Originally Posted by
vaticdart
To add to that, all of the good messenger bag companies are small ones. 1 - 10 employees, operating out of someone's basement or garage, and when you call them you'll end up talking to the person who started, owns and operates the company.
Almost everything made by bigger companies like Timbuk2 or Novara (REI's brand) isn't very good.
Anything made by a really big company is probably going to be a shoulder bag that's called a "messenger bag" for marketing reasons in addition to being crap.
Expect to spend $100, bare minimum, for a good messenger bag. Realistically they're more like $200 or more.
Not to start a fire, but YMMV here as anywhere else. My wife has a Timbuk2 messenger bag-nice piece of work. She found it at Goodwill for $7. Too small for my needs, or I'd covet it! I scored a large bag made by L.L. Bean off a "free"pile after a yard sale, and pretty much lived out of it from fall until spring. You do need to shop around and be patient until you find what suits you best, just like with anything else. One essential, though, is a good cinch strap for around the waist, so the bag sits right and stays comfortable.