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REI Boarding Bag

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Product Description,
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Reviews

A great personal companion for any trip, the REI Boarding bag has the size and organization for today's wireless lifestyle, including a dedicated iPad® pocket.

The Boarding Bag also carries all your personal extras needed for travel across boarders and around town
Zippered main compartment stashes a jacket, snacks and a guide book; also has zip pockets, a key clip and card/currency slots
Top padded pocket stores small electronics and other delicate valuables
External padded pocket (10 x 8 in.) fits and protects your iPad or other digital e-book reader/netbook
Side pockets stretch to vary their capacity; stash a water bottle and get quick access to small essentials
Additional exterior zip pockets allow quick access to small items and travel documents
REI Boarding Bag features an adjustable, padded shoulder strap as well as a haul handle for quick grab-and-go carrying

Imported.

Item 816194

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REI Boarding Bag Customer Reviews

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews

REI Boarding Bag

4.1

(based on 10 reviews)

89%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

Lightweight (8)
Easy to access items (7)
Easy to carry (7)
High quality (7)
Good capacity (6)

Cons

Best Uses

Long vacations (4)
Weekend trips (4)
Family trips (3)

- Reviewer Profile:
- Practical (6), Comfort-oriented (4), Career (3), Modern (3), Stylish (3)
- Travel Frequency:
- 0-5 annual trips (4), 6-10 annual trips (4)
- Primary use:
- Personal (7)
- Was this a gift?:
- No (7)

Reviewed by 10 customers

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Displaying reviews 1-10

Oct

2012

4.0

Great bag, needs more style

By Cindy Brandt

from Monument, CO

About Me Athletic, Practical, Stylish

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Easy To Carry
Easy To Identify
Good Capacity
High Quality
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Everyday Purse

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

I have been searching for the perfect purse and I found it in this bag! I only wish it looked more like a purse (like your REI Nikole day bag). Love, love, love all the pockets, zippered spaces, iPad compartment, pen holders, water bottle holder, etc... LOVE this design, just wish it had a bit more styling on the outside and didn't look like such a man-bag. To compensate, I went and purchased a few embroidered flowers and sewed them on by hand! Well-Ah!

Comment on this review

May

2012

4.0

Perfect bag...almost

By mmrun

from NYC, NY

About Me Career, Comfort-Oriented, Modern, Practical, Stylish

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Easy To Carry
Easy To Identify
High Quality
Lightweight

Cons

Small Capacity

Best Uses

Everything

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

This bag is almost perfect. I use it for work (operating room for small equipment and drugs) where I need to carry may different things. If this bag was 10-20% bigger (add an inch to length and hight and 1/2 inch to the depth) it would be so perfect and awesome. Maybe REI could modify this bag for 2013.

Comment on this review

May

2012

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Perfect day bag

By sandman20

from Idaho

See all my reviews

Pros

Good Capacity
High Quality
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

ANY trip

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

Fabulous bag - used it for 2 weeks in Europe this past month - carries an Ipad perfectly with a smartcover and back case. Main pocket fit my jacket and hat with room to spare. Side pockets held a 20oz waterbottle and sunglass case. Other pockets were perfect for loose Euros and other papers. The strap is a little narrow and the shoulder strap pad was small and slid around alot but had a hard time finding any fault with the bag.

Comment on this review

Apr

2012

5.0

optimal size and design

By Siriusguy

from Fresno Ca

About Me Practical

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Easy To Carry
Good Capacity
High Quality
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Long Vacations
Weekend Trips

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

The REI Boarding Bag, which I have just trial packed for a transcontinental airline trip for week or so of urban, is SMALL enough to be used as an day bag, but LARGE enough to carry all my inflight essentials. Topping out at 5.8 lbs., without adding a water bottle into one pocket, mine holds: small LED flashlight, housekeys, clip-on sunglasses, digital P&S camera in case with extra battery, 10 x 28 roof prism binoculars, iPod Nano and Kindle Fire plus their chargers, earphones in case, toiletries in a small Eagle Creek zip pouch, note cards, business cards in case, dress watch, small tape measure, passport in a perfectly fitting subpocket and (also highly recommended) my deflated and rolled up REI Travel Pillow.

Used as a day bag, of course, its load will change, the pillow, toilet kit, Fire, passport and dress watch left in the room to allow space for a guidebook and maps, perhaps a snack, and on the outside water bottles in the pair of mesh pockets. The bag is large enough to hold a cap, or a very light windshirt, but not most jackets or sweaters. The strap can be adjusted long enough even on my frame to allow cross body carry.

Comment on this review

Feb

2012

4.0

Image for Coal bag is incorrect

By edrabbit

from San Francisco, CA

See all my reviews

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

I have two of these, one for my GoPro camera and accessories, and the other as a general carry bag for random stuff.

FWIW, I thought I was getting an all black bag like the image shows, but the bag is actually greyish. The image of the closed Coal bag is wrong, but the color on the open Coal bag is correct.

Wish they came in more colors.

Comment on this review

Feb

2012

5.0

Excellent everyday purse for iPad

By picky packer

from Seattle, WA

About Me Comfort-Oriented

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Easy To Carry
High Quality
Lightweight
Stylish

Cons

Best Uses

Daily use
Family Trips
Long Vacations
Weekend Trips

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

I use this everyday to carry my iPad and everything else I lug around town, including a small camera, diapers & baby items, snacks, wallet, etc. I love that it has TWO stretchy bottle pockets, and the little pocket on the front toward the top to keep my phone close at hand. Best of all is the ability to carry it cross-body so both my hands are free.

I wish it had just a little more width (front to back) so that I could stuff my DSLR camera in there, too.

The only other thing I wish it had was smoother fabric or leather on the backside where it rests against the body. The rough fabric tends to pill my sweaters.

Otherwise it is perfect!

Comment on this review

Nov

2011

(3 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

1.0

Too small

By Bomo

from Tucson, AZ

About Me Modern, Practical

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Carry
Stylish

Cons

Small Capacity

Best Uses

Family Trips
Long Vacations
Weekend Trips

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

Having owned the original Boarding Bag I had high hopes for this new model. The original was too small for iPads, the new model did measure a bit larger. Unfortunately it's still too small to fit an iPad when in a case. If REI could add another 3/4 of an inch all the way around they would have the perfect bag. Until then be forewarned, you will have to remove your iPad from it's case to use this bag.

Comment on this review

Nov

2011

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Great bag but strap needs redesign

By Lloyd H

from Dayton, OH

About Me Retired traveller

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Easy To Carry
Easy To Identify
Good Capacity
High Quality
Lightweight
Stylish

Cons

Strap needs to be better

Best Uses

Day outings

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

I bought this bag to use as a day bag while traveling throughout Europe as a tourist. Items I typically carried in the bag included, passport, wallet, driving permit, camera, GPS, hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, medications,maps,bottled water, guide book, and a snack. The bag is roomy enough to accommodate all of these items, yet small enough to be convenient to carry. Overall, the bag is well designed and constructed with multiple compartments which are easy to access. I have only one complaint and that regards the shoulder strap. The strap is too narrow and frequently gets twisted. The strap should be wider and it should be attached to the bag with detachable swivel hooks at both ends rather than being permanently attached to the bag.

Comment on this review

Oct

2011

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Holds a bunch of stuff!

By Jenneseeted

from New York, NY

About Me Career, Comfort-Oriented, Practical

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Good Capacity
Lightweight

Cons

Looks like kid's lunchbox

Best Uses

Planes trains and autos

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

I just got this last night, and I decided to use it to go to work today. Here's what I got into it: 16 oz. thermos, 1 L Kleen Kanteen, iPad, phone, charger, wallet, keys, 2 protein bars, a handful of random junk like tickets and subway pass, earbuds, and my blood glucose monitor. In other words, everything I wanted it to hold, and pretty easy to access, with some room left over (but not much). So, as far as stuff goes: winning!

On the downside, the strap twisted up pretty easy, and I felt like the overall design is a little weird. Some of the shape of the bag and the way it is sewn kinda seems arbitrary, like they wanted to make it look "cool" instead of totally functional.

All in all, I bought this to be exactly what the name implies - a bag I take on the airplane, usually with a carry-on bag (Patagonia MLC) to hold anything the little guy can't, and to keep myself from packing too much stuff. I reckon it'll work great for that. And it'll probably be good for occasional jaunts into the city, etc., but I can't see myself using it for my everyday bag for the commute (no room for lunch and the water plus thermos get kinda heavy hanging on the shoulder like that).

Comment on this review

Sep

2011

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Great man bag

By Scott R

from Tampa Florida

About Me Career, Classic, Comfort-Oriented, Modern, Practical, Stylish

See all my reviews

Pros

Easy To Access Items
Easy To Carry
Easy To Identify
Good Capacity
High Quality
It is a great bag
Lightweight
Stylish

Cons

None

Best Uses

Everyday man bag
Family Trips
Long Vacations
Weekend Trips

Comments about REI Boarding Bag:

This is a great bag I use it everyday for cell phone keys ipad keep my money in it . It looks great and works very good as a man bag not to big not to small and looks tuff .