I have a bag fetish. Usually, I end up getting a new work bag pretty frequently — say, every year or so. I don’t go in for superpricey Tumi cases anymore, so it’s not a paralyzingly expensive thing, but I also must admit that I have 3 perfectly serviceable laptop bags in my closet that I don’t use anymore for whatever reason.

The oldest is my boom-era standard-issue Tumi briefcase/computer bag. It’s completely fucking bulletproof and has acres of space — but it’s also superheavy, and its capacity encourages carrying way. too. much. stuff. It has a file area plus a laptop compartment on one side, and a big open compartment on the other side. One exterior has a full-width zipper pocket, and the other has the familiar array of various-sized external zip pockets. It’s a great (and expensive) bag, but it’s even heavy when it’s empty. I bought it as a serious roadwarrior bag, but as I travel more, I find myself going for smaller and simpler. What finally put me out of it, though, was my migration to a 1999-era G3 Powerbook. In those days, Apple laptops were more squares than rectangles, and as a consequence the G3 wouldn’t fit properly in the Tumi.

So I bought a Spire. Spire bags are awesome. My first one had a manufacturing fault, and they had another one overnighted to me with a return label for the frayed one. That bag is still just fine despite being schlepped all over for 2 years before I became a work at home dude. I was still using it, in fact, when the G3 gave me a serious scare 3 years in, and I had to buy a new laptop. By that point, Apple’s machines were rectangles, and my new TiG4 wouldn’t fit in the Spire’s sleeve any better than the G3 had fit in the Tumi.

Fortunately, I still had the Tumi, and was traveling seldom, so I fell back to it for a while before picking up a regrettable Tragus backpack. Tragus are considered low rent in a world filled with Crumpler and Tom Bihn, et. al., and there’s a reason for that: while lugging a backpack in an airport should be easier than using a shoulder bag, this beast manages to have such terrible ergonomics as to completely overshadow any comfort gains on the concourse. It had a short life; it’s only my packrat nature that keeps me from throwing it out.

I went back to the Tumi for a while then, until I started bike commuting around 2 years ago when I joined my current firm. The Tumi is too bulky for that, and Spire had a backpack I rather wanted to try. I sent the link to my mother when she asked for Christmas (2004) hints, and received my second example of their excellent products.

I used it once. As it turns out, I’m entirely too broad-shouldered for Spire’s backpacks. The straps are too close together in back to comfortably accommodate my shoulders (thanks, grandpa). Spire was predictably wonderful about it, and quickly agreed to swap out for a messenger bag. They even sent me the check for the overage, since the backpack was more spendy — this was their idea, since they knew the backpack had been a gift.

It’s that Spire I’ve been using now since January 05. It’s a great bag, but its capacity, while distinctly sub-Tumi, allows (encourages!) me to carry far too much, and its essentially unstructured interior makes finding loose bits inside kind of tedious. I travel a lot more now, too, and that same cavernous main pocket makes the inevitable TSA searches even worse.

Several months ago, Roadwired surfaced on my radar — suddenly, they were reviewed everywhere (BoingBoing, Mac Addict, some gadget blog, etc.). They’ve got big bags, but the one everyone seems truly nuts for was the Skooba Satchel. It’s tiny, but terribly functional, and rife with compartments. It’s also got the now-obligatory integral strap that slides down the handle of my TravelPro. It probably won’t hold as much as my messenger, but right now I think that’s a good thing. I ordered one last week, and it’s on my desk today. When I finish work today, I’m going to pack up into it to try it on. When I’m not traveling, I work at home, so I’ve nowhere to go; its real test will be on Monday next when I fly to Chicago.