Notebook Bags by Crumpler – A Review

The Horseman

The last Crumpler bag we are looking at today is the largest of the three. The Horseman is a legendary sack that is capable of carrying all your stuff and more. Like all the bags we’ve looked at so far the Horseman is simple in design which carries with it the same pros and cons. The advantage is that you get a bag that’s functional and simple, but on the other hand, you compromise a bit by not having any readily accessible exterior pockets.

The shoulder strap is a little different from the other bags because it uses a locking buckle-like mechanism, called a Quick Flick buckle, in which you pull the excess strap through like an airplane seatbelt. It makes adjustments a bit easier to do.

The Horseman also has something called a 3rd Leg (yep, you heard that right) which is an extra strap you can attach to give extra stability when having the bag slung across your body. The following image demonstrates its purpose.

I found that the 3rd Leg did help a lot in distributing the weight across the body instead of just across one shoulder. However, the buckle would dig into my ribs, which isn’t so pleasant.

Unlike the Skivvy and the Dreadful Embarrassment, the Horseman has loops on the exterior in which you can use to attach other things. In this case, I have a Crumpler Thirsty Al add on which straps on nicely.

The cover is held in place using two large Velcro areas and two buckles. On the inside of the cover, you will find a zippered mesh pocket. I found this pocket useful to hold keys, packs of gum, and other objects. But because this pocket is on the inside of the cover, if you open the bag and the mesh pocket is unzippered, your contents can spill out. I think it would have been more useful if this pocket were zippered on both sides so you can access its contents regardless of how you access the bag.

Forgetting to zipper the mesh pouch could mean spilling your
contents when opening the cover.

On the inside of the Horseman, you have plenty of warehousing space to place all your belongings. In all the compartments, I managed to cram a lot of junk including my notebook into its compartments.

There is a padded compartment for a notebook computer. It had absolutely no problems fitting a 15.4″ notebook, but there isn’t enough room for a 17″ notebook like the Dell XPS M1710.

Unlike other bags in this review, The Horseman has the entire middle compartment as well as the notebook sleeve padded for security. In the middle compartment there are two velcroed pockets which are useful for holding a mouse and small cables.

In the outer most compartment there are two medium sized pockets, pen holders, and a larger zippered pocket. The outer compartment also uses the same “Tennis Ball Seam” which helps you fit odd-sized objects.

The Horseman Specifications (from the Crumpler website)

• Water resistant 1000D Nylon shell & 420D Ripstop Nylon lining
• Fully padded main & laptop compartments
• 1x external gusseted zip pocket w/ 6 pocket organizer
• 3x internal front pockets
• Adjustable main strap with Quick Flick (TM) buckle
• Removable shoulder pad with “Third Leg” stability strap
• Clip & Velcro release flap
• Compact 17″ laptop & accessories, A4/Letter-size documents & magazines as well as daily essentials. Works with 17″ PowerBook & MacBook Pro
• Use the main or side strap to attach an optional extra Thirsty Al mobile phone holder.

Physical Dimensions:

• 45×38.x15cm
• vol 14 litres
• Laptop Sleeve: 39x30x4cm / 15.4×11.8×1.6″