Rough Rider Bag Will See You Through The Coming Apocalypse [Review]

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Rough Rider by WaterField
Category: Bags
Works With: Anything
Price: $335

WaterField’s Rough Rider is just about the best looking leather bag I’ve hung over my shoulder. It’s also the toughest. And it’s also one of the heaviest. So you see, the bag may be perfect for you, or it may not.

What It Is

The Rough Rider is hand-made in San Francisco, fashioned from thick slabs of cow with an accent of soft, colored material on the front, forming cosseting pockets for devices sized up to and including the iPad mini. Inside are two more pockets, and an optional padded insert for a MacBook.

The bag’s strap is made from a material similar to seatbelt webbing, but a little thicker and more textures, and a big leather flap covers the bag, and fastens with press-studs, snapping shut in one of tow positions depending on how full you have packed the bag.

The Good

The Rough Rider is the kind of bag you use for twenty years, and then someone comes up to you and says “I love your bag. Where did you get it?”

You’ll smile, then adjust the strap and look down at the well-worn leather. You’ll see the faded teeth marks where you bit down on the thick leather to dull the pain when you had your leg replaced with a superior robot leg in that backstreet cyborg shop.

You’ll look at the edges of the bag, and the fingermarks worn smooth into them as you carried the bag over your head every day to protect yourself from the deadly UV radiation that the sun beamed down throughout the 2020s.

And you’ll chuckle to yourself when you remember how the corner of the flap got mangled and grease stained after the government declared meat illegal, the great Vegan Wars began, and a member of the outlaw McDonald’s Clan tried to fry up your Rough Rider into a delicious (and likely tough) hamburger.

The smile will play at the corners of your mouth as you turn to the young hipster that asked about your cool bag, and you’ll say “Remember San Francisco? I got it in San Francisco.”

Which is to say, this bag is tough and will only improve with age. It’s also dead simple, with just a main section and a few pockets on the inside and outside of the front. Actually, there is one complex part, although it’s more clever than complicated.

The strap connects to the bag on both sides, as you’d expect, but it actually connects to two triangular sections that are a continuation of the front panel, meaning they can’t unstitch or otherwise come unstuck. The straps then pass through a leather loop that lines them up with the sides of the bag.

The Bad

It’s heavy. That’s literally the only thing I don’t like about this bag. The spec sheet says 2.9 pounds, and that’s correct. But somehow, even when loaded with nothing more than a 13-inch MacBook Air, it is heavy enough that you wouldn’t want to carry it further than the parking lot.

The Verdict

A fantastic bag, combining the attention to detail that’s a hallmark of WaterField designs with handsome leather that’ll last past the coming environmental apocalypse. And if you want a version for your 15-inch MacBook, those are available for pre-order now.

Product Name: : Rough Rider

The Good: Beautiful and long-lasting.

The Bad: Heavy.

The Verdict Yes it’s $335, but it’s worth each and every dollar.

Buy from: WaterField

[rating=good]

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