Brenthaven Tred Expandable Backpack for 15-inch Laptops

The backpack is of good quality and is well padded for the laptop. There is plenty of room for other things. The small padded pocket on top is a nice touch and is good for sunglasses or anything you wouldn't want to get scratched. For the money you can't do better then the Brenthaven 2071102. There are only three things I don't like: 1. The chest strap doesn't come off. These are only useful if you are riding a bike otherwise it just gets in the way. For some reason Brenthaven sewed the straps together so the only way to remove the chest strap is to cut if off. I am almost to that point. 2. The handle presses against my neck. The top handle for this bag connects the shoulder straps about an inch down. It's not painful and doesn't rub, but it is annoying. 3. The iPod pouch sits against your back. I knew this when I bought it thanks to the photos, so it wasn't an unpleasant surprise like the chest strap and handle. I do think it was a stupid design decision. If you need to change anything you have to take off the backpack to get to the iPod. It works fine if you have a long playlist and you don't plan on touching the device until you have reached your destination. Otherwise it is just a wasted feature, inferior to the pants pocket. EDIT Nov. 2015. I have been using this backpack nearly everyday for 5 years now and it still looks new. No damage, no wear, no broken zippers. Better yet, no damage to my laptops. The quality of this product is excellent. I did end up cutting off the chest strap. I no longer notice the handle pressing on my neck. Given its quality I have raised it from 4 to 5 stars.

My initial review was 5 stars. I love this backpack. I bought this almost 3 years ago. I used it for 3 months and LOVED it. It is really a great bag. Then my job changed and I switched it a different bag until about 3 months ago. I remembered how good this was. Today I noticed a seam pulling out. It is in the upper section near the left shoulder strap, where there isn't much force on the seam. Having built bags in Cordura and ballistic nylon before, I immediately knew this was a problem of not allowing enough fabric past the seam. The fabric has unwoven around the thread. (If this was wear and tear, the gray fabric in the photo would not look perfectly new.) http://i.imgur.com/c5S1rV7.jpg I filed a repair request and upload a photo so they can see the unraveling. I was told that on a backpack which shows almost no other wear, that this defective seam is due to wear and tear. (This is on a section that isn't even stressed with force on the shoulder strap, as the force is tangential to that seam.) They will give me 30% off of something on their site. So it will be only 10-15% more than a bag on Amazon (how do you put in a rolled eyes icon here?) I responded with a question of why I would want another of their bags when they don't stand behind it. And I cancelled the Metrolite BP-XP I just ordered, to use while I figured this would be sent in for repair. Well they have agreed to send a good bag to replace it. And I'm reordering the Metrolite BP-XP. I was in a 1-star mood when I thought that the customer service wasn't what everyone says. I'm happy that a little prodding and they do what they promise. I debated about between 4 and 5 stars, but I think this gets 5 stars again, just because it was a good experience. Products have problems, but how the company deals with them is the difference. The replacement bag they sent out is different than the bag I purchased in 2012, so I can talk to what has improved and what I miss. The side saddle pockets are about the same size, but there is no longer elastic mesh pockets on them and they have switched from grey to black. I like this improvement, as I think it makes the pack look a little more professional with the all black and I never used the external pockets, as I didn't trust them to keep items. Advantage: New design The helmet or jacket holding elastic cords on the back go into loops, rather than clipping onto fiberglass rods. This looks a little cleaner. They removed the pocket in the bottom and the ability to remove that and stow it. That makes less of a zipper and structure, so I'm sure it lightens the bag. However, you cannot detach it. On the flip side, it is much less obtrusive than the previous version. If you were sure you would NEVER use it, removing the elastic end and unthreading the elastic would be fairly trivial. Advantage: Tie if you don't use it, New design if you do. Gone are the vertical zippered compartments on the black triangle wedge, right next to the bungee straps. These were not large, but I will miss them. Well, I will miss one of them. It was an odd pocket and most people probably didn't use it. I always kept a decent LED flashlight in one of them. It was accessible very quickly from the outside and never got lost inside. However, the other side pocket never got used. This is another robustness and weight saving move, that I can accept in trade off. Advantage: Old Design, but understandable that most won't use this pocket. The small U zipper compartment is unchanged from what I can tell. This is the compartment sharing a plane with the outside touching the bungee. It has nice organization inside, with no difference between versions. I love the pen pockets and included with the small horizontal pocket are the two storage things I miss on the Metrolite BP XF bag that I have been using. The next pocket up has a rugged external zip with a lighter zipper internal baffle. This allows you to temporarily expand this pocket. It is fully open with no organization inside. I can't see any differences between the two versions. Advantage: Tie Before we get to the laptop compartment, there is a small horizontal pocket. This was two thirds up the section between the last compartment and the laptop compartment. The new design has the zipper almost even with the laptop compartment zipper. This is a visual improvement. They have also addressed something that bugged me with this pocket, once loaded. It would tend to pull the open laptop compartment flap down. It now has a velcro tab at the bottom that gives some support from the bottom of the pocket and spreads the load down. The pocket is still nicely lined for protecting cell phone screen. Advantage: New Design. Other than the associated changes with the horizontal pocket support, I'm not seeing any differences in the laptop compartment. Still has the same combo of nylon and mesh set of 4 pockets at the away from laptop side. And the laptop section has the same velcro retainer. The straps are basically the same. They eliminated the D rings at the middle of the strap. I've never found those useful, as I hate things swinging from there in a pack. Advantage: Potentially Old Design. For me it is a tie. My verdict: I think the new design is an improvement. The visuals and improved horizontal pocket outweight the lost of the one vertical pocket I used. It is the same comfortable pack that amazed me when I originally purchased it in 2012. I carried twice the weight in more comfort than the Swissgear pack I had previously used. The new design is just as comfortable.

I'll be short and concise. 4 stars because there are only three things i don't like. Pros: - Great construction. - Many Pockets, and inner pockets, so you if you're organized like i you'll love it. - Great Materials, im not so sure about the handle on the top from other reviews, but now i used it to move a lot of things and my mac, and worked great. - Good Padding. - Great zippers. Cons: - Boring colors : comparing it to timbuk2 is ugly - Is not as tall as i would like. My prior backpack could carry an axiom 25 midi controller inside. - Not airtravel friendly, but hey it's not advertised that way. If you're traveling on a small airplane it DOES NOT fit under the seat if fully filled, and in a big airplane it fits confortably in overhead. so long in the month i've owned it i could recommend it if you carry a good ammount of stuff. And at the end the most important thing is that i feel my macbook is VERY safe Update: march 20 '11: well now after more than a year i can say it's a great backpack, lots of space. It is just like day 1. I had one big fall where I though that my macbook would be damage (from a meter high with the backpack completely full of stuff) but it survived with a minimal dent on the side but no cracking. the only 2 things are: 1. is that it is not able to stand wile being full of stuff and for me that is a must, but if you dont have a problem with it go with it. 2. is not lightweight while being empty.

We bought this backpack for my high school aged son based on my experience with a Brenthaven pack bought seven years ago. My son likes the styling, I like the durability and clear quality. He routinely overloads it with what seems like every book that he owns, and the Brenthaven Trek has nary a stretched seam. In addition to being built like a tank, the Brenthaven is well designed, with a well-placed pocket it for every device needed by today's student. The only feature lacking from the Brenthaven is a waist belt to take some of the load off the user's shoulders. My son informs me that he would never use such a device-so, I guess it's a moot point So, here are the pros and cons Pros: quality construction, good styling, designed to protect phones, iPods, a laptop or iPad. Cons: it's not light, the expandability is a bit of a gimmick. It really does not add that much expansion space. Is it worth the money- we think so, especially considering the incredible warranty offered by Brenthaven.

I use this backpack for travel and it’s perfect. Small enough to fit under the airplane seat, but big enough to hold everything I need. It’s well built, with sturdy zippers, and the cushioned straps make it easy to carry.

Item received was the old model not the item pictured. Not sure if I'm going to keep or return. Product Itself is without flaw. Just be aware that you might not get what you see.

As of this writing I have notified Amazon that the main photo of this backpack is the previous and significantly superior design and constitutes false and misleading advertising. I found the current version of this backpack on sale for forty-five and it was worth that. I wouldn't pay much more than that for the current model, however. They have eliminated at least four of the zippered compartments, and I don't think the zippers are as well made. I'm very disappointed that they didn't stick with the older design. The main compartment zipper failed on my new one while my Middle School age son continues to use the old one with no problems. On the positive side, Brenthaven's warranty service is excellent so you shouldn't have to replace it unless it's lost or stolen.

My son loved how comfortable it was & lotsa pockets.

Awesome bag, so many compartments and it's super sturdy! Perfect for my MacBook. I would recommend to any one who needs a laptop rucksack.

Brenthaven have an outstanding reputation particularly in the USA. I'd also read several glowing online reviews so had high expectations. The backpack is well made, with great finish and materials on the outside and has good quality zips. However, I found the quality of the inner lining only average. There were no defects but the material looked and felt cheap (compared to my current HP/Samsonite DL616A backpack). So for the price, I personally did not think it was good value for money and have returned it now. I'm going to try some of the Swissgear stuff now...

Seems okay overall. Padded laptop protection and build quality. 4 stars because it doesn't fit a 15.6 laptop properly as its title suggests. It looks like it would properly fit a 13 inch tablet. Returning this product, but I hope they have a larger bag.

item as described, good quality and value for money, delivered before due time.