Alpkit.com Pooterpod. I was sent the Alpkit PooterPod after winning a competition that they ran that required you to submit a video that showed your commute to work.

After going to my local post office to pick it up (damn my ridiculously small letter box flap ) my initial reactions was how light it was it weighs absolutely nothing. Well not nothing, but very little for a waterproof rucksack. As the name might suggest it is aimed at the commuter riding their bikes to work. Comes with a very handy slot for your laptop (I don't have one so not unable to test this out), the section looks nicely padded to protect the laptop from anything else you may have in the rucksack at the same time. I would imagine you can't feel the laptop on your back either as it has a nicely padded back on the rucksack. It has reflective strips on front of the back as well as a rather handy bike light attachment. Could be rather handy to get another light that bit higher up to help you be seen.

The rucksack is side entry with a long water resistant zip running down the side of the rucksack. The quality of the zip seems to be of a high quality and only time will tell as to how well it will hold up. Unfortunately for the purposes of this review, (fortunate for me) I have not been rained on during my commute so I am unable to tell you how the zips hold up to a good down pour. What I am able to tell you, is I have used many a waterproof zip on other products and the zip's on the PooterPod seem to me as strong and good a quality as any other. I will of course be telling you all how well the zips have held out I am sure, the next time it p*sses down on my way to work. There is one more zip on the opposite side that I have not yet quite worked out what it is for. It opens to a large but very shallow pocket, all I can really get in there is my iPod. Perhaps this is what it is designed for but it does seem on the large side if it is. Doesn't take anything away from the bag so I guess it doesn't matter.

I do now come on to a couple of things that I am not overly keen on myself with the bag. Firstly the shoulder straps, they are shaped for the shoulder rather than being straight which is great. They are comfortable, again great! But because they are shaped I found that when riding in just a t-shirt the edges of the straps rubbed on my neck and was uncomfortable, not painful but uncomfortable. I tried it with my jacket on and therefore a collar and it was fine, couldn't even feel it. So for me it will make a great winter commute rucksack. Summer I may have to think twice about using it, then again I am unlikely to need a waterproof rucksack with the great weather we have here in the UK . The second thing is, is just how long the straps are. They are enormous. I am not the smallest of people but the straps where way more than I needed and sure they could be shortened at the factory as when I was riding along the straps would be flapping around and tapping me on the back and leg and I kept on thinking I had dropped something. Right that's the end of my niggles with the bag. Told you there wasn't many. Now moving on, there is a chest strap and waist strap. The chest strap is movable up and down the arm straps enabling you to get it in just the right place for you.

In conclusion, if you were to ask me if I would buy this rucksack with my own money for commuting to work with? The answer would have to be a YES. I mean it is great for the commute, it's got the sleeve for the laptop and internal pockets for your pens and credit/debit cards perhaps. It's got the reflective strips to help you be seen, aswell as the bike light attachment to clip your bike light to the bag. The more lights we have on ourselves to help us be seen the better I say. It even has which I didn't mention two bungie cords on the outside that I might use to stay a jacket if the bag is full and it gets a bit hot. The bag is a limited edition product at present and in development in what they call a coLab project. So who knows they may well change a few of the things mentioned earlier and to be honest if they do then I think they may well have a fantastic product on their hands. If they can keep the same price tag of 25 that this one had on any further rucksacks they develop then even better.

Come on Alpkit get this great little bag into production.

For further technical info and to see more of the Alpkit.com stuff then click here.

Phil