The Bottom Line
- Well padded back for comfort
- Several pockets for carrying your gear
- Poor visibility inside the bag
Description
- Dark color bag interior makes for poor visibility.
- Nice, well padded MP3 player pouch with headphone pass through.
- Decently sized interior will hold your notebook and gear for the road.
Guide Review - Pacific Design Action II Backpack XL
The Pacific Design Action II Backpack XL is designed to hold notebook computers up to 2” x 13.5” x 9” in diameter. Unlike most laptop bags that surround the computer inside in padding, the top 1/3 or so of the laptop in the Action II is only covered on one side with padding. That means the finish is left exposed to other items you might have in the main compartment and could lead to scratches and nicks.
Inside the main compartment you get three small pouches that are opened to the compartment, so items placed in them may come free. A nice touch is the MP3 player compartment that has a pass though for the headphones allowing you to keep your MP3 player safe and still listen to your tunes. Inside the front pouch, you have a place for pens and pencils as well as your cell phone and business cards. An open top mesh pouch is also included here.
Each side has a pouch as well with the one sized for holding a bottled water and the other for smaller loose items. Fully loaded the backpack is very comfortable to wear thanks to heavy padding that uses mesh to shed moisture as you sweat. For added comfort if you will be, walking a lot there is also a waist strap to help keep the bag secure. The MSRP for the Pacific Design Action II Backpack XL is only $49.95 and it can be found for around $39 online making this one of the least expensive bags I have reviewed. If you are on a tight budget, this is a good laptop bag, if you have, more to spend you can find better bags for a bit more money.
