No doubt, I am a HUGE Filson guy. I almost exclusively use their bags for travel, toting, work, and camera protection. One of my go-to bags is my otter green Medium Travel Bag.
This is the perfect weekender for me (Mrs. RCS can’t rent any real estate in this one…if she needs some space, I use my medium duffle bag). I didn’t realize it, but it looks like they discontinued their travel bags. Why? I don’t know…I suspect that they have a pretty full catalog of bags that are all around the same size. I love this bag because of it’s structure. The squared-off bottom gave it a more refined look, and quite frankly, it makes it easier to pack.
You can still find the medium duffles at random places like Brooks Brothers…if you are interested, I’d recommend pulling the trigger soon, as I doubt they’ll be shipping any more any time soon.
Well, then I came across this bad boy:
This is known as as the Small Pullman, and seems to be a fair replacement for the Medium Travel Bag. The Pullman is an awesome bag. I have the original/big brother, and the Mrs. and I use it for driving-trips. The little brother is 18.5″ long, 15″ tall, and 8″ deep. The good part about this bag is the accessibility:
It opens like a clam…easy accessibility to every inch of the bag. Why is this great? You don’t have to ‘dig in the well’ like most Filson bags…and the squared structure give it that refined look that business folks and non-ironic mustache/beard havers like.
So what do you think?
I have the original Pullman, and while it’s definitely a beautiful bag, I tend not to use it very often for a couple of reasons: 1) I hate the placement of the shoulder strap, i.e., both ends attached to one side of the bag. This makes carrying the bag awkward and uncomfortable; and 2) it’s extremely heavy. When even halfway loaded it’s very cumbersome.
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@Roger – I should clarify – the Mrs. and I use it on driving trips where we don’t have to carry it very far. It is a big bag, and it weighs a ton when stuffed.
@JRS Gotcha. Same here. I live in LA, so it’s a great bag for trips to SD, Santa Barbara, etc. Only took me two trips trying to use it for air travel before I realized it wasn’t the best idea. Any recommendations for a travel bag that looks as good but it a little more versatile?
Love the blog btw @JRS. Been following for a few years now.