I wouldn’t consider myself someone who collects lots of tools. But I do have enough tools that it has gotten a little out of control in our garage. It has reached a point where I have to question myself about where that tool is that I am looking for. So I jumped at the chance to review the Veto Pro Pac LT-XL Laptop Toolbag.
My first impression when I pulled the Pro Pac out of the box was “wow, this thing is made of tough stuff”. You can tell by looking at the corners and at the places where the pieces of the canvas fabric are put together. You can tell by picking it up too. The handle is beefy. The zippers are thick and sturdy. And the various hooks and pouches are just plain tough! I can see this bag lasting me a very long time.
Now, let me say that about 3 years ago I went to my local big box store and got me a big toolbox to replace my average, smallish toolbox. Several birthdays and Christmas’ later, my big toolbox wasn’t sufficient enough to hold all my new little tools. So the Veto Pro Pac came at just the right time.
The shoulder strap is wide, and padded, and the toolbag itself is tapered from the bottom to the top making over-the-shoulder use realistic. All the zippers on the bag can be pad-locked, which is great. I have owned a lot of over-the-shoulder type bags, and the first thing to break on me has always been the handle d-rings because of flimsy design. It looks like they got this one right.
The Pro Pac was designed for the techy side in me as well, because this bag can carry 2, that’s right, 2 laptops! Just on either side of the handle are 2 padded zippered slots for laptops, or file folders if you want.
On the outside edge of both sides are large zippered slots that completely open the inside of both sides. Or you can only unzip the sides halfway down and snap the top of the flap to the side of the bag, which is a nice touch. One side is designed to hold 75 tools with a ton of pouches.
The other side is meant for business, with larger pouches meant for sunglasses, cellphones, digital cameras, calculators, power cords, notepads, pens, business cards, and so on.
My old toolbox is looking very empty and lonely now because I moved my most-used tools to the Pro Pac. What I really like about the Pro Pac over a regular tool box is that all my tools are standing up with the handles sticking out so it is extremely easy to find the tool you want. With a regular toolbox the tools are all laying down on top of each other like the silverware in the kitchen drawer, and it is a hassle to find what you want…. you end up having to remove half the tools in the toolbox just to find that one tool in the bottom of the box.
Some other nice touches are that there are 7 hooks/loops on the outside of the bag so you can attach things that you need quick access to… keys, tape measures, etc. There are also 2 hooks inside the bag. The shoulder strap is removable of course, and each end of the strap connects to the aforementioned D-hooks. In fact, every time I look at the bag, I seem to discover some new pouch, or nook, or cranny (did I just say cranny??). The bag measures almost 17 inches wide and 10 inches wide, and about 20 inches tall.
Now, there are a few final things about this bag that I should mention. The bag isn’t big enough to hold larger tools, like a power drill or a sander. If you load it up with a bunch of tools and a laptop, it can get quite heavy. You do have the shoulder strap to help, and the beefy handle is comfortable, but it can still get heavy. And I do wish that the metal strip that runs down both sides of the handle had a ruler on it. Every toolbox I have ever owned had a ruler somewhere on the box so you can quickly lay something down to see how long it is. The handle on this bag is the perfect place for this!
I love this bag. It isn’t cheap though at $225, and it won’t replace every toolbox or storage bin that I have in my garage, because it wasn’t designed to hold everything I have. But it will hold the tools I use the most.
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Product Information
| Price: | $224.99 |
| Manufacturer: | Veto Pro Pac |
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| Cons: |
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Bullet-Proof ! The tools inside will wear out lot long before the bag.
We actually have 3 of the LC version of this bag. All are set up the same so we know exactly where thing are/go in each bag.
They are a super bag to have.
This sure looks like one tough “satchel”. A bag for tools and tech gizmos is a pretty useful idea as indeed some of the construction-related tools (particularly those for measuring) are high tech gadgets which have to be secured.
Appears to be the perfect bag for a network professional.
be the perfect bag for a network professional.
Considering for PC repair. I have had the XL tool version for 5 years, it is indestructable with about 70lbs of tools. The huge plastic handle does flop around annoyingly and looks like overkill unless the bag has 50lbs in it or more, then it is absolutely necessary. And it is 4 times more money then others of course it is much heavier duty. My biggest gripe, I am constantly finding lots of surprise unrelated stuff jammed in it thanks to my wife’s cleaning fetish. I had to buy tiny padlocks for the zippers.
Yep… I utilize padlocks on the zippers as well! My kids were finding it too tempting to get into dad’s cool toolbag, so the padlocks have come in handy!!
I am looking for a tool/laptop bag I can carry on a flight. What I would like to see is a wheeled laptop bag, with a detachable tool section that I can checkin at an airport, while carrying the laptop in flight. But when I go to site, I can re-attach the tool section to the laptop bag and wheel around. Any ideas?
@techie I don’t know of any such bag. I still love my Veto Pro Pac!