I purchased this for my daughter in college. Regular backpacks could not comfortably hold everything she needed to carry and the bottom had blown out of them. She loves this sack! She said it comfortably holds 28 pounds of books. The comfort of the straps combined with the design allows her to carry the weight comfortably. More importantly, she said she gets compliments on the sack all the time! She said it is the best backpack she has ever owned. She loves the way it looks, how rugged it is and how well it is designed. She highly recommends this sack.
Have had this pack for ~3 years and love it. It's the first thing I grab whenever heading out for a day trip or overnighter.
Plenty of room -- generous pockets, straps and loops make it very easy to get carried away packing. More than a couple times I've felt like Samwise Gamgee.
Also very rugged. I ran my pack over with my car on a camping trip last July and dragged it under the front bumper along 20' of asphalt pavement. The only evidence is some road rash patina and a 1" tear in the outer fabric.
Handsomeness holds up well. True, early on all the straps on my pack started shedding threads. They'd appear all over the place from between the leather pieces along the full lengths. But it was easy enough to trim them off after a spell, and they have yet to reappear. Not a structural issue as I'd first feared, as all the stitching is still holding strong.
