The pouch is great. First of all… I LOVE the color. It’s foliage green but I have never seen this green in any other tac-gear product. The seams are well done and lots of pockets and elastic to hold everything. Best of all, it has a really cool tag! I know that seems silly but it has a really nice design. I now carry this in my Belstaff Bag to hold all my loose work gear since the Belstaff has no built-in organizers. Tad Gears pouches I feel are much superior to the other tactical pouches out there (and I have tried a lot).

• Low profile organizer.
• Nominal dims: 1″ deep X 6.75″ tall X 7.25″ wide.
• Fully opening clam shell zippered design.
• Multiple pockets, dividers, slots, and elastic webbing keepers.
• MILSPEC construction.
• 500 denier Dupont Cordura, lined with smooth nylon 420D oxford, 1″ webbing, Velcro, and heavy duty elastic webbing.
• Features our 2TAC webbing straps which fit all our 2TIBS webbing system & all MOLLE.

Check out my Flickr page to see everything that it holds.

At the Timbuk2 website here.

Go to JCrew.com.

I know when I posted the Belstaff 554 Large Colonial Shoulder Bag I said that was the last bag I would ever buy. Well, I lied.

The Belstaff 554 is a fantastic bag and I have no regrets. But I found myself often faced with the comment, “Wow. Nice bag… it’s big.” And people were right. It IS big. Big enough to carry my 15″ Macbook Pro. I was hoping the bag would be able to be an everyday carry as well as my work bag. But using it as an everyday carry was just a bit bigger than I’d like. Put it this way, fully loaded, it wouldn’t fit under some of the smaller seats on a plane. And fully loaded… it was HEAVY.

So I started looking and thinking about another bag. It was hard. I had been spoiled by the Belstaff bag. So when I came upon an ad for a Belstaff 556 Colonial Shoulder Bag (regular size)… I jumped on it. Mountain brown just like my larger bag.

I have had it for about a month now and through a trip to Orlando and a trip to New Zealand. It is GREAT! This is the perfect size for everyday carry and travel. Big enough to throw a good amount of stuff in, books magazines, a netbook etc. Not too heavy to carry around all day. Same great construction as the 554.

It also has one really nice feature. It fits a Tenba Messenger Photo Insert perfectly. I saw this insert on Flickr and it is actually better than all the Domke ones that I swore buy. It is PERFECT for a messenger shaped bag… none of the Domke’s really are. With it, I can actually fit a Canon 1DmkIII and 3 lenses. Or even the 70-200L f/2.8 IS and another lens mounted. In a bind, I can load the 1DmkIII holster style (lens pointed down). The top closes… barely and is not that comfortable to carry but it fits… in a bind.

So if I had a choice, I’d go with the 556 over the 554. It’s just more universally usable. But I like having two and don’t feel it is duplicating. In a time where Belstaff seems to be stopping the manufacturing of these bags (STUPID STUPID STUPID)… I am glad I have another in case something were to happen to the other. Both mine also don’t have the magnets and the seams match the color of the bag. The newer ones have magnets under the latches and a different color seam. Now why would they do that!

The dimensions measured at the seams* are: 10.25 in tall x 12 in wide x 3 in deep at the top and 4 in deep at the bottom.

Front pockets are 6.5 in tall x 4.5 in wide x 1 in deep.
Side pockets are 5 in tall by 4 in wide… tight rounded depth.
Inside zippered pocket is 7 in long.
* inside might be a bit smaller.

Pictures of Belstaff Colonial 556.

For those of you who know me, you know I have a bag obsession. I finally got my hands on a Belstaff Large Colonial Bag. It is GORGEOUS. Expensive… yes… but I think definitely worth it. Since there is so little information about this bag, I’ll post some of my thoughts and a detailed description.

The bag is gorgeous. I just can’t say that enough. It is well crafted and definitely designer. It is made of a heavyweight waxed canvas that is water resistant. Is it as durable as some of the modern nylons and weaves… probably not. But this bag has the same effect as that well worn leather jacket or the perfect broken in jeans. The bag is really collapsible… there is little form to it. This can be good or bad. It’s great because the bag is bigger than it actually looks. The bag forms to your body. It’s bad sometimes when you take certain things out of it (SLR camera). You have to adjust it to get pointy items like that in and out.

The leather details are really nice. Some people complain about the straps and how they attach… I usually carry it around without the straps buckled. This allows easy access. When I want to secure the bag, I buckle the straps… which does a good job of holding the flap down. When you REALLY want to secure the bag, you can buckle the strap and loop it into the leather loops.

The only complaint is that the side pockets are a little hard to access. I end up keeping things I don’t need every day but would like to have with me just in case in there.

I typically use it as my work bag… big enough to hold a Macbook Pro 15″ with a sleeve. I can also swap it out and put Domke inserts inside to hold camera equipment. I am about to sell all my other bags on eBay… THIS IS THE ONE!

The dimensions measured at the seams* are: 12 in tall x 15 in wide x 3.5 in deep at the top and 4.5 in deep at the bottom.

Front pockets are 8 in tall x 5 in wide x 1 in deep.
Side pockets are 6 in tall by 4 in wide… tight rounded depth.
Inside zippered pocket is 7in long.
* inside might be a bit smaller.

Of course, pictures are worth a thousand words: Pictures of Belstaff Colonial 554.