Mission Workshop Rummy Review

Likes

The Mission Workshop Rummy is a luxuriously comfortable, versatile, completely waterproof, and nearly indestructible messenger bag. A cavernous 27 Liter main compartment can accommodate everything from photography gear to odd shaped packages; the Rummy is the largest messenger bag we reviewed. It's also the only one with a roll top closure, which can be rolled up (making the bag completely waterproof and providing easy access to the front pockets) or folded over like most other messenger bags (faster to close). Being able to tailor your closure method to your load or to environmental conditions makes the Rummy more versatile than messenger bags we've tested.

In the front, the Rummy has two bellowed pockets that fit medium sized items like a u-lock, power cord, or sunglasses case. Behind those lies a haven of zippered pockets, which you access through a burly watertight zipper on the front face of the bag. In that lie two more zippers that run the width of the compartment. The rear zipper (that faces the front of the bag) houses a medium sized compartment for a small netbook or iPad, and the front zipper encloses three pockets of equal size. Pens, pencils, a phone, and other small accessories go in these pockets.

The best part of the Rummy, agreed our eight testers, is its incredibly comfortable shoulder strap and easy to adjust buckle. The most comfortable messenger bag is either the Rummy or the Chrome Buran, but the Rummy's aluminum buckle is by far the best of any messenger bag we reviewed. Adjusting the bag is nearly effortless. One tester even described it as fun. The result is an easy to use bag that fast to lower down and swing around in front of you. The Rummy's buckle epitomizes the quick access that messenger bags are known for. Furthermore, the chest strap, which holds the bag in place while biking, can be placed on either the left or right the shoulder. This is a unique feature.

The Rummy is available in five color options and the quick adjust buckle can be chosen in either silver (as we reviewed here), black, or bright orange.

Dislikes

There are dozens of styles of messenger bags. Along their broad spectrum, from bike messenger style to mere laptop cases, the Rummy lies much closer to bike messenger. It has neither a built-in laptop sleeve nor any padding along the back panel. The latter enables the bag to mold to your back while biking and the former is less of a disadvantage than we initially anticipated.

Going into this review the author and our testers assumed that having a built-in laptop sleeve was an advantage. Through testing sixteen bags we found that this is generally not true. A few bags, such as the Osprey Elroy and Timbuk2 Swig, have excellent sleeves, but most do not. We therefore did not penalize the Rummy for not having a built-in case (its rating in this category is the average of all messenger bags). This author's favorite laptop case, incidentally, is the ISIS Memory Foam Laptop Sleeve

Our testers found the Rummy to be an ideal size for most applications: those who live in a city, those who carry lots of things, those who want quick access to their stuff, and those who want a waterproof and durable bag. Others, however, might find the bag to be too large for their needs. This could be a potential drawback if you don't carry much with you. Separately, most of our testers found the velcro on the front bellowed pockets to be too aggressive. It's very secure, but also very loud. Just don't open it in a meeting.

Finally, since the Rummy has no padding or structure it's relatively bad for storing documents and loose papers. There's also no grab handle. The Rummy is a messenger bag, not a briefcase.

Value

The Rummy is well designed and handmade in the USA of high quality materials. It's well worth the $170 price tag.