Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

We ordered this backpack for our son to take to college. We like Mountain Hardwear gear, and have used it for camping and backpacking for many years. The backpack came and we found it extremely well-made and well-designed. The problem came when we tried to put our son's 17" laptop into the pocket. It would NOT fit, no matter how we tried. The pack is advertised to be large enough for a 17" unit, but his HP model would not fit. We're going to return it, for that reason and only that reason. If you have a 15" laptop, it would be a wonderful buy.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

The bag layout consists of a large top-loading main compartment, a rear side-loading laptop compartment separate from the main compartment, a front pocket & a top pocket on the actual top-loading part cover. The main compartment has a divider towards the back for a portfolio / folders and a clear thin pocket for some papers / map, etc. Additionally, the far right and left of the interior main compartment have long pockets on the sides that run the entire length of the pack. There are also two exterior water bottle pockets and an interior pocket on the top of the top-loading cover (it has a keyring clip in it as well) with a few small padded pockets that have little velcro flaps for a cell phone, pens, etc.

I find it to be a very useful bag because it is somewhat long and slender as opposed to some other bags this size that are short and fat. Because of this I find it not only carries well but also fits beautifully under the seat for airplane travel. It swallows a lot. I just returned from a long weekend trip and carried the following
- laptop in laptop pocket
- main pocket: three small bags with cables, camera battery charger, computer USB cards, PC cards, GPS unit, GPS unit bracket, GPS unit power cords and PC cables, large headphones in case with MP3 player, portfolio, magazines, glasses case, computer network cables, spare flashlight batteries ... and still had extra room
- front pocket: gum, clif bars, laptop power cord, cough drops, pocket digicam
- top fleece-lined pocket: PDA phone sync cable, bluetooth headset, corded headset, flashlight
- top of inside pocket: keys, spare change, travel wallet I find this to be a great bag for traveling and around town use.

The material is very rugged and holds up to rain without any issue. It also handles weight well and the top-loading (I prefer) seems to eliminate the issue of zippers being a PIA when you it's loaded up.

Highly recommended.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

I was very disappointed to find that my 17" laptop did not fit in the padded laptop sleeve. Not even close. The product description, "fits up to a 17" laptop" is misleading, at best.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

I bought this for a 5 day business trip and just wanted to bring 1 bag instead of a computer bag and a separate one for clothing. It would have done the trick fine, but it didn't fit my laptop. I believe the MacBook Pro 17" is the smallest 17" on the market so if it doesn't fit that, I don't see how it could fit any 17" (I'm not bragging, just saying what leads me to believe the specs for this are incorrect). What's mind-boggling is that the sleeve would have fit it fine, but the zippered opening is about 1/2 too short to slide the laptop in.

As others have said, it'd be fine for a 15" or smaller laptop. The build was nice. The design is minimalist. I'd still recommend it to anyone who didn't need to accommodate a 17" laptop.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

This is a great bag, really burly, BUT... I need somtething for work that has a lot of pockets for power cords, business cards, pens, post-its, etc. This has limited pocket space. Also, it is very tall, but very shallow. It's tough to get down to the bottom of it and I can't pack a lot into the main compartment because it's so skinny. Really a great bag, but seems more geared towards a backpacker with a laptop than a business traveller. I love that it has a dedicated laptop compartment, though. I'll be exchanging it for the North Face Surge, though. I've also heard that the MH Guardian is better space-wise,[...]

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

This bag is great for bike commuting in foul weather but it is pretty heavy. I ended up returning the bag because the chest strap popped off. I ended up not replacing it because I decided that it would be much nicer to just leave stuff at work instead of riding back and forth with them.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

I was looking for something very specific: a pack that would carry my old, heavy laptop (8lbs) comfortably and would alleviate any worries of getting caught in the rain with said laptop in my bag. This backpack does both extremely well. I mostly walk to school in the Northeast and getting caught in inclement weather is a real danger. Hence, weather-proofness was a top priority. And while this pack is quite heavy, it carries extremely well and I feel less weight on me than I did with my cheaper, lighter previous pack. The side loading laptop sleeve is a nice touch - it works for me.

Service and delivery comments:

Got it on time when I wanted it. It's hard to imagine something happening that would damage this pack during shipping.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

the Bag has some very good qualities, but it was not what I needed for school. the bag would be best for traveling. it has a good mount of room to hold your stuff but it is too high or tall for my school needs. It worked great for a trip I took to CA. but the capacity is all used up in its hight and not deep enough to hold the science books I have to lug around. But if you are going to us it to travel its pretty good but I’m sure that there are better out there. MHW is a great company and the bag is very well made but the computer zipper on the side broke after five months.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

I have 2 jobs. One requires a Dell 17inch Pro Workstation Laptop and the other requires a Macbook Pro 17inch Laptop and a 2 octave piano Keyboard.

I was on a national tour which required touring around on a private bus charter and sleeping on gymnasium floors. That was how we lived. The group I was supporting spent the entire day rehearsing in the outdoors in extremely hot and often wet conditions. My stuff was always dry and protected. During the tour I had to catch an emergency flight and attend a series of meetings for my other customer (The need for the second laptop). The bag never failed me on bus, plane, security checkpoints etc. I was also on foot very often having to shoulder a load of around 30 pounds in this bag. I walked miles with this load and although felt mild discomfort at times, it was always manageable and never unbearable.

Throughout all of the travel and variety of weather conditions and needs, this bag held 2 17 inch laptops, a piano keyboard, food and a host of other electronics and cables without error or incident. At first the pocket did not fit my Dell laptop, but over time the pocket has stretched to accommodate it. The Mac has always fit. The Dell is a very bulky laptop and eventually fit in the sleeve. I hold the Mac in the protected pocket and the Dell in the main pocket. The bag has another "sleeve" inside the big pocket that I use to hold the 2 octave piano keyboard. I spent a lot of time researching bags and this was the ONLY one that would meet all my needs. This bag is not perfect, I have very dry hands and have sliced my fingers on the aluminum zipper grasps many many times. The edges are very sharp. In spite of this shortcoming, I highly recommend this bag for people who have extreme electronic needs on the go and especially in the outdoors.

Comments about Mountain Hardwear Paladin Computer Pack:

I am sad to say that I started out loving this pack but that has since turned to mild disappointment. I bought it for the specific reason of protecting my laptop during the rains that are quite often in the southern Appalachians, where it was originally used.

I immediately liked the rugged construction and general burliness of the pack. I bought the Palladin over the smaller model since I own a 17in. laptop. Once it arrived, I discovered that the side-loading pocket was simply not large enough to accomodate my laptop. I had to cut off the top of the sleeve from the inside to allow my computer to slide in that way. Annoyed, but not a deal breaker....The pack's ability to shed water was the most important thing and it did that marvelously in drizzles to moderate rains.

I am now living in Ireland and since arriving, the zippers around the top-loading lid have completely disintegrated their waterproofing. This was especially a problem on a recent trip to Wales where I tried to use the bag during some hill-walking to keep my dry clothes and gear DRY! In driving rain, hail, and sleet....this bag doesn't hold up. Granted most people will not be using it for those types of conditions (much less be out in that weather themselves), but I think having to use a dry bag inside a "waterproof" pack is a little ridiculous.

To sum it up....It's a great bag if you use it in a casual manner and do not attempt to use it in extreme conditions since it will simply not hold up. I bought it for its ruggedness which has since become apparent that it does not have. I would not recommend to a friend because I am a fan of a great, all-around, do everything kind of a pack...I thought this would fit the bill. I was wrong!