Rothco Canvas Shoulder Bag – Rugged Vintage Crossbody Storage Utility EDC Bag

I purchased this bag to hold first aid supplies for immobilization. The front pockets were used to hold gloves, and an EMT pair of shears. The bag seemed to be good quality and the shoulder strap is good for the weight of the supplies. The front pockets use a Velcro closure while the main compartment uses a WWII type strap closure. All in all, I find it perfect for my use.

I bought this bag two years ago and used it daily as a commuter bag for over a year. I often used it to carry a composition notebook, paperback book, sack lunch, and some DVD-sized plastic cases, although I've always been surprised at how much I can cram in; I've toted 7 or 8 DVDs around at a time in this little guy. Its small size was very nice for riding the city bus to and fro--I could set it in my lap more easily than a full-sized messenger bag. I've also used it to transport an SLR camera with extra lens and to pack a basic change of clothes. With the style and coloring of the bag, I felt comfortable wearing into in the office with a business-casual wardrobe, and it does lend itself to a masculine look. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is very floppy; keeping the composition notebook in it all the time gave it some shape, and beyond that, the floppiness was never an issue for my purposes. I've never used the front pockets very much, but they're useful for carrying some extra change, a pen, spare batteries, keys, etc.(probably a little too small for all but the smallest smartphones). After two years, the bag remains nice and sturdy, and the buckles for the front closure and for adjusting the shoulder strap are still perfectly intact. No failed stitches or tears in the fabric, and no failure of the Velcro for the small front pocket closures. Although the color has faded in places from wear and exposure, I've had no issues with colorfastness or bleeding onto my clothes. I love this little bag and would definitely buy it again. UPDATE: I'm now five years in with this bag. For at least 2/3 of that time I've gotten daily light use out of the bag. Mine has held up great, with no failed seams, fabric tears, or broken hardware. Only within the past year has woven shoulder strap begun to fray ever so slightly. As noted above, the color has definitely shifted from brown to tan.

So, I'll say up-front that the bag wasn't big enough for the use I had in mind for it when I bought it. To be fair, the bag was accurately described (so I had a good idea it probably would be a bit too small), so I can't really complain about the size. I was hoping to use it to carry my Samsung Chromebook and it's just too small for that. The Chromebook actually does fit in the bag, but it sticks out enough to make it obvious I'm carrying around a little computer, so it won't work for what I had in mind. The item's description explained the exact dimensions, though, so I'm not complaining. The bag was so inexpensive that I bought it anyway, hoping it would still be a good fit for my Chromebook. And I'm not unhappy with the purchase. It's still a really nice bag. I'm sure I'll use it for something else, because it seems well-made. It seems sturdy enough to be reliable. I was worried, with it being that size, it would look kind of like a purse. But after looking at it in person, I think that's not a problem. It's canvas and brown, so it's not girly or purse-like. Looks like something Indiana Jones would have slung across him. One minor complaint: Some other reviews mentioned that the metal piece on the end of the strap that goes through the buckle doesn't quite fit through the buckle. This turned out to be true of my bag. Not sure that I'd necessarily want to buckle it anyway, but the metal piece is an awkward fit, making me spend more time than I should have to spend on getting the bag buckled or unbuckled. I might just cut off the metal thing on the end of that strap... or I might take some pliers to it to see if I can mold the shape a bit to fit the buckle better.

sturdy bag good for holding rocks

Holds a bunch

This item arrived on it's estimated shipping date and is well made. I have read a lot about people complaining about the size of this product and thinking they could put their laptops in it. It will not hold a full size laptop but will hod a toshiba netbook perfectly with a little room to spare for notepad and pencils, i-phone,i-pod and such.It is just the size I was looking for since I looked at the dimensions before I ordered it and I bought it specifically looking for it's smaller size. Putting a camera in it is fine unless it would be of large SLR type with detachable lenses, if that were the case it would feel like a bumpy sack due to the bags thin depth from front to back unless you carried the camera with the lense detached from the camera. It's just not thick enough for a camera with any length of lense to it. The outside pockets give some extra space for a cell phone (notice I said cell phone because I'm not sure if any of the apple "I" products with a wide screen would fit the outside pockets). The pockets are perfect for a compass and other small wilderness utilities such as a tinder box and striker, whistle or mace, and travel size bug spray if you are the outdoors type of individual. Overall it is a good, well made product for smaller items.

I generally buy military style bags to use as purses because I find the fabric & straps more durable (this bag is no exception) and the style is less "girly" which suits me. I really like the size of this bag, even when full it's not huge & bulky and I try to travel pretty light so I've never been unable to stuff everything I need inside: paperbacks, cell phone, makeup case, extra T-shirt, wallet & checkbook, sunglasses, hat, etc. all at once. I can even avoid lugging along the diaper bag because a couple diapers, travel wipes, a few toys, burp rags, bottle, etc. all fit easily into this bag along with my wallet & checkbook too. It's probably perfect for a day trip, but there are a couple of things I really don't like about using it as a purse. There are no small zippered compartments anywhere, so you're limited to two smaller outside velcro pockets (cell phone fits nicely), and the velcro for one of these started to fall off my bag after about two weeks. My largest complaint is that if you don't fill it up pretty full it looks rather silly because the top flap cannot be cinched down very tightly due to the location of the bottom strap sewn into the center of the bag. This also means that if it's not full there are loose gaps on either side at the top where things can fall out if it falls on the floor. I guess this alleviates needing to uncinch the strap every time I want something inside because my hands can easily slide in through the top corners & pull out what I need, but I would really prefer to be able to cinch it more tightly closed.

I first bought this bag six years ago to replace my Dickies crossbody bag - I bought this specific bag because the Dickies bag (which was ubiquitous when I bought it eleven years prior) was mentioned as a similar bag in this product's reviews. And other than the lack of a big zippered pocket, this bag is everything the old bag was. Now that my first Rothco bag has gotten beaten to heck, I bought the same one to replace it. If you're looking to buy this for the first time, you probably want to know what it's like to use. I can fit a 16 ounce water bottle and compact umbrella in this bag. I got a new insulated 17oz steel water bottle last year, and the top two or three inches sticks out of the top. A lot of other stuff fits in the bag between the bottle and the umbrella. I often carry a paperback novel in the bag. A 6×8 notebook or sketch pad would also fit just fine. My old phone used to fit in one of the front pockets with the flap closed. My new phone (an LG Stylo 5x with case) *just* fits, but not with the flap closed, so it rides in the main compartment. The color of the bag probably started to fade after about two years. The metal cap on the strap that buckles the bag closed started to come loose after about three years, but never came off. The Velcro on the pockets stopped sticking after about three years as well. And the reason why I replaced the bag is the straps started to wear enough in the last year that I thought they might break soon. But keep in mind - I have used this bag almost every single day for six years. I walk several miles most days, and this wears on the bag too - mostly the strap, which is where that wear came from. So, if you're looking for a small crossbody bag and don't need a lot of pockets, this is probably the best you'll find at this price.