Bellroy Sling Bag, Unisex Compact Crossbody Bag, Water-Resistant Materials - Basalt

I bought this but had to return it shortly after. Was great until I had to carry a bottle of water with me and no matter how I adjusted the straps, the buckles would dig into my shoulder causing pretty bad discomfort. Otherwise an amazing bag and I'm disappointed that it didn't work out for me. Fantastic premium materials and useful compartments, but the strap is the real lacking feature of this bag

At the time of writing there are 36 reviews with a 4.5 star average, yet only two written reviews. The written reviews echo the same issues I’ve had with the sling.I’ll start by mentioning I own many Bellroy products, always top notch, made from the best materials and worked perfectly. I also own the Bellroy Sling Lite (not mini) which is fantastic, just a little bit too small for what I want to carry.This sling is a disaster however, cheap and nasty materials, almost as if it was manufactured by another company. Bellroy state this particular product is manufactured in China & the Philippines.Another note: it is also significantly cheaper to buy from Bellroy’s own site directly. Go figure.Issues:1) The strap layout is completely different from the lite sling, no cinch straps, there is no way to have the strap not twist when against the body and it gets incredibly uncomfortable.The strap is thinner and with just a few items in the sling it cuts into your shoulder due to how thin it is. The bag itself has zero flex when items are inside with the rigid materials used.2) The magnetic clasp is upside down, the underside points outward. What the hell? This could be due to the strap constantly twisting. I really don’t care what causes it, it is not an issue on the Sling Lite. Why is the more expensive product multiple times worse for not incorporating it.3) The lite sling lite is easy to hang up at home due to the way the straps work, or over the back of a dinner chair at a restaurant. With the change of straps the long strap needs to be used, it makes this sling a pain to put anywhere which is not on the floor or on a table at a restaurant. Completely impractical, a worse product than the lite sling in every way.Sure I could go and try one of the premium slings at about 80% extra and £100+ but I shouldn’t have to, if this was made to the same quality standard I expect from Belroy I shouldn’t have these issues with a product is supposed to simply be bigger.4) The most comfortable way to carry the bag with the zippers available hides the Bellroy label against the body. Are they somehow ashamed of this product? I don’t understand why this choice was made?5) This is a criticism of all the slings, this is not a 7 litre sling, the numbers seem to have been picked arbitrarily. It seems the 6 litre Bellroy venture sling actually has more space than the 7 litre sling based on video reviews. The “4 litre” Bellroy Sling Lite has comparable capacity due to it not being so rectangular, rigid and made from better materials.6) Another feature of the Bellroy lite sling is that the strap system compresses the bag against the body, that feature has been lost due to the change of straps.7) When paying the same price as a good quality backpack from any brand or those from Bellroy this item needs to tick all the boxes. It can’t have the same quality materials used in a £15 bum bag from a cheap sports store.It can’t have upside down strap buckles and a cheap twisty, uncomfortable strap to contend with 100% of the time. The extra cost is clearly not spent on materials, simply the Bellroy brand name.8) I contacted Bellroy support and so far both responses ignored my concerns and pretended I twisted the strap like a 4 year old on the way to pre-school.As an owner of many Bellroy products I can safely say this is an embarrassment for the brand.Tip: watch video reviews on the different sizes and models, the naming convention is confusing between Lite & Mini and the litre capacity which is wholesale inaccurate. It is very hard to judge what will fit into a 4l/6l/9l as commenters on the pages of the other slings have also noted.

Really nice and well made sling bag. Light weight and comfortable.