Timbuk2 Checkpoint Travel Roller
From Timbuk2
Carrying bags is for sherpas. The Checkpoint speeds your passage through security checkpoints with its fly skateboard wheels. A plethora of pockets practically does the packing for you. You'll never be caught competing with Lopsang again!
Amazon Sales Rank: #31538 in Apparel & Accessories Color: * Brand: Timbuk2 Model: 532 Fabric type: nylon Number of items: 1 Dimensions: 14.00" h x 10.00" w x 22.00" l, 5.20 pounds
Designed to roll through TSA with ease, the Timbuk2 Checkpoint roller bag is an ideal choice for frequent flyers. The Checkpoint sports several handy pockets--including a ticket pocket, an internal shoe pocket, rear slash pockets, and felt-lined internal secret pockets--that help you pack efficiently and organize your gear. The custom shovel handle and single-tube anodized aluminum chassis, meanwhile, make it a breeze to tote the bag onto the plane and lift it into the overhead storage bin. The Timbuk2 Checkpoint bag offers a host of internal pockets for organization. The coolest feature, however, is the TSA-ready fly skateboard wheels that help you zip up to the agent in no time. Other details include luggage stabilizers, an internal compression system, and a lifetime warranty. As Timbuk2 says, carrying bags is for sherpas. The Checkpoint roller bag comes in medium (14 by 22 by 10 inches, 7.8 pounds) and large (15 by 25 by 12 inches, 8.6 pounds) sizes. The medium can be carried on anywhere, anytime, while the large generally needs to be checked. About Timbuk2 Born in a San Francisco garage and bred on the backs of messengers in the city streets, Timbuk2 still manufactures its custom bags in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District. For 20 years, the company has been building bags and accessories for urban adventurers with a simple philosophy: to create good-looking, tough-as-hell bags you can truly make your own. Timbuk2 celebrates your individuality, which is why the company invites its customers to design and create custom bags in its Bag Builder. By letting you hack its bags, the company believes it can make bags that work harder for you. Like rice and beans, Timbuk2 keeps it simple when it comes to being pro-planet. The company makes durable bags that are built to last, so while the competition is piling up in landfills, Timbuk2 bags stay on your back and hugs you for a lifetime. Tales of Timbuk2 bags outlasting jobs, lovers, pets, and train wrecks are not uncommon. In fact, the company is so confident in its bags that it guarantees that they'll last a lifetime. In those rare cases when something bad goes down, Timbuk2 will take your bag off your hands and find it a new (loving) home through its bag recycling program.
This bag rocks I travel a lot. I *never* check my bags when traveling on planes. I dig this bag. I always take one carry-on and one bag in the overhead storage bin when flying no matter where I go (yes, including India). Best features: Swappable skate board wheels!! (I really like the idea of customizing my bags and often do customize my bags with stickers, etc.) Hint: you guys should offer customizable wheels on your site. Better yet, offer customizable bags. Outside pouch will hold my laptop - and it's padded! when going through security - easy to take out and put back. Tapered end maximizing space in the overhead (this is a 'no duh' feature, surprise it wasn't out there earlier). Zippered inner pouches so that my stuff isn't everywhere when I open the bag. Handles on every side - you can grab and lug, throw, toss this bag where it needs to be, you don't have to wrestle with it. What's needed: The outside zippered pouch that holds my laptop has a couple of inner pockets, sure wish these had zippers on them. Rotating hand grip on the extended handle when you are towing it. Good, not quite great I'm a frequent traveler for work and I was looking for a durable, lightweight roll aboard to replace the slightly-too-large model I've been towing. The Checkpoint bag succeeds in the lightweight category. It appears durable, but only time will tell. Replaceable wheels should help - those have gone bad on previous bags (e.g. after dragging through the streets of Paris for hours looking for a hotel). The handle feels solid and the plastic bumper guards on the back and bottom look sturdy. The large zippered pocket on the front of the bag is great for storing a laptop and retrieving it quickly for TSA. Unfortunately, the two smaller pockets inside the large pocket are almost useless. They *desperately* need a zipper or velcro closing mechanism. Anything I put in those pockets is going to slide out and end up in the bottom of the big section where it's difficult to reach and crunched under my laptop. That leads me to my only other complaint: there aren't any small and quick external pockets - well, except for the ticket pocket, but that's only useful for tickets. The ticket pocket is tall and narrow and hugs tightly to the bag, though it also doesn't have any kind of cinch on top. It's a great place to store your ticket when you arrive at the airport until you get on the plane. When the bag goes horizontal, though, I'd put it somewhere more secure. The ticket pocket is too deep and too tight to the bag to hold much else. Oddly, there are two of them, so I don't know what you'd put in the other one. Also, they hug the corner of the bag which makes for some nearly unusable pocket space. What I'd really like is a small, convenient and secure exterior pocket where I can put my passport and my car keys. The Checkpoint doesn't have this. I'd also welcome a larger and much less secure external pocket where I could put a newspaper or magazine. I'd like to suggest using the location of the two straps on the front of the bag. Actually, I could just slip my newspaper under these straps if there was something to prevent it sliding out the bottom - maybe the bottom edge of the bottom strap should be sewn to the bag. But, onto more of the positives: the interior of the bag seems roomy and well thought-out. I like the shoe pocket which seems to be air-tight enough to hold my running shoes. The other two pockets also have zippers (yea!) and they're convenient and spacious for toiletries or other small to medium items that would otherwise slide around and get lost under your clothes. I especially like that the bag is not rigid in all three dimensions (unlike my previous bag). It can collapse a little front to back and slightly top to bottom. That helps the bag only take up only as much space as you pack into it - if you pack lightly, you should be able to squeeze your bag into a tighter slot in the overhead. If you're going for a whole week, you can cram it full and it will definitely still fit if you get on the plane early enough. (Note to bag designers - a few tweaks to the shape of the rigid plastic shell could take this flexibility even further. Every centimeter counts those times when you're in the last group to board.) The handles on all sides were a good idea. In summary - this is a very good bag, but with a few minor changes, Timbuk2 could turn this into the greatest bag to ever go in an overhead bin. Not built for the long haul After 8 months of carry-on only use, the handle snapped right off while walking onto a speedramp. It seemed destined to happen, as the handle apparatus appeared flimsy from day one. Manufacturer's warranty covered a replacement (they can't/won't fix it), but when I checked one out, they still hadn't properly upgraded the handle. If they did that, it would be a really nice bag--very maneuverable and fits easily in most any overhead. But until then, there are lots of better bags built for the long haul in this price range.
