Review: Skooba Design Weekend Warrior duffel bag

This morning, Skooba design unveiled (yet another) new line of luggage – and one of the highlights is their new Techlife Weekend Warrior duffel bag. Skooba is no stranger to innovative new bags, after designing one of the very first checkpoint friendly laptop bags, they’ve clearly learned a thing or two about what travelers look for in a bag.

The Weekend Warrior is a hybrid duffel – part laptop bag and part weekend bag. The bag has everything you’d expect from a good laptop bag – including a removable padded laptop sleeve, room for chargers and USB keys as well as an ID card pocket.

But that is where the comparisons with a laptop bag end – because once you’ve stored your laptop, you can also pack some clothes, toiletries and a pair of shoes.

Now, I’m not a big fan of PR photos in a review (like the one at the top of the article), so I decided to pack the Weekend Warrior with the kind of stuff I’d take on a 2-3 day trip. In the bag I packed the following:

  • 13″ laptop
  • Gadget power bag (chargers, battery packs and cables)
  • Memory card and USB device bag
  • Toiletries zip-loc bag
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Livescribe Echo smartpen in case
  • Moleskine notepad
  • Livescribe mini notepad
  • Joey bags
  • Blackberry and Palm (spare phones)
  • Headphones
  • Small laptop charger
  • 1 pair of shoes
  • 2 t-shirts
  • 3 shirts
  • 3 pairs of socks
  • 3 pairs of underwear
  • 1 bottle of water
  • Bluetooth mouse

Yeah, I know I pack like I’m going on a 6-month mission. All these items fit the bag just fine, with a generous amount of unused space, which is perfect for packing gifts or other junk you pick up on your trip.

The side pockets are designed to hold shoes – but I do need to point out that they’ll really only work for shoes up to a size 9 or 10 – people with large feet will need to use the main compartment for their footware. Still, with all the stuff in the bag, a second pair of shoes would fit just fine.

Size is obviously an issue when you are traveling, as airlines think it is funny to banish slightly larger bags to the airplane hold. Packed with all my items, the bag measured 24x11x12, putting it just within the permitted sizes. Because the bag is not built around a rigid frame, even if you do overpack, you’ll still easily be able to fit it in a bag sizer or stuff it in the overhead compartment.

Even though the Weekend Warrior does what many rolling bags can do, not everyone likes rolling suitcases – others may have the need for more room than the Weekend Warrior has to offer. For travelers with a rolling case and the Weekend Warrior, you’ll be happy to know that the back of the duffel has a strap for attaching to the handle of a rolling bag.

I’m impressed with the bag – it builds upon the smart design features of other Skooba bags, feels well made, and is much lighter than a rolling suitcase. Every pound you can save means more available weight for your belongings. The bag itself weighs just 49 ounces.

The new Skooba Design Weekend Warrior bag is available today. It comes in charcoal/red, charcoal/blue and charcoal/abyss black. The bag retails for $119.95 with a small laptop sleeve or $124.95 with a large laptop sleeve. Orders over $50 ship for free when you apply coupon code FREERIDE.

Skooba Design announces new line of checkpoint friendly laptop bags

When the TSA relaxed its rules for laptop scanning back in 2008, Skooba Design was one of the first to bring a checkpoint friendly back to the market. Since then, they have been churning out a great assortment of bags, including the newest from their lineup – the Checkthrough Executive Brief.

This bag builds off the success of their orginal Checkthrough bag, adding a whole host of new features. Of course, the most important feature on their bags is their laptop screening compartment. To speed things up at the checkpoint, you simply unzip the laptop portion, and unfold it. A clear window shows the TSA agent that a laptop is in the bag, and since nothing is placed in front of, or behind the laptop, it can stay in its bag, well away from clumsy screeners who may drop it (or worse).

The bag is available in small (for machines up to 15″) or large (for machines up to 17″). In addition to the laptop compartment, the bag also offers about 2-dozen other pockets and compartments. One pocket is designed specifically for your passport and travel documents. Another pocket holds USB thumb drives. Other features include lockable zippers and a strap to attach the bag to a rolling case.

The small Checkthrough Executive Brief retails for $149.99 and the large is just ten Dollars more. Both bags are available at skoobadesign.com.

One special design feature worth some extra attention is that Skooba Design Checkthrough bags are the only Rapiscan Tested bags on the market – this means that they have been tested by one of the companies that provides x-ray machines to airports. With this testing, you can be sure that the only reason a TSA agent doesn’t cooperate is because they don’t know their own rules.

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