Originally posted by: iwearnosoxI would like slashbinslashbash and CowboyFarmer to battle it out. slashbinslashbash's take is that it's just a debranded crumpler. Cowboy seems to think it's a cheap knockoff. A very different set of opinions if you ask me.
Since posting my original opinion, I have read several other criticisms of this bag vs. the Crumpler on this and other boards. Some of their criticisms are valid (and just things that I overlooked) while others I still can't see. I'm not some pro in the bag industry or anything, so you can't take my word for gospel, but here's my updated take on it:
* There is a very slight difference in interior fabrics. I would not call one better or worse than the other. The padding on the interior dividers is the same.
* The shoulder strap pad is the same thickness, but it is less stiff. So it is probably a little less durable.
* As mentioned earlier, the shoulder strap material is slightly rougher.
* I don't believe there's a difference in the actual construction of the bag. CF mentions that the lining is loose. I think that's a combination of a couple of things. First off, the 7MDH is substantially bigger than the 5MDH he's comparing to. There's more lining there in the first place, of course it's going to be looser. Secondly, he's comparing a used bag with a brand-new one. The new one was somewhat crushed during storage and shipment. After a few days stuffed with equipment, the new bag starts to take on its true shape, and everything feels like it fits a little better. On both the Crumpler and the Versa Bag, I can pull the interior padding away from the inside and outside walls of the bag. It feels the same to me.
* On the other hand, there are a few cosmetic differences with regard to the overall fit and finish of the bag. The exterior fabric on the top flap on my Versa Bags has some small wrinkles in it, indicating that maybe the interior and exterior surfaces don't match up as well as they should have when sewn together. My Crumpler does not have such problems.
* However, looking at the stitching itself I cannot see any differences. For example, where the top handle is sewn into the top flap, there are 4 heavy bar tack stitches at each of the 4 corners of the handle. Same with the place where the strap attaches to the bag; one big long heavy bar tack that looks exactly the same on the Crumpler as it does on the knockoff. Looking at the edging around the top flap, I can't see any differences or obvious flaws. The stitching looks to all be nice and even, and it follows a nice line. I cannot find any places on the Crumpler where heavier stitching is used than in same place on the Versa Bag. That being said, I bought two Versa Bags, a red one and a brown one; and I can tell differences between the two. There are a few mistakes (velcro sewn slighly crooked, and one place where the stitching is a little frayed) on the brown one that are not present on the red one. I have been using the red one and put the brown one away since I got it, so I have not noticed these mistakes in the brown one until just now that I got it out and looked at it closely. So I think it's safe to say the QC in the Versa Bags is probably not up to Crumpler standards.
* The exterior fabric is slightly different. It is hard for me to make a final judgment on this since I have a black Crumpler but I do not have a black knockoff. It could just be that the fabrics are slightly different for each color. The weave on the knockoff fabric is slightly rougher to the touch and sight.
* The Versa Bag has a small plastic clasp inside the front pocket that is useful for clipping your keys or something similar to. I have it clipped to my CF card pouch, which is pretty handy as I don't have to dig through the bag to find it any more. This is something that was missing from the Crumpler entirely.
All these things taken together, I guess it's clear that these were probably not Crumpler leftovers like I originally hypothesized (unless, of course, Crumpler changed fabrics/etc. over the course of their production run). Some materials are very slightly different (I can't judge whether inferior or not) and there are some definite flaws on one of my Versa Bags, although the other one is much better. All told, though, this is not enough for me to value the Crumpler any more than the Versa Bag, certainly not at 5x or 6x the price. I do not believe that any of the differences will have a noticable effect on durability or usability. I will be getting rid of my Crumpler and keeping the Versa Bags.
I apologize for my earlier statements, which were definitely misleading in light of the more thorough inspection. I honestly just did not notice these things earlier (and I did look closely, although it seems I paid attention to some of the wrong things), and I wouldn't have noticed them now unless I had read others' comments on the bag.