Base Camp Voyager 42L Duffle Bag

I feel its a pity this bag could be so so much better with very little. The backpack mode works poorly, the straps are stiched very close together at the neck area and they put a lot of pressure on it. They are also not wide, the bend, and you feel them very quickly. A tiny little stern strap would improve the backpack experience a lot with very very little. In addition, the backpack straps are stiched to the operable lid, which means the bag transfers the load to the straps through the zip. It does feel like a design flaw...That zip is under a lot of pressure. Not sure how long it will last. The side handles cannot be stowed away, and the laptop pouch is placed right against your back. You dont need to be an ergonomics expert to realize that once you fill the bag, the stiff laptop clashes against the natural curve of your back and hits your vertebra... I would put a laptop pouch anywhere but against my back. The build quality is rather poor compared to other lines of products... it feels not very durable, and its a bag with very little self supporting structure (which isnt bad per se, its lightweight) but it will look awkard and rather unaesthetic at times. You can tell its a water repellent fabric but if you ever find yourself in a true rain situation it will not cut it. Too many weak seams and joins for the water to circulate. I feel this product has too many design flaws, its meant to look very functional but I think it does not perform. It has a rather poor built quality only in exchange of many compartments, pockets and a poorly placed laptop pouch. All these things could have been far better designed, and we would all enjoy a far superior bag. In fact, a lot of this flaws are not present in the camp base duffle bag, which is much better built, but lacking the "bells and whistles". If you need the bag to go to the gym, or do one weekend trip it will do ok, if you want to rely on it for a longer trip, and have the certainty that you carry great gear... thats not the choice.