Customer Reviews Timbuk2 Classic Messenger - Medium

I commute from my home downtown to classes on campus, then commute again from class to work on the other side of town. This bag is comfortable to wear while walking for an extended period of time, as well as spacious enough to fit a variety of items (the bag is my purse/school bag/work bag combo). I got a medium size, and at first I was wary that it would be too big and bulky, but I was surprised to find that it was the absolute perfect size for me as someone who likes to carry a LOT of things. The biggest problem with this bag (aside from the uselessly small water bottle holders) is the clip that holds the adjustable strap in place. I take my bag on and off again quite frequently, and the clip becomes loosened and drops down to the maximum length often. It slows me down to be wearing my bag while walking to class and having to pull over and adjust my strap because it came loose while I was walking. Great bag, but strap makes it a deal breaker, and I would not purchase this model ever again due to the annoyance.

Overall a good bag. My second by Timbuk2. I bought the extra small version as a mixed use shoulder bag. The strap is the problem. Too short for use as a shoulder bag. But the real problem is the backward setup. The adjusting clamp is on the wrong side if you wear the bag over the right shoulder. The pad ends up across your chest and the clamp on top off your shoulder. Uncomfortable. The setup needs to be switched so the clamp is on the other end of the bag. A glaring flaw. I will be attaching a new strap. And the bag is missing pen holder slots. Too many zippered pouches and no pen holder slots.

I thought this would be a great bag for biking to and from work. Unfortunately, it has started to hurt my shoulder and it a little awkward being a girl and having lady parts get in the way. Overall, I really like the bag, but it isn't designed optimally for women.

She's lighter, but this came at a price. They cut the amount of pockets for storage by -- best I can approximate -- 75%. Don't know why, because those of us who use these bags like a lot of pockets. Basically, this is a stripped down, zero drag version of the Classic Messenger from this company that we all used and loved. Missing: That vertical line of pockets on the outside, just under the flap. Now there's just one. Why?? Also, inside, where you would find pockets lining the forward section of the bag, now only features a few. Added: A better strap system. Overall: Feels lighter, but cheaper. Can't speak to the ruggedness of the new bags. Time will tell.

The TPU liner on the inside of the flap was bad.. after one use there was already "bruise" on it.. i think this will not last. I had a similar messenger bag 2 years ago, and tpu liner got teared.. tat the reason why i got another messenger bag. I prefer the bigger buckle for adjusting the shoulder strap..

Very nice bag but they skimped on strap. Strap length is not good.

I would like it to have more internal body structure so it can stand up on its own and not collapse. Some sort of frame built into the ends, so it doesn't lay like a lump on the floor. That being said it is great quality and very good looking.

The bag is amazing...it's just the strap that's disappointing. The bag sits above my waste and I'm 5' - 6" tall.

Nice bag, but looks are deceiving.Pictures made the bag look bigger than it was. I would recommend it to anyone if they did they needed a small bag.

I will be using this book for school and holding my macbook air. It is a spacious bag with so many awesome compartments, but the color in lights looks green. Not a fan.

Is there any way to increase the length of the strap?

I use the messenger bag to take my personal stuff from home to work. While I like the construction and style, this bag is clearly too "basic" and really not thought out well. Too few compartments, not enough storage for things like a phone, checkbook, address book, etc. And the worst thing is that the strap is simply too short! I'm 5'9" and the bag sits at/above the belt line. Come on...spend a little more and make it truly adjustable! It's basic. I like supporting local products and bought this after admiring the style of several I've seen, but I am disappointed in how basic this bag is (for the price).

Material of bag seems lighter and more plasticky than bags purchased in '03. Ergonormics are not good - things seem heavier when carried in the bag. Overall a disappointment.

I use this product at work as my mobile office. It has a good amount of space for what I need and lots of compartments. The main compartment is a good size and my computer fits comfortably in a separate space, but the rest of the compartments are a little small and not so accessible. I'd like at least one of the nets on the inside to be big enough to fit a Nalgene water bottle and neither of them are.

I love timbuk2 bags and have an old messenger style but was ready for a new color. I was excited about some of the new features. However, I am missing some of the old messenger style features: 1) deeper inside pocket with more compartments. I am a fitness professional and carry with me at all times sm shampoo/cond, face wash, razor, etc. With this new bag the inside pocket is small and doesn't have the different compartments to store my razor for example. Now I need to get a case for my razor so I don't cut myself and a case for my shower essentials to throw in the main compartment of my bag. 2) the strap is not as heavy duty as my old model. Every time I pick my bag up I have to untwist my strap. Not a big deal but when I am so use to just grabbing and throwing over my shoulder it's just kind of annoying.

I ordered the Medium messenger bag due to reviews stating that the Small size was too small for a 17" laptop. The Medium is way too bulky. I customized the colors and I love the look of it but the strap is too long to wear cross-body with a winter coat and the bag smells terrible!

The strap is too soft and folds over when clipped to the chest strap. The inside mesh bottle holder is already starting to tear (1,month). Not worth returning because I gave away my previous bag and I need one now.

Before this, I had a large crumpler that I lost. I loved that bag. I was hoping this would be good enough, but I'm actually really unhappy with it so far. It's a bit too small for my normal usage (say, bike tools, climbing shoes/bag, change of clothes, toiletries, jacket, laptop, charger, spare battery). After 1 month, the 2 little straps are rather fuzzy from getting stuck to the velcro all the time. Not going to last well. The adjuster keeps getting caught and causing the main strap to loosen completely. (I don't need to adjust that often. Why are bags designed like this?) Too many pockets. Previous bag had 4 (main compartment, 3 small side compartments inside) and that was just right. Now I'm losing things in the bag all the time. Overall construction quality is lower than my previous bag. (The other lasted 8 years and merely looked used. This one feels like it's going to to reach the same level of wear in probably a year). On the plus side, the little handle strap on the back of the bag is excellent. I don't know if it'll hold up, but I use it all the time and it's a great feature if it does.

Like the bag overall. But nothing special or unique. Wished it had one outside pocket for quick access. Snapping straps not needed for closing. Velcro is enough. I like to Open and access a bag fast. I cut the snapping clips off. Too cumbersome

I have been carrying a backpack to work (University campus) for over three years and wanted something a little more stylish. I saw a review of this bag and it looked great. I actually received it as a birthday gift in Medium. As a woman, who is not that tall, the size of the bag concerned me but looks wise, it was okay. Here is why I returned it: The pockets and inner compartments could be tweaked a bit. I think for men, they work okay but woman have more stuff and need deeper pockets. This is one example that could go either way but the pen pockets are not deep enough when you have something in the zippered pocket behind it. I was afraid to leave a pen there because it seemed like it would poke through. The interior mesh water bottle pocket and the one across from it are pretty useless unless the compression straps are fully extended (loose). When cinched at all, they do not allow those pockets to be deep enough to hold anything. I had trouble getting a smallish water bottle in there and who would want a water bottle inside with their laptop anyway? Laptop slash pocket was the perfect size for my Macbook Pro but there is no padding. I am not hard on my bags but this should be noted. The grab handle is really not meant to be a carrying handle. I knew this going in but what I did not realize was that grabbing it with the bag slightly open causes everything to be thrown forward. Not a problem for larger items but smaller items could be lost if you aren't paying attention. Overall, it just didn't work for me because it could not hold all of my stuff and still be organized. Yes, the stuff fit okay in a medium but it was all on top of each other. Would I recommend it? Yes, to a man but not to a woman. Too bad because I was very excited about the bag but in the end had to return it.

This bag is good i'm just not really blown away for the price. The best feature is the two water bottle holders inside on the ends. It's pretty durable too. What I especially don't like, is that the one side of the bag (the side that is under the flap) has an outer pocket with a zipper, an outer sideways pocket, an outer outer pocket, a larger inner pocket with a zipper, and then several "organizer" pockets on the outside of the zipper pocket, ALL ON THE SAME SIDE IN THE SAME AREA!!!! I absolutely HATE when bag manufactures do this. If you were to actually use all of the pockets (outers, inners, organizers, etc.), all your stuff would be bulging out in every direction and make everything tight and bulky! If you were to slip your hand in the inner pocket for example, you would feel all those items from the outer pockets and the organizer. So no one would ever fill all those pockets up, unless your are carrying flat items like paper only. I just hate that, what's the point of making all these separate compartments and then sticking them all together on one side separated by thin pieces of fabric? And then you have this huge area of free empty space with no separate pockets or organizers. Maybe it's just me, but i hate that. It's such a bad decision in my opinion. I carry a "man purse" because i have lots of odds and ends like chargers, adapters, headphones, flash drive, first aid kit, nylon bags, keys, wallet, cigarettes, chapstick, umbrella, lotion, sanitizer, etc. All things that are not exactly flat. Why not separate all these pockets up evenly throughout the bag? The water bottle holders are the best part like said, because they are a good use of the space to accommodate items that are not flat, but bulky. This bag just didn't meet my needs, but maybe it will meet yours. I just don't think it's worth the money. And one other thing, the velcro flap is annoying. I would've preferred a magnetic strip, button, or something, to make it feel closed but without having to rip it open with velcro.

I have had my very favorite Timbuk2 bag for about 10 years (classic, medium, black). I love it, and it's still functional, but the lining was getting a bit worn out. I'm in nursing school, and the books are BIG, so I decided to upgrade to the new model in large. The bag looks great -- the carbon color is better in person; the lines are a little cleaner than my past bags. The fabric seems durable (hard to really tell so far). The inside is great and roomy, with just enough little pockets for me. The water bottle holders are pretty useless as I use bigger bottles than they will hold. However, I hate the new strap set-up. I've been trying to get used to it, with very little luck. My previous bags have had a stationary cam buckle on the top-right corner of the bag. It was always easy, even one-handed sometimes, to get a close fit or to loosen it to grab something out of the pocket. It was always in the same place when I went for it. The new buckle is a floating buckle, and the adjustment is unnecessarily fiddly, a multi-step process. It moves to different places along the strap, and more often than not, the buckle digs into my breast or my ribs. Another "improvement" that I found to be disappointing was the strap pad. It looks durable, but it kept getting in the way of trying to adjust the strap. I wanted to take it off, but it's permanent. Or it was, until I cut it off. It's a waste, unfortunately. It might have been useful later on, but I'll never know. Ultimately, I could still learn to love this new bag if it weren't for the new cam buckle. I'll probably start scouring the Internet for a leftover large bag in an older model, but until I find it, this one will do.

I use this bag as my daily work transport. I with Silencers it's great for my day-to-day office life. However a couple of redesign items are problematic. The shoulder strap (as others have noted) is too short for the bag to ride on my hip when worn cross-body. I am a stout 5'6" so not a giant in either dimension and at its most extended the bag rides just at my lower rib when worn cross-body. Which is kinda nerdy. Can't really wear it on one shoulder because the strap pad while light, vented and comfortable is NOT non-slip--in fact is is pretty slippery--and with my work laptop cannot have it slide off my shoulder. Interior is good, but with fewer pockets there are fewer places to secure stuff like wallets, extra credit cards, ipod, etc--inside the zipper pocket there are NO pockets. Worry that dumping this under an airplane seat I might lose stuff--as I have in the past with other bags.

I am a bigger person and the shoulder strap is just too short. Yet the cinch straps are freakishly long, and the reflect tape does not allow them to be tucked into the buckles. This iteration eliminates pockets inside the zipper pocket as well. I have several Timbuk2 messengers. I was looking forward to a lighter version. I grabbed this on sale. I would say FOR THE PRICE it is just OK. Won't get another. And won't pay the double price to get a custom version, that's for sure.

What's otherwise a great bag is spoiled by the poorly designed cam. As mentioned by several other reviews here and elsewhere, the cam doesn't bind securely enough, resulting in the bag plunging down the length of the strap on you occasionally, which is, for me, a deal-breaker. I emailed Timbuk2 regarding the possibility of retrofitting the previous cam design (True-Fit), which, although not without its own shortcomings, was a far superior unit. They replied saying they could send me one of the True-Fit cams, but that I'd have to take the bag to a seamstress to have the alteration made, and also, if I wanted to go through with it, they'd "help me along the way". I didn't expect them to offer nearly such an accommodating reply, and give them a lot of credit for their willingness to cooperate. That level of customer service speaks to the integrity of the company for certain. Although I'll be looking elsewhere for a bag that meets my needs out-of-the-box, given what a great value the 2014 Classic Messenger is, those of you handy enough with a sewing machine might consider buying one anyway, and retrofitting a True-Fit cam. Here's hoping they update the cam design for next year.