Rickshaw Bagworks iPad mini Sleeve review

It appears the potential job that required me to purchase an iPad mini has fallen through, but I’m never giving up the mini now that I have it.  Now begins the fun, never-ending search for the perfect case or cover for the mini.  I just can’t decide if I want to use the mini cased or caseless, so I’m interested in investigating all case types.  I was happy to be chosen to try out the iPad mini Sleeve from Rickshaw Bagworks.  I even got to customize my sleeve!  Let’s give it a look.

All images can be clicked for a larger view.

Rickshaw Bagworks is based in San Francisco, and they create bags and accessories.  Some of their bags are available in stock color combinations, but some can be customized with fabrics and colors of your choice.  Customized bags will be made for you in their San Francisco shop; you may have to wait an extra day or two for your bag, but it will be just as you like it.

The iPad mini bag starts at $29, and some fabrics may add to the final cost.  I wanted a simple color scheme, and I wanted to coordinate with the red Smart Cover that I hoped would fit inside the pouch with the iPad.  I asked for the black Cordura exterior with red binding and light gray interior.  That’s exactly what I received from Rickshaw.

You can see the front of the iPad mini sleeve in the very first picture.  The sleeve has no closure, and the front is a bit shorter than the back to make it easier to grab hold of the iPad mini to remove it.  The sleeve has some light padding between the exterior and lining fabrics that feels fairly dense.  It should protect the iPad against light bumps and dings.  The bound edges are pretty stiff, and they should offer a little extra protection from corner bumps and drops.

The front also has a Rickshaw ribbon label sewn into the binding at the top.  The second photo shows the back of the sleeve.

The bag measures about 9.6″ long X 7.75″ wide X 0.25″ thick.  It weighs 2.4 ounces on my digital kitchen scale.

Here you see the naked iPad mini inside the Rickshaw sleeve.  The mini fits completely behind the shorter front panel.  You can see the faux fur lining in this picture, too.  Because I don’t have to dig around inside the bag to find small things lost in the bottom, I didn’t have to choose a light gray lining.  I just really like black, red, and gray together.

You can also see there’s a bit of extra room inside, but the iPad mini is held pretty securely inside.  Because there is no top closure, I think the mini could drop out of the sleeve if you held it upside down, or even if you had the sleeve slanted toward the floor.  The extra room made me think the sleeve might have room for the Smart Cover inside.

I could squeeze the covered iPad mini inside the sleeve, but it took a bit of force to both insert it and remove it from the sleeve.  I don’t think the Cordura fabric has a lot of “give”, and I don’t believe the sleeve will stretch any to make it easier to fit the mini with the Smart Cover.  I think this sleeve is best for a naked iPad mini.

When I am using the mini as I lay in bed, I put the sleeve on my chest and rest the mini on it.  The padding spreads out the weight of the mini a bit, so I don’t get sore places where the mini has been resting.

I like the iPad mini Sleeve from Rickshaw Bagworks, and I enjoy using it with my mini.  It fits easily inside my purses when I want to carry my iPad with me.  I do worry that something inside my purse could scratch the iPad through the open top of the sleeve.  I think the sleeve would be perfect if the back was long enough to fold over and snap/Velcro closed to completely encase the iPad mini inside.