Thursday , March 28 2024
It may be a big backpack, but that's so it can hold all your stuff.

Product Review: Baller’s Bag

People, I have been informed, like to exercise.  Or, at the very least, people like the results of exercising.  There is something about staying healthy which appeals to folks.  Whether it’s feeling better in general, being happier, living longer, or some other effect of exercise, it seems as though exercise may be here to stay.  Also here to stay – work.  People have to continue to work (even if fewer people tend to like work than exercise). 

I kid, but both these things are true – exercise is good for you and work is a necessity.  Work seems to eat ever more of our days and exercise has to be fit, generally speaking, around it.  This makes one of the easiest ways to exercise a quick trip to the gym before or after one’s work day.  And, while the timing may be more convenient that way, it leads to the ever-present question of how to move your stuff from point A to point B. 

You see, there’s an issue beyond time with this work-exercise dynamic:  stuff.  You aren’t going to exercise in a suit; you may not be able to wear sneakers to work; you may go around with a cell phone (or two), a tablet (or ereader), a laptop, papers, and goodness knows what else.  This stuff has to move with you from point A to point B and C.

The company Kross Precision thinks they have an answer to this issue – their new line of Baller’s Bags

I can’t say I like the name, but I will say that the Baller’s Bag Pro 17.3″ bag I was sent to review looks great.  And, better than that, it functions equally well.

The Pro isn’t small—17.3″ refers to the size of laptop it can hold in addition to everything else it’s meant for and it’s roughly 20″ from top to bottom—but it is meant to hold everything you need for work and exercise.  And, hold it all it does, and it does so comfortably.  All told, in terms of zippered compartments, there are eight:  two large areas, two sides spaces (for shoes), one small zippered space up top for keys/phone/what-not, and three spaces up front one of which is large enough for the aforementioned ball.

With these multiple pockets/sections/compartments (and a removable mini-tote), the Pro can easily hold a laptop, extra pair of shoes, a couple of outfits, whatever papers you may need, and other bits of electronic paraphernalia.  Depending on how your mind works, the seven different zippered areas may cause you to forget where you put stuff, but the sections do make sense and presumably with a little practice even the most absentminded of folks will remember where things are stashed.

Getting into specifics of how it actually worked during my testing, my 17″ MacBook easily fit in the separate section within the main pocket, with a different separate area for a tablet still available and plenty of space for papers there too.  The laptop area in said main compartment doesn’t cover the entirety of the laptop, but a Velcro strap does keep the computer in place (the tablet section is tighter and doesn’t require a strap).   An area is available in the second large pocket to help keep papers neat, organized, and relatively undamaged even with shoes and ball in other areas of the bag. As should be clear by now, everything I would want in the bag going from home to an office to a gym and back again easily fits.

There are, I think, probably other solutions out there to carry all of these things, but I don’t know that any of them look and feel as great as the Baller’s Bag.   The Pro has two large, comfortable shoulder straps, a great handle on top, and the black-on-black look is just stunning (for a backpack).  In fact, right down to the zippers themselves, the bag looks great.  The zippers are large, chunky, affairs with a rubber middle and metal sides.  I don’t particularly think all of the color schemes available are great, but to each their own (and presumably the quality of the material doesn’t change with the color).

Outside of a high sticker price (and maybe the name), there is nothing about the Baller’s Bag to give one pause.  Prices range from  $89.99 to $229.99 depending, seemingly, on the size of the laptop you want to include and whether, with that size laptop you want the basic or more deluxe version of the bag (the Pro 17.3″ Lists for $199.99).  The comparison chart on the website doesn’t do the greatest job of going through all the differences, but it certainly is a launching point.

I see a long future with my Baller’s Bag, one that includes overnight/weekend trips as well as the occasional visit to the gym.  It isn’t small and it isn’t light, but it’s a great bag.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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