Customer Reviews L.L.Bean Zip Top Boat and Tote Medium

These totes are roomy & hold everything I need to take when visiting our grandkids, or even just going into town for groceries. They are extremely strong so I never worry about how much I stuff into them & they make great gifts. However, they would benefit by having a small key ring &/or pouch to corral a phone or keys in !! The zipper top is the best feature, esp when used as a carry on when traveling by air. I highly recommend spraying with a water proofing product before use to keep them looking their best. I missed that on my first one & it looks a bit travel weary.

The bag is heavier than expected due to the heavy duty canvas used and was extremely rigid. It is not flexible at all. It is really good quality but these two downsides make it hard for me to use as a daily bag.

I love these bags as baby gifts for people who travel to family or holidays. They pack a ton of small kids' clothing and even stuffed animals. They zip closed to keep everything in. HOWEVER, they need to come in more colors! I just gave them as a gift for twin girls and had to get green and blue (didn't want to get one girl red and the other green or blue). Would love them, say, in orange, turquoise, lavender, yellow, lime green. Come on, LL Bean, update your colors!!

bought as presents ....appears to be good quality as Beans things always are

As I have purchased several of the Bean Boat Totes, I absolutely love the durability of the totes . . . In fact, I have recommended them to a few friends. Because we are members of various organizations and programs, I use the Bean Totes as my means of organization - I use the colored handles as my color coding & keep pertinent materials, binders, etc in that tote which allows for grab & go! All that being said, my last tote was purchased for a friend/teacher. I was disappointed in the monogram - the font didn't appear as was shown on the screen when I was placing the order and instead it was a bolder font making one of her initials run together.

It's a bag. Sturdy. Cloth. A tad overpriced, but that's the cost of getting it out of a catalog. Too heavy for shopping, and wouldn't want to expose something this expensive to all that dirt,wear and tear anyway. Good for odds and ends on a car trip,or for taking things to and from a boat.

It took 2 months to receive.

This bag is the perfect size for me to take on a one or two night trip that doesn't require a lot of complicated packing. The one thing I will say is that if you fill the bag to the brim, it can be difficult to grasp both of the regular handles.

The Boat tote in general is great & well made. I ordered one with a zipper top. The weight of Fabric used for the top is lighter than the tote, and I believe this will not hold up like the rest of the bag. I recommend that a similar weight material be used for the zipper top.

Love the quality of this tote, but there needs to be some internal pockets for keys, work IDS, cell phones, etc. Need to put a store in Charlotte, NC!

I've never owned a tote but I'm glad I bought this one. Stays clean due to the vinyl on the bottom. The only thing I wish it had - interior pockets. As it is, I just dump everything into it & use it as a purse.

What a great bag. I have it in the marine blue and monogrammed. I used it as my beach bag on vacation and it was spacious enough for large beach towels, my son's beach toys, change of clothing and snacks. However, I would have loved an inside zipper pocket. Rummaging through the large bag to find my cell phone, car keys and tiny items was not the most pleasant. Despite the lack of inside pocket I highly recommend this bag. LL Bean, please consider adding a zipper pocket or pouch inside which would make this already great bag - top notch.

I love the bag that I ordered. I was especially impressed with how quickly it came in, even with the monogramming. The price is also very reasonable. I ordered the long handles because I wanted to be sure that I could carry it over my shoulder comfortably. They are extremely long! It is awkward to carry when I have a lot of things in the bag. This is my only regret about the bag.

The quality of this boat bag has always been and continues to be excellent. There is one fault with this newer model that I hope the company corrects. There is no zipper tab to hold onto when you zip the bag closed. Also, because of the lack of the tab, it's possible to lose the end of the zipper when you zip it closed. You have to stop just short of closing it to keep the zipper pull from disappearing down in the end of the bag. I sure hope the company corrects this problem. All my other bags have the zipper tab. This was a gift so I had to warn the person I gave it to.I didn't like that.

One of the main reasons that I bought this is that I was tired of my usual large tote that was floppy. That makes it difficult to pack it. This Boat and tote stands open and is so easy to pack, I love it. It is sturdy and waterproof. I bought the long handle bags to carry over my shoulder. I would like to see an adapter to make the straps stay together and sit more comfortably on the shoulder or an option to have a cross body strap, other than that it's perfect!!

My family bought me the large size with the zippered top and had my initials stitched on it for a cruise I recently took. I'm short(4'11), so the long handles worked for sliding the bag over my shoulder keeping my hands free. It's a very durable bag and can hold quite a bit. We had two large beach towels, sunscreen, two pairs of extra clothes, swimsuits, sunglasses, a waterproof pelican caseand could have stuffed a bit more in if we needed. It was handy to have it zipped in but it would be terrific if there was an outside or inside pocket to fit sunscreen and small items that always made their way to the bottom of the bag. Overall, it's a gorgeous bag and I would recommend a purchase to anyone who wants all their supplies in one place.

I purchased a small, zip top tote for a gift. This size is good for a smaller underseat flight bag or daily work tote. It's large enough to carry a brown bag lunch, wallet, cell phone, iPad or book and keys. Simple one compartment design. The bottom folds down flat. Bag can stand-up on its own without sagging or flopping over. Medium-Size is better if you need to carry papers like an 8 1/2 X 11" note pad. I didn't give this bag 5 stars because of two things. 1) Bag lacks an internal zip pocket. 2) The zipper is a bit awkward. The flap needs to be flexed upward to slide the zipper. The zipper track ends in a fabric fold. If the zipper pull slides down into this fold - it is a bit tricky to slide out.

I wrote a review before using the bag, and am writing another after spending a week down south with it at an all-inclusive resort. I really like the bag for the beach holidays! The handles were initially quite tough (since they were brand new), and they got softer with use after a few days. While I thought it was too small at first, it fits 2 beach towels, water bottle, snacks, book & magazines, and other small items which are perfect for lugging items around at the resort and during short excursions. Had I gotten the large size, I'd be tempted to put many items in it and the bag would be too heavy to carry. I'd like to get the long handles for my next beach bag for easier carrying, but this is fine for short walks. The zip top is perfect to keep items safe and secured from prying eyes. The bag is very strong and durable, and will definitely last many years. It is definitely waterproof - tested when the ocean tide came up higher than expected to my lounge bed and the bag was on the ground next to me :)

This tote is exactly what I thought it would be when I ordered it -- a sturdy bag with multiple uses. I have already used it as a carry on bag for a weekend getaway and a shopping trip to the mall. Boating season will be starting soon and I'll be taking it out on the water too. I opted for the longer handles and find it fits comfortably over my shoulder. The zip-top is also a plus. It is a bit pricey, but is well made and will last a long time.

This is made of a very stiff canvas and is very sturdy. My one issue is that the measurements for the large size do not match the item which is much bigger. I would return the bag for a medium except that it is too large for convenient shipping.

I received the regatta blue bag with the word "beach" monogrammed, 4 days after I placed the order online, in Toronto. I am very pleased with the delivery speed. The quality of the seam stitching is good, but not 100% aligned, which is not ideal but alright considering it is machine-stitched by a real person instead of a robot. The material feels very strong which I like. I expect this bag to last a long time. However, the Medium size bag is smaller than I thought it'd be from the other reviews. If you'd like a beach bag to lug several large towels for a couple, change of clothing, books and snacks etc. - get the Large size. I would also prefer a zippered pocket inside the tote to hold keys and small items, so I don't have to dig around for them.

My wife loved the gift and so do I the only item I care to comment on is although the color of the printing said it was the same color.. it appears a few shades lighter.

Have ordered these Totes for years. A great buy & very useful.

I am very happy with the quality of the bag but disappointed with the size of the lettering and thread color. I think the lettering is too small for the size of the bag. The thread color looks much different than what I saw on my computer.

Really nice bag, large, rigid enough to stand up on its own, seems sturdy, exceeded my high expectations in all respects except stitches along zipper popped and opened a three inch gap the first time I unzipped it, before we even used it. Wife immediately sewed it back up or might have continued popping stitches.