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This bag has replaced my other SBL bags as my 'daily driver' that I use everyday. The material repels the water well, just as described on the site. I also used the leather waterproofing from SBL and that seems to be working fine as well. The bag is overall, great. One problem with it however is the 'mouse ears' that Johnny Tomatoseed described in his review below. He did a fantastic job describing it, so I won't try to reinvent the wheel. Basically Dave needs to make the flaps broader to fully seal the bag from the elements. In the SBL video he talks about slipping a pipe or whatever into the bag on the move, however I feel that many SBL customers who spend a lot of time in the elements will be disappointed that the 'mouse ears' detract from what could possibly be (one day): The Perfect Bag. If you live in a arid climate without rain - then this will not be an issue for you.
I Have had this bag for months now, just keeps getting better. Quality materials used to build this backpack. I would recommend it to anyone I know.
This is a great backpack and I have, over the last five years, also bought the front pocket leather backpack and the squared leather backpack. This simple waxed canvas backpack in medium (large really) has been with me for about eight months and it is the best so far. Easy to pack with clothes and kit for at least a few days trip and has room for my 15inch laptop. Used the bag on a two month trip around South-East Asia and it was my carry-on and daily carrying bag. It would have been useful to have had a front or side pocket for tickets, passports and quick access to small stuff but the bag was always secure and easy to live with. Now I see that Dave has come up with the 5 pocket waxed canvas backpack which looks even better so I have to think about the economics of buying that model. I probably will but it always takes a few weeks to convince my long suffering wife.
This is a great bag, and for the time I had it I really enjoyed using it. However, I recently had to return it because where the shoulder strap attached to the canvas had started to come apart. Another reviewer mentions this as a potential design flaw, and I knew this before purchasing the bag but my heart won in the end. I only used the bag for a tick over a month and used it mostly for carrying groceries home on my bike. Whenever you put a backpack on, muscle memory dictates that you almost always throw the same strap over first. Inevitably, this was the strap that started to detach itself from the canvas. Needless to say I was very disappointed when I saw that the stitching had started to come loose because, as is well advertised, all Saddleback Leather stuff comes with a 100 year warranty. Surely a backpack should last more than approximately 45 days of medium to heavy usage.
I purchased my Simple Canvas Backpack, Small, on February 7, 2017. Today is March 1, 2017 and the stitching is starting to fray around the edges of the flap. Not the biggest deal, but I haven't been rough with the bag since purchasing it. The bag has been with me everyday since purchase (because I love it) but I don't think that warrants fraying in the stitching just yet. Customer service said I could "burn" the stitching but I didn't want to hear that solution yet on a bag I just shelled out $330 for and have owned less than a month. I can't take it back because I have 'worn it in' in the 23 days I have had it, so my options are to send it back for repair if I deem it necessary under their "100 year warranty" or burn/singe the fray. The stitching is overly done on this bag, to say the least, but this is just a warning to anyone getting ready to purchase one of these bags: You will get a roomy, sturdy, heavy duty bag but fraying is possible right away, even if you shell out $300+.
