I recently bought this bag and took it on a weekend trip that involved a bus ride, a local rail, a plane, a subway, a train, a car, and a couple miles of walking. In short, it's about perfect for such a trip, and though I had problems with the handle, I'd still recommend the bag (at least at the SAC price).

I'm 6'2" with a long stride, and I for one was pleasantly surprised by how long the handle extended. It has two extension lengths, the longer of which was more than enough to allow me to walk quickly and without any bumping (which has been a problem with nearly every other bag I've ever used).

Perfect size for a weekend trip (full business suit ensemble and extra pair of shoes included) - it has a nice, sloping, backpack-style form factor which nestles into sloping overhead stowage bins perfectly. Buy it, and you'll never be the jerk who puts your bag in sideways or gets everyone PO'ed while you repeatedly try to slam the hatch shut on your boxy suitcase.

Cons: The laptop sleeve compartment was a bit small for my older (read: kinda thick) 15.4" widescreen dell, it wouldn't zip all the way shut. It could use a handle on the bottom for pulling it out of overhead racks/bins and a handle on the side for carrying up stairs. The extension handle on my bag sucks - it started out a little finicky, worked great for about 2 hours, then became a pain to use. It requires a lot of jiggling and both hands to extend or close. I'm sure this isn't the norm, but I'm upset at the prospect of waiting a month and paying $15 shipping just to get it repaired and back to me in the condition I should have received it in initially. Eventually I'll probably get frustrated enough to send it in. I nearly gave it 3 stars because of this annoying (but small) problem. Without it, it'd have been a solid 5.