took this bag to New Mexico for a week. A week in this bag. the hotel where we stayed had laundry service so it was perfect. After unpacking at the hotel, we went and explored old town and put everything we bought in the bag with some bottles of water. good bag for city day trips. good bag for a week. now it has all my camp gear in it.
ProsDurable, Performing as Expected, leather version
I purchased this as a gift - to myself. I'd been shopping for a nice looking, roomy backpack for transporting computer etc. daily to & from work, as well as something to take on flights to store work/books/computer for in-flight access.
Even before purchasing it, I was concerned about the hasps not staying closed as has been reported here. Those reports are correct - but so also were the instructions by a couple of folks to "lock" the hasp by pushing down at the bottom of the "V" after closing. That works like a charm! So I didn't make a mistake, and LL Bean is doing itself a serious dis-service by not including an instruction sheet for the hasps.
It's a perfect size for the purposes for which I purchased it, and I look forward to it growing even softer through daily use.
My husband saw the Waxed Cotton Continental Rucksack in a LLBean store and really liked it. His concern was the large size and lack of lap-top sleeve. I found this pack on line. We did not see it in the store. I used the "compare" feature and this pack was a little smaller than the other one and it had a lap-top sleeve so I bought it. My husband really likes it and it looks "weathered" like the Waxed Cotton one. The only problem is there is NO lap-top sleeve. But he likes it enough to over look it. He has not had any issues with the latches/clasps they are metal and appear very sturdy.
I bought the canvas ruck, but the link that came up for me to post this comment is for the leather one?? The cons first: There is practically NO padding in the straps whatsoever. I can't see trekking too far without the straps cutting into my shoulders. Also, the bottom of the bag looks like it is leather. Sadly, it isn't. There is a leather band at the bottom, but below the band is canvas. :( As someone mentioned in another post, metal zippers would be a plus. The pros: I was excited to see that inside the two outside pockets, there are places to store your keys, slots for pens, and some small pockets for zip drives, calculators, etc. It's a beautiful ruck and I'm pleased with it. With so much negative feedback about the clasps, I have to say that I don't see that being too big of a problem. The smaller pockets zip, and the bigger part sinches with a drawstring. So if the clasps fail, nothing is going to spill out. An idea for LL Bean: Make a premium bag with the same layout. Give it a full leather bottom, metal zippers, change the clasps (just to fix a problem that others feel needs fixed), pad the straps and charge a bit more for the "Premium" ruck. I'd definately be in the market for that kind of upgrade. If you are on the teeter-totter for this ruck, go ahead and get it. It is a great bag to last you 'till they make the upgrades that I just discussed. :)
