Whether you are able to physically go back to work or just having to move your laptop and accessories from room to room in your house, the perfectly designed bag can make things a lot easier. The Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief by WaterField has a lot of flexibility in its design to fulfill multiple roles making it an ideal go-to bag.
What is the Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief?
If you have followed GeekDad in the last couple of years you have probably seen us cover quite a few WaterField products. I am personally a huge fan. They make really high quality bags, but you also pay for that quality. WaterField is company based right here in the United States (San Francisco) and their products are crafted in small batches in a very personalized production process, so you aren’t getting some mass produced item that came from a large factory. WaterField has a great page on their site that talks about their history and their approach to design and manufacturing.
Here are just some of the more recent WaterField products I have covered recently on GeekDad:
- WaterField Tech Organizers
- WaterField Leather Key Clip
- WaterField Nintendo Switch Pouch
- WaterField Bolt Backpack
- WaterField Tech Sling
So what is the Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief and how does it fit into their product line? The Hitch Crossbody is designed to be a compact bag with both briefcase handles and a shoulder strap so that the bag can be used and carried for a large number of purposes. So it really is a great bag to use as your everyday carry bag (with a very impressive capacity) to and from work without feeling like you are carrying a huge heavy bag.
The specs and features for the Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief are as follows:
- Made from 1050 Denier Black ballistic or brown waxed canvas with full-grain leather accent
- Can be worn as a crossbody or vertical brief
- Vertical design distributes the weight
- Front pocket design keeps bulky items from bulging out
- Water-resistant YKK zippers keeps the elements out
- WaterField’s standard gold liner provides easy visibility
- Two fully-padded compartments keep laptop and tablet protected
- Organizational pockets and key hook keep small items in place
- Removable, adjustable Supreme Suspension Strap is included for over-the-shoulder wear
- Comfortable double handles for using as a brief
- Flush back pocket with passthrough for carry-on luggage handles
- Two sizes to fit most laptops up to Apple’s 16″ MacBook:
- 14” Compact: 10.375” (l) x 3.75″ (w) x 13.25″ (h)
- 16” Large: 11.75” (l) x 3.75” (w) x 15” (h)
How I Have Been Using the Hitch Crossbody
Like many people, I have been stuck at home teleworking for my job. So I haven’t really been doing any kind of a work commute to the office for several months now. I have, however, been in a unique situation where I am trying to sell my house while doing all of this teleworking. When you are selling a house you are currently living in you have to be ready to leave the house so potential buyers can walk through it, so I have to be very mobile with my work laptop and accessories. So from that perspective I have been able to really put the Hitch Crossbody through some good stress cases.
My primary use has been as a “bug out bag” for when our house is being shown and I need to get the family out for a few hours. When you work from home that means you have to take your entire office with you. What has been so impressive about this bag the sheer amount of stuff you can stuff into it. Here is what I have been carrying in the bag when I use it this way:
- 13” MacBook Pro
- MacBook Pro charging brick
- 11” iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard
- Apple Pencil
- Wallet
- 3 sets of keys
- Portable battery pack
- E-ink tablet (7.8” BOOX Nova 2 I just reviewed here on GeekDad)
- Work iPhone
- AirPods
- Checkbook
- Reading glasses (yes, I’m getting old)
The other recent use case for this bag has been for travel. My family is getting ready for a big move out of the state, so my wife and I did a long car drive to go on a house hunting trip and I flew back. So I got to use the bag for a week long trip involving both car and air travel. The pass through pocket on the back was great for threading through my roller bag luggage and the slim form factor made it an ideal bag to slide under an airline seat and still have some foot room.
Verdict
Before I received the Hitch Crossbody I was using the WaterField Bolt backpack as my everyday bag (back when I was actually able to go into work and use the work gym). So I went from a relatively large capacity backpack with the Bolt to a very slim bag that I could sling over my shoulder or carry like a briefcase. But the form factor change was a great fit given how I have been using the bag in these strange pandemic times. I was very surprised, given how tall and skinny the bag is, that it would simply stand upright when I set it down on the floor. I was also not expecting just how comfortable the Supreme Suspension Strap is for over the shoulder wear. The strap weighs almost nothing but is the most comfortable and soft strap I have ever had the pleasure of using on a bag (and given just how much the bag can hold that is saying something). The bag sports dual padded compartments so I am able to easily carry both my work laptop and my personal iPad Pro and know that both are well protected.
Overall, the Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief from WaterField is a solid choice whether you need an everyday bag or something on the compact side to carry for specific purposes. The variety of storage areas in the bag combined with its great looks, extreme comfort, and its ability to be carried over the shoulder or as a brief case makes this bag something just about everyone could extract a ton of utility from, regardless of what their routine may be.
The Hitch Crossbody Laptop Brief from WaterField is available now from the WaterField website and retails for $249 for the Compact and $259 for the Full (see the specs above for details on the size differences).
Disclaimer: I was provided Hitch Crossbody review unit for the purpose of this review, but WaterField had no input into the review content
