Targus Drifter II Laptop Backpack, Black/Gray – Backpack for Men for Business and Travel, Durable Water-Resistant Material, Fits up to 17" Laptops (TSB239US)

If you are looking for a backpack that offers utility and ample storage, while also being sturdy and well-made, this is it. I was initially looking at a sleek all-black Swissgear backpack, but upon reading its reviews found that the craftmanship was lacking. This backpack definitely outranks most of the sleeker designs you are finding right now, I assure you. Perhaps it doesn't exactly fit the aesthetic you are going for, but if you are someone like me who values quality and longevity, this is the correct choice. Aesthetics be d*mned, I just want something that is going to LAST. So far, this is living up to that expectation.

Excellent pack that protects laptops and can carry a surprisingly large amount of stuff easily. I often carry two laptops in this bag - a smaller one in the padded pouch, and a larger one towards the back pad. I've yet to damage either device while using this bag. The number of pockets and features is really impressive, and makes organizing for day trips or outdoor events easy. The heavy-duty upper lift strap is super helpful too. I'm really happy for the quality for the price I paid.

After 17 years of daily use, mostly in a marine environment, it was time to replace my trusty Targus Drifter II laptop backpack. I couldn’t be happier to find an exact replacement here on Amazon. Sturdy would be an understatement in describing this backpack. It has so many pockets, you will probably forget a few of them. Thick padding on the back and shoulder straps make it extremely comfortable. The computer pocket is nicely padded and is a full pocket, not just a padded divider like in most packs. The padded hidden pocket at the small of the back is perfect for your most valued items. I doubt a thief could access it while worn. A plush lined pocket at the top of the back is great for delicate items. I keep a hard drive, flash drives, and card readers in mine. The reinforced carry handle is bullet proof. I’ve had handles tear off in days on other backpacks. This one is vinyl covered aircraft cable and never failed. I hope to retire in less than 17 years and not need another laptop bag or I would buy another one for backup. I highly recommend this pack and that you get one before they are gone. From their website, I don’t believe Targus makes the Drifter II anymore. This maybe the last backpack you need. I know it will be mine

I live out of my backpack, I ride a street bike so a good bag is a must. So where I go, it goes along with about 30lbs of gear from a 17" laptop to fingernail clippers. So, having a good quality bag is very important to me. The thing is, bags that can take a 17" machine are hard to find so I ended up ordering this one on line taking a risk that I would like it and the quality. When it showed I was extremely pleased in every regard. Where to start; Like the headline says this bag is made to last and designed by people who know what bag dwellers like myself never knew we needed. The handle is actually a metal cable imbedded in silicone, backed with a nylon strap with a large comfortable soft handle that is anchored to the bag with large rivets into a double layered section of the bag body. Impressed? You should be. I'm an engineer and that amount of design consideration just going into the handle was the first thing I noticed when I cracked open the box and it put a big grin on my face. The bottom is cushioned, reinforced, and made of a heavy rubber material providing ample shock protection, wear resistance, and protection from setting the bag on something wet or something getting spilled. Plus it will clean up easier that nylon mesh. There are two main compartments that are each divided in two, and the laptop sleeve is cushioned full around and has a second layer of cushion for the base, and there are mesh pockets in both. Then there is another large pouch, good for a large tablet or the like. The small pouch is loaded with compartments and pockets and slots for all manner of smalls. With a cushioned cell phone pocket on the outside. There is a large eyeglass pocket up top that is lined with soft material, no case needed. And there is another compartment built into the lumbar padding like a money belt. Finally, zippered large side pockets with mesh pockets outside of them. Zippers are stout with large... grabbers, what do you call those... and the ends of the zipper tracks are stitched in with double layered fabric to strengthen that weak spot. Straps are wide, padded well and comfortable with D-rings for carabineers. My sole complaint about the bag is that the thumb loops on the pull straps are sewn straight across the strap making it near impossible to get your thumbs in with gloves on. The padding on the back plain is ample and comfortable. So there you have it pack hounds, according to this guy, this bag is awesome, and Targus is my new brand.

Nice quality. Like the space. This is an upgrade from a 15' laptop bag from the brand it looks just like. The zippers work well and are big. Pleanty of space for books, food, an extra pair of underwear and socks or your jacket. Cool hidden pocket (I'll let you figure out were it is) allows for storage of money and the odd person defense item you may or may not wish to carry. I carry mace in mine. Would have given it a 5 star but the material is just a tad bit thinner than I would have preferred. My previous bag felt like it was built like a tank. This has the feel of more a nice armored vehicle. I'm sure it can take a beating and last a good long time. I got 7 years out of my other bag before I finally gave in and bought its replacement. I would think this can handle the same. The bottom protection panel is also adequate, but I would have like a beefier bottom material if at all possible. One thing that this could benefit from would be a stow away rain fly that could cover the whole pack. If your going to carry your life around you want it to be dry right? The only other modification I would have liked and will make eventually is a chest strap to buckle the two shoulder straps together. If anything changes I'll let you know. For the price point I am very happy thus far. Been using this for several months now and truly do like it. On a scale of 1-100 I'd give it a 90. Beefier material would have given it a 100. A rainfly would have earned it serious extra points. I'd buy this again and recommend it to others for sure!

I purchased my Targus Drifter II backpack just before an airline trip to attend to some financial affairs after my mom's death. I did not want to check any luggage, and I anticipated that I would use this backpack for day (possibly overnight) trips on my motorcycle or bicycle as well. I have a 17" laptop that I use for all my work that I needed to carry along on these trips. I am 6'1" tall, so the longer bags are not a problem for me. For the current trip I needed a bag that would hold my computer, charger, adapter cables for my small printer carried in another under-the-seat gym bag, bunch of paperwork, suit for the funeral, 1 weeks clothing, dress shoes, tablet PC, etc. This bag was packed to the gills, and weighed nearly 70 lbs when filled, but performed admirably. There was very ample room for the 17" HP laptop, extra space for paperwork in that compartment, and then a larger middle compartment for my suit, clothes, and more paperwork. There are 2 mesh zippered compartments hanging from the top of the bag in each of these two larger compartments that I used for pens, highlighters, keys, and other small items. In addition there separate nice felt lined zippered compartment with top access that is perfect for charger blocks, computer cables, etc. that would otherwise have been empty space as stuff in the other compartments sinks to the bottom of the bag. Numerous back pockets provide additional space for smaller items such as my 7" tablet PC, business cards, more pens, etc. On both sides of the bag are a zippered long pocket and mesh sleeve, where I kept hair brush, comb, fabric grocery bag. The mesh sleeves could hold drink bottles. A discretely placed zippered compartment for money and other important documents was placed behind the the kidney pad in the back. I found this bag comfortable for carrying the entire 70 lb load with both shoulder straps in place, and possible with only one strap for short carries. I predict that even for longer outside carries, the 4 back pads with vent spaces in between will help keep my back cool. I expect it to be perfect for its intended motorcycle, bicycle, and hiking uses, and it performed flawlessly during my funeral trip. My cousin was amazed at all the things I was able to bring in these two carry-ons. I did notice that several times I heard occasional little pops as I lifted this 70 lbs to my shoulder, which I assume were stressed stitches in the shoulder pads, but nothing came loose, and I admit I had overstuffed this bag for that trip. I agree that if you do NOT intend to carry your 17" laptop, the bag could use some more ribbing to help it maintain its shape, but with the laptop to provide rigidity, (as I'm sure it was designed) it was perfect.

So far I really like this bag. I often carry two laptops and they fit comfortably. Lots of pockets. The straps feel rugged. I got about 20 years out of my last targus bag so I’m hopeful about this one.

I bought the larger, 17" version. The dimensions I saw when I bought it weren't right. The dimension that goes away from the back is not smaller than the stated 16" version, not that I wanted/want it to be. It's like they picked a different way of measuring it, or something. The side compartments could be bigger, like 2" taller/up the back dimension, and 2" more outward in the across the back dimension. The mesh gets a little worn out easily. These side pockets has material on the bottom inside that help prevent items from falling out, if you forget to zip it up. (this is ordered top to bottom, and going around outside vertically, then in) The pocket at the very top is really nice/usable, although with a 2cm to 1in longer zipper, so that it could fit my organizer in there perfectly(it fits, just doesn't go in there easily). I can use this pocket to put in my computer mouse, etc... It's really nice, but I'm not so sure on how good this pocket would be with the smaller version of this book bag, books in the main compartment might hit it. The main compartment is really big. It fits all my books, notebooks, binders, gym clothes, etc... Even when I feel like taking a lot of stuff with me, it'll still fit it all. It also has a mesh pocket on the other side that's away from the wearer's back. The big main pocket is the main reason I picked this book bag. The handle looks really strong, feels better if you keep a loose grip on it rather than a tight grip. If there nothing in the book bag, it can flop down at times, getting in the way of the main zipper. The picture looks like the top pocket is a single handle zipper, but it's really a two handle zipper, like I think it should be (<-not sure on the words to use for this, two handle, double handle, two way, etc...?), and this pocket goes all the way to the bottom. (just not the zipper part) The pocket on the bottom front is padded on the outside and has smaller pockets inside, etc... There's a mini pocket on the front of that pocket that's big enough to easily fit a 3"*5" note card pack, and some mechanical pencils/pens. (didn't try a non-mechanical unsharpened pencil) The bottom is padded. The back has a padded pocket on the bottom, good for holding snail mail letters to mail. The middle of the back is quite a bit looser than the rest of the back and doesn't have nearly as much padding, When I'm not wearing the book bag, and go over this area with my hand an fill what fills like wrinkles in that section. The outer cushions are fairly big, and I've only felt the wrinkles in the middle area maybe one time while wearing the book bag.(could have just been my shirt?) The top back and bottom cushion are kinda fraying a little. After using the book bag for a while, the shoulder straps, like most book bags, feels like it could need more cushioning. However, it does have this neat elasticy thing at the top that makes it feel better to catch a full book bag when taking it off, etc... The straps might be too long for a short, skinny person during the summer, and there isn't a waist, or a chest strap. The laptop pocket has an inner pocket for smaller computers, like my 15.4" laptop. There's a Velcro strap that I'm guessing is supposed to help if the book bag ever gets flipped upside down, however the ends of the velcro don't really meet that well with my size laptop, or smaller. They could just simply make the non-strap side longer, for it to work. There's an inner pocket at the top of the laptop area, I haven't figured out any good use for it. Don't want my laptop directly hitting anything hard. I've been in the rain with this book bag a few short times, and nothing gotten wet inside. Overall main pros: big main compartment top pocket/others looks nice, "stylish" elasticy part on shoulder straps Overall main cons: back feels kind of weird? no belt, or chest straps might be too big for a person who's small, and/or doesn't carry much side pockets could be bigger Update: The bookbag gets old like a normal bookbag: The cover of the handle at the top cracked at it's outer edges, you can feel it when you pick up/put down the bookbag using this handle; might be more comfortable without this cover. (but I'd have to rip open the cover(which make the cover completely useless) to take it off to test) The shoulder strap padding became ineffective, as the fabric has tears there, and the padding has stuck out instead of cushioning. The side pockets have tears that allow items to go between the main compartment and the side compartments. The bottom edges are cracking.