Acme Made Clyde St. Messenger Bag – ‘Book Mystique Review

The Clyde St. Messenger bag is a mid–size laptop computer bag able to accommodate up to 17-inch MacBook Pros or 16-inch PC notebooks. It’s significantly bigger than the companion Acme Made Clutch Case I reviewed here recently, but the payoff is that it will hold an incredible volume of stuff in addition to the computer. You can really carry an entire portable small office in this bag.

Messenger bags are my preferred form factor for laptop cases. With both briefcase handle for convenient short distance toting, and a shoulder strap for longer hikes, they can’t be beaten for versatility. The Clyde St.’s carry handle is generously sized, ventilated, and curved for comfort, made from a soft–feeling but rigidly supportive rubbery material.

The shoulder strap is of roughly 2 inch nylon webbing and adjustable for length, as well as being able to stow neatly when not required. It has a movable shoulder pad measuring roughly 2 inches X 12 inches, and is faced with “sticky” traction material on its contact pad to help keep it from slipping off your shoulder.

The Clyde St.’s outer skin is mainly of Acme Made’s proprietary “Bombshell” technical fabric, which combines a rugged nylon mesh core with a waterproof, durable, and abrasion–resistant synthetic material in a matrix, and is described as being the same stuff used on some of the world’s most demanding applications from protective shelters to truck tarps. It’s waterproof, rugged, and highly stain resistant.

The closure flap is secured by two high–strength plastic clips on adjustable nylon webbed tethers. They pop open with a satisfying “eject” action.

With the flap folded back, first in on the bag proper is a medium-sized twin-zip-closure compartment, which contains a somewhat smaller zip-closure pocket of a size that will accommodate CDs and DVDs, a laptop power adapter, or a laptop mouse. The facing side of the pocket has a very shallow open pocket that I guess would be good for a USB flash thumb drive, plus three pen/pencil holders. The compartment itself is roomy enough to carry a variety of incidentals such as cables and so forth.

Moving another tier inward we find a wider pocket that Acme Made calls a unique, “stay–flat”, document pocket to protect important files. I couldn’t discern exactly why that designation. They would have to be smallish documents, because the pocket is not wide enough to hold a full–width file folder. On the other hand, I found it perfectly-sized to carry my iPad 2 – either by itself or in a sleeve or portfolio case. I don’t have an Apple SmartCase for the iPod, but I anticipate that would fit in his pocket just fine as well. The pocket/compartment is lined with a smooth and slippery nylon fabric that will be kind to the iPod’s finish (or whatever else you choose to stow in it).

Inboard of that is the Clyde St. Messenger case’s main computer compartment, which is plenty big enough to hold a 17 inch MacBook Pro, any smaller Mac laptop, as well as PC laptops of up to 16 inch display size.

Actually, as long as your computers aren’t terribly thick you should have no problem getting two full-sized laptops into the main after compartment of the Clyde St. Messenger, plus an iPad in that middle pocket, although the latter and one of the laptops would then be separated only by a layer of fabric, so you would want them in sleeve cases for extra protection.

I had no problem getting a Pismo PowerBook and an iBook that I had handy, neither of them as thin as today’s machines, inside with plenty of room to spare.

The rearmost, designated computer pocket is padded with what feels like 1/4 inch closed-cell foam front and back. There is also a Velcro–closure strap to keep the computer securely in place.

If you’re carrying just one computer, which most users will be, you’ll have plenty of room for stuff that might include sneakers, sketchbooks, snacks or your lunch, show tickets, noise-cancelling headphones, books or magazines, train tokens, or your iPhone and plenty more. You’re more likely to limit your carriage by weight rather than running out of capacity.

In summary, the Clyde St. Messenger is the most commodious messenger bag I’ve yet encountered, and without looking or feeling ponderous or excessively bulky. A particularly impressive feat of engineering. Our test unit in basic black (the only color offered) had a stylish but still businesslike look that should be appropriate for school, casual, or business environments.

Acme Made’s mission commitment is to build the best products possible using the best materials available such as high-impact plastic inserts, forged metal hardware, and designer textiles and high grade fabrics designed to wear well, yet remain attractive over time. as opposed to lesser-quality materials. To help differentiate Acme Made materials as better quality, the company custom-produces its own nylons in Korea and Italy to ensure that standards are maintained, colours are richer, and that the materials have the proper amount of stain and water repellency. Additionally, no PVC backing is used in Acme Made case our materials as they are known to cause problems to the environment, with polyurethane (PU) or other more eco-friendly materials used instead.

The Clyde St. Messenger bag carries an MSRP of $119.99.

Product page:
http://www.acmemade.com/product/The-Clyde-St-Messenger,59,9.htm

For more information, visit;
http://www.AcmeMade.com