Maxxum Swiss Gear by Wenger Notebook Backpack - Blue

by Wenger

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 11 x 18.9 inches ; 3.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000BYVA8Q
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: GA-7303-06F00
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Wenger Notebook Backpack cushions your laptop with the padded, Velcro-secured inner compartment. Carry comfortably with the dual handle system, shock-absorbing shoulder straps, and "breathable" back padding that lets air flow through. Keep supplies neat with the organizer pocket for cell phone, keys, pens/pencils, etc. Bring along your songs with the music-player pocket and convenient headset port. Keep it upright on its own with the base platform. Stash water bottles in the side mesh pocket.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Backpack I've Ever Owned, May 14, 2008

By 

Alex Lovejoy "Alex" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxxum Swiss Gear by Wenger Notebook Backpack - Blue (Personal Computers)

I began buying backpacks in 1980 when I went off to college, and O how they've chagned. The Maxxum is, by far, the best, most well designed pack I've ever owned. I use my pack as a combination Laptop / Camera Gear / Writing Implements / Journal / Day pack / Grocery hauler, and this bag always seems to end up with room to spare. There are SO many pockets, compartments, pouches and nifty places to put things in this bag, I've actually forgotten where I put things, thinking I'd left something at home, only to find it was just in one of the pockets I'd forgotten about.

CONSTRUCTION - tough, comfortable, practical, easy to use

FIT / WEAR - comfortable for long periods of time, distributes weight well, makes carrying more stuff a lot easier.
>>>ADDED NOTE - Another reviewer complained of pilling on the back of their shirt from extended use of his pack. I can't speak to the fabric from which their clothing was made, but I can say that after over two years of every-day heavy use, including to and from work, hauling groceries up and down a hiking trail, and occasional day trips, etc., I've had no experience of pilling or any kind of damage or wear to any of my clothes.

WHERE TO KEEP YOUR STUFF

1) LAPTOP COMPARTMENT - 2 zippers - The compartment closest to your back houses both an internal "pouch" that secures your laptop (with click-lock strap) and an open sleeve with plenty of room for papers and notebooks. Being able to keep both my laptop and some paper notebooks in this one compartment is very handy for me. Some of my packs in the past had "laptop only" compartments that made this impossible. Good design here, for me, keeping the PC safe while keeping similar sized gear handy.

2) MAIN COMPARTMENT - 2 zippers - the compartment with the largest volume is in the middle of the bag. I can put a couple of small journals, some business envelopes, a pack of wet-naps (to clean up 5 year old), my 35mm sized camera, AC Adapter, mouse, MP3 player,and lunch in here and have room to spare. It's an awesome main storage area that's shaped in a way that gives you flexiblity not only in terms of how much stuff to carry but how you choose to orient it inside the compartment.

3) QUICK ACCESS TOP POUCH - 1 zipper - near the main grab handle on top is a small, red lined pouch that holds ... MP3 player, CD player, wallet, keys ... stuff you want quick access to near the top of the bag. FINALLY someone lined a quick-access pouch with something other than black, making fumbling for black bits of tech toy goodness a lot easier to do. And the velcro strapped inner pocket for MP3 player or cell phone is great for protecting same if keys are in the pouch.

4) QUICK ACCESS LARGE COMPARTMENT (Kangaroo Pouch) - no zipper - I've never before had a bag that featured an "open" compartment with no zippers that was this large. Between the main compartment in the middle and the organizer compartment on the front, there's an open topped compartment that I find AWESOME for tucking my camera into when I'm shooting and walking a lot. No need to unzip or re-zip between shooting, just tuck the camera into this open topped area and I'm good to go, and able to grab it again just as quickly when the need arizes. If I hit dirt, rain or long periods with no need to shoot, I can always put it back in the main zippered storage area. Really great idea. When not in photographer mode, this pouch is handy for anything you want quick access to (folded hat, apples, extra water bottles, you name it.

5) ORGANIZER COMPARTMENT - 1 zipper - The front pouch is a fairly typical organizer pouch with inner pockets for cell phones, pens, etc. Within the main compartment are a) smaller red-lined zippered area for loose bits (big enough to hold a fist full of pens and pencils), b) pouches for smaller items (cell, pens, etc.) and c) a larger main area tall and wide enough to hold business envelopes turned either direction, and about an inch to 2 inches deep, depending on how you decide to stuff it.

6) QUAD Water Pockets - the combination of 2 zippered side pockets for water AND 2 net pockets comes in quite handy. LOTS Of water or a combination of water and gear ... it works great. I keep spare PC batteries in one zipped size pocket and my address book and a small notebook in the other.

7) STRAPS and BACK - well padded, easy to adjust, comfortable to wear ... awesome. Chest strap and thumb pulls on shoulder straps are a plus, though one of the thumb pull rings cracked on me, but the tab is still useful for tightening.

On a particularly busy day, I recently had the following in this bag:

15+" laptop, 2 8.5x11" notebooks, 8.5x11" envelope with pile of receipts, 2 leather journal books, 2 wetnap envelopes (about business envelope sized), AC adapter for laptop (big, bulky thing, tucked in a zippered water pocket), warm wool hat, 35mm sized digital camera with biggish lens, 10+ pens/pencils/hi-liters, wallet, keys, MP3 player, voice recorder, USB cords (3) (I forgot to mention 2 inner zipper pockets for same in the Laptop and 1 other compartment), Zagat guide, thumb drive, bottle of water and cell phone ... and there was plenty of open space to spare. The bag was HEAVY with gear, but it felt light on my back, carried easily, felt good ... it was great.

TRIM - I've never seen a company trim their bags with so much style as Swissgear does. Sure, I know there will be folks who don't appreciate their style of trim, but I love it. Like great icing on great cake.

POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS - the netting on the side water pockets is somewhat susceptible (though not overly so) to damage from sharp metal objects like certain types of keys. If you keep smoothe sided things in these pockets, you'll be fine. These netted pockets are NOT squirrel proof, however :) One one fine day in the park, a particularly plucky squirrel decided to nibble through the netting and steal a bit of cooky while we sat no more than 5 feet away. Clearly Wenger should post warnings. OK, maybe not. :)

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Student Laptop Backpack, July 30, 2007

By 

Joel Dauteuil (Burlington, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maxxum Swiss Gear by Wenger Notebook Backpack - Blue (Personal Computers)

Well made and roomier than I expected. I would highly recommend as a student laptop backpack - mainly because it can accomodate laptop with accesories and some books/notebooks, etc. And, very comfortable to wear for extended periods.

Pros:
- well made
- good zippers - that's important
- solid brand - I've owned many Wenger products and they last
- nice support/suspension for laptop protection
- same kind of support neoprene "hammock" inside for your mp3 player and also has a hole at the top to feed through your headset/remote - very nice
- very comfortable back padding and strap system
- good organization pockets
- water bottle side pockets - a must for mobile phone.

Cons:
- nothing significant
- the fabric is thick but I would have preferred a thicker bottom layer in case you have to put it down somewhere wet.
- as I mentioned, I think this is better suited for students or for a weekend laptop bag. In my opinion, I wouldn't go into the office with it - my first choice in that respect continues to be the Samsonite "Business Casual" Executive Backpack. All around great bag - you can't go wrong (with either of these).

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swiss Gear Maxxum Notebook Computer Backpack, August 10, 2006

By 

G. Blanston (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxxum Swiss Gear by Wenger Notebook Backpack - Blue (Personal Computers)

Great backpack, computer is suspended in a pocket in the middle of the pack, not against your back. BUT it is too small for my 15.4" laptop. Be sure to try before you buy.