M-Edge Tech Tote 2 with Battery REVIEW Perfect Mother’s Day Gift for the Tech Savvy Mom
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If your wife is anything like my wife, you will notice that she constantly needs a phone charge. I do not know how my wife manages to carry all of the things that our three children require (eight and five-year-old boys and two-year-old girl) and still keep track of her own things. From diapers and wipes to extra clothing to a phone, wallet, and sanity, she more than manages, she excels. We have gone through quite a few diaper bags, mom bags, and backpacks. Alas, they have all missed something that she felt was important. The Tech Tote has been ideal for her, proving useful for the trips to church, outings at the park, gym or mall.
The Tech Tote bag is a very stylish black bag that has a hybrid purse/duffel/satchel feel. The bag measures 14 1/2″ tall by 17 3/4″ wide and has two straps attached at the top edge of each side of the bag. The straps measure 25 3/4″ long and have three separate regions. First, each side of the carry handle has a 1 1/2″ wide by 7 7/8″ long nylon strap Between the two nylon sections is a well stitched, 10″ leather section. This is folded and gives the handle a purse like feel. Unfortunately, there is no connector device between the two straps. There is no magnetic closure for the bag itself and there is no latch. I am a little concerned that there is no way to secure the contents of the main part of the bag.
One complaint about the bag is the sole black coloration. The overall feel is tactical, which works well for some, but may also be a little off-putting to others. There is no set front to the bag, and there is no obvious logo (except the charging port). Evaluating the outside of the bag further, you can see one of the main faces has no pockets and the other side has two 8 1/2″ zippers. The zipper pulls are really nice and the zippers are responsive. The zippers are hidden style, behind nylon fabric. The zippers enclose a trapezoidal compartment that is 12″ wide at the base 10″ wide at the top and is 13 1/2″ tall. The zippers open up into the same compartment, creating a passthrough, which is perfect for a baby blanket, a yoga mat or possibly a jacket. I wish that the inside had some velcro loops, which would make this bag ideal for a concealed carry bag. I have seen some bags where women can have this side near their body. They can unzip the hidden back pocket and slide their hand the hidden holstered weapon. Since both surfaces of the inside of this pocket are nylon like material, this may be a wasted opportunity. I do not want to detract from the quality of the bag or the idea of the pass-through pocket. The pass-through pocket is simply an amazing addition.
Each side of the bag has two pockets, a lower mesh pocket, and an upper nylon pocket. The lower mesh pocket is also trapezoidal shaped and measures 6″ wide at the top, 4 wide at the bottom and 7 3/4″ tall. The material is an elastic mesh, which works perfectly for a water bottle, baby bottle/sippy cup or other pocket contents like keys or your phone. The upper nylon pocket is also shaped like a trapezoid and measures 7″ wide on the top and 4″ wide on the bottom and is 10 3/4″ tall. This pocket is perfect for wipes, diapers, extra underwear or bottled water. You will only be able to use one of these pockets for storage, as the other side stores a hidden 6000mAh battery. The bag comes with a prewired external charging port, true to the M-Edge Bolt-like system. The external interface measures 1 1/4″ square and contains a USB-micro input and a USB-A Output. The included battery is hidden in the upper nylon side pocket. The pre-wired system has the wires to the input and output plugged into the battery. One of the convenient features of this system is you can expand the battery to your needs. If the promised 40 hours extra battery life for smartphones and up to 10 hours extra battery life for a laptop is not enough, upgrade to a 10,000 mAh or even a 20,000 mAh battery by simply plugging in the input/output cables.
The battery is a quality addition to the bag. Assuming 80% efficiency, which is a reasonable assumption based on industry trends, you have 4800 mAh to use to charge your devices. My wife has an iPhone 7 and I have an iPhone 7 plus, which has 1960 mAh and 2900 mAh batteries, respectively. Using my Drok USB volt tester, I was able to draw 1A with my iPhone 7 a 1.5 A with my iPad Air 2. I was able to charge my iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus from 50% to full once, with this battery. The bag has an included 28″ USB-A to USB-micro adaptor. You can use this to charge the included battery. The battery was 100% charged out of the box (all 4 LED illuminated), which was convenient. With the charging hub, you never have to remove the battery from the bag. The included cable has a boxy USB-micro end, which may prove troublesome to some phone cases. For those of us who favor the Apple Ecosystem, we will need to provide our own USB A to Lightning cable. If you double press the “on” button on the battery, you will find the battery will provide an emergency LED. The external charging port has a single USB-A output, but the battery itself has 2 outputs.
The main compartment of the bag reminds me of a satchel style bag. It, unfortunately, has no closure device, no magnet, nor a flap/strap or button. The base of the bag is padded and one of the internal sides has a padded pocket large enough to fit a 15″ laptop. My MacBook Pro 15″ fit perfectly inside this compartment. I am incredibly thankful that this pocket has an elastic retention strap to decrease movement and to mildly reduce theft. In front of the main laptop compartment is a felt lined 7″ tall by 13″ wide. I am not sure why the main laptop compartment is not lined by felt. It makes sense to have an anti-scratch fabric in the area with the laptop. The elastic strap closes the main laptop compartment and the accessory pocket in front of it. This pocket is perfect for your MacBook pro charger, cables etc. The opposing side has two administrative pouches measuring 3 3/4″ wide by 4 3/4″ tall. The pockets are perfect for personal organization.
The bag is a favorite of my wife and provides for her needs very well. Phone storage, phone charging, water bottle holder, internal tech storage, and room for the necessities. It is sometimes hard to find a piece of tech that she can get behind. The Tech Tote from M-Edge provided the perfect bag for my wife. The bag on the website has pull strings on both of the sides, but the bag I received does not have these.The 6000 battery is a little low, I would prefer a battery closer to 10,000 mAh. I would also have preferred there to be some method of attaching the handles together or the bag together. I would still rate the bag at 5/5 stars, my wife absolutely loves it.
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Originally published at macsources.com on May 12, 2017.
