VISCONTIHarvard Distressed Leather Messenger Bag, Brown, One Size

-Design-The bag is very high quality. The front panel is made of one piece of very nice leather, and the entire bag is leather except the strap backing and the lining. The stitching is excellent. The brass accents are tastefully dull and aesthetically pleasing without being overbearing. The strap is very nicely done, giving the appearance of a full leather strap, but retaining the strength of nylon. The strap is also a good length: I stand 71" but do require almost the full length of the strap in order to rest the bag on my hip. I would guess a person up to 74" would be comfortable with the strap length. The Visconti branded black nylon lining is subtle and tasteful. The bag is reasonably light.-Functionality-The magnetic clasps on the front cover hold nicely as long as the bag is not overstuffed. They sometimes require some guidance, but generally closing the bag is no-fuss and the clasps do "snap" shut if positioned correctly.The compartment design is extremely well done. Many of the bags I looked at suffered from "feature clutter" in the form of extraneous compartments. This bag achieves great functionality without going overboard. There is a large zipped pocket on the rear of the bag, one on the front of the bag beneath the cover panel, and a smaller one on the interior of the bag. There are two smartphone sized pockets on the interior, and also a large non-zipped pocket beneath the front cover panel. The front non-zipped pocket is large enough to hold a file folder. One minor flaw is that the zipper-pocket on the bag interior has a tendency to catch on things as I place them in the bag. I would have preferred the zipper be recessed or removed altogether.As a student and occasional intern, I wanted to be able to hold my Surface Pro computer, and at least one if not two textbooks. The interior of the bag is big enough to hold a small laptop (my HP Envy 14" fits snugly) and one textbook. Two textbooks require some struggling and that the front flap remain unclasped (For certain thick books or with a large laptop, two textbooks will not fit.) During the Summer I am able to comfortably fit my laptop and anything I am working on.-Durability-I've had the bag for about 6 months, and the leather has retained its great looks. The front panel and strap have softened up nicely. The brass accents have taken some scratches but in my opinion it only increases the natural good looks of this bag. Overall the bag has become better looking as it has aged. Judging from how it's held up so far, I would expect this bag to last for a dozen years or more.-Miscellaneous-For me, this was the perfect bag. I specifically wanted a relatively small bag that did not look like a laptop bag. I purchased about 4 bags from Amazon before deciding on this one. Most of the bags were entirely too large for my purposes. I also bought the oiled brown leather, but I ultimately felt the Harvard brown had a more professional appearance. Also, the Amazon photos make it look very shiny, but it is not as shiny as the pictures look.

I've had this bag for about 10 months now.Pros:- Love the style. It's simple, modern, and looks great- Has a good amount of pockets. They're all of useful size.- Large main compartment has great capacity- leather looks goodCons:- After 10 months, leather started creasing and feeling dryAfter I noticed the issue with my bag's leather, I bought an 8oz. bottle of Leather Honey on Amazon. My bag absorbed the entire bottle! I applied it several times until the whole bottle was gone.The difference is night and day. The leather now feels soft, supple, and thicker.I recommend immediately conditioning the leather on this bag after purchasing.Aside from the leather issue, this is a great bag!

This bag worked out to be a great solution for me. I got the large and for a large it is not particularly so, but it is the exact size that I needed. For me it had to be large enough to fit my laptop, yet small enough to fit into the saddlebags of my motorcycle. It just barely fits into the saddlebags and just barely fits the laptop, plus my notebooks, plus other stuff. The two interior pockets in the front turned out to be very useful for me as one is perfectly sized for a galaxy s5 and the other is very well sized for an iphone 5s, and this way it tucks both work and personal phones away nicely. There is plenty of room for me to bring home files or papers, etc.... If I overstuff it, it can make it difficult to align and close the magnetic clasps nicely but this is not a common occurrence.I have only been using it a week or so, but at least for the black one that I got, I don't see what the issue is with color rubbing off. I have not observed this and I have not applied sno seal or mink oil or anything to the bag. If I were going to be exposing it to rain frequently I probably would apply something like that but for my usage the finish seems about right like it is.The strap does not exude quite the same level of luxury as the rest of the bag does but the strap is still decent looking and for a leather bag at this price I'm not complaining.I'd also mention that for others with a second gen k1200gt (and I believe the R1200rt has the same exact sized saddlebags) this works in the sense that it fits inside the saddlebag and closes/seals without a lot of drama. You do have to fit it in there carefully but you do want it snug anyway, I think. The bags that BMW or others offer for this purpose make nice luggage for travel but to my eye were not a useful commuting/laptop/notebook solution.

The bag came in, although wrapped in plastic bag, looked like it wasn't transported and packaged properly. White patches that looked like water or moisture stains covered the entire bag.I had to go get some leather conditioner to return the leather to form. The bag also smelled musty. I'm not sure if it's because of storage, but it was different from the smell of new leather.The design of the bag is decent overall, stitching is even and bag feels sturdy - it does seem like a great product. Hopefully you will have a better purchase experience than I.

Use this for work. Durable with good handle attachment to the bag, I carry alot of heavy paperwork and it has held up well and is still going. The leather arrives with a new finish but gets that distressed look after some use, which softens it and makes it smoother. There are several compartments (4 larger, 1 smaller) for holding pens, wallet, laptop if you have a smaller 12-14" version. Holds letter sized paperwork with some room to spare. Strap is adjustable.

I've tried different bags over the years to pack a notebook to and from work and found this one to be the most versatile. Whether I'm wearing a hard hat or a business suit, this is my go to bag thrown over my head knowing that my computer and files are safe. There are many pockets, so many in fact that I forget I used one for something important.

I purchased this bag about a year ago and I love it. It fits my Dell XPS 15" (size of a 14" laptop), charger, mouse very well with space for a mid-sized notebook. The other compartments are good for pens and various other fold-able documents. It's held up well under daily use to and from work. I don't really get it wet as I drive to work so I can't comment on how it holds up to the weather. The shoulder strap recently started to come un-stitched so the seller send me a replacement pad. Great bag and great service! Would highly recommend.

This messenger bag is everything you'd want in a mans carry all. The leather is beautiful, the workmanship excellent and looks very professional and modern design. I can fit my small laptop plus my iPad plus book or papers. Inside pockets for pens, phone etc. Outside zip pocket along back length of bag. Looked long time in many places for ideal messenger bag for work and travel, this one is exactly what I wanted and even better than as shown on Amazon ad. Highly highly recommend.