Cheap Adorama Commander Camera & Notebook System Bag, Black, Water-Resistant Nylon. (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of Adorama Commander Camera & Notebook System Bag, Black, Water-Resistant Nylon.

Basic, does the job, worth the price
I bought this bag because I sometimes (but not always) travel with both a camera and a laptop. It does the job well, although it would be better if the camera compartment had more compartments (or had flexibility to be arranged better). <
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>Basically, you can carry two lenses plus a camera with lens...unless all of the lenses are big honkers, you then have a lot of "open" space above the camera back that is wasted. I've started carrying more supplies in a pouch that I keep there, but it blocks easy access to the camera. <
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>I use the front compartment more for business supplies than photo stuff...there's not a lot of room there, but there are plenty of pockets and it's easily accessible, so it works well. <
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>My laptop fits perfectly...I'm using a mid-sized Dell machine with a 14.8" screen. Any bigger, and it would be a struggle to cram it into the bag. <
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>There's a back zip-up pocket that will carry about 3 magazines (or a somewhat full file folder), but not much else. There's a side pocket for a water bottle...it would be nice to have a cell phone pocket on the other side (there is a cellphone pocket inside the biz-supply section) <
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>The strap is better quality than on most bags in this price range. <
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>Overall, I'd buy it again because it fills my requirements well. I'd have given it a 5 star rating if the camera compartment were better designed.

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A good inexpensive compromise bag
The Commander is a compromise. Trying to blend the tasks of computer and camera cases is fraught with difficulty, and doing so for a low price while keeping the thing small enough to carry involves significant trade-offs. <
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>The bag is relatively small; Adorama advertise 12.5 x 12.5 x 7 outside dimensions, which agrees with my measurements of the bag I received. The computer slot at the back of the bag (which is fairly well-padded front and back, and tolerably so around the sides) measures about 11 inches wide, 12 inches tall, and 1 3/4 inches deep. This seriously restricts the varieties of laptop that will fit in there - my 14.1" Thinkpad T42 (12.2" x 10" x 1.2") just barely makes it. The "benchmark" Apple 15" Powerbook will NOT fit (13.7" x 9.5" x 1.1"), even though the bag is advertised as being able to carry a 15" laptop. So get out the measuring tape before putting one of these on order! <
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>There are no desginated "pockets" for laptop-critical items like a power supply and mouse. There are spaces in the accessory pouch at the front of the bag that are large enough for these items, but putting them in there creates a cable management problem unless you're one of those people (like me) who actually neatly wraps up his cables and uses the Velcro cable organizers to keep them from getting tangled. This is likely the result of the decision to keep the bag's dimensions relatively small. There are cubbyholes large enough to hold other miscellaneous items like telephone and network cables, and a cell phone pocket that will hold something other than a Nokia 6010. The accessory pouch on the front also has an inside zippered pocket, useful for storing small loose items like memory cards or batteries. Also, unlike other computer bags I've owned, the pen and business card holders will actually hold pens and business cards! <
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>The photo compartment is the largest part of the bag, measuring 11 x 12 x 4 inches. It's big enough to hold the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8EX monster. The bad news is, if your SLR is more than 4 inches tall with an accessory grip on it, you'll have to take the lens off to get it in. Which brings me to my next gripe - the bag comes with only two dividers. They are adjustable, and there is Velcro on the sides of the bag, but only two 1/2" strips of it, so your mounting options are a little limited. Also, the dividers do not go all the way to the top; instead, the top five inches of the bag are unused, save for a zip-closure mesh bag on one side of the compartment. Of course, if you pack the zip-closure bag full of film rolls, then it blocks your access to the area below...