This review has taken an incredibly long time to write. It all started when I met someone at BikeBike in Pittsburgh last summer who had a really sweet messenger bag, and they told me about Arena Bags. I immediately asked Cole if he could get one for me to review. When Cole said he had gotten another hip pack, I was on it like a drunk hipster on a burrito. Okay, not really, but I was super into it. Then, when the prize was finally in my hands, I was sad to realize it did not immediately live up to my expectations … BUT I could tell that it was a well-made and attractive bag, and I was determined to find a way to like it despite my own issues with its design.
This took months.
In the end, though, it was worth the wait. The following review may sound negative at first, but please read on. The first step towards liking this bag was to get rid of the attached belt. The belt was really the breaking point for me with this bag. As a female and an eccentric dresser, I might be pickier than most about the aesthetic fit of the bag. Even so, this belt harkened back to middle school backpacks - and not even in an ironic way - both in quality of materials and in looks. The huge plastic buckle looked out of place around my hips, more like a harness strap for my hyperactivity than a belt.
Now, separating the bag from the belt sounds like as easy enough task. Hah. Like I said, the buckle was huge! A slight modification in design could have made the corresponding loops on the back of the bag even just one centimeter longer, and I could have easily swapped this big piece of plastic for a belt I would actually wear. However, it took several failed attempts for me to finally come at this infuriating belt with a dynamic combination of pliers, my foot, a second set of hands, and my own body weight. After a lot of labor, the bag was reborn in my arms as I toppled over from the sheer force of yanking. I now had a bag I could like.
For all of my whining about the bag before its fashion liberation, the number of compliments I got on it afterwards was astounding. For a while, the hip pack functioned as an extra-large, water-proof billfold in my messenger bag. Everyone should have one of those, super useful! I filled it with my wallet, stickers, flyers, lip balm, keys, a couple promo cds, small notebooks, whatever – all the normal stuff that buries itself in my bag. The red piping around the edge of this black bag made it easy to find as well.
Eventually, once the winter began to wear off, I strung another belt through this bag and wore it while biking. Comfortable enough, but the edges do stick out a bit awkwardly. While the slightly V-shaped bag makes it easier to fill it to the brim while still keeping it closed (I would estimate three beer cans maximum), this also makes it a bit too unevenly shaped to hug my body alongside the belt. I usually wear hip bags to the side, but this one had to be worn over my butt. Fortunately, it slides easily enough to reach inside the bag while riding. On the plus side, the large flap has plenty of room for patches.
Useful features of the bag include an extra loop on one side of the exterior, probably for hanging keys, and a small inside pocket in the front. The lining and pocket are waterproof, as well as red to match the piping. The flap velcro is nice and wide and the bag velco nice and long, but it would have been so helpful if they had been reversed – like on other bags I’ve reviewed – so that the clinging side was on the flap and the bag didn’t pick up every piece of lint it encountered when full. Also, while a mini u-lock would fit in the bag, it would be cooler if there were straps it could hang off of in the front.
Overall, the bag wins, even if the belt lost. It makes an excellent companion inside of a messenger bag. On a belt, it is a bit big to wear around my hips, but I still use it this way. I’ve found that it’s even better if I string it through the strap of one of my messenger bags (my shoulder strap fits, although bags that don’t clip apart would have to use the side strap). If you think fitting out your bag strap with an extra pocket for your phone is useful, try adding a bag the size of a small purse to your immediate grasp!
Leslie