I bought this bag a few weeks ago. I think I’ve just had a bit of a ‘thing’ about being organised and having a place to put stuff recently, and I saw this on the internet, watched a load of videos, and ordered it. I really like this bag.

A lot of the reviews and videos I watched were by men who described the size of the bag as ‘upgraded pockets’. I think as an average-sized woman it’s actually a good bit bigger than that, and to me more in the realm of ‘small backpack’. It fits nicely on my back, it certainly doesn’t look tiny, just a good size, and it doesn’t stick out to much. I really like that when I swing it round to the front it’s nicely horizontal and I can get at the pockets easily, but when it’s on my back it’s a little more vertical and feels very ‘out of the way’.

I like the little key leash thing in the small pocket. I didn’t think I would bother with something like this but after trying it out, actually it’s really handy. It’s a good length so that you can actually unlock a door while it’s still attached to your bag. And I like being able to literally drop the key once I’m finished using it and let it just dangle there, get in the house and then sort everything out. I spend less time stood outside fiddling with my key.

The main compartment and the ‘secret’ back compartment are both quite padded so I feel alright putting my phone or my Kindle in there. In general I like to keep some Chapstick, a hankie, a box of Tictacs and my swiss army knife in the front compartment. When I add my keys to the key leash I don’t need to think about which sub-pocket they’re going in, because they’re already attached to the leash so I can just shove them in. I might also put my Airpods in this compartment. The main compartment I try to keep empty-ish so I end up bringing something small back it will fit straight in there, but otherwise I do tend to keep a little packable tote bag in there. So I can walk to the shop with just my sling bag, but once I’ve bought some things I have the tote bag to carry stuff back. That feels quite useful to me. If I’m going somewhere where I feel I might be sitting or waiting around, I might put my Kindle and my glasses in this compartment. If I was going out for the day, I might put my water bottle in here so that I won’t get dehydrated and give myself a headache, although if I do this I won’t have much room for anything else in there. I keep the back pocket empty but that’s where I’d put my phone if I didn’t want it in my pocket.

I also bought a Heroclip at the same time and attached this to one of the loops on the side of the bag. I’m not entirely convinced that the Heroclip does anything that a normal carabiner wouldn’t do but it’s a fun novelty I suppose and it does look nice. I’ve got the blue and silver Heroclip and my bag is the grey and orange one, and the colours kind of remind me of the video game Portal. I like having the clip there though as I think it’s a neater way to hang the bag up compared to letting it dangle from the long strap. It also comes in handy because I wear a baseball cap a lot when I’m out and when I’m indoors I think it’s a bit impolite to wear it, and I can just clip it there, it’s no bother and I know I’m not going to lose it. It’s also fun to show the clip to people, they are impressed when you show off the hooky thing.

I liked this bag enough that I also bought another, bigger, sling bag from Tomtoc that I use for work. I might write about that some other time.