Think Tank Urban Disguise 50 Review
January 24th, 2011
If you are looking for a shoulder bag for a 15″ laptop and a lot of camera gear, look no further than the Thinktank Photo Urban disquise 50. The bag comfortably fits my 15″ Macbook Pro (spring 2010 model), two f2.8 zooms, two camera bodies, a flash, poceket wizards, and a ton of accessories. The best feature of the Urban Disguise 50 is all of the little pockets, and in my opinion, this is a major failing of other camera bags. Within a couple of days of getting the bag, I was on a plane off to Saskatchewan for a couple of days, and this bag handled my needs with ease. I was able to work out of the Urban Disguise 50 as if it was my portable office.
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Now that its been a couple of months, I still find myself using this as my daily commuter bag. I have not been able to find another laptop bag that has as many accessory pockets, and I am able to carry my camera safely. I do find the Urban Disguise a little cumbersome for a general walk around and shoot bag (thats why I have the Think Tank Retrospective 20, future review coming soon.), as I find it a little to easy to put too much gear in it.
The Think Tank Urban Disguise 50 is a great choice if you are concerned about your bag making it on to a plane as your carry on. Its deceptivly compact. If I had to nitpick, my one issue is that there is no pocket that can accomodate a manila folder with a couple of sheets of paperwork. Sometimes I need to carry forms, etc. and I find that putting them into the laptop compartment can lead to them becomming mangled if I am not super vigilant about pulling the paper out before inserting my laptop.
Pro’s:
- Tons of space, lots of pockets, organization is great.
- My everyday bag
- Can work out of this bag easily.
- Holds a spring 2010 15″ mbp no problem
- Comfortable shoulder strap
- Holds a ton of gear
- Fits under the seat on a west jet 737 flight!
Cons
- Can get really heavy!
- Can be kind of large depending on what you have in the front pockets
- No macbook power supply pocket, front pockets work, but not optimal.
- Can tip over in the trunk of the car
If you have anything that you think I missed, or any questions about the Think Tank Urban Disguise 50, please leave a comment and I will do my best to answer your questions.
How is it for rain/snow? Is it water/weatherproof? How is it holding up in terms of durability? Thanks.
Its decent in the rain, I could see the bag getting soaked in a big downpour. Luckily, ThinkTank Photo thought of that and included a rain cover. I keep it in one of the two outer pockets on the side of the Urban disguise, which lets me pull it out quickly in the event of a big downpour.
For walking between buildings, or from car to front door, I don’t worry about it, my gear is always nice and dry, but the rain cover is a no-brainer in really we weather.
Nice review! I’m looking for a laptop bag with plenty of room for photo gear and this Think Tank seems perfect! Except that I am not so sure if it can fits a 2011 15″ MacBook Pro because the internal compartment (width: 14.4″) is just 0.05″ wider than the macbook pro which has 14.35 inches. So do you know the dimensions of your 2010 macbook? Thank you.
The mid spring 2010 (what I have) and 2011 15″ macbook pro’s are the exact same exterior dimensions, so you should have no issues fitting it into a Think Tank Urban Disguise 50 bag. I haven’t found a better laptop bag since I wrote the review, I highly recommend it.