The bag arrived today. It is absolutely gorgeous! The photos really don't do it justice as to just how rich the color is. Even already having their medium bi fold wallet in dark coffee brown didn't prepare me for just how good what looks to be almost a full cow hide looks.
That said, Rockcrawler was correct. The large is HUGE! I'm just trying to decide now if it is too big and the medium is what I want or if I'm going to stick with the large.
Its not the length or width of the bag. Those feel just about perfect. However the 21" hight just wowed me. Picture a huge leather grocery sack. The inserts add some rigidness to the sides, but in my opinion aren't really needed. I like the loose bag feel. Its kinda like they were trying to give the bag some suitcase form as opposed to just letting it be a duffel bag.
To test it out, I took the inserts out. That still left a pigskin liner across the bottom of the bag.
I then packed:
2 pairs of jeans
2 pairs of cargo shorts
4 t-shirts
2 pairs of shoes
Minus some underwear, socks and toiletries a pretty good approximation of what I'd carry for a weekend away.
I barely scratched what this bag could hold. I couldn't strap it closed in a way that allowed me to use the built in handles without leaving a large airspace open in the bag. Basically unless I'm going to use it almost full, I don't see using those handles. However with what I put in it, it strapped closed plenty small enough to get under the United carry on limit by a decent margin. I could almost double what I put in there and stay inside the allowance. Then again, I've been able to push the envelope on that allowance for years without any problem so long as the bag fits in the overhead.
Going back to the height of the bag, at 21", you need an elbow to hold it open in order to pack items into the bottom. I can only imagine this need with increase as the bag breaks in and the leather softens up.
The length and width are perfect on this bag in this size in my opinion, its the height that makes me question reordering the smaller size. I like the flexibility the extra height offers but its a pound of extra weight to carry around when its not needed. The medium in 1 pound lighter without the liner and is 4 inches shorter in length and 3 inches shorter in height. That's 24 sq inches less leather. Makes sense that its a full pound lighter.
All that said, it is a damn good looking bag and in either size its a piece of luggage that'll turn heads and I'll be proud to own.
I'll edit this post shortly once I get the photos I took uploaded.
When full the duffel in front is full it is 12"x12"x 24". Its been my regular travel companion for some time, the waterbag is meant as its replacement.
This is my dark coffee wallet in contrast to the waterbag's dark coffee coloring. While they are definitely dyed the same color, the waterbag has some great marbling to the coloring of the leather.
It really is a GORGEOUS bag.
