personal item needs to also function as daily bag at the location for entirely different needs.
I recently picked up two new to me Makers Bags, I couldn't decide on which colour I wanted to two deals came up at the same time. I have been using a 1050 black ballistic one for work, and a 1050 burnt orange ballistic as an EDC.
For Work:
This surprised me as it's really great as a work bag. Perhaps not quite as ‘professional’ looking (but few workplaces are as conservative as they used to be). For me it works better with a laptop when also needing to carry papers as the single larger space is completely flexible.
But it's real strength is the multitude of pockets in the front inside and front outside compartment. All my lose pens, cables, ID pass, photo, wallet etc were easily swallowed up. And best of all, don't seem to eat into the space in the main compartment at all. If any compliant could be had, the weight of the items do pull the front lip of the bag down a bit and make it look misshapen but that's minor. I imagine it would be worse in halcyon or the upcoming lighter 525 ballistic.
I used it recently on an international flight as a personal item. I was a little nervous as it doesn't zip up but actually I had little to be nervous about. The closure of the flap is very secure and relatively tight over the top of the bag. I didn't see any time where contents shifted or looked like they would fall out.
It easily fitted into the overhead (and could have gone under the seat). I use a Mars Red Side Kick as my in flight bag using double carribiners to hang it from the seat back. At risk of getting off topic, you can't easily do this with the new gatekeeper design on the Side Kick. I real design disappointment in my opinion.
The SK fits perfectly vertically in the MB on one side. One of the benefits of the single open pocket design.
Another of the benefits of the top flap ‘v’ a zip closure like on the Pilot, is that you can lay a sweater or jacket under the flap and secure it when walking through the airport. A really nice feature when you're trying to keep your hands free.
I also love the internal rear zip pocket which feels really secure as a pocket for passports and crucial travel documents. This frees up the front zip pockets for less critical but more readily accessible accessories.
I used it with a roll aboard and would have loved a luggage pass through on the rear but you can't have everything.
Personal use:
The Burnt Orange MB has just come back from a vacation in Thailand. In the day, it was a poolside bag, a camera bag for day trips and even a shopping bag.
I don't carry padded inserts (although camera pouches and caches will fit). I simply folded a scarf up in the bottom of the bag for padding. Which could also be used for many other things when travelling - serving more than one purpose.
At night it carried those few essentials like my camera out to dinner but in this case was just a little too big for that. I could have used the SK for this or I might get a PCSB for use as in flight bag and night time smaller carry.
Having a shoulder bag in a hot climate was really nice as no sweaty back although the standard shoulder strap caused some rubbing and sweat if I carried it for long periods of time.
Also I couldn't get the strap length right to carry cross body without the buckle needing to go ‘inside’ the floating shoulder pad or digging into my colour bone. At times a little uncomfortable. I use the absolute shoulder strap with my work MB because of the weight of the electronics and this would be more comfortable but cause more sweat also. A trade off to be considered.
It also served as my in flight personal item where again it did a great job. I flew economy upstairs in the back of an A380, the bins are much shallower there as the plane tapers and it was the perfect size to fit. A full size item would not have.
Should you buy one?
Probably. It's become my multi-purpose TB item and because of that it's a fantastic option. It could carry a 13 inch laptop or 12.9 inch iPad Pro if you needed larger electronics. The MB Freudian Slip is also a great option as it's one of the few FS’s with zip up pockets.
One of its great features is that it stands up on its own as it has a slight teardrop profile. I didn't realise just how useful this until using the bag daily either on my desk at work or when on vacation.
If the lack of zip concerns you, it's possible to also ‘pinch’ the open top with a 8 inch keystrap so that the top flap completely closes over it allowing very little access in or out.
For those who really want to one bag travel, you can also flat pack a MB in a Western Flyer or Tristar and just transfer the strap over to it when you get there.
The clue is in its name. The Makers Bag. You make what you want of it, it can be what you need it to be. It's a bag I expect to still be using many years from now.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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