Review by Thomas P. Milton for JanSport Wasabi Core Series Backpack, Black
Rating:
I just bought this yesterday for school, and I love it. The straps make it easy on your back for heavy loads, which is definitely a good thing because I'm in high school! It's big enough for all my books but not too big to be awkward. It'd be nice if it had more pockets, maybe one for a cell phone, but that's not really a problem since all I really carry is books. And the color's nice – that's always a plus.

Review by Tom Skywalker for JanSport Wasabi Core Series Backpack, Black
Rating:
Pros:

1. Not too bulky but big enough for the normal high school and college student. Rough estimate of carrying capacity: 3 big yellow phone directories.

2. Has 4 compartments, including one for portable music device. All the smaller compartments are easily accessible, which is what most people should want of smaller components.

3. Water proof.

4. Straps are comfortable.

I like this backpack. I've not detected any flaws yet. I usually use it to carry my 15.4 inch laptop + charger, a binder, 1 or 2 books sometimes + my lunch. I bought this backpack for $ 25 at amazon.com. Shame they've increased the price.

Review by C. Azevedo for JanSport Wasabi Core Series Backpack, Black
Rating:
Backpack is light when empty, yet strong to curry the load of books to school. Side pocket for bottle very handy. Top pocket for CD player or small easy to reach items such as keys, very helpful and practical. I like the base of the backpack being dark color so it doesn't look dirty from use.

Review by H. TSAI for JanSport Wasabi Core Series Backpack, Black
Rating:
I bought this for my husband to carry his laptop computer and other stuff when commuting. It's surprisingly better than we expected. with MP3 player pocket, and it's not that big like other Jasport bags. Besides, the 15.4 in laptop is perfect in it. Might buy one more for my son.

Review by D. Kim for JanSport Wasabi Core Series Backpack, Black
Rating:
This backpack is great! What I love the most about it is that, while it has a lot of depth for vertical storage, it is not very thick. I had an older, larger Jansport backpack which was nice, but carrying a few notebooks, binders, and a textbook or two felt awkward in such a big space. This certainly isn't for those of you who lug around every textbook you own for a whole day. I can EASILY fit my 15.4" Dell Inspiron Notebook in the main compartment (with a fairly bulky notebook sleeve [Pinder THIN], too!), and there's still room for a couple of textbooks too.

On the color: I was anticipating the "burnt orange" that some reviewers pointed out (as opposed to the design's "barn red" description) and I still like it a lot. The only thing that sort of irks me is the strange combination of black (the zipper grabs and top loop for dragging it around) and brown (the straps and lining)… but that doesn't make it any worse of a backpack.

My con: I wish this bag had individual slots for pens and pencils, but it instead has a 3.5" wide X 6" high pouch next to a 6.5" square velcro-closeable pouch (in the middle compartment). While this is very spacious, I personally do not like things shaking around (assuming you have it in small quantities).

Other potential cons: I haven't really tested for it yet, but overall the material is very smooth and likely durable (as higher-quality backpacks go..), but I would prefer to have some more lining on the bottom of the backpack and also on the side to protect from moisture seepage (from the bottle holder). I occasionally have an icy bottle of water there, and though I don't have anything super-valuable in my bag nor do I think that a lot would get through the material, I'd feel more comfortable knowing that it's thicker and more resistant to leaks. Also, as the middle pouch is very, very deep (and spacious), I can see problems occurring where something will get smashed from the main compartment being at capacity since that pouch goes THAT far down (and sort of under!).