Thinking of getting Timbuk2 D-Lux - opinions please!

Hi all,

I'm thinking of getting the Timbuk2 D-Lux pack for commuting to work, and am looking for opinions of people who have recent experience with Timbuk2 messenger bags. I've been recommended Timbuk2 by everybody around the office, but they all drive to work so I know they don't really understand the unnecessary harshness of commuting every day to work.

I need it primarily to lug around my laptop (primary travel laptop is the Dell Vostro 3350), coffee tumbler, 1L water bottle, umbrella, clothing depending on weather, and some other smaller personal things (keys, reading glasses, etc).

The only hard requirements that I need are that it be waterproof (from rain, not dunking in a swimming pool), and that it have a padded laptop compartment big enough to carry up to a 17" laptop. On weekends and such I will likely be toting around my Dell XPS 15 L502x.

I commute by the "sardine bus every morning like everybody else around the world, and have found that a backpack is really not commute friendly.

So has anybody had any experience with this particular bag, or similar ones? And how well would you say that the shoulder strap handles the weight? In the past I've always worn messenger bags tight right up against my upper back, much like how bike messengers wear them - I hate having my bag droop down by my waste. I find it extremely hard justifying the price for these messenger bags, but as I have no extended experience with them I have no proper opinion on them and need your help.

Thanks!

 

I have the timbuk2 command messenger 2012, the laptop padding isn't quite as thick as I wanted it to be and could say it won't protect the laptop from falls or really hard bumps. I do however carry a 17 inch laptop that's quite thick and heavy given it's a gaming laptop.

I am quite happy with the bag though, really tough since I've used it to commute to work with my 17 inch laptop (but nowadays I only use my 12 inch x230 for work), been through a lot of airport security and customs with it. filled it with winter clothes jacket, couple of kilograms of dry cat food and it still held up fine.

I did buy both the http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/products/strap-pad-toughtek and the Deluxe Strap Pad - Timbuk2 Bags and noticed the gripster is more comfortable on heavy loads.

alternatively you could also check out crumpler bags, although it's a bit more expensive than timbuk2 I believe.

 

Thanks for that response, Geekz.

If I may ask, what size is your Command? Medium or Large?

Some say that Timbuk2 makes bags that are larger than their described size, whereas some people say that their bags are still on the smaller side (after coming from one of our renown local pack manufacturers).

As well, I'm not expecting the pack to fully protect any kind of laptop, but at least protect it from minor bumps and scratches - I expect it to at least protect it as much as though the laptop was only in a sleeve inside a regular backpack. I'm usually very good with preventing drops and bumps, and have perfected a technique to squeeze through bus doors at the last second without catching on anything.

I'm trying to keep my budget down, which is why I'm looking at Timbuk2. I want something very simple, designed for urban use (hence commuter, messenger bags), but still laptop friendly. Because I already have other gear that makes Timbuk2 look like cheap umbrella nylon, this will only be my commuter pack, I won't use it for actual trips and traveling ,etc.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

Well I managed to find a D-Lux on Craigslist for 1/3 of the normal retail price. It is in excellent condition as the seller only used it for a couple months on and off, and best of all it fits my various laptops for work and personal use. I was able to squeeze in a Dell Precision M4600 in the main storage compartment while stuffing my XPS 15 L502x in the laptop "sleeve". Granted, it was unusually heavy to have about 15 lbs. of laptop, but I at least still had room to carry two power supplies, a couple external hard drives and their cables, 1 wired mouse and 1 wireless mouse, a couple of notepads and pens, and also my water bottle on the side. I would say that this "Medium" is about the medium sized bags I'm used to.

I totally see what you mean by the laptop not having any real protection from the bottom, but I feel that the "crater foam" employed by this pack will do quite well against the usual bumps and bangs to the sides of the laptop.

It's a decent bag. It has lots of great features for easy access of stuff in your bag, so I see it being very handy while commuting and walking to and from places. But I see now why some colleagues have warned me about how lacking a commuter/messenger bag is, compared to my current pack.

My current backpack is designed for alpine/backcountry skiing, has loops for ski poles, skis, a double-strap for snowboards, snow shoes, and also an internal padded sleeve for a water bladder. Very outdoors-y hardware. Yet, it also has a detachable coffee tumbler/water bottle sleeve (good for bottles up to 1.5L), an internal laptop sock (not padded, just large enough to stuff in a 15.6" laptop), a couple organiser pockets good enough for holding keys, external hard drives, etc. and carries up to 40L volume (collapsible down to 30L). It's made from kevlar + TPU, which is much better material than the ballistic nylon + TPU that Timbuk2 uses, yet only costs $70 CAD before taxes. The only reason why I considered the Timbuk2 is because of all the features for everyday use convenience. My backpack is designed for real outdoor use with urban use as an afterthought, so commuting with it is quite troublesome as you can imagine.

I will say though, that for $150 CAD all-in (incl. taxes), this is one extremely expensive bag. Perhaps it really is the branding that has driven up the price, and I personally do not believe it to be worth the full price it's meant to be sold at. For $150, I could have bought

 

I have the large size, one thing I liked about it though is the water proofing.

got caught in the rain with it and saved my gear (ought to start believing the weather widget on my phone lol)

Sent from my EndeavorU using Tapatalk 2

 

Personally I recommend backpacks over should bags, they are easier to drop, have stolen and plus when you are in a rush, easier to job/run with, catch that metro, bus, whatever. And they also provide more padding and room.

Anyway, even for messenger bags, I recommend keeping tabs on deal sites like SlickDeals, they often have deals for messenger and laptop backpacks. I just got a $90 laptop backpack for $20 with free shipping.

As for rain, yeah, backpacks have pouches to carry your umbrella at all times.

 

What? Beleive the weather forecast? Never!

Yeah, the waterproof TPU is definitely nice, and a necessity in a damp climate. While we don't have the massive downpours of tropical regions, we have constant on-and-off rain about 8 months of the year. A waterproof pack is a necessity around here, and an expectation of have of all packs I'll look at.

I've always considered backpacks over messenger bags. I'm an advocate for backpacks. However, thanks to the idiots who run the transit company, they've cut down on the number of buses by about 20% (yet their board of director's salaries have gone up twice in the past 7 years), so that means the buses are packed more than ever. Unfortunately, these packed buses are not backpack friendly.

There's a guy on the bus with a Chrone messenger bag, and watching him move seamlessly through the busy bus led me to consider messenger bags. With a backpack, myself and everyonee else was banging into each other and overall just blocking the passage. Believe it or not, since switching, I am having less trouble negotiating the narrow spaces and the back and forth bumping on the bus due to the slimmer profile of the messenger bag.

 

BuyDig.com - Toshiba Briefcase for Notebooks up to 16" (PA1505U-1CS6) - Black/Blue

Toshiba Extreme messenger bag for laptop for $18 + free shipping. Use code DIG30.

 

I have to admit to being very dubious about spending a lot of money on the Timbuk2 bags, I now have 3, and love them all to bits.

Have a couple of laptops i take various places, macbook airs in the small D-Lux bag, and a macbook pro retina in the Medium D-Lux, i have to say there are plenty of pockets and pouches for all the odds and ends one keeps with the laptop, they certainly seem to have designed around macbooks / airs as the pouches are just the right size for things like the external DVD drive, and the power packs.

The bags are definitely pretty generous in size, havng pretty standard sized laptops with small PSU's probably makes the difference. I've seen a bundle of gaming laptops that have huge PSU's.

Living in the UK where its wet a great deal of the time, i have found the waterproofing pretty darned good. With no spills yet. I did leave a banana in the bottom of the bag which got knocked about a fair bit and made a real mess, it was very easy to clean though and there was nothing on the laptop that was stored in it.

So overall i love the bags, and well worth the money.

Next time i am stateside i will be getting some funky coloured custom ones, its not that money is not an object, they are just the right thing for the job.