Solid bag. 10/10 for car. 6/10 for air travel. Nitpicky review.
I bought this bag solely because of the car crash test video. It appeared to be a little more substantial to me than the other bags reviewed that are still on the market. I go into nitpicky detail in this review, but I will start by saying I would absolutely buy this bag again for car travel.
This bag is spacious for my 9 lb dog. My 15 lb dog, who is pretty lean, has to curl his head in just a bit lie down. For a shorter, rounder 15lb dog, it would be okay.
This bag is very thoughtfully designed. The clips make buckling the bag into the car very easy. For ease of installation, I prefer this to the Sleepypod products.
It has a nice degree of rigidity and structure for the car. The pockets easily hold a small collapsible water bowl, a few treats, a leash, and a replacement liner. There isn’t a spot for a water dispenser bottle, but you could clip that on with a d-ring. There’s even a fairly sizable hidden zippered pocket. I like the zipper handle setup on the top, including the lock and spot to hold the handle. However, the plastic zippers don’t operate as smoothly as I would like so I find myself having to finesse them.
I appreciate the strap on the side that allows me to secure the side zipper flap to reveal the mesh. It also holds the top flap open nicely so my dog isn’t impeded when her head is out of the top.
I also appreciate the mesh on the sides and in the front. The ability to hide the mesh on one side for privacy is great. One of my dogs likes more privacy and one is reactive. If I were to travel with this bag (more on that later) I would keep the side mesh hidden. I the car I will keep it open. I do wish the full mesh side was on the American driver side of this bag when it’s buckled in but that’s a small matter. One of my dogs does much better when he can see me. The mesh in front is fairly small and would require him to sit uncomfortably to keep me in his view. Again, great for air travel for me, but not so great for car riding, which is my purpose for this bag.
The bag feels substantial and is well structured. The same qualities that probably make it safe for the car, make it less convenient for travel. It is the heaviest travel bag I have across a few brands. It is also slightly longer and taller than many airlines will permit. Due to the weight and dimensions, I won’t fly with it.
The opening on the long side is a bit of a miss for me. If I were to fly with it, I would want to have the option of mesh so my dog could see me. This feature is rather useless on airlines in the US where your dog has to stay in the bag throughout the flight. I haven’t traveled with them internationally so I can’t speak to what the rules are and how it may be better for traveling outside of the US.
I don’t love the materials. The straps would get dirty if I were to travel with the and would be hard if not impossible to clean. I don’t know how the fabric will clean. I might try to clean the discoloration and see what happens.
There are a few details that bother me. I ordered the blush colourway because the gray wasn’t available and I wanted a light color for temperature control in the car. Some of the panels are blush, while others are far more orange. It reminds me of oxidized vitamin C in facial products. On one side there’s discoloration on this brand new bag It looks like maybe it was overheated in the manufacturing process, or perhaps it got wet or had some kind of chemical exposure. I admit that I really don’t like the color, but I needed to get a new bag for the car and this seemed to me to be the safest option available. If I were planning to travel with this bag, I would have exchanged it for a fresh one. It will go in the car and I won’t see the discoloration.
This is not a luxury bag at this price point and there are a few small details in the manufacturing that are dead giveaways. They won’t affect the performance of the bag at all. I find plastic left in the edges around some of the metal hardware. I find the hardware to feel cheap and it looks like the color coating will wear or scratch off, which seems to be happening on the top enclosure.
Hope this helps.
