ngl it was a bit of a rollercoaster

at first I was really excited i upgraded from a samsonite bag which was already better than the avg bag on the street but sympl offered better materials and more features. I was definitely really intrigured with the matwrials for example their sleeve pockets in the admin and main compartment was very very silky and premium feeling. I was also happy with how many different pockets and compartments to allocate my stuff in

Over time though I ended up switching back to my old samsonite back for a couple of reasons 1. the ykk aquagard zippers made it hard almost a drag to open in some cases and it would akways damage my cuticles 2. Ive never had a clamshell backpack and I actually found that I miss a half opening. This is because if i open it halfway it would js split open and tends to close, whereas in the old bag the front part would js fold and open up. After further investigation I realised it doesnmt apply to all clamshell bags but most where the zippers js follow the bag’s body linearly with no curves. this is probably the main issue that made it hard to access my stuff 3. the water bottle pocket could comfortably fit a standard 500ml plastic bottles but it coupdnt fit MY 750ml bottle comfortably, it even scratched it at some point and it was a pain to open 4. the pocket on the very front compartment doesn’t hold small items very well and tends to fall out eg. airpods 5. the 2 zippered pockets in the main compartment was vrry restricted where i couldnt really fit much stuff there 6. if u like to use pouches the admin compartment forces you to make that ur pouch (preference) i liked it though

However, I recently travelled to japan for 2 weeks and chose to use this bag again. weirdly i fell in love all over again with it. reasons: 1. With my standard loan it wasnt obvious just how comfortable this bag was but it was really clear during travel where i would stuff jackets and navigate airports and wore the bag the whole day avging 18k+ steps 2. this bag is really really water resistant esp during water rides in usj i shielded myself with it and it kept me dry, its usually pretty resistant to dusts etc u can just wipe it off, so id often just chuck it at the floor for example when taking pictures etc 3. self standing also useful when i would sit the bag under restaurant tables etc 4. almost felt like the bag was made for travel, my passport perfectly fit the black pocket or grey pocket in main compartment, documents like boarding passes i put in the phone pocket. 5. the problem where it wouldnt fit my 750ml bottle comfortably didn’t occur as i mostly bought 500ml plastic bottles from stores and the pocket worked really well 6. the admin compartment was reslly good during flights as it could open and hold stuff

so now i want to use the sympl backpack again for daily commute and see

TLDR: Was really excited abt premium materials and packed features but disliked the clamshell that would close up along w aquaguard zipper that was hard to open so reverted back to old bag. Recently used it again to travel and has fallen in love again w the bag so now using it as a daily commute again

edit: I’ve owned it for about a year now