I'm an actress living and trying to work in NYC. I spend many days hauling my stuff around going from audition to audition. I bought the rolling backpack because I was tired of having to carry sometimes up to 3 different outfits, shoes, a binder of music, and other miscellaneous things all over the city. I saw another girl at an audition and she loved hers. I have to say I agree! It fits everything I need for what sometimes is a 12 hour day. It can sometimes be a pain carrying everything I have up and down stairs, but its a small price to pay than having back pains after a long day of work and auditions. Some of the reviews said that they felt the handle bar was a little short for them. I'm 5'2" and it's just right height. I love my bag so much that I suggest it to all my friends who audition!
I purchased the deluxe rolling backpack for my oldest son when he began 5th grade. He is going into 7th this fall and it still looks and works great! We love it so much we just ordered another today for our middle child, who is now entering 5th grade. The only thing I find missing from this backpack is a place to store a water bottle. It would be nice to have a mesh pocket on the outside to put one in, just in case of leaks. For now they will just carry them as I would not exchange this backpack for the convenience of a water bottle holder, however if it had one I would have given it 5 stars! It definitely lasts longer than the cheap ones we had tried before.
The durability of my son's backpack has been amazing given how he often drags it upside down until he realizes it and flips it right side up. Still looks new despite his best efforts to distress it. The backpack, however, has opportunites on practicality. First, the zipper. Kid test it next time. I even have challenges getting it over the strange mid-point "bump." Second, no water bottle pocket. Third, anything taller than 10 inches and there's no way you're zipping it. (Think anything like large art pieces or legal-size folders that come home from school, which seemed to be fairly often for us this past school year.) Fourth, the monogram is only initials. It would be better with space for the whole name.
So a little more attention to practicality, and this would easily be a five star rating.
Though I am disappointed with this backpack, the Customer Service Rep at the store gladly accepted my return without question. He was incredibly professional and kind, the usual LL Bean experience. I am surprised that LL Bean would choose to construct a backpack this way. In our case, the straps below the shoulder straps apparently kept getting caught in the wheels because the straps were nearly severed off. I didn't notice this until the end of my daughters' first grade year. We just bought this in December and after only six months of use, the black nylon straps were frayed and ugly. Why, LL Bean would you put shoulder straps on a wheeling backpack? As one other reviewer mentioned, the backpack is far too heavy as it is, nobody #especially a child# is going to carry this on their back. Please make this without shoulder straps. Also, the regular size backpack is far too small and the zipper is hard to get into. My daughter, in the first grade, had difficulty getting this bag unzipped and after she put her lunchbox in, there was barely room for anything else. Big disappointment in the bag but THANK YOU customer service for your excellence.
