Targus Drifter II Laptop Backpack, Black/Gray – Backpack for Men for Business and Travel, Durable Water-Resistant Material, Fits up to 17" Laptops (TSB239US)

I have owned this backpack since Dec 24th, 2011. It has flown close to a million miles, been in my cars, my trucks, stuffed into the bags on my Indian motorcycle. It’s been to 5 continents, likely 50 countries, most of the states… I couldn’t say enough good things about it. It’s huge inside, it’s the most durable piece of luggage I’ve ever owned. I’ve overloaded it 80% of the time I use it. This thing has never let me down. If you’re looking for the ultimate backpack, this is it. It has pockets in all the right places. You can put a laptop and an iPad in the same pocket and there’s a sleeve separating them. There are 2 kinds hidden pockets for money and passports. There’s a clip for your keys so they can’t fall out. It’s the best.

I bought the larger, 17" version. The dimensions I saw when I bought it weren't right. The dimension that goes away from the back is not smaller than the stated 16" version, not that I wanted/want it to be. It's like they picked a different way of measuring it, or something.The side compartments could be bigger, like 2" taller/up the back dimension, and 2" more outward in the across the back dimension. The mesh gets a little worn out easily. These side pockets has material on the bottom inside that help prevent items from falling out, if you forget to zip it up.(this is ordered top to bottom, and going around outside vertically, then in)The pocket at the very top is really nice/usable, although with a 2cm to 1in longer zipper, so that it could fit my organizer in there perfectly(it fits, just doesn't go in there easily). I can use this pocket to put in my computer mouse, etc... It's really nice, but I'm not so sure on how good this pocket would be with the smaller version of this book bag, books in the main compartment might hit it.The main compartment is really big. It fits all my books, notebooks, binders, gym clothes, etc... Even when I feel like taking a lot of stuff with me, it'll still fit it all. It also has a mesh pocket on the other side that's away from the wearer's back. The big main pocket is the main reason I picked this book bag.The handle looks really strong, feels better if you keep a loose grip on it rather than a tight grip. If there nothing in the book bag, it can flop down at times, getting in the way of the main zipper.The picture looks like the top pocket is a single handle zipper, but it's really a two handle zipper, like I think it should be (<-not sure on the words to use for this, two handle, double handle, two way, etc...?), and this pocket goes all the way to the bottom. (just not the zipper part)The pocket on the bottom front is padded on the outside and has smaller pockets inside, etc...There's a mini pocket on the front of that pocket that's big enough to easily fit a 3"*5" note card pack, and some mechanical pencils/pens. (didn't try a non-mechanical unsharpened pencil)The bottom is padded.The back has a padded pocket on the bottom, good for holding snail mail letters to mail.The middle of the back is quite a bit looser than the rest of the back and doesn't have nearly as much padding, When I'm not wearing the book bag, and go over this area with my hand an fill what fills like wrinkles in that section. The outer cushions are fairly big, and I've only felt the wrinkles in the middle area maybe one time while wearing the book bag.(could have just been my shirt?) The top back and bottom cushion are kinda fraying a little.After using the book bag for a while, the shoulder straps, like most book bags, feels like it could need more cushioning. However, it does have this neat elasticy thing at the top that makes it feel better to catch a full book bag when taking it off, etc... The straps might be too long for a short, skinny person during the summer, and there isn't a waist, or a chest strap.The laptop pocket has an inner pocket for smaller computers, like my 15.4" laptop. There's a Velcro strap that I'm guessing is supposed to help if the book bag ever gets flipped upside down, however the ends of the velcro don't really meet that well with my size laptop, or smaller. They could just simply make the non-strap side longer, for it to work. There's an inner pocket at the top of the laptop area, I haven't figured out any good use for it. Don't want my laptop directly hitting anything hard.I've been in the rain with this book bag a few short times, and nothing gotten wet inside.Overall main pros:big main compartmenttop pocket/otherslooks nice, "stylish"elasticy part on shoulder strapsOverall main cons:back feels kind of weird?no belt, or chest strapsmight be too big for a person who's small, and/or doesn't carry muchside pockets could be biggerUpdate:The bookbag gets old like a normal bookbag:The cover of the handle at the top cracked at it's outer edges, you can feel it when you pick up/put down the bookbag using this handle; might be more comfortable without this cover. (but I'd have to rip open the cover(which make the cover completely useless) to take it off to test)The shoulder strap padding became ineffective, as the fabric has tears there, and the padding has stuck out instead of cushioning.The side pockets have tears that allow items to go between the main compartment and the side compartments.The bottom edges are cracking.

Honestly the best laptop bag around. The right amount of pockets and storage compartments. Extremely well made. Very versatile and roomy for whatever you need to carry. A great value for the money. I would highly recommend this to a friend, or anyone looking for a top quality laptop backpack.

This review is from a student's point of view, not a traveler's. I use the backpack for carrying the following items: 16" laptop incl. a huge power supply brick, a wireless mouse, 2" binder, a couple of notebooks, 1 or 2 textbooks, Ti-89 calculator, 1-liter water bottle, a travel mug, other school supplies, food, and occasionally a retractable umbrella.Here is what you see in most backpacks - a gazillion pockets that extend all the way down to the bottom of the backpack. That means once you fill up the main compartment tightly, most of the other pockets are rendered pretty much useless because the main compartment is pushing everything out. So you end up with everything stacked on the bottom of the backpack, while the top half of the space is completely wasted. Perfect examples of such wasteful designs are the Targus XL, CityGear, and Matrix backpacks. I hated them as soon as I laid eyes on the pocket design.And then there is the Drifter II backpack... with a total of three pockets located up high. The biggest one is right above the main compartment and it's a perfect fit for my Ti-89, wireless mouse, and a mini-stapler. The other two are mesh pockets - one in the laptop compartment and one in the main compartment, both of which are useful.On each side of the backpack there is a tall solid pocket, and another mesh pocket attached to it. On one side I carry my travel mug in the mesh pocket, and on the other side I have a bunch of supplies. The laptop compartment fits my 16" laptop perfectly, as well as some papers, maybe a few letter size manila envelopes. The main compartment holds a 2" D-Ring binder, a couple of notebooks and at least one textbook, and also my 1-liter bottle (the bottle is little wide for the side mesh pockets). My power supply brick goes in the pocket in front of the main compartment. The smaller front-most pocket holds all the smaller school supplies.I haven't seen a laptop backpack that utilizes space more efficiently! One that comes close is SwissGear Synergy backpack http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NONHYY/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_19. It has the same exact pocket placement but it is smaller.Here are all the backpacks I've tried, and found inferior to the Drifter II based on pocket design and space:Carhartt 10032102 Legacy Standard Work Pack, Carhartt BrownDakine Campus Backpack, 33-LitereBags eTech 2.0 Macroloader Laptop Backpack (Onyx)eBags TLS Workstation Laptop Backpack - Blue YonderHigh Sierra Swerve BackpackOakley Men's Backpack, Black, One SizeOGIO Renegade RSS Day Pack, Large, Black PindotSamsonite Luggage Tectonic BackpackSwiss Gear Maxxum Notebook BackpackSwissGear SA1923 ScanSmart BackpackSwissGear PEGASUSSwissGear Blue Ibex 17" Computer BackpackSwissGear SynergySwissGear Travel Gear ScanSmart BackpackTargus Demolition Backpack Designed to Fit up to 17.3-Inch LaptopTargus XL Backpack Designed for 17-Inch NotebooksTargus RG0322 5.4 Matrix Notebook BackpackTargus CityGear Chicago Backpack Case for 16-Inch NotebooksVictorinox Luggage Architecture 3.0 Big Ben 17 BackpackFeb. 2015 UpdateBad news. After only a few weeks of using the backpack, its shoulder straps started coming apart. More specifically the stitches where the narrow bottom straps are inserted into the wider top straps came apart. After that the shoulder straps seemed to be holding on, and the rest of the stitches never showed signs of weakening. It seems the weight of the backpack is not well distributed between the various stitches, so one of them was bearing most of the load.I'm currently waiting for a replacement from Targus.Before I had this backpack, I was carrying the same exact load/weight for several years in an old Targus XL model. It seems the newer models are more about flash than function. Now I'm using a SwissGear Synergy backpack which seems to be holding up very well to the same exact weight even though it is smaller. I wish the Drifter could carry the same load other backpacks can. Other than that it is a great backpack.