Patagonia Half Mass Messenger Bag Video Review (Features Score: 5.5; Access. Score: 7.3/10)

Patagonia Half Mass Messenger

Pros:

Well made, with good fabric and hardware choices. +3

Large front pocket on the outside flap (cover) is useful. +2

The gusseted outside pocket for a water bottle is a nice touch - it's big enough for a 16 oz. water bottle!  +2

Great shoulder pad design.  Comfortable, grippy, functional.  +2

Lot of pockets in the organizer and all over the bag that allow you to really...umm...organize your stuff. +3 

No Velcro to hold down the flap.  I wish more bag companies would realize that Velcro is unnecessary as long as you have a Fastex buckle.  How much time does it take to secure a flap anyway?  +1

Substantial handle that would be comfortable if you needed to carry the bag in this way for an extended period.  +1

Handy open top file pocket on the back.  +2

Cons:

Too bad there is no fleece lining in the laptop compartment.  -0.5

Too bad there is no fleece lining in the outside flap pocket (where I want to put my glasses). -1

No zippered pass through at the base of the back pocket that would allow you to carry this bag on the handle of your rolling luggage. -1

There is no separate tablet pocket.  How is this possible in this day and age? -2

The dedicated phone pocket (the one with the Velcro strap) is way too small for today's Phablets.  Fine for my iPhone 5S, but nothing bigger. -1

The bottom slopes up from the back to the front of the bag making it fall on its face when you sit it down on its bottom.  Boo! -3

The shoulder strap is mounted too high on the sides of the bag such that wearing the bag pulls up the top "skirts" of the cover allowing rain to channel into the bag. How was this not engineered out in the testing phase of this bag? Sheesh! -2

Nice but not necessary:

Removable stabilizer strap on back.

Reflector panel on the flap.

Odd sleeve for the stabilizing strap along the bottom back edge of the bag.

Accessibility:

A bag's accessibility is rated on a 1 - 10 scale (10 = most).  Three major compartments are judged.  The accessibility score for this bag:

Organizer pocket(s) = 7. Inside the main compartment.  Why do companies do this?  So stupid.  The saving grace is that it is along the front wall instead of the back wall.
Main compartment = 8. Under a flap that you have to hold up to get access to your stuff.  Once there, it is a large space, but it is taken up by the laptop sleeve so you need to pack judiciously.
Laptop compartment = 7.  Why did I even buy this bag given that the laptop section is in the main compartment?  Under a flap and behind a Fastex buckle.  Ugh.

Overall accessibility: 7 out of 10.

Overall:  

With pros = 16 points, cons = -10.5;  The Patagonia Half Mass earns a +5.5.

Patagonia Half Mass front

Rear of bag

Patagonia Half Mass tag

Zippered pocket on outer flap and handle

Zippered pocket under flap on outside of bag

Gusseted side pocket on outside of bag - for small water bottle

Organizational panel on inside of front panel.  That phone pocket will not hold anything bigger than an iPhone 5S.

Pocket on inside of side panel

Half pocket (half the width of the side of the bag) on inside of side panel

Padded laptop pocket

Padded bottom of laptop pocket

Open file folder pocket on back of bag

File pocket view