Tom Bihn

If you’ve read my review of the Imago, you know I’m a self-confessed admirer of Tom Bihn’s bags. The Seattle-based company makes bags that, to me, seem quintessentially northwestern: stylish without being frivolous.

Well, their new Ego messenger bag is maybe just a little frivolous, as one of the features it touts is customizable strips, but it’s all in fun. The main strap which snaps down the outer flap can be easily replaced with a variety of patterns, for example in the image below, there is a leopard print strip in place, but this can be changed to a reflective material, cork, or any of a number of different materials, colors, and patterns. The strips cost $5.00 each, and while many people might not choose to ever swap them, the nicety doesn’t come at the expense of any functionality, and it isn’t hard to imagine at least putting in the reflective strip before going riding at night. For the more fashion-conscious, there are quite a few options.

The rest of the bag follows the Tom Bihn tradition of being both distinctively attractive and functional. This isn’t a boring black bag that looks like a Dell throw-in: the colors are vibrant and distinct, without screaming laptop bag. The interior is broken down into two main compartments. The smaller of the two is full of various pockets and pouches–done with high contrast colors for good visibility–and the larger compartment is padded, with room for a sleeve-encased laptop. A nice touch is that the laptop compartment is accessed separately using a zipper, making unbuckling the flap unnecessary to get your notebook out. If you’re using one of Tom Bihn’s sleeves, the Ego has clips to secure it in place within the bag, and can accommodate a notebook as big as the MacBook. I didn’t test it, but I suspect that depending on the sleeve being used, one could probably fit a 15-inch MacBook Pro. It’s worth noting that with a Tom Bihn Brain Cell sleeve (which we reviewed a while back) containing a MacBook, there was still significant storage capacity in the laptop portion of the bag. The exterior also features a slit for storing documents–convenient if you just need to get at some papers without digging into your stuff–and side pouches that could hold an iPod, umbrella, water bottle, or things of that ilk.

If it isn’t becoming clear to you, the Ego has both a good deal of plain ol’ open storage space for carrying around an AC adapter, books, external hard drive, extra battery, and whatever else you might need, plus quite a bit of more structured places for pens, pencils, cell phone, iPod, calculator, or whatever else. If you need to carry around quite a big of stuff, the Ego is a great option. Like Uncle Ben (the Spider-Man one, not the instant rice one) says, though, with great capacity comes great size. The Ego isn’t the biggest bag made by Tom Bihn, but it’s not diminutive. While many messenger bags are quite rectangular, with the width far exceeding the height, the Ego is very squarish. Your back will probably thank you if you’re hauling around the kitchen sink (there’s a reason hiking bags are more vertical than horizontal), but if you fall into the less-than-tall category, you might try and give the Ego a test run to make sure the height is comfortable.

Speaking as someone who is 6′4″ and doesn’t like to ever be without anything, I heartily recommend the Ego. The laptop compartment has quite good padding to protect against falls, and there’s a good deal of both open and organized storage space for students or office types. More than anything, though, there’s the sense of attention to detail and thoughtful design throughout the bag. The only question is really whether the bag is right for you. If you’re 5′2″ and just want to carry around your 12-inch PowerBook, there are probably better options, but if a MacBook and textbooks or peripherals are a fact of life, the Ego is well worth consideration.

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