SwissGear 5977 Scansmart Laptop Backpack

Disappointed with this item. This new version seems to have lower quality than the original that lasted years.

This product was purchased for my son's birthday to replace the original backpack of the same product. It was exactly the same and my son's original Swiss Army backpack lasted him over 9 years . All through highschool and university. Great product arrived in time for his birthday.

It's a spacious, sturdy backpack. Two zip-up tall pockets on the sides (with o-ring vents). Three large cavity pockets; two of those are narrow full-length cavity pockets, and a slightly shorter and more spacious pocket (the main one for putting stuff into; the other two are more like laptop holding pockets but are still useful for many other things). And then it has a smaller pocket at the top, which would be ideal for miscellaneous items (anything from masks to snacks to ID badges). It's very well put together, it feels solid. It's very well padded and is comfortable to wear even with some weight in it. SwissGear did a good job with this one. This is my second SwissGear pack in the past 15 years and another good experience with the brand. The only negative thing I have to say: it's kind of loud, there are lots of jangling metal zippers (because they use a dual zipper pair style, so the two zippers near eachother collide constantly as you walk). Where the zippers come together, I tuck one of them into the backpack, which significantly reduces the metal on metal noise they otherwise make, and that largely solved the walking noise machine problem (this pack has a lot of zippers).

The likes: *Super durable. I travel every week, almost. This thing carries all my gadgetry. Airport after airport, on and off my shoulders, in and out of overhead compartments, up and down, open and closed. I just beat this thing to death and overstuff it. Not one ravel. Not a broken zipper, not a split or cut. Perfect! * Super roomy. I swear it uses some time-space bending property to make the inside larger than the outside! I can't seem to fill it up! It almost rips my shoulders out of the socket when I'm travelling, but it holds up. --Short pocket up front, with small pockets, suitable for pens/pencils, charging brick, glasses, Kindle, and things like that. --Really small external zipper pocket on front exterior. I keep small medicine bottles in there for easy reach. Ibuprofen, allergy, eye drops, etch. --First large compartment (of 3). Huge space in there for miscellaneous. It has 3 half-height separators, and a pocket for a phone or music player. There's the little hole, through which one can run a headphone cable. I don't use that, personally. --Inside that compartment, at the top is another small compartment at the top. It zips and is made of mesh, so you can see the contents. I keep wall adapter and spare cables there. It's just behind the aforementioned exterior compartment. --Second Large Zipper compartment. It has an inner pocket, of mesh with elastic, just the size of a classic iPad. I carry that in there. There's room for more, but I only put that. --Third Large Zipper Compartment. Laptop compartment. It has a special pad, that can be re-positioned via velcro, that can cusion, or secure from movement. * Super durable zippers, with ability to use TSA locks on most of them. The ferrules are large and easy to see. I've overstuffed this bag a hundred times and the zippers just keep on zipping! * Cooling grooves, sculpted into the back cushions. These let warm air flow out from between your back and the backpack. * Convenience loops all over the exterior of the bag. They're on the body and on the straps. They're everywhere! The dislikes: * Just one. No small loops for hanging the backpack onto the handle of a roller bag! I can't remember the last time I saw a travel-oriented bag that didn't have this! Super inconvenient. I had to buy an elastic contraption that holds it on there. In-Motion, at the airport, has them. About $20. Overall, fantastic. Just don't expect to hang it on your roller-bag.

Good item and received as described