Review on DAKINE Network 26L Backpack CARBON by Jaime Ferguson

I needed a backpack for my daily commute to work and I had trouble with the choice. I wanted to find something that was not too expensive, durable, suitable for a laptop, and would fit my lunch box, headphones, water bottle, and other accessories. I researched pretty much every brand and model you can buy for under $150 and settled on the Dakine Network 26L. I had never heard of Dakine but the positive reviews about the brand and the apparent value for money (ftw lifetime warranty) were hard to ignore. Now that I've had the product for about a week, I can say that it has met or even exceeded all of my expectations. It's comfortable, has room for all my accessories, looks good and is clearly well built. The water bottle cage fits my 1 liter stainless steel bottle securely, but if you have one of those short Nalgen bottles your mileage may vary. The laptop case is soft and seems to offer good protection, although I didn't drop the case to look at it. My 15.6" laptop fits perfectly and the bag will probably fit a 17" laptop easily. One thing I noticed from some of the product descriptions was that the laptop sleeve was "fleece lined" but it wasn't. The tablet and sunglass cases are lined with fleece, but the laptop compartment is not. I don't mind. The last thing I want to say is that I was torn between my choice of 26L and 30L and for my purposes 26L is more than enough. However, if you're carrying a heavier load or using a holdall, the extra space can be valuable.