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    Slappa KIKEN Laptop Shoulder Bag Review Discussion

    Discussion in 'Notebook News and Reviews' started by Amber Riippa, Mar 28, 2011.

  1. Amber Riippa

    Amber Riippa NotebookReview.com Contributor

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    The Slappa KIKEN 18-inch laptop carrying bag has a different design and use than many other laptop bags. A total of four interchangeable face panels are available, which can be zippered on and off to change the style and even the functionality of the bag. The panels each come with their own creative design, but only one panel sports a different color than the rest--green and black--while the others are mostly black (save the white stitching on one). Slappa ensures that it is airport friendly, meaning that you can put it through an airport scanner without having to remove the notebook inside or worry that your system will be ruined by the scanner. The bag has seven pockets of varying sizes, two much larger pockets that nearly span the entire size of the bag, one main storage space, and a padded laptop compartment that fits up to a 17-inch laptop. It comes with both a handle and a removable shoulder strap.



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    Last edited by a moderator: May 7, 2015
    Amber Riippa, Mar 28, 2011
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  2. SLAPPADom

    SLAPPADom Company Representative

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    We appreciate tremendously that NBR takes the time to review SLAPPA products, and over the years we've taken the bad with the good, and have always taken NBR comments as ways we could improve our products (and have incorporated MANY of their suggestions). We believe this review of our new KIKEN custom-build laptop bag is solid, but there are a few points we feel need to be clarified. We've communicated these to the reviewer, so we feel comfortable sharing them here:

    1) Regarding the pockets, the statement "The only complaint I have is that there could be more than just two pockets on the outside for quick access purposes. Slappa could have added a pocket or two to the outer backside, but probably figured it wouldn’t jive right with the overall style." This is not an accurate assessment. The reason we did not add pockets to the outer rear of the bag is because it would then NOT be checkpoint compliant (which based on our market research is a MUST HAVE)-in order to be checkpoint compliant the laptop storage area cannot be obstructed by any additional pockets, logos, clasps or adornments; so adding pockets to the outer rear of the bag would be been a negative.

    2) we strongly disagree with this bag being referred to as "slightly flimsy". It's 1680D Ballistic nylon, with .25" of padding in every single wall, the outer bottom of the bag features 2 hard plastic underbelly runners and the interior is rip-stop nylon. It uses #10 industrial strength zippers with molded alloy zipper pullers. The bag was built to be lightweight and very tough so as to stand up to the international travel we here at SLAPPA do every year. We are perplexed by this statement. A reference to bags that have tested and found not "slightly flimsy" might be a helpful reference point.

    3) This bag is VERY MUCH designed for the "heavy traveler". As I mentioned, it was designed and tested to hold up to extensive international travel, and recently we took it to the SXSW trade show-it carried an Asus G73, power brick, external hard drive, 35 lbs of post card handouts, 2 days of gym clothes, a pair of sneakers, 500 name cards, a toiletry kit and a bunch of "little stuff" (pens, earbuds, keys, credit cards).

    There are 2 mentions in the review that we are looking into:

    1) the mention that the velcro strips on the laptop section are too short (for the smaller 17" laptops). As mentioned earlier, we designed this bag specifically for the "bigger" 17" laptops out there (Asus G73, Alienware m17x) so the smaller/thinner 17" laptops will probably result in the flap seeming "longer than the velcro strips"--we are making these strips longer in our next (current) production run

    2) the inner "side flaps" get in the way when zipping the bag. These flaps were included so the checkpoint ready section was useful in "day to day mode". In other words, if you wanted to access your computer and/or the document pocket in this section, these flaps keep the section "together" VS. having the section "open completely" (like a piece of luggage). We have not experienced this issue of these flaps getting in the way of zipping, BUT we are asking the first 200+ KIKEN customers for their feedback on this.

    Just wanted to clear up a few points that we believe need to be clarified.

    As always, we are listening to ideas on how we can improve what we do, so if you want to send me a message please do!!

    **Today (May 17) a customer provided a link to a video review he did on the KIKEN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgapYmHDSBg

    Thanks

    Dom @ SLAPPA
     
    SLAPPADom, Mar 31, 2011
    #2