review of pinder's sleeve

I never review anything but this is a rare time I bought something and thought was exactly what I wanted. No changes at all.

What I also looked at:
Before purchasing, I did alot of browsing to see what was out there. I was not impressed by the sleeves at local stores. I figured if I have to get something shipped to me, I have more choices to go through.

So I saw this list of manufacturers/sleves etc, http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=50734, and went through the list. I wanted a horizontal bag under $40-70 shipped, with handles, some pocket or something for a power supply and preferably also a removable strap if I have to walk around with it a while. It has to be slim enough to fit in my briefcase.

Sumdex Impactguard, first thing I tried. It did not impress me with either it's quality or protection. Ok, but I'll spend the bucks to get something I like.

Roadwired/Crumpler/Ogio/Timbuk2 too casual for me.

Booq/Acme really nice but also pricey. I don't need anything that pretty, it's going into something else the majority of the time.

Tim Bihn Brainbox, I just can't get over the cereal box top of the sleeve and not my taste, too much like a pizza box. Tom Bihn Monolith, maybe.

STM Alley, a little poofy but kinda hard to get too.

Axio courier case, closest thing to what I want. Too bad they didn't confirm if the dimensions were for the inside or outside of the bag.

In the end my candidates were Samsonite, Waterfield without a lot of options, Chrome if I give up on a strap, tom bihn monolith or stm alley if I settle for vertical.

Pinder:
Then I saw this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=42090&highlight=pinder and decided to try Pinder. I liked the look, and definately the right price so it couldn't hurt to try. They're having a sale and dropped the price to $29 and free shipping til May 31st, so I paid $31.39 with tax.

I got the bag today, about 2 days after placing the order and I'm impressed by the quality of the bag. The straps feel solid, and it doesn't feel like they skimped on anything. The hardware is the same kind of hardware I see on my briefcase. I'm not worried about any straps breaking.

Definately more protection than a neoprene sleeve, and I think more protection than the Sumdex. I can't feel the other finger when pinching the sides of this bag (kinda a lame test, but reassuring). The zipper is lined across the top, so I can't scratch my laptop. The medium is a perfect fit for my Latitude 510, at 13.25"x10.75"x1.5" and the bag with laptop is a perfect fit for the briefcase pocket reserved for it. The pocket is big enough for the power supply and some pens or something. Not very big so I can't squeezing in a lot of files or crud.

I think it's an excellent value, and I'm happy I didn't spend more on a alternative. Color choice is limited, only black, camo and orange are left. The black suits me just fine.

In summary, this is a quality bag and suitable for those not looking for a lot of style or extras. This is not really a cool looking bag. If you want cool and willing to drop the bucks, I'd go with the Booq/Waterfield sleeve maybe.

Let me know if you're interested in pictures, the ones at their site are pretty good to see what it's like.

Edit:
Whoops forgot the url http://www.pinderbags.com

 

sweet review...just ordered one for my new Dell E1505 in Major Camo since I'm active duty military ...i was all set to buy the sumdex until i read your post!

the strap, pocket, and waterproof material is what sold me

 

Could you add some picture? The black color picture they have isn't great. I'm thinking about getting one for my e1405.

 

Sure, I can do so probably Sat when I get back and can find a camera.

 

Thanks!

How does the bag add to the total weight of your laptop, is the pouch big enough to fit our AC adapter and other accesories?

 

To answer your questions...
The bag is very light and the 1-2 lbs they note on the site is accurate. The strap by itself makes up a good portion of the weight. I think it's the hardware. Without the strap I think it's about as heavy as the sumdex impactguard I tried before. The pouch is plenty big for the power supply. A mouse will probably fit with the power supply, if it's one of those meant for laptops and travel. (I dont' know I dont use one) It will bulge out.

I did discover that my padfolio will fit inside with the laptop if I dont bring a power supply. The pouch then has enough give for businesscards, my treo and some odds and ends..

Here are the pictures. If I didn' take a picture of something you wanted to see, let me know.
Click on a picture to get the big version in a new window.

Pictures of the outside

 

Pictures of the inside

Notes: First picture is of my laptop inside the bag, and the second picture is my padfolio and laptop in the bag. The third picture is the power supply which fits fine. I can have my padfolio or my power supply but not both with the laptop. Too much of a squeeze otherwise. The fourth picture is the inside of the bag and the fifth is the inside of the pocket.

 

Misc Pictures

Notes: A pic of my padfolio on top of the bag. You can see it in my briefcase. I end up sticking the powerbrick and misc things in the front pocket. The strap hardware looks sturdier than my briefcase's actually. The shoulder pad is much thinner in person, I think I just zoomed in too much. It has kind of a nubby rubber texture so it's not slippery.

 

Great pics thirdchild! Thanks!

I just ordered one (medium) for my dell e1405 which has the dimensions 13x9.6x1.5, so that looks good.

From the pictures and your comments it looks like a great bag, esp. for the price. I was going to wait for their new lineup coming in July (it might have more specific sizes or color schemes etc), but I realized that those would probably be $50. I couldn't pass up on the (now) $30 THIN bag with free shipping.

Thanks again!

 

Thread's been quiet for a few days, sorry to bring it back up, but I just received my Pinder today. I agree with all the good points; so far it seems to be a well-constructed sleeve/bag, and the padding is better than alot of sleeves I've seen.

Picked this up for my XPS M140. Got the medium sized sleeve, as it was the recommended size for it. It's a little big for the M140 though; not a serious problem, but there is quite a bit of play length-wise (maybe 1 - 1 1/2"). I could almost stick the powerbrick in the open space on the side, though that'd probably scratch things up a bit. What's nice is that there's just the right amount of play height-wise, with the extended 9-cell battery. Just enough extra space to make it easy to zip but still fills it out quite well.

All things considered, you get pretty good quality for a respectable price. Glad I found this thread, thanks thirdchild.