Features:
Fit:
Fabrication:
Dimensions: 13.5” wide, 15.5” high, 5” deep
Volume: 25 L
Weight: 2.6 lb.
Built in: Guangzhou, China
Most Helpful Review:
7/7/11 by Shawn McCool
I carry my 15.4" laptop, a small keyboard, a mouse, headphones, papers, my bike lock, my passport, and all kinds of odds and ends in this bag. I cycle to / from my workplace daily. This is the reason that I purchased this bag and it lives up to my hopes.
I ordered it with the accessory holder. It attaches to the front strap just above the buckle. It could easily carry a large phone such as an iPhone 4 or an HTC Evo. But, I use it to carry my digital camera for quick access.
I get a lot of compliments about this bag here in the Netherlands. Thanks, Chrome.
1/23/12 by Sergio
I have had my SOMA bag for over a year now and it look like I just bought it. i carry a 13 in MacBook pro and a 1 1/2 inch folder with a notebook and supplies to school just about every day. It is perfect for school being a great looking bag also being weather proof and the belt buckle gives it a nice touch however
If your going to carry this bag for more than an 1hour and half of continuous walking, I would not recommend this bag. The Soma bag is also not the most comfortable bag when it is very full with heavy text books. They really need to consider putting more small zipper compartments for your things and make the flaps on the sides close more. If the price is what holds you back, trust me you won't be disappointed. 4/5 stars just because in the pictures it shows this bag full of things when in reality you will never wear this bag that full is it will be uncomfortable.
9/9/11 by Nick Nguyen
I'm a bag obsessor and this is by far my favorite! Great for carrying my laptop, lunch, & two bottles of water everyday. Design looks great and love that it is small and not bulky.
8/31/11 by DeMar
a bag should look good but more importantly it should be comfortable when loaded up with all of my things. The bag is built excellently but fails in comfort. Any long term - 1/2 or more of wearing this bag and I find myself wishing that I did not spend all of the money I did on this bag. I gave it 6 months of use before submitting this review. I went back to my old over the shoulder bag, and I would not recommend this bag.
7/19/11 by Erik
I've had this bag for two years, and there isn't even a scratch on it. In a word, it's cavernous on the inside. It's a pretty good first version of a laptop bag, but a few awkward design choices were made. Namely, it only has one compartment that zips, and I'm not sure what I would be able to fit in there except, a piece of paper or two. So, as a a person who has a computer and accessories, it needs a few more zippers/snaps/velcro to keep my flash drives, keys, headphones, (etc.) from falling all over the place. Also, the protection for the computer itself leaves much to be desired: it doesn't get fully strapped in and there's little padding in that compartment. I've seen in other bags having a small lanyard/hook thing that keeps keys separate and fastened, that could be handy.
Interestingly, despite it's seemingly large footprint, it's much smaller than it appears. I've fit it into some pretty tight corners. That's not to say it's nimble, but it's deceptively slender.
7/19/11 by DnvrBkr
I use this bag daily and love it for that it does. This is my second Soma as my first one was stolen and I immediately bought a new one to replace it. I also own a chrome mini metro. I won't go into everything it does well as most of the other reviews already covered it.
My gripes are:
1) The bag itself is built like your waterproof messenger bags, but the shoulder strap is built so much more lightly/cheaply that it doesn't fit. If i wanted a lighter bag, i'd buy one. I want a chrome bag so mkae the strap more like your messengers.
2) As another poster put it, there is no place to put your stabilizer strap when not in use. Along with this idea, the belting on the shoulder strap does not have the velcro at all so any accessories I put on the strap slide around and make it hard to get the stuff out while riding. or even walking around.
3) COLORS. While I like black, it's so done... I'm not super hipster, so black shirt, shoes, pants (skinny of course) and bag are not my thing. Chromes are unique... give us a way to make it even more so by having some colors to pick from.
5/2/11 by drhorrrrible
i got my soma bag a couple days ago now and i'm absolutely loving it! this bag fits everything i need into it with room to spare. i walk to work everyday (roughly a 3 mile walk) and this bag is so comfortable on my shoulder i hardly notice it's there. my only problem with the bag is the pocket on the side of the bag doesn't hold my water bottle very well, which really isn't that big of a deal.
3/29/11 by Chris
i have had this bag now for about a year and a half. the outside of the bag is damn near indestructible. the inside however, could use a little work.
about a year ago one of the inner pocket stitches popped. i contacted Chrome and they had no problems fixing it. problem is shipping the bag to Chrome would cost too much so, by my own choice, i kept it as is.
i wish they had more color choice... but, yeah pretty tough bag!
3/25/11 by Ain
I've had this bag for two years and I've primarily used it for business travel. Three features would make this bag perfect:
1) Needs a horizontal web strap or equivalent on the back to slip over handles on rolling luggage. This would make it much easier to deal with in airports when traveling fully loaded.
2) The laptop padding needs to "fold" over the top of laptop compartment or extend on part of the top flap. My bag rolled off a small table and landed on the top left corner. With just thin nylon between the ground and the laptop inside, the laptop case was crushed. I now use an extra laptop sleeve since I can't count on the bag alone for protection.
3) An external zipper pouch or slightly larger side pouch to fit airline tickets and/or a passport for easy access. Constantly having to unsnap the top flap for "quick" access items gets old.
2/18/11 by David Supall
I've had this bag for a few days now and i have nothing bad to say about it, its completely waterproof, very sturdy, and extremely light. I've gotten countless complements on it. Great bag for school and carrying just daily stuff in. I would recommend any day
1/23/11 by Charles
I've had an amazing experience with Chrome messenger bags so without hesitation, I bought a Chrome bag for my wife when she needed something for school. Because she had to carry a laptop and books around I got her the Soma. Pulling the Soma bag out of the fedEx box, I was immediately disappointed by the size of the bag. I didn't want the bag to be too big since my wife is a small frame 5'7 140lbs. But since there is absolutely no give in the bag at all, I couldn't even fit all of her school supplies in there. Plus, the pockets are fairly useless for the average equipment carried by a student, particularly the valuables. There is only one pocket with a zipper (cheaply made zipper at that) and the pocket is too deep to make your frequently used items easily accessible. The other pockets have no closures so things can easily fall out if the bag is flipped upside-down.
The bag is well built, sturdy and tough. Even the main flap clips are heavy duty. But where is the velcro?? The bag would significantly benefit from velcro to hold down the main flap in addition to the clips, similar to the design for the messenger bags. Without the velcro there, an accidental tip of the bag and all of its contents spill out across the floor--frustrating.
Of course there could be more options with this bag such as colors and left shoulder strap. But my final complaint about the design of this bag is the stabilizer strap has no home if not connected. If you are using the stabilizer strap, it just dangles there at the side of the bag. There is no velcro or clip to hold tight to the bag when not in use. This dangling strap becomes a hazard if using the bag around moving parts.
Apart from these small design flaws mentioned above, the bag looks slick, fits my wife perfectly and ultimately does what it is suppose to do--protect her laptop and books from the elements. I'll be looking for Chrome to update the design of this bag and if they do, I'll definitely purchase one for myself.
1/6/11 by Adriel S.
(( Hey guys, this is just a small chunk of my review, PLEASE read the full review here with high quality pics: http://www.adrielsocrates.com/2011/01/chrome-soma-laptop-bag-review.html ))
The Chrome SOMA bag is currently my go-to bag. It's built strong to last long, and you can tell they constructed and designed it so to withstand many falls or impacts we encounter in our active lifestyles. My original plan was to get the Citizen Messenger Bag because I wanted to carry as much as possible without feeling like my back was going to break, but I was told that they tend to distribute the weight on your upper back (I guess something bike riders requested) and sit awkwardly when you are walking around for a long period of time. I'm very picky, and small things like that bother me so I wanted to make sure the SOMA (which also sits on one shoulder) didn't have the same setback. I went to the Chrome store in person (instead of buying it online) and tried it on. I'm 5'2 and am a heavy weight, but with the adjustable straps I was able to fit it perfectly on my shoulder and around my body where it sat pretty high on my back. Of course you need to swing the strap over your head, which can be an issue when you have a lot of stuff it in. You also don't want to press the buckle to take it off without having a secure grip on your bag's handle, or else it'll fall off your back and quickly hit the ground......................
12/1/10 by M.Plooij
This is absolutely a great laptop bag. I use it every day for the past year and its super. I live in The Netherlands where Chrome is not a common brand and I get lot's of remarks about the Soma Bag: "cool"people say. And that is my opinion too.
11/27/10 by Chrome Soma
So I bought this bag a year ago, and I really like it. However, as others have mentioned, it does sit a bit funny. The buckle and the strap add a lot of weight, so the bag is kind of heavy just by itself. You can really fit a lot in it, but that involves loosening the straps on the front flap all the way out. On a normal day, I carry a 1L water bottle, a coffee cup, my laptop, two or three text books, and some folders and notebooks. It all fits snugly, but after carrying it around between classes or whatever, it can really start to feel awkward and cause my shoulder to hurt. There's not very many ways you can wear the bag. I mean you can pull it tight and put most of the weight on your shoulders/upper back , or you can wear it loose without the anchor strap and put most of the weight on your lower back. I don't know. I think if it were to do it again, I'd just order a Chrome laptop sleeve and one of the roll top backpacks. It'd be nice if the one shoulder placement could be convertible (choice between right shoulder, left shoulder, or both). As far as riding with this bag goes, when the chest strap and the anchor strap are pulled tight, I can pull off the 10 mile commute, no problem.
11/27/10 by Nick Snyder AGAIN
So I'm back talking about this "Perfection" it fits everything i need for school.
Fits both of my binders, lunch (Lunch? I know right?), bottle of water, and all my small electronics. Even enough room to fit a 15" laptop!
I'm stoked on this bag!
11/26/10 by Rotan
The bag is well made, like im sure all of chrome's stuff is, but this bag just sits too awkwardly to hold something as valuable as my computer. i wouldnt suggest it
11/11/10 by James
2 years and no signs of slowing or wearing down. This is home to my 17" MBP.
10/22/10 by Esteban
Ive had my chrome soma bag for something like 2 years plus and i could not be happier! Ive seen and tried other bags from time to time, but I always find myself coming back to this bag.
the only bag i could replace my chrome bag is with a new chrome bag :p
10/21/10 by Tiffany
I got the Soma to replace my old Timbuk 2 messenger bag. I am 5'3" and the bag is a great fit because I was worried that it would be too bulky. I really like how durable the bag seems and I can't wait to use it when I travel to China and South Korea next week. The only thing that I would say that I wasn't to excited about is where the shoulder strap sits; I wish it was on the other side. Overall, I think the bag is awesome and I would recommend it to anyone. I actually watched a youtube review on this bag and I was totally sold, even though the strap is on the other side.
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33zsngpQmsE
10/20/10 by Nick Snyder
Perfection.
10/13/10 by Jason
Hey guys,
After looking at literally hundreds of bags, I came back to what I knew I really wanted: a bag from Chrome.
Went ahead and got this one, and its perfect. I am an art student and also work in a design office, and am in and out and running around all the time. While I am not a rider, this pack would stay put if I was. I love it. It fits everything I need on a daily basis. My Macbook Pro, my sketchbook, cables, external hdd, papers, pens, and lots of other stuff stay put nicely!
For a full review, pics of my daily haul, etc read my blog: http://blog.jasonlang.me/new-bag
9/16/10 by Daniel Horne
Went on a 2-week trip to Greece, and needed a laptop bag big enough to hold lots of crap besides the laptop, but also small enough to fit _under_ the seat of aircraft on both domestic and international flights. Took it on flights to Greece, Greek islands and back. No problem fitting under seat, and I had it packed full of gear. Between this and one piece of carry-on luggage, you never need check in a bag at the airport again. Plus the staff at the SOMA store were really cool to me when I bought it.
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