www.merrell.com
Nicely straddling the world of outdoor needs and urban styling, the Daily Brief has quickly risen to the top ranks of one tester’s massive collection of shoulder bags.  Much of that’s due to its slew of features: a smart mixture of both cotton-touch poly and water-resistant waterproof, 200D tarpaline makes it a bag that’s a comfort to use while still standing up to the elements.  The bag boasts 20 liters of internal storage, including a Velcro-secured padded laptop sleeve, a separate padded slot for tablets, and almost too many pockets. Indeed, sometimes stuff would just disappear amidst all the sleeve and pocket options. But we do love the zip-secure outer pocket (with three internal sleeves) as well as the elastic side pockets (one with a snap closure), which can fit water bottles, small notebooks, or a backup camera lens.  The whole thing rides on a 1.9-inch-wide shoulder strap made of nylon seat belt fabric, with an easy-to-adjust buckle and additional padding at the back. Save the profusion of extra pockets, most of these assets are pretty standard in any urban-friendly satchels, but what really set Merrell’s bag above the rest is the waterproof zipper running the length of the weather-resistant main flap. This gives you near-instant access to the bag’s insides without having to unclip the twin buckles. We could grab our camera, swap lenses, produce our passport, or just check our itinerary with blissful ease.  The flap also has a clip for a bike light and webbing lashes that fit a U-Lock, but we’d likely forgo the external lashing of the lock as it made the bag a bit top-heavy on longer commutes.