Herschel Supply Co. Retreat Backpack, Moonbeam, Standard-23L

Perfect. Durable.

Received this in the mail expecting to be excited by the “used” “very good condition, minimal wear and basically new condition but not in original packaging” … only to get it and see a lot of wear & tear on the backpack, stains and scuffs all over the hardware. So disappointed in the false advertising of this item.

Materials ripped

Let's dive right into it:Appearance:Bag is sleek, especially the Black Tonal color that I got. It looks modern and hip with minimal branding and unnecessary aesthetics.Materials:Very well made and high quality. Nothing about this bag has the feel or make of something that would fall apart after just a few uses. This bag would last anyone years of use and abuse. Zippers, material, drawstring, everything is high quality. The shoulder straps heavily padded, more so than I'd say the average straps on backpacks. The padding is more of a foam style vs. a gel style. Bag feels soft to the touch so minimal abrasion when carrying around.Design:Although I like the overall look of the bag and the functionality of whatever has been incorporated into it, it severely lacks in what it offers. As far as pockets go there is only one small single zippered pocket on the front of the bag and by small I mean small. It barely fits my IPhone 13 Pro with no room to spare. So it's probably only good for super small items like maybe your wallet, change, a little gadget or two, etc...Not sure why they didn't make this pocket bigger, especially given that there is so much extra real estate on the front of the bag. The prior iteration of this bag had no other pockets outside of that one small zippered bag, this newer model now has two water bottle pockets on either side of the bag. Good addition. They are just the right depth and can be used to hold water bottles or anything else you can fit into them. The main compartment of the bag is accessed by pulling up on a lid style cover that stays in place by way of two magnetic buttons that look like straps. The magnets are nice, hold well, and allow you to open and close the main compartment quickly. The main opening is secured using a drawstring. This helps with access as it offers quicker opening and closing of the bag. Some may like prefer that style over a zippered opening but for me it doesn't really matter. The main compartment is basically a cavern. Outside of the nicely flannel lined laptop sleeve, there are no other pockets or compartments to speak of. The laptop sleeve can also be accessed from the side of the bag by way of a side zipper running along one side of the back of the backpack. This very nice for easy access and what I would consider to be a total must have for me when it comes to backpacks. The back straps are nicely padded but there is no sternum strap. I did notice that in the product video they mention being able to buy a attachable sternum strap separately......which, at this price point, should be included. The back panel of the bag is completely flat as well. No air channels so expect to generate lots of sweat on warmer days.Conclusion:I get that they are trying to pitch an all purpose backpack to cover all your needs whether it be for daily use or for traveling but the fact that you there is no organizational compartments or pockets outside of the tiny front pocket, I don't see how you could utilize this bag for anything outside of just a simple quick carry bag that doesn't require any sort of organization. It would not even suffice as a simple office bag because you have no where to place pens, pencils, or any sort of daily work supplies. Even for traveling, you would essentially have to just throw everything into the main compartment and have high hopes for finding what you need when you need it. And the fact that the inside liner is black makes it even hard to find items. The laptop sleeve is nice and the fact that they raised it a bit to make sure you don't slam your laptop into the ground when setting the bag down are all great but where would you put all your components like a laptop charger, business cards, whatever you might need?The final kicker is that this bag will run you $110.....far too much for what you're getting. Maybe you're paying for the name brand?Unless you don't really care about organization and only plan on using this bag for mindless day trips then I'd stick with something more well thought out.