When choosing a case, there are normally several key factors to take into consideration — protectiveness, design, utility, and pricing. Sometimes, the company behind the product and their values may also be worthy of additional thought. Take for example San Francisco’s WaterField Designs. Rather than outsourcing its labor, everything is made in the United States, and the company uses high quality materials and reasonably user-friendly designs. While expensive for what it offers, Travel Express for iPad ($69) certainly reflects the company’s commitment to quality.
Travel Express is one of the nicer sleeve-style cases we’ve seen recently for Apple’s tablet computers.
Rather than just being a netbook/notebook bag that happens to have enough room to hold an iPad, this bag was designed specifically for the tablet. Composed mostly of ballistic nylon, the case is twelve inches long, nine inches tall, and an inch and a half thick. The body is black with an accent stripe in black, copper, flame, green, pearl, or pine. A YKK zipper runs half of the perimeter, from the top left corner to the bottom right, allowing for easy access to the iPad.
Inside, there is a dedicated reinforced pocket that can accommodate either model of the iPad, uncovered or with most thin cases and shields, now including Apple’s Smart Cover for the iPad 2. Four other interior pockets and the main cavity provide plenty of room for accessories; we were able to fit a wireless keyboard, iPad charger, Dock Connector to USB cable, reserve battery pack, iPhone 4, camera, and camera battery charger inside with room to spare.
This is unlike many sleeves, and a fact that serious travelers will appreciate.
The standard model of Travel Express is simply the sleeve, which some users might use inside of another bag. WaterField Designs does offer a few customizations to make it a standalone option: $5 adds on D-rings, and two different straps are available for $12 or $22, respectively. Having tested the D-rings and the more expensive nylon and padded faux leather Suspension Strap, we were quite happy with the quality, especially the strap’s carabiner style clips, which had a very satisfying heft. The $12 version of the strap isn’t as wide as what’s shown here.
Having said all of that, just how good is the sleeve itself? If price wasn’t an issue, we would have been impressed across the board with Travel Express.
