Am I doing something wrong? LCB + 13"MBP

[earth5]

My LCB came in the mail today and I was so excited! Until I tried to fit everything in =/. I also got the 6Z vertical cache for my 13" MBP. I put the laptop in the cache, put the cache in the bag, and then became sad.

(1) The laptop does not fit in the bag. Technically, the laptop's too tall. While yes, I _can_ close the lid (barely), the edges of the lid flap flips/curls up at the straps in a visually unpleasant way (lots of Steel interior showing). It also lets me look down into the bag and see the contents. Now, if I stuff in my lunch tupperware, water bottle, and windbreaker, I can't see down inside the bag as well (better), but the flap still flips up on itself at the straps (bad).

(2) [Using the Q-AM strap] To use the waist straps, I'm practically wearing the bag like a backpack, which then makes the shoulder strap way to short to wear without the waist straps later (practically under my armpit, just barely enough room to swing the bag around from back to front. If I put the shoulder strap comfortable without the waist strap and try instead to use 1/2 the waist strap as the third-leg, it ends up being a weird "V" where it's more a waist strap than a sternum strap. If I use it as a sternum strap and have both straps comfortable, I go back to the issue of having the straps so short the bag ends up under my armpit and I can barely swing it around. Nevermind the contortion that happens trying to take the bag off.

Now, if I take the laptop out, #2 goes away because the bag is so much lighter. I like the slouchiness of it, and it conforms well. I just don't think it's doing well as a bag to bike commute a laptop around in, which is my main purpose for this bag.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I have gone with the Absolute strap? I'm really very disappointed at the moment.

Now, the padded organizer bag I'm happy with. Fits my camera great! I thought I'd ordered a cork wallet pouch too, but the invoice says I didn't. That does make me more sad. So some of my sadness over the bag could be from that, but I don't think so.

Ideas? Suggestions?

[darbs]

I don't have a MBP so I can't give you an exact answer, but I'm guessing your laptop is just too big for the LCB. If you look at the measurements for the LCB versus the Ristretto for your laptop, the LCB is 2.5 inches shorter and 1.75 inches narrower. You can even see in the available options for the LCB, the cache for your laptop isn't an option. Add the cache to your laptop and it just doesn't fit in the bag, especially with other stuff. You might want to consider returning it and getting the Ristretto or maybe even the Imago. I know it was one of your initial choices and it is also designed to hold your laptop since it is a little larger than the LCB. Unfortunately, buying bags can be a lot of trial and error.

I'm confused about the Q-AM. Did you order waist straps in addition to the Q-AM strap? Or are you just referring to the strap that comes with the Q-AM, not actual waist straps? If you look at pictures with the Q-AM, it definitely rides high like a backpack. True messenger style bags meant to be used when riding a bike are supposed to ride high and tight so that they don't move around at all while you are riding. True waist straps and an Absolute strap might better fit your needs if you don't like how high that bag rides.

It might be worth it for you to call customer service and talk with them. They can let you know if you are wearing the bag correctly first and then maybe make some suggestions of quick fixes you could do at home to help it work better for you.

Can you take pictures of you wearing the bag? Maybe that could help us figure out what is wrong.

[pretzelb]

I don't have the LCB or a MBP but I do have an Imago with the Q-AM strap. I would like to help but I don't understand how you are having issues with the Q-AM. With my Imago I use the Q-AM in 3 modes.

First, the Q-AM is loose and it works just like a shoulder strap. The bag sits loosely on my hip and can flop around. When walking slowly and not moving around much this is fine. I can also get to the bag fairly easily.

Second, the Q-AM is cinched and the bag is pulled to my back. To me this is the primary reason to have the Q-AM. The bag will no longer flop around. It sits pretty snug to my back. In a pinch I can still get to my bag and open it but it will be up on my chest instead of down by my hip, almost like I'm Mr Magoo and I can't see anything unless it's right under my nose. Of course I can always just release the strap to fix that if I want. But if I just want to do something quick like grab a bag to clean up after the dogs I don't bother.

Third, the same as #2 but with the waist straps. This is really when I don't want the bag to move. Mostly it's not needed. The waist straps aren't really at my waist anymore but you can't have the bag on your back and the waist straps on your waist - it's just physically impossible. I rarely use this method. In fact most times I forget I have the waist straps.

HTH.

[tCook]

On the LCB product page, the two Caches offered are the Air11 and the iPad cache. Was there another mention that the 6Z Vertical would fit in the LCB?

[earth5]

Apologies as I go in reverse order. Very tired =) Also, thank you to everyone, as you've helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. After everyone's glowing reviews of the bag, I knew it had to be something I was doing wrong (like not realizing a pair of hiking boots would be perfect if you'd just do a heel-lock lacing). I liked the bag much more this morning when I messed with it after reading some comments before I had to run to class and leave it at home. Still fiddling with it. It's amazing how much will fit. I only have it half-filled with my minimum EDC for school (laptop, lunch, water bottle, pens, handouts from the day) and I'm sitting at 11 lbs. *sigh*

@tCook: I got the impression from the forums, where I had seen it mentioned a few times, that you could fit a 13" MBP in a LCB. You're right that I don't remember the cache being mentioned. If I remove the cache the laptop fits much (significantly) better. Interestingly enough, I CAN fit the MBP horizontally (even with the cache), but I don't recommend it (you lose a lot of depth to gain the width). Which is when I realized the flap was flipping because of uneven distribution inside the bag. I had been putting the MBP vertically against one edge and then loading a test tupperware and water bottle in front of it. When I put the water bottle next to the vertical MBP so that they're both creating the "back row" the flipping diminishes greatly, and the flap closes much more evenly.

@pretzlb: My issue was that when I cinched it down the bag to where it as comfortable, the bag was at backpack height to the point I couldn't swing it around to the front and access it easily. Stupid boobs would get in the way. I looked at it some more this morning with fresh eyes (after reading Darb's comment), and realized that there's adjustments that can be made on the straps at the bag separate from the quick-release mechanism. You're right, having the 2nd strap of the waist strap on is pretty worthless with the Q-AM.

@darbs: I realized this morning that I had consistently misread the dimensions between the two bags. Well, not misread and much as put them in the wrong order. I was thinking 13" width 12" tall, not vice-versa (which you'd think I would have realized when comparing to the Ristretto instead of flipping them). I'm a goof. Per your suggestion on additional adjustments is when I found the strap adjustments I already mentioned. Shortening the straps there on the "back" side of the bag helped tremendously to get the weight better distributed and not requiring as much cinching to get the load centered. Thank you so much for the suggestion! And yes, I was referring to the waist straps that came with the LCB. I was simply using the left one as the "third-leg".