Review on Topo Designs Rover Pack Premium Backpacks by David Miller

Topo is fun and cute. I wouldn't say it's well done in the functionality department. The cost of this bag does not offer adequate quality. Not even a little bit. I can't even imagine a $100+ bag would ship less than this bag. If you rely on a bag for everyday carry, a simple backpack will suit you better. If you're worried that this bag might be too small, the answer is yes. The details, straps, and overall design make it solid, but the space inside is pretty small. I knew it would be smaller given the dimensions, but the big disappointment was that the water bottle compartments only held a 20 ounce water bottle. It's best thought of as a holder for multiple sheets of paper. They have no pleats, so they squeeze into an already small main compartment to carry anything but feathers and popsicle sticks. None of my water bottles fit. Basically, if you study packaging design and know what makes it good, you'll find that Topo never offers anything that makes good packaging. Because I love the aesthetic I keep trying Topo, this is my third bag and again I'm not thrilled. It always seems that I could live with it or even love it if they just made 10% more of a functional design element. The shape is great. To quote a great designer I once knew, "A form is a way of communicating a feature to the user." They're bad at communicating in that regard. The form is deceptive. You feel the concept of something you want, you get an emotional charge that saturates the function you want. Then when you interact with it and it fails, e.g. I love that this topo uses big zippers. I like that the leather wraps around the bottom rather than some designs where the leather is just a decorative element and not used to protect the most stressed parts of the pack. I wish the leather was more on the sides for full protection and 5 metal luggage rivets on the bottom. If you're really into bag design, you really can't say that this bag is any better than the standard Jansport leather bottom. A Rover is not enough as a school backpack if you need to take books and materials to more than one class. I would say the only use it would be great for is as a one night stand bag. A change of clothes in the main compartment, toiletries in the top compartment, laptop or tablet in the inside pocket. A bit of snax in the front zip. A few small water bottles on the sides. To put things in perspective, let's assume Topo made a custom version of this bag and threw it out of the park for me - it would look like this: - Metal hardware, preferably brushed brass. .- lower trunk bolts - pleated and pleated water bottle holders - raw brass YKK zippers (expensive top, nobody likes painted zippers. Paint rubs off and looks awful, bonus points if you bought YKK Old American (something interesting) similar to DA22OAZ17, DA22OAZ16 or GFOAZ8) - softer laptop sleeve material - add 2-3 inches in each direction - cordura fabric And yes, this backpack will be more expensive, but it will be a backpack I like and I'd happily spend the extra money if the water bottle pockets were real, I could use this bag, but it just isn't comfortable at every turn. Every time I use them doesn't correspond to everything I need.