Northstar Sports 1050 HD Tuff Diamond Ripstop Gear/Duffle Bag (16" x 40" Large)

I bought this bag to use as a soccer referee back in 2012 (Update: Still going strong in May 2016). I'll give you the bad first. Since this is a 5-star review, it can't be that much of a deal-breaker!Well, the shoulder strap snapped on my bag within two months of purchase. There are two plastic pieces between the shoulder strap and the bag itself: (1) the clip that connects to the shoulder strap, and (2) the "triangle" piece that connects to the bag itself. These two plastic pieces hook to each other to connect the shoulder strap to the bag. On one side, the "triangle" piece snapped. I simply connected plastic clip (1) directly to the bag, and moved on with my life. Then, not very long after that, plastic clip (1) snapped on the OTHER end of the shoulder strap, thus precluding any further use of the shoulder strap. At this point, I started using the hand straps on the top of the bag as shoulder straps, and carried my bag that way. Not too comfortable, but at least I could still carry the bag. To be fair to this bag, EVERY bag I've ever purchased for refereeing has also snapped in the same spot, so this is not a unique gripe.By the way, I have now been able to avoid the strap breaking issue by attaching carabiners (those keychain hook things...I didn't know what they were called either!) between the fabric portions of the strap and bag, skipping the plastic completely. I added a photo to the product page to show what I mean. It's a cheap, easy way to reduce pressure on the weakest part of the bag.Now, on to the good, and the great:1) This bag is HUGE! It is the first bag I've ever used as a soccer referee that could actually fit my flags. My typical loadout is as follows: Assistant Referee flags, 10 referee shirts (5 colors, long and short sleeve), extra shorts and socks, waterproof blanket, set of communication radios + accessories, gallon of water, 3-inch binder, clipboard, and a bunch of small stuff, like whistles, sunscreen, towel, ball pump, etc. Everything fits with plenty of room to spare, which is something I could never say previously with any referee bag. I could even fit my folding chair in the bag, but that just made it too heavy! I use pencil cases and space saver bags to separate the different items, and to provide some extra water protection.2) Besides the shoulder strap, the bag is very durable. The stitching on the hand straps, the two ends of the bag, and the zipper looks very strong, and has held up just fine despite my attempts to load my entire life into the bag (see #1).3) Customer service is fantastic! I was skeptical at first, since they don't have an email address on their webpage (I only found a phone number by doing a site search using Google). But if you look at the various 3-star reviews on Amazon, you will often find that a Northstar rep replies to the review with a customer service email address. I contacted that email address (customerservice 'at' northstarbags 'dot' com), and a rep named Doug responded very quickly. Despite the fact that I bought this bag nearly 18 months ago, Doug went out of his way to understand the problem, and provide a fix free of charge that I considered to be above and beyond what he needed to do.Considering the three points above, it's easy to forget that this bag costs about the same as an entree at Applebees (and provides FAR more value!). I'd consider this bag a good value even at double the price. If you don't believe me, then check the "Best Seller" list for Duffel Bags. This one is currently #4, but look at all the other items in the top 10. They all cost double what this bag costs! That speaks volumes, in my opinion.I can't recommend this bag enough. Buy two!

I ordered a couple of the Northstar bags to try and store my camping gear and I have to say, it was one of the best decisions I've made. I like these so much, I own probably seven of the various sizes and colors now, all sized to fit the gear they'll stow. This particular size is ginormous...and probably one of my favorites of all the sizes. I used it to store my tent & accessories, tent blanket, lantern, sleeping pads, sleeping bags and several other items with a fair bit of room to spare. (To me, the 16x40 is more about the length, but the diameter is helpful too.) It's actually kind of tough to fill up without making it too heavy! The awesome thing is they're cheap enough you can have several so you can have a highly organized outfit.Overall, the quality is great. I like that they have both nylon carry straps and an over-the-shoulder option, all of which are heavily reinforced. The duffel material is pretty strong, definitely something that can handle camp gear, wear and tear and rugged use. The hardware that comes with is relatively cheap and will probably break if you load it up, so I've retrofitted mine with replacement shoulder strap webbing and all-metal hardware and this decidedly brings it to a premium, practically indestructible configuration. I'll also probably apply a proper water-proofing down the road, but as is they can sustain a bit of light rain with no consequence. I've hauled these in, fully loaded, to walk-in camps several times...and compared to my old Rubbermaid tote system, I can easily load up 2-4 on me each trip and make short work of the trip in and out.The one probable drawback is that there's no built-in internal or external compartments, so it does require a little bit of accessorizing to make it work in many situations. I've made dozens of stuff sacks from 70 denier nylon to keep the gear they hold compartmentalized and organized, which makes the bags much easier and pleasant to use. Other than that, I can't really think of any other complaints. Even if I consider the stuff sacks and the metal hardware upgrades, I've probably got $25-30 into them total...easily money well spent, considering I cut my entire camping kit storage size in half and save time/effort every camp trip.Highly recommended.

The bag is really good ad I love it, especially great price. It is sturdy ad size is as stated. The only issue I have is the strap snap broke the first time I used it, carrying about 20 pounds so not a lot. The strap has cheap plastic clasps to attach to the bag and that is what broke. The bag has handles so can still carry it but a working strap would have been good. So only got 4 stars. I sent an email about it and decided not to return it due to back log and I wanted to use the bag, had to send everything back not just the strap. Will find another strap.