Customer Reviews Timbuk2 Robin Pack

This bag is, plainly put, sexy. That's why you are spending the time to look at reviews and pictures...Let's move past the beautiful aesthetics. The bag has a great back pad, awesome straps, and nice room for 13-15" laptop (my Razer blade 15" fits perfectly in the sleeve). The downsides are the volume ( wish it was .5L bigger) since it can't fit much besides my batter pack, power cable, and a rolled up raincoat. This is 100% a day pack at best. The biggest concern for me is lack of a functional pocket that can have a basic organizer for business cards, pens, pencils, gum, headphones, etc. As of right now everything is just thrown in together so it quickly becomes a mess of...Stuff.

This is a very high quality bag - the magnetic closures, waterproofing and professional appearance of this bag are top notch. However, the small size and lack of organizational pockets are why I gave it 3 stars. The inside of the bag is basically a sack with a laptop pouch (which will fit a 15.6" laptop, by the way). There is room for a change of clothes/scrubs and maybe a container for your lunch. It by no means has room for a standard lunch bag with - or without - any other items in the bag. The organizational pouches (2 on the front, laptop sleeve, and little storage pouch on the bottom that is meant to store rain cover) are quite small. I have room for a couple pens, swipe card, small notebook, and a travel sized handcream and that's about it. The pockets are also stiff (no stretch) and the bottom two are a challenge to get in and out of. A 750mL yeti will fit in either of the 2 water bottle pockets FYI. Overall, nice quality bag and if you don't need to carry much, it's perfect. But for a "commuter" pack I would expect a bit more space/organization.

Day to day pack. Looks slick, but The flap at the top is huge design flaw. It fastens by two magnetic clips that are really hard to line up and after just a couple of month one clip unscrewed itself and is now lost. I'm left with one working clip. I would not buy this again and would opt for a zip top.

Aesthetically I love it. It's very sleek and the material is definitely high quality. Unfortunately I will be returning it because the backpack is too tall and flat without an option for expansion, and there are not enough pockets. Great for commuting with folders and laptops but not enough for long travel.

Lovely backpack. Don't ever take the straps off or it'll cost you $200 to replace if you lose one. Since they don't replace the accessories individually, the only way to replace one you lost is to buy a brand new backpack. which is horrifically wasteful. Oh it has a lifetime warranty? I still have the bag. I still use it daily. It's severely reduced in its ergonomics since I lost one of the straps. It's still in one piece otherwise. Gotta hand it to them.

I bought this because I thought it would make a great commuting backpack. Since getting it, I've been impressed by some things, but I have some issues with it that might just be me: Pros: - The rainfly is awesome. I've used it and love it and the fact that I don't need to worry about it. Just stow it away and, since it's attached, I never worry about losing it. - I like the material. It feels high-end Cons: - The top flap doesn't seat itself particularly well - It's really deep but not very fat? I would gladly sacrifice 4-5" from the depth for a couple more inches for bulk. But the depth doesn't pay off in the front pockets. More on this in a bit. - It's also not particularly wide and this isn't really a bad thing, but it introduces a problem later. - There's no pen organizer. Not even a space for pens to clip to. So I bought a pencil case to keep everything in order but the smaller width of the bag and lack of depth in the front pockets make it impossible to put the standard pencil case in the front pockets AND close it. Overall, I wish I liked it more, but the front pockets are so small you struggle to put small stuff in it. There's no organizer to it. It's so deep stuff disappears into an abyss. But. It IS well-made. It feels durable and it's comfortable. At the end of the day, I'm really struggling to find the best way to use it and still have it satisfy my needs. But at the same time, I haven't found a backpack that offers better potential and it's been so long since I got it I'm pretty sure I can't return it anyway. It's so frustrating because this bag is so close to perfect for me.

I have owned my Robin Backpack for almost 2.5 years and as a graduate student who bikes/bus/train around the city, it is a pretty good bag for my needs - except for one, what I consider to be, design flaw. I am able to carry my laptop, one or two books, my breakfast and lunch for the day, and a packable jacket in the winter with no problem. I use the side pockets for my umbrella and water bottle. I also really like the magnetic clips used to open and close the top flap, the reflective portions of the bag, and the size (I initially chose this bag of the Parker Pack). Someone else mentioned that when the backpack is full it is difficult to access the front pockets and that is true. This isn't really a problem for me because most of the time once I arrive at work I empty my backpack which makes accessing the front pockets much easier. The one design flaw, in my opinion, is the top nylon flap. Less than a year into owning the bag I noticed a small, but growing crack in the nylon that has continued to grow and peel more since (see attached picture). It seems to be mostly cosmetic however if I paid full price for the bag I would probably rate the bag lower considering this is not covered under their warranty.

Looks like a cool backpack...but does anything you make have hip straps? I'm trying to find a company that makes a hard-shell, hug-the-back (with ample airflow to minimize sweat on the commute), bag with hip straps!

This is such a great bag. It's sleek and stylish, and it holds everything I need. I mainly use it for work and weekend adventures (biking, hiking, etc). I'm 5'3" and it is a good size for my body. It fits my sneakers, gym shorts/shirt, and water bottle with ease. I love the reflective patch on the bottom as well as the dedicated rain fly. My only additional request would be a few more internal pockets.

Returned it n bought Bruce bag which I love but the store would not honor my military discount

I tried out a Robin pack while on the hunt for an everyday pack that was more compact than my beloved but large Especial Tres. The Robin is well constructed, stylish and comfortable to wear. The laptop pocket is big enough to fit a 14" Thinkpad and just fits a 2016 15" MacBook Pro (without a case or sleeve on it). The back padding provides excellent airflow and is great for riding. The included rain cover is a great addition and you can actually put a couple necessities in that bottom pocket like a spare tube and mini pump. However, a couple things led me to return this bag. 1) It comes in at 20 liters and I now know for my daily needs I need something at least 22 or 24 liters. On an average day I'll pack a laptop, shoes, change of clothes, lunch, a u-lock, a spare tube and a mini-pump- and all of this *just* fits in this bag. If I wanted to pick up anything at the store on the way home I'd have to figure out another way to carry it. 2) Although I think the magnetic flap top is a cool idea- I found it to be problematic. Oftentimes I would find that once I had one side secure, it would come undone while I was trying to secure the other side. Maybe this would improve over time as the material of the flap breaks in, but it was frustrating and did not give me a lot of confidence that the top would stay closed during my commute. Again, I think the Robin is a great bag for anyone who doesn't carry a lot, but I'm hoping Timbuk2 makes a sleek Edge or Especial rolltop in that 25 liter range. Right now the Robin is the only bag in those series (with their great cycling ergonomics) that is sub 30 liters, less than 11 or 12" wide and 20" or taller.

I wanted to like this backpack. I've been using it for 3 years. I'm over it. The main reason: there is ONE main pocket (by design), and it's just a terrible way to carry and store anything. Unless you store everything in packing cubes, your backpack will look like a jumbled mess of random junk at the end of the day. Wires tangle, small items sink to the bottom. Have you ever tried to look for a bottle of allergy eyedrops, hopelessly feeling your way at the bottom of a bag of soft and sharp objects, failing until you literally dump the entire bag out upside down to find it? That was me. Same happened when trying to find my sunglasses case while driving. I had to pour the bag onto the seat with one hand. It doesn't help that the backpack only has ONE external pocket, which is 100% FLAT and cannot hold anything or bulge our more than 1/2". The side bottle holders do not stretch beyond 1" out, so in order to put any kind of bottle on either side, you need to smash in all your main pocket contents inwards to fit, contributing further to the chaos that happens in the bag. I came to this site specifically to rant on this. I tried for 3 years. I'm moving on.

Good product overall but not lasting normal use for long time. Bought mine in 2019, started to degrad early 2020. Reached out to support then and didn't get any answer so far because I am living in europe (where the product is also sold)

I love this bag, I just wish it wasn't so small. It's great for a laptop or small day-to-day items, but terrible for a gym bag or to carry groceries home. I'd recommend getting the larger bag. Unfortunately Timbuk2 only has a 30 day return policy, and I was out of town when the package arrived. I would have loved to swap for the larger size, but their policy doesn't allow.

It's a great looking bag and it's the perfect size for my needs. The small front pocket provides easy access to things without digging through the main compartment of the bag for things like headphones and sunglasses. The side pockets just barely fit a mini u-lock on one side and cable lock on the other. The reflective portion of the bag is perfect for visibility when biking. The amount of magnetic closures also adds convenience to opening and closing the bag/pocket. My only issue with the bag is the fit. I'm 5'7" and when the bag is worn at a comfortable height, the top of the bag blocks my vision when turning my head back on a bike. This is a major issue for me. I would like to continue wearing using it, but the extra time trying to look over the blind spot just makes it too dangerous during commutes in the city.

This bag is beautiful. This bag is stylish. And this bag is too small. The very nice store rep told me it would hold my music folder and it did. It just doesn't hold much more. I so wish I could exchange it for a larger one! Ugh.

Do not buy this bag if you are looking for a bag that fits a lot of stuff. This bag fits a laptop, a textbook, a pencil case, and that is it. Additionally the design of the clasps that close this bag was so poorly designed. It routinely comes apart and is hard to close. The bag looks nice, and I have gotten compliments but thought it was much larger than it is.

Too small.

Purchased this as a gift for the lady, did not see the non-return on final sale notice which you only notice when you want to return item once received... Very small, side holders for water bottle is tiny and pushes into bag which makes for even less space. Front pocket tiny and no room for organising. Slick but not functional unless you are a minimalist. Proud owner of a small bag now, will keep looking for the perfect backpack.

I previously wrote a positive review for this pack, purchased on 8/20 and received on 8/29. At some point during my morning commute, one of the magnetic buttons fell off, and now my bag is broken. I have used it for less than a month!! I am so upset, and very disappointed. Now I am waiting to hear back from Timbuk2 about their warranty policy.