(72
Reviews)
My second Gator
By
Anonymous
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PA
August 11, 2010
This review is a follow-up to my review dated 5/21/2010. I ended up buying a second Gator as a dedicated range bag. It fits all the ammo I need for a day (including 12 gauge rounds for sporting clays), along with safety gear, a roll of tape, a rag, hat, extra mags, water bottles, first aid kit and a few tools. And with all that weight, the bag doesn't complain one bit! I got this one in Safari and it's a great color scheme. I'm pretty sure most other bags would be falling apart the way I load this thing up, but this still looks brand new.
Sleep apnea CPAP bag
By
Anonymous
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Jamaica Estates, NY
August 10, 2010
Dear Red Oxxen:
I'm loving my new Air Boss bag. It's hard to beat a bag that's well-designed, simple, and built like a tank. I'm a big believer in the One Bag school of business travel.
But I had a problem. Like a lot of guys, I have sleep apnea, and have to travel with a CPAP machine. It's standard-issue bag is cheap and flimsy.
But the machine is a bit too big to fit in the center compartment of the Air Boss. What to do?
It turns out that the perfect solution is your Gator carry-on bag. The CPAP and it's hose and mask fit just right, and leave plenty of room for the
other gear I need in-flight.
These two bags are making my life on the road easier. Thanks for that! You might want to mention on your web site that the Gator is a good replacement
for a standard CPAP bag.
------
Larry
Great small bag
By
Anonymous
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California
August 5, 2010
I wanted a smaller underseat bag to take with me on a 2 week safari, and I wanted something that could be used when out each day during the trip. The Gator fit the bill. When fully "loaded" it held a Kindle, a book light, several pairs of glasses, the 3-1-1 bag and contents, a large camera, various meds, a moleskine notebook, bandana, toothbrush, and some assorted things like wipes (cleaning and sunscreen and bug repellant). It was stuffed to the brim and really couldn't have held more.
My husband, who had a bit more photo gear than I did, purchased a Gator the same time I did, but his never made the trip to Africa. He just couldn't get in the toiletries for a 2 week trip, plus lenses and a camera and Kindle and so on, so he carried a standby favorite he already had. Presumably he'll use the Gator on a trip where the camera doesn't need to go along.
On both this bag and the Air Boss, the "zip knots" are excellent. They give terrific leverage for helping to close a bag that is close to being maxed out.
The Bordeaux color is beautiful. It handled dust and dirt pretty well and has cleaned up nicely. It's my new bring-along bag for 3-day weekends.
Great every day bag
By
Anonymous
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Glassboro, NJ
July 27, 2010
I bought the Gator in the safari colors a few months ago. I keep my camera, iPod, a travel first aid kit, journal, a few pens and pencils, and a rain jacket in it almost all the time. I add my lunch and 2 16oz. Nalgene drink bottles and take it with me to work and am prepared to face whatever might come up. Since this bag is perfect for a carry on, I plan to use it for travel over the next few years just by slightly changing its contents. I'm currently saving to buy the matching Metro briefcase for my laptop and its accessories as well as the AirBoss.
The Gator is very well made and even loaded with my every day stuff it feels light. The non-slip strap rides well on my shoulder. I have carried it in several rain storms and have not found any wetness inside the case. For a small case, it seems to have a lot of inside space. The zippers work well and do not jam.
About the only negative thing I would have to say about the Gator would be that the inside mesh pocket is angled slightly toward the inside which makes getting things in and out of the pouches on the divider a little harder. It would be nice if this divider was straight and have a strap with a snap connector at the top to help hold smaller items in.
Overall, its a great little case for every day and travel use.
Great Carry on Bag
By
Anonymous
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South Carolina
July 22, 2010
This is the perfect carry on bag to take on the airplane with you. It's size is deceptively deceiving. You could come close to fitting a weekend worth of clothes in this little bag. It makes a great camera bag with room to spare for additional lenses. Well made and very versatile.
An Excellent Bag
By
Anonymous
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Boston
July 1, 2010
Another excellent product. I use it as a briefcase/travel bag for overnight and multi-day trips. It carries my camera, laptop, books, files, and other sundry things. Standard file folders do fit. If you want to prevent the top edges from bending, use the stirdier folders. It is an extremely versatile bag, and like everything made by Red Oxx, it is solidly made and thoughtfully designed. On an upcoming trip to Europe I plan on pairing this bag with the large ruck sack as my only two pieces of luggage.
Love this bag!
By
Anonymous
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Dallas
June 22, 2010
Since the Gator is a Red Oxx, of course it is extremely well made. It looks very small, but holds enough for a long weekend-seriously! Here's what I packed in the Gator main compartment: toiletry kit, quart ziploc with liquids, three cotton tees, one pair shorts, one pair pants, undergarments for three days, pj's, flip-flops. My wallet/Blackberry/travel docs fit in one outside pocket, sunglasses in the other, and my book in the zipping pocket on the back of the bag. And of course water in one of the side pockets. So if you're not having to pack a laptop and business clothes, and you're a fairly small person, i.e., your clothes don't take up a lot of room, this is a great weekend bag. I recently reviewed my Sky Train and the only downside of my Sky Train for me is that it is really big on my frame, even when it is not fully packed. Well, problem solved--for 2-3 day casual trips, I'll carry the Gator. For longer, more wardrobe-intensive trips I'll carry my Sky Train. Thanks, Red Oxx!
Fabulous travel bag
By
Anonymous
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Minnesota
June 13, 2010
Perfect bag to for air travel. Fits under the seat and carries all your inflight articles. Great sturdy construction to carry camera, books, maps and other essentials while sightseeing. Comfortable, non-slip strap for carrying over the shoulder or cross-body. Extremely happy to see an amazing product that is manufactured in the USA!
Wow, What a Beauty
By
Anonymous
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Boston, MA
May 27, 2010
As a Red Oxx fan, I've had my eye on this bag for a long time and finally took the plunge. My first impression upon opening the package was, "Wow, what a sharp looking bag." My next impression was, "Wow, is it small." While believing other Reviewers about the bag's endless capacity but needing to prove it to myself, I then proceeded to stuff the main section of the bag with my computer and everything else I normally pack in my carry-on (including a Lil Roy stuffed to the max). I then emptied the contents into my very large handbag/briefcase that I normally use as a carry-on. To my amazement, the handbag/briefcase was stuffed beyond normal capacity and would not close. My conclusion? The Gator is an optical illusion. It is indeed larger than it appears. Love it.
Just found a new use...
By
Anonymous
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PA
May 21, 2010
All the other reviews share the benefits and a few shortcomings of this bag, so I'll just share a new use I found for it. It's a great bag for a Bose SoundDock Portable, for which Bose offers a bag that is rather one-dimensional for $60 and no doubt made in an overseas sweat shop. So to me, the Gator is a no-brainer! I'll have this with me on most of our summer car trips with the SoundDock and room left for plenty of other gadgets. I also have taken this on a plane, although usually my laptop bag goes as my personal item (along with my Air Boss). And it's been a diaper bag, and a lunch box for trips to the zoo with the kids... I would like to use it as a range bag but I don't want TSA sniffing any GSR... oh yeah, I said I was only going to talk about ONE use. Gator is appropriate since it swallows a lot of gear, but Chameleon would have worked too!
Almost Perfect
By
Anonymous
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Columbia, MD
May 13, 2010
This bag is both larger and smaller than I expected. When it arrived, I was surprised at how small it was, but when I compared it to other bags with a similar profile, it's much more roomy.
The construction and materials are top notch. No complaints there.
As a gear bag for everything short of a laptop, this holds up pretty well, but if you're thinking of using it as an all-purpose bag, it's important to remember that this is designed to be a compact carryon, and most of the design decisions support that.
For example, that means it's a little bit short. This isn't about laptops, but about papers. I like to be able to pack manilla folders or a padfolio, and the bag is just a little bit too short for that. Such things can go in a briefcase, sure, but I was disappointed that I can't really use this as an all-in-one bag.
Similarly, the padding on the strap has tremendous grip, but is in a fixed position, so if you want to reposition the bag for a long walk, it's going to get awkward. For carrying a bag from plane to car this is a great design. For walking around it's not so rough.
None of these things are flaws with the bag, just things worth mentioning to set expectations.
That said, there is one genuine flaw in the bag's design that was a little puzzling. Specifically, the water bottle pockets have an issue if you use any kind of bottle outside of a certain range. For the longest time I was wondering why my bottles kept falling out - the pockets are certainly _wide_ enough to accommodate many bottles.
The problem, it turns out, is twofold. The bottle pockets are short to begin with, but to make them flush with the bag, they have no tenting of material, which means they have no flat bottom for a bottle to settle against. It also means the wider the bottle, the shorter the pocket. This kind of stinks.
That said, the bottle pockets make very good easy-access pockets to put things like keys or a phone in, so they're not a total loss.
All in all I'm very happy with this bag. It has served as a very effective travel bag, gym bag, camera bag and as a really fantastic diaper bag (The smallness of the bottle-pockets are no problem for baby bottles) but it definitely loses a little utility for just being a tiny bit too small for me to transport papers in.
(Of course, there's a good case to be made I should just buy the Metro or CPA briefcase and call it a day)
One of the few legal bags for "Spirit"
By
Anonymous
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San Mateo, CA
May 11, 2010
Now that Spirit Airlines is charging for overhead space, it seems the last free space left on their airlines is underseat. While the Gator appears to be nominally a couple of inches over the "underseat size" limit they posted last time I looked, I've easily fit my Gator under other airlines' seats, even those with A/V gear hogging a lot of that space.
I highly recommend the Gator for underseat carry if you are stuck with this type of limitation. For that matter, I highly recommend it even if you are not - my Gator, with medicines, toiletries (including 3-1-1 pouch), small water bottle, change of underwear/socks, change of lighweight shirt/pants, never leaves my side.
From ash-spewing volcanos in Europe to bad weather over here to political turmoil - you get the picture - it's more critical than ever to have a "go" bag at our sides, for camping out in airports after our luggage has been checked, to overnighting it in a nearby hotel.
BTW in the "customer tips" dept., could Red Oxx please consider changing the design on the interior panels slightly, to match the Metro briefcase? Just "detach" the bottom of one of the panels so a netbook will slide in on one side more easily? This bag is the perfect size for netbooks - a lucky coincidence, or Red Oxx prescience? Doesn't matter, please make it just a little more "netbook friendly."
Perfect size personal item
By
Anonymous
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Denver, Pennsylvania
April 29, 2010
I purchased the matching gator to match my Sky Train and found it to be a perfect size for an under the seat personal item. Its large enough to hold my camera, contents of my purse, noise cancellation headset travel documents, carry-on liquids bag, a book and a bottle of water. wow! The best part was I could find everything in the bag since it has small compartments with an easy to use snap system. On my return trip I even added in some purhased items. It carries on the shoulder nicely and fits under the seat of the plane upright with space left over for feet. I highly recommend the gator.
Handsome bag.
By
Anonymous
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Racine, Wisconsin
March 23, 2010
Combining Sky Train and Gator bag reviews in both places: I purchased the Sky Train and Gator Bag after months of reading reviews on this website. I've just returned from a 10-day guided tour of Italy where I put them to the test. I took only these two bags. It's astounding how much (too much) that I could stuff into the Sky Train. Not an atom of space left for purchases. I would advise against packing them this full. They are superb quality bags that got bashed around a lot. I had planned to carry it all on my back, but at the last minute checked the Sky Train. If I were younger, I probably could have managed it, but as a 69-year-old , 5'2", 120 pound gal, it was too much weight for me to use the backpack straps. The type of tour we were on was one of those whirlwind, different-hotel-every-night, bags unpacked and repacked every night which became tedious. Here's what I packed: 3 pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt hoodie, rain slicker jacket, hat, 1 blouse, 2 cardigans, 1 turtleneck sweater, two knit tops, seven T-shirts, 1 vest, 6 jockey camisoles, 1 bra, 10 pairs of panties, 5 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of flip flops, 2 inflatable hangers, extra plastic bags, envelopes and assorted flat things in the outer long pocket. I bundle-packed, using Magellan's 3 packing cubes as the core, which worked wonderfully for t-shirts and underwear. Everything else (cosmetics. Medications, paperwork, passport, camera, lumbar support cushion, umbrella, 2 pairs of glasses, 1 pair sunglasses, candy, phrasebook, scarves, iTouch, shower cap, Kleenex, expandable shopping bags, soap for clothes washing, and more) all went into the gator. The gator is a handsome bag, but I found it difficult to get into and look for items-possibly due to its stiffness. That is why it didn't get 5 stars. It's amazing how much you can put into it. The outside zipper pocket is very tight and not easily accessed. The two outside flap pockets are excellent and useful. In the future, I'll take these bags on shorter trips with fewer items, which will render them easier to use. All in all, the quality of these two bags is definitely as advertised. I love the zippers! They still look brand new.
Perfect under-seat aircraft bag
By
Anonymous
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Minneapolis, MN
March 22, 2010
I picked up this bag to be used as my personal item in addition to my carry-on bag. I have yet to find an aircraft that won't fit this bag under the seat, including the smaller aisle seats on a 737-300 or CRJ200. This is important because this is the bag that holds everything I cannot easily replace if it got lost, so something that won't be forced to be checked is important. In the Gator I stuffed: 1 Acer Timeline 1810T (11.6" notebook) in neoprene protective sleeve, Garmin GPS in hard-shell case with car traffic/power adapter, Canon Powershot camera in hard shell case with battery charger and extra battery, Sennheiser noise canceling headphones in case, and a dry toiletries kit that also holds my prescription meds. In the organizer I have a Fisher space pen, an LED pen light, 2 USB to microUSB cables, spare Ethernet cable, MP3 player, and an AC to USB power adapter. The space behind the organizer was great for storing my game tickets in a nice safe place. The front pockets were used to hold my AC adapter for my notebook and Garmin portable friction mount for the GPS. The elastic pouches on the ends were great for holding a small adapter cube for turning 1 outlet into 3 (great for sharing power at the airport) and a pair of sunglasses in a hard case. The snap-clasp handles were really great because I was able to roll up my polar fleece light jacket and wrap the handles around it so I didn't have to carry it around separately once at the airport. This bag isn't big on features, but every one one of them is useful. The foam that gives the bag some padding also helps it maintain its shape which makes packing the bag a breeze. My only gripe (and the reason for removing 1 star) is that I wish the D-rings for the shoulder strap were mounted higher -- when the bag gets loaded on one side the position of the D-rings becomes a pivot point and the bag will tilt or even invert as you pick it up by the strap. This is a minor gripe because it's only a problem if you pick the bag up without the main zipper closed, and once the bag is resting against your side it becomes a non-issue.
Incredibly versatile 'take-anywhere' bag
By
Anonymous
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West Chester, OH
February 23, 2010
A truly multi-purpose carry-on bag. Quality and workmanship is first class. Love the olive color and the contrasting black top, hand strap and front pockets. The front gusseted pocket are handy for keeping the smaller items organized. The back pockets help keeps paperwork flat and documents secure. The detail of providing 4-pen holders that are large enough to accommodate even markers and a lens brush, and the two secret pocket behind the front pockets are just another tribute to how this bag was well thought out and designed. The end pockets are great to have for a bottled water at one end and my mobile on the other. The shoulder strap is incredibly non-slip and comfortable This bag easily holds my Macbook (a pleasant surprise), an slr, a P&S, rangefinder and a number of camera accessories, voice recorder, power cords, batteries and charges, etc. Although I originally planned on using this for travel to Europe and Asia, I have now ended up using it very day. No doubt it will hold travel guide-books or just pages out of those guides as I do to keep the weight down. It can really hold a lot of stuff. This terrific bag is well worth its price. And it's made in USA. Thanks Red Oxx.
My favorite RedOxx product
By
Anonymous
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Northern NJ
February 22, 2010
I've used my Gator for several trips - Tanzania, Costa Rica, Palm Beach, and a few other trips. It is the perfect sized carry on. I generally use it for my camera gear, docs, a book, glasses, sunglasses, and a few other odds and ends. I only have 1 suggestion to make it better: A snap in the center of the interior mesh pocket to hold it against the side so it doesn't bulge into the compartment, forcing me to have to put my hand in there to move it out of the way when I put in my camera. Otherwise, its ideal!
Yes You Can...
By
Anonymous
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Denver, CO
February 15, 2010
Just got back from a 2-day business trip to Sacramento.
I decided to travel as light as I could and took my Gator as my main bag and my Lil Roy as my carry on.
The Gator held one pair of pants, 2 shirts, pajamas, socks, underwear and a small dop kit.
The Lil Roy holds so much more than you'd think: Moleskine notebook, Kindle, camera and charger, and iPhone and headphones.
I breezed through the airports. It's amazing how many business travelers still lug wheeled bags - no thanks!
You CAN travel much lighter than you think - try it sometime!
More bag than I need
By
Anonymous
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Medford, MA
February 11, 2010
As everyone says, this is a well-made bag. I'm returning it because it's just more than I need for a simple shoulder bag that can carry a book, a bottle, and a point-and-shoot camera on board. The extra bulk, separate pockets, etc. are more suited, imho, to an SLR camera and just more *stuff*, which (as a recovering packrat) I'm trying to avoid. A simpler, more compact (or flatter) bag would be a nice Red Oxx addition.
------------------------------------
Red Oxx Replies: "Hi Dan, Try our Chica. Much lighter, flatter and sized for your needs. ~Minister of Information for Red Oxx Department of Affairs."
Great camera bag
By
Anonymous
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Edenton, NC
January 21, 2010
I bought the Gator as a camera bag for a digital SLR and it worked out perfectly. The camera with a 55-220mm lens and lens hood attached fits nicely with room for the spare 18-55mm lens beside. The padding provides nice protection and keeps the bag's shape when open for easy access to contents. The inside pockets are great for lens filters and other accessories and there is plenty of room in the outside pockets. The only issue is figuring out what to do with all the extra room. So far, the camera bag has pulled double duty as a diaper bag, a picnic basket and a carry-on and has performed very well. I can't speak to its durability yet as I just got the bag, but both of the eight year old safari beanos have yet to show any signs of wear. I suspect the camera will wear out long before the Gator will.