Ok, I know I am expanding the reading tools idea a bit much, but as my wife says, “he is a bag whore.”
I like just the right bag for how I am going to use it. For my ipad I was looking for a bag that was big enough for the ipad and a few essentials, but no bigger. I did not want a traditional messenger bag or backpack. I wanted some type of over the shoulder sling so I could just grab it and carry it around town. Most of the time I will grab it was I am running around town, taking my nieces to the park or store or other short trip.
I am a part time consultant/full time nanny. So I need to have access to my files and email all the time. If I am at the park or pool with the girls I want to have my ipad to I can answer questions or respond to problems quickly and get back to playing with my nieces.
The outside pocket is designed for a phone or mp3 player. I keep a pack of pocket tissues, a stick of sun screen and a wallet. You can see next to the tissues is a water resistant hole for headphones. The pocket is big enough that I can keep all three things in a single layer.
The center pocket is the largest. I keep my kindle (in an internal pocket) and the grid-it panel. The grid-it panel (right) is the best part of the bag. It uses a bunch of flat bungy cord to keep all your stuff in place. The main thing I do not like about the bag is that the grid-it panel is not larger. The pocket is large enough that you could have added about 2 inches to the width and about an inch or inch and a half to the hight. As it is I am thinking about getting a second panel because I think there is enough space in the center pocket to put two panels back to back. It is hard to see how much stuff that is holding, but as you can see on the picture on the left, it holds a lot.
I have two blackberry batteries, an extra battery for my clear spot. The software to load on the usb modem if I need it, a pen, a medicine bottle, a 4G usb modem and a microusb cord to charge or connect to my kindle or blackberry.
Then here are two more views of the inside the the middle pocket (at bottom of the post). There are some pen loops and a business card holder and a larger velcroed pocket. Then the large pocket, which will fit the grid-it panel, but I use to hold my kindle.
The third pocket is the ipad pocket. It is well cusioned. I turn it so the glass is into the rest of the case. There is not much extra room. I can fit my kindle in there if I need to (so it will take something a bit thicker than an ipad). But the demensions of the pocket are pretty much exactly the size of the ipad.
You can find this bag at cocoon innovations. But Amazon has the bag for $46.33, not including shipping. Amazon, as of this writing does not directly carry the bag, only through its third party sellers. So no free Prime shipping from Amazon as of now.
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Update: I liked the bag enough that I bought this camera bag for my wife. It is currently on sale for $49. I bought it before it went on sale.
Nice review, Adam!
I really like the look of the cocoon case, it’s cool and does the job.
I like the bag, but sometimes you need a smaller pouch type carry case when you just want the ipad on the go.