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We've purchased and tested 35 unique messenger bags since 2014 in our quest for the best. We bought eight of the leading products available today for our comprehensive, side-by-side testing. Messenger bags have come a long way from the original powerline workers' tool bag, but the countless versions today should nonetheless be highly functional and versatile. Our testers wore them on foot, bike, and while riding public transit to see and feel firsthand how each performed. Whether you're looking for a classy bag for the office or a gear-toting bike companion, we've tested each contender for quality, durability, and design to better help you choose the right luggage for the job.
Our team of well-traveled review experts have also tested the best travel bags and backpacks on the market. If a messenger bag isn't your style, we also have an in-depth review covering our favorite daypacks.
Editor's Note: Our messenger bag review was updated on November 13, 2024 to add a section on how we tested these bags and to add more recommendations into our award section on alternative bags we like.
Waterproof laptop sleeve, weather-resistant, great features, ambidextrous, brightly colored interior
Rugged, weather-proof, stylish, comfortable
Affordable, durable, weather-resistant, simple but functional organization features, customizable
Comfortable, compact, intuitive design, easy on/off, reflective panel for higher visibility at night
Great organization, weather-proof, ideal for photographers, left or right shoulder carry, mounts easily onto luggage trolley handle
Inexpensive, internal organization pockets, padding on laptop sleeve
Compact size is easy for fast commutes, water resistant with zippered flap over main compartment
Cons
Heavy, spendy, laptop zipper not waterproof
Exterior water bottle pocket is small, shoulder padding can get bunched up, tips over easily when set down
No padded laptop compartment, cargo pockets don't perfectly accommodate a U-lock
Left-shoulder carry only, minimal protection for laptop, shoulder strap is somewhat finicky
Heavy for the volume, not ideal for carrying a laptop, could use more storage slots in front pocket
Expensive, tricky latch system, average comfort, not ideal for bike commuting
Not comfortable slung over the back, material isn't the best
Difficult to adjust shoulder strap, inconvenient pocket layout
Bottom Line
This tech-savvy, spacious, weatherproof, and comfortable messenger bag features ample pockets and can accommodate up to a 17" laptop
This is a highly impressive ambidextrous bag with excellent features and bomber weatherproofing
A comfortable, weather-proof, and rugged messenger bag with an attractive aesthetic and just enough pockets to organize your gear
This durable, weather-resistant, and simple bag is thoughtfully designed with great pockets and reasonable comfort, all at an affordable price
A compact and comfortable bag for carrying your daily essentials, featuring a seatbelt buckle for easy on and off and a reflective panel for increased visibility
A feature-rich, weather-proof, and durable daily messenger ideal for carrying electronics or camera equipment
This compact bag is ideal for the occasional user or those on a tight budget, but lacks the same quality and performance as higher-priced models
This small bag is okay if you're looking to travel light, but there are options we liked more
The Buran III is a tech-centered take on Chrome's classic weatherproof messenger bag. It is designed with an emphasis on ease of use, comfort, and rugged durability. It has one of Chrome's iconic seatbelt buckles for easy on and off and an easily accessible pocket for your U-lock under the front flap. The fabric is weatherproof with a tarpaulin-lined 1050d fabric on the exterior and a second layer of tarpaulin inside of that. This is essentially a bag within a bag, giving you extra weatherproofing for big rainstorms or extra storage for your sweaty gym clothes — depending on your climate and lifestyle. The pockets and storage are well-conceived and easy to use. The shoulder strap is ambidextrous for left or right shoulder carry, and the padding is generous, making the bag comfortable on and off the bike. The padded laptop pocket can accommodate up to a 17" naked laptop, the biggest in our review.
Our gripes with the Buran III were few, and some people may find them inconsequential. It's heavier than most other bags we tested, but it's so comfortable and easy to use that it doesn't feel heavy while wearing. The padded laptop pocket is on the back of the bag, and there is a burly hood on the zipper, but the zipper is not waterproof. This likely won't be an issue since your computer will be protected by the rest of your bag (as well as your back), but it still seems like an oversight. If you live in a wet climate and want some extra peace of mind, we recommend the water-resistant Timbuk2 Especial Stash, which has a fully waterproof laptop compartment. Our last bone to pick with the Buran III is that it's pretty pricey, but we think the design quality is worth it. If you're a tech professional, student, or urban user of an e-bike for commuting, we think you'll appreciate this rugged and well-conceived bag for moving your gear around town.
Not everyone's commute is the same every single day. If you bike to work some days, walk others, and drive the rest of the time, the Timbuk2 Classic may be a brilliant choice. It's great for those who like the option of carrying their belongings on one shoulder for short distances or cinching everything up securely across the body for longer trips. The straps are easy to use, the pocket options are numerous, and the robust material is water-resistant. We particularly liked the internal water bottle pockets to help keep bottles and mugs upright. This bag is offered in four different sizes, all at very reasonable price points. Tried and true, it's been around for decades for a reason. As a bonus, it comes in lots of fun colors, and for a little extra cash, it is fully customizable.
The serious bike commuter will notice that the Timbuk2 Classic isn't as ergonomic for cycling. Though still quite comfortable, it doesn't hug the body as tightly or aerodynamically as some other options we tested like the Tumbuk2 Especial Stash. The Classic lacks outside pockets, so accessing your gear requires getting under the main flap. The laptop compartment padding is extremely minimal, so some mindfulness is required when handling it. If you don't need to carry a laptop frequently, the Chrome Kadet Sling is another affordable sling. Unlike some messenger bags we tested, this one is optimized for left-shoulder-only carry, so lefties might want to request a custom right-shoulder bag — which Timbuk2 can accommodate. If simple, straightforward, and affordable are critical points in your decision-making process, this is a solid contender.
The Oiwas 15.6" Laptop messenger bag is a great option if you're looking to spend a minimal amount on a bag or you're simply not sure if the messenger bag is the style you want. Side note — check out our recommendations for buying a messenger bag if that latter option sounds like you. This bag clocks in at a fraction of the price of other bags in our lineup and performs well above its price. It is reasonably comfortable for your morning commute and has some internal organization features like dual bottle pockets that we're quite fond of. It can also be worn on either side of your body.
Opposite of other models we tested, if you like to carry your bag on your back, cross-body style, this bag isn't ideal. Bike commuters take note that carrying this bag over one shoulder by the side is much more comfortable. We liked most of the organization features, but some pockets didn't seem super useful. Moreover, this wasn't the easiest option to put on, take off, or adjust the strap size. Yet, given the price, this bag is a great option if you only need a messenger bag for occasional use. Other small options that are ideal for occasional use are the Kadet Sling and Matein 15.6" Laptop.
The Oiwas is a budget friendly bag that can still easily carry and organize your commuting essentials.
Tapered shape causes it to fall over easily when set down
Shoulder padding can bunch up
The Timbuk2 Especial Stash is a comfortable, lightweight, and highly functional messenger bag. It is an excellent choice if you are in the market for a water-resistant bag designed for biking with electronics. A waterproof laptop compartment means you can forge ahead with confidence that your gear is protected even when the skies open up. We found that the brightly-colored interior makes it easy to find items, and the pockets are well-designed without being excessive. An ambidextrous strap and magnetic buckles, which one can operate single-handed, make this bag user-friendly and efficient to carry. Thoughtful features like an external water bottle pocket and plentiful accessory loops mean your essentials are never hard to access.
The Stash might not be the best pick if you like to carry your bag on one shoulder while walking (as opposed to cross-body). This bag is optimized for commuters who prefer a more traditional messenger design intended to hug the back snugly while zipping through town on a bike or a scooter. Also, the tapered shape isn't as conducive to sitting upright when set down on the ground. Since it lacks velcro, you must clip the magnetic buckles every time to secure the front flap (though you won't have to make a loud ripping sound every time you reach inside). Downsides aside, if you value durability and weather resistance in a bike-friendly design that provides some of the best protection for your electronics, this is the one for you.
Cargo pockets don't perfectly accommodate a U-lock
Shoulder strap is not ambidextrous
The Mission Workshop Monty is a great weatherproof messenger bag with quality construction and intuitive design. It has just enough pockets for easy organization without unnecessary extra storage features. The body-hugging design and vertical orientation of the bag are optimized for bike commuting, but it is also comfortable to wear while walking or using public transit. You can use it in the traditional flap-down mode or close the bag with the roll-top configuration for more space. The laptop pocket is fully waterproof and can accommodate a 15" laptop, and its flap-down closure provides an extra layer of security. The burly 1000d fabric and weatherproof liner make this bag a great option for anyone who's tough on their gear and needs protection from inclement weather.
Though well-designed, the Monty has some downsides. First, the laptop compartment lacks padding. You can work around this issue by using a laptop sleeve, but that will require storing your computer in the bag's main compartment. Check out the Chrome Buran III if you need more laptop padding or plan to accommodate a large laptop. The cargo pockets are the perfect size for a mini U-lock, but the flap is too tight for a perfect seal over the lock (we used an old mini ABUS U-lock), causing the flap to close asymmetrically over the top. It's not a deal-breaker, but a bit clunky for an otherwise flawless bag. We wish the shoulder strap were ambidextrous rather than designed for right-handed users. Lastly, this bag falls a little short on organizational features and pockets compared to other bags we tested. Despite the downsides, this made-in-the-USA bag is perfect for the minimalist bike commuter searching for a durably crafted and weatherproof messenger bag.
Peak Design is a company that prides itself on designing user-friendly products for carrying camera equipment and electronics with ease. The Everyday Messenger is no exception. This feature-rich bag has ambidextrous carrying capacities and provides great organization for camera equipment and other electronics. It is weather-resistant (though not waterproof), mounts easily onto the trolley handle of wheeled luggage for travel, and sits upright for easy access to your gear. For the right person or photographer, this bag is an exceptional option.
Some of the features of the Everyday Messenger seem over-designed, and there is a learning curve to figuring out how to sort all your gear in the bag. For an average commuter — rather than a photographer — some of the storage features will be superfluous. The patented MagLatch closure system is a bit tricky to use, and while it is silent compared to Velcro, it takes some time to get used to it. This bag is not ideal for bike commuting and provides somewhat average comfort for regular use, but for someone who needs well-conceived features for carrying camera equipment or myriad electronic components, this beautiful bag is ideal.
The Peak Designs Everyday Messenger bag has multiple padded organizational dividers and pockets great for storing electronics and camera equipment.
Credit: Jared Ross
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For those dreamy evening commutes, the Buran is a great companion - it has enough space for everything you need and is comfortable enough to carry it well.
Credit: Jared Ross
How We Test Messenger Bags
We started our review process with inquisitive conversations with our bike-commuting friends to determine the essential elements of a functional messenger bag. Then, we logged many hours of online research and made an initial cut down to 60 potential bags to test. We selected the most popular – and most promising – to test side-by-side for this review. We categorized the most important messenger bag performance features into a series of rating metrics and developed a specific testing protocol for each one. For example, we tested our Packing and Organization metric by subjecting each bag to an identical “test load.” With all our bags in hand, we loaded them to the gills and commuted all over – on folding electric bikes, on foot, and by public transit – to put these bags to the test.
We assessed five performance metrics in our messenger bag testing:
Comfort (30% of overall score weighting)
Packing & Organization (30% weighting)
Electronics (15% weighting)
Ease of Use (15% weighting)
Construction Quality (10% weighting)
Why Trust GearLab
The masterminds behind this review are Mary Witlacil, Penney Garrett, and Hale Milano . Mary is a lifelong bike commuter who has lived without a car for over a decade. She is working on her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University, so she is no stranger to riding her bicycle in inclement weather while commuting to class. Outside of school, she spends the majority of her time climbing alpine granite and sandstone splitters in the desert. Penney is a certified nutritionist, clinical herbalist, and trained botanist, so she has spent many years commuting — both on a bike and by foot — with books, papers, electronics, and random plant specimens. She lives in Tahoe, where she rock climbs, hikes, bikes, practices yoga, and cooks a whole lot. Hale has traveled for work full time carrying the full suite of conference room necessities such as laptops, books, speakers, & snacks, and is well versed in what type of travel gear can make a car or plane commute more comfortable.
The Buran will carry a ton of gear, with all sorts of hidden pockets to stash your wallet or keys for easy access, when the rest of your bag is bursting at the seams.
The MagLatch closure on the Everyday Messenger uses a magnetic clasp to snap into place, and it doubles as a bottle opener at the end of the day.
The Kadet Sling is a perfect bag for reading books at your favorite coffee shop.
We put each of the bags in our lineup through the paces, testing every flap, zipper, pocket, and strap to determine the best for your needs.
Analysis and Test Results
The modern messenger bag has evolved dramatically from the original 1950s design. Initially, powerline workers needed a durable bag to keep their heavy, bulky, and awkward tools easily accessible while climbing utility poles. This type of design later caught on among bicycle messengers and became a classic style that lives on in models from companies like Timbuk2, Chrome, and Mission Workshop.
Messenger bags ideal for cycling are easy to swing around to your front, so you can easily access your essentials on the fly.
Credit: Jared Ross
To honor the history of the messenger, we decided it was appropriate to rank both Comfort and Packing and Organization as our two most important performance metrics. Electronics, Ease of Use, and Construction Quality comprise the rest of our testing criteria. We focused on ensuring that our testing process and subsequent review retained the spirit of the original messenger bag design while keeping a modern context in mind. The result is a diverse selection of options that are excellent — in different ways — for carrying your tools comfortably and safely around town and beyond.
What's the Best Value?
We take several months to test each of these bags. This extended testing period allows us to spend quality time with each product and fully evaluate its performance. We dig into the nitty-gritty details of every bag to produce a comprehensive review, with the hope that it inspires confidence in your buying decision. We always pay attention to how performance relates to cost. If you're looking for an outstanding bag with a ton of features, perhaps you're okay with paying more for it. However, if funds are tight, you may be looking for a better balance of performance and affordability.
The Timbuk2 Classic earns high marks across each of our performance metrics and has a more reasonable price tag than many other bags in our review. Alternatively, if you don't need a bag with a large volume, the Chrome Kadet Sling is a smaller bag that earns respectable overall scores and fetches a lower price than most.
This bag is pretty versatile and has sufficiently useful pockets, though we do wish it featured a bit more padding for comfort.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Oiwas bag is another great value option. Though its performance lacks the same results as some of the other bags in our lineup, the price is exponentially less than others. If you're on a tight budget or simply have the occasional need for a messenger bag, this is a great option to consider.
The Oiwas works great for a quick trip into the office, packing the essentials with ease, but lacking any extra features.
Credit: Hale Milano
Comfort
The classic messenger bag design is a close-fitting shoulder bag that easily swings around to the front of the body and has a stabilizing strap to keep it secure while you're moving. This design provided powerline workers with easy access to their tools and, in more modern times, became a popular design for bike messengers. The shoulder straps have widened over the years to increase comfort for single-shoulder carrying. With improved backpack designs, however, bike commuters often opt for two shoulder straps instead of just one. Backpacks don't swing around to the front quite as quickly as messenger bags, but if you're just making one or two stops and you don't need to grab things from your bag super quickly, it is likely a more comfortable option.
To keep up with the shifting needs of urban commuters, more and more bag companies offer backpacks, casual briefcases, or eclectic messenger hybrids. The classic messenger style is less popular than it once was, but the benefit of this is that most of the options that remain tend to be well-executed and thoughtfully designed. To assess the comfort of each model in our review, we took each bag out for various trips, focusing on all manner of activities. Each bag has a setting in which it's most appropriate, and we made sure to use it in that application — and, of course, we took a bike ride with every model to see how it fared on a bicycle as well. As we biked, we took notes of the carrying comfort of various load types and weights. We also made sure to max out every bag and report on its optimum load size and the tipping point when the bag became unwieldy or uncomfortable.
In our initial rounds of testing, we asked a few essential questions: how does this bag feel on the back and shoulders? How is the padding? And most importantly, how does it handle various load types and weights? After that, we assessed each model's design features and considered whether they helped or hindered overall comfort.
No surprise, a bag's strap design factors heavily when considering comfort. Companies are increasingly creative with improving the feel of shoulder straps, but comfy straps aren't necessarily the whole story. The way a bag rests on your back and how closely it sits to your body are also very important; the Chrome Buran III and Chrome Kadet Sling are all excellent examples of this.
The padded shoulder strap, retaining strap, and buckle make the Buran both comfortable and easy to wear.
Credit: Hale Milano
The Buran III also features ambidextrous shoulder straps, so lefties can catch a break without breaking the bank for a custom bag. The Buran also has ample padding on the shoulder straps, and the cross-body strap guarantees a stable and secure fit while riding your bike or just walking around.
The Buran III has a long shoulder strap and carries decently well in both cross-body, and vertical positions, although bags that are less ideal for cycling can be more comfortable in the latter orientation.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Timbuk2 Especial Stash has an ergonomic fit, good padding, and lots of easy adjustment options. It is another bag optimized for bike commuting in that it sits vertically in the middle of the back rather than riding low along the waistline.
The Stash is comfortable on the move, owing to the more vertical orientation of the bag, which is optimized for bike commuting.
Credit: Jared Ross
If you prefer the comfort of a less bike-specific shape, then the Timbuk2 Classic or the Peak Design Everyday Messenger are both excellent options. These bags sit horizontally on your back and are more rectangular, with less tapering near the base of the bag. The shoulder strap is more conducive to a casual one-shoulder carry because it is not aggressively angled, and the padding can be centered on the strap for however you prefer to carry it. These bags can work great for cycling, too, but they do sit lower on the back, so they tend to be less comfortable on a bike. Much of this is a personal preference, but if you spend more time walking around than biking, ergonomic considerations such as these are essential to consider.
The Classic sits slightly more horizontally on the back than the bike-commuting specific bag. Making this bag a great option for both cycling and walking around town.
Credit: Jared Ross
A sling bag can be great for those who prefer a smaller, tighter package on their back, and the Chrome Kadet Sling fills that role. The Kadet Sling delivers classic Chrome comfort across the shoulder and has their iconic seatbelt buckle for easily taking the bag on and off. Another compact bag is the Oiwas. Its small size makes it comfortable for walking, though it's more comfortable carried over one shoulder versus across the back, given its lack of padding.
The Kadet Sling has ample shoulder padding, and an ergonomic design, making for an impressively comfortable bag on or off the bike.
Credit: Jared Ross
Packing & Organization
A high-quality messenger bag should improve and support daily commuting with a broad array of attributes: comfort, of course, but also an ability to hold, secure, and facilitate easy access to the items inside. To be effective, a bag needs to address diverse circumstances that may change from one day to the next. A bag's storage design also needs to be efficient. No one wants to be weighed down or hindered by their gear or daily essentials; we all want a bag that allows us to feel free and nimble. A well-designed bag will enable straightforward organization without the user having to overthink anything.
The Especial Stash offers an assortment of great features for easy and intuitive packing, including a brightly colored interior for added visibility. A large zippered external pocket with a key clip is great for fast access to essentials, and the inside offers just the right amount of options for electronics and small items without going overboard. There's also a mesh water bottle pocket and multiple webbing options for bike lights or other small accessories on the outside of this highly weather-resistant bag.
Multiple pockets of various sizes has great potential for organization, especially if you have a lot to carry. We also enjoy this bright color of the inside, making it easier to see what we're looking for.
Credit: Penney Garrett
Coming in at a close second is the Buran III. This messenger bag has a sufficient number of pockets to stash your essentials without encumbering you with surplus features. Underneath the flap is a dedicated, easily accessible U-lock pocket, allowing you to lock your bike swiftly. Additionally, you'll find slots for travel mugs and water bottles, electronic cord storage, and zippered pockets to secure your wallet and phone.
The Buran III has one of the best cargo pockets for stashing a mini-u-lock, which makes it easy to lock up your bicycle after your ride.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Mission Workshop Monty and the Peak Design Everyday Messenger performed well in this category for opposite reasons. The Monty is simple, straightforward, and intuitive. The storage features are minimalistic, so you don't have to sweat over where you're going to store all your bits and bobs. On the flip side, the Everyday Messenger has a plethora of pockets, slots, and storage options. There are internal dividers that velcro in place to separate your camera body from lenses or to organize your lunch and beverages. It has a key leash on a shock cord with a removable key fob, so you always know where to find your key, and large and small zippered pockets and slots of all varieties. It is an ace for organization if you prefer a bag with countless compartments to house all your essentials.
Among the many storage features in the Everyday Messenger, there is a zippered pocket with slots for camera batteries and memory cards. A well-organized photographer's dream come true.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Timbuk2 Classic and the Oiwas have very similar designs, even among the niche messenger bag lineup. Both of these bags fit our full test packing load with ease, though the Timbuk2 had a little extra room in the bag and extra room with the straps to cinch down over really large loads. The internal pocket layout is also similar, with dual bottle holders on the interior. These pockets are a little on the small side but work well for narrow bottles. We give the nod to the Timbuk2 as the material is more robust and less slippery, helping to keep things organized.
The Classic is a workhorse bag that can fit all the gear our test team needed with ease.
The Timbuk2 (Left) and Oiwas (Right) have very similar interior designs that were fine for packing up our laptop and coffee to head to the office.
Electronics
Back in the 80s, when these bags started to take off among bicycle messengers, no one was toting around notebook-sized computers, small space-age touchscreen gadgets, or tiny cell phones. Today, however, things have changed dramatically, and most manufacturers have evolved with the times to fit people's needs. The majority of models in this review have kept true to the spirit of the original messenger — that is, allow easy access to one's tools. Most of our top-scoring bags include padded laptop sleeves and pockets that are useful for cords and tablets because, let's face it, electronics are the tools of this era.
The Especial Stash takes top marks here again. This bag has a padded and fully waterproof laptop compartment. The sleeve is closed via a zipper covered by a thick protective flap and fits up to a 15" computer. If you don't need to use the waterproof sleeve, your laptop will also fit just in front of that in a second padded area, and there are useful pockets for cords and various accessories. Not only is the laptop area waterproof, but the entire bag is also highly impervious to water. We sprayed every bag with a garden hose, and the Stash stayed bone-dry inside.
The Stash has two padded electronics pockets - one is fully waterproof and the other is a padded sleeve just in front of that.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Buran III also earned top marks in this category because it can accommodate up to a 17" laptop — the largest in our review. The laptop pocket is also padded and lined with waterproof material. On top of that, it has several pockets well-poised to stash your chargers and other smaller electronics. The only reason it didn't earn full marks in this category is that it doesn't have a waterproof zipper. That said, with the laptop pocket situated against your back, it is highly unlikely that water could find its way into this pocket, and if you're concerned about this, you could always stash your computer in the main compartment, which is fully weatherproof.
We like a spacious laptop pocket, and this bag features one that can hold a laptop up to 17".
Credit: Jared Ross
Some other great options include the Peak Design Everyday Messenger and the Oiwas, as well as the Mission Monty. The Everyday Messenger has two sleeves for storing a tablet and your laptop, as well as countless features for safely storing and organizing your other electronics or camera equipment. While the Oiwas didn't have a dedicated tablet pouch, it was lightly padded and had plenty of room for chargers and accessories, like a mouse and headphones. The Monty has a fully waterproof pocket for up to a 15" laptop, though this pocket isn't padded.
The Everyday Messenger has a great zippered pocket with sleeves for storing extra camera batteries or memory cards, as well as a sleeve for your 13" laptop and another for a tablet.
Credit: Jared Ross
Ease of Use
A bag needs to keep up on a rigorous commute, whether by bike, foot, subway, skateboard, rollerblade, motorcycle, or Vespa. The messenger is a bag for many traveler types, from the urban athlete to the reluctant business person. We assessed how logical, intuitive, and easy each bag was to pack, as well as how quickly we could access its contents. Our attention to these details spanned humdrum daily errands, urban adventures, airport travel, and even a hike or two.
Both Chrome bags and the Mission Workshop soared above the competition in this category. We love it when a bag performs the basics easily and efficiently without going overboard. Some designs try to do too much, and you end up with a product that looks good on paper but can be a pain to use in real life. The Buran III is the easiest bag to use, with the Kadet Sling and Monty coming in next. Chrome's iconic seatbelt buckle makes it easy to put on and take off both the Buran and the Kadet. The combination of zippers, velcro, and plastic buckles means there aren't any over-designed features for opening or closing the bags. The storage and organization features are sufficient without being excessive.
The Buran has the classic Chrome seat-belt-style buckle on the shoulder strap. This makes putting it on and taking it off - without messing up your hair or losing your hat and glasses - an absolute breeze. Just watch out for your prankster friends who might try to push the button while you aren't paying attention.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Monty is just about as user-friendly as it gets. However, you do have to lift the bag over your head to take it off, which can be more difficult if you're packing serious weight. Aside from that, we dig that you have options on how you close the bag. Whether you're utilizing the roll-top or flip-down configuration, you can either expand for more storage space or enjoy more accessible gear. Adjusting the strap length is a breeze, and the features are intuitive, so you can load up and get on with your day.
With intuitive closure and strap tightening mechanisms, the Monty is one of the easiest to use bags in the review. For extra storage you can close the bag by rolling down the top, or by folding over the flap, in either orientation the bag closes with velcro and plastic buckles.
Credit: Jared Ross
Another easy-to-use option is the Especial Stash. Like the Buran III, the Stash is fully ambidextrous, and it is easy to switch between left and right shoulder carry. The shoulder strap is easy to adjust, though you do have to lift this bag over your head to take it off. Our only complaint is that the velcro strap minder is not ideal for stashing excess strap if you have to fully tighten everything down. The magnetic closures can be undone with one hand, though there is a minor learning curve to figure them out, and the neon interior makes it easy to find your gear inside the pack.
The strap on the Stash is simple to tighten and loosen. There is a velcro strap minder for keeping the strap out of your way while biking, but with excess strap, it is less ideal for keeping the strap out of your business.
Credit: Jared Ross
The affordable standout, the Timbuk2 Classic, is pretty user-friendly as well. The pockets and compartments are conveniently placed and straightforward. The Classic is simple with male/female buckles; it has velcro on the front and a “cinch” buckle on the shoulder strap that adjusts easily and quickly — just make sure to close the cinching mechanism, or it might accidentally loosen. After a nice firm tug on the strap, we had no issues with this strap, and some of our testers preferred this quick adjust system over other, potentially more secure, adjusting styles.
The cinch buckle on the shoulder strap, and above it the sling retaining strap buckle, helped adjust and secure the Classic with speed and ease.
Credit: Hale Milano
Construction Quality
What good is a well-designed bag without longevity? We examined the quality of construction, materials, and weather resistance of each model we tested. We also meticulously examined each bag for any noticeable signs of wear and tear at the end of our multi-month testing period.
Receiving high marks yet again is the Especial Stash. This high-quality bag features excellent craftsmanship while remaining relatively lightweight. The material is both weather-resistant and durable, while the interior laptop compartment is fully waterproof. Even after all our rounds of rigorous testing, the Stash looked practically unused.
Water just slides off the impervious Stash. No matter what adventures we got into, this bag could weather it in style without showing a scratch.
Credit: Penney Garrett
The Buran III and the Monty are also notable here. The Buran boasts incredibly durable 1050D nylon fabric, a tarpaulin lining, and impressive construction. This model is essentially two bags — a liner and a durable outer shell — which ensures excellent weather resistance and stellar durability, though it does add some weight. There's a reason you still see these workhorses on the backs of many-a-cyclist. One reviewer used a similar model from Chrome as a daily commuter for well over a decade. The Monty boasts a similarly rugged 1000D nylon fabric with a tarp liner for weather protection and durability. The bag is made in San Francisco and designed to keep up with your commute for the long haul.
The burly 1000d nylon of this bag makes it incredibly durable, and it's reasonably weather-resistant.
Credit: Jared Ross
The Timbuk2 Classic is another high performer in this category. The Classic is made from a TPU-lined Cordura fabric which, like the models above, makes it weather-resistant and very durable. Add to that a sensible design without any flimsy components or materials, and you have a bag that is not only affordable but will last a long time.
We were impressed with this bag's construction quality. It is made from Cordura, and it feels like it has been made to last.
Credit: Jared Ross
What About Style?
Style is not a metric in this review because it's so subjective. However, there is a strong argument to be made for the statement you make with your bag. Over-the-shoulder bags have been around for a long time, at first adapted from military map bags for the broader public. The messenger, as we tend to think of it, has its roots firmly planted in powerline workers' bags from the 1950s. In the 80s, this style was updated, adjusted, and appropriated for bicycle messengers, and the category has since exploded. These bags have an urban flair and a toughness that tends to mirror their hard-working owners.
Functional, stylish, and comfortable - what's not to love?
A great messenger bag or sling will keep your kit well organized, and will wear comfortably, so you can get on with your daily commute.
The utilitarian nature of messenger bags doesn't mean that you need to sacrifice your style; many are available in a variety of materials and colors.
Conclusion
Though the shape and design of messenger bags have evolved and expanded dramatically over the years, the original concept remains the same. It's a bag to carry your daily toolkit wherever you're going and however you plan to get there. For bike messengers, the volume, balance, and ease of access are critical. For daily commuters, it's all about comfort and intuitive packability.
The bags in this review fill the needs of the modern urban commuter very well, offering a balanced blend of function and fashion depending on your needs and preferences. We hope this review has helped direct you to the best bag for your daily gear. In the end, the spirit of the traditional messenger bag holds steady: a durable bag that allows freedom of movement in a variety of urban environments and easy access to your toolkit. Whether you're carrying wrenches and hammers up a powerline or tablets and gadgets up the elevator, there's likely a modern messenger bag made just for you.
No matter how you like to commute we hope our messenger bag review will help you find the perfect bag for your trips to work.
