I have a backpack with wheels and I love it. I can carry extra shoes and my lunch to work and it fits under my desk. You should have a choice as to wheels or not, however.
Pod - I have a Trek Kestrel backpack, it’s the perfect size for day to day use and when expanded will carry enough clothing and misc. stuff that I can use it for weekend trips. The quality of the construction is exemplary.
I’m pretty sure it would accomodate a laptop as I have a similarly sized zipper binder that fits in my pack perfectly.
On wheels… I think they’re a great idea for students who are carrying most of their books around with them all day. The stress a heavy backpack can exert on your shoulders and neck is far more than you realize and can cause injuries to those areas.
If I was going to go and pick up a larger pack I might consider getting one with wheels so I could carry more stuff and have the option of either being able to tow it or pack it on my shoulders.
I do feel your pain when it comes to finding decent backpacks and it seems that the best place to go are stores that specialize in this kind of equipment. REI is great… I wish we had them here.
I think wheels would be just the thing for a backpack if your high school all one floor and relatively uncrowded. However, if you’re going to go from the second floor to the fourth floor, do you want to drag your bag to the stairs, put the handle away, put on the bag, blocking the stairs in the process, then go up the stairs and repeat in reverse? Hell no. Also, if your bag drags on the ground, someone is going to trip over it or something, and then it just gets ugly.
But, if someone can’t, for whatever reason, use a backpack, shouldn’t the solution be suitcase on wheels? If you’re not going to put it on your back, it doesn’t need to look like a backpack.
My gripe is the difficulty in finding a thin backpack – one that does not stick out very far from one’s back. I try to keep my pack light. I don’t need a lot of space. I don’t want everything to sink to the bottom and make a big bulge. I want a pack that’s big enough to hold a file folder without folding it, but not thick. (And not Hello Kitty, either. Batz Maru maybe, but not Kitty. Especially not the one with wings.)
I used my sister’s wheeled backpack as carry-on luggage the last time I took a trip via airplane, and it was great. For long smooth straightaways, you could pull it behind you. Come to something like an escalator–up on your back. Brilliant!
I could also see it being useful at a school. Heavy load, use the wheels. Light load or stairs, up on the back. Looks like others here had the same thought.
I’m rather upset that my new wheeled backpack (I bought it as a carry-on) has backpack straps. I will never, ever, carry it on my back. My most important travel documents and cameras behind me, where I can’t see them? In crowded airports and on public transportation, where someone could unzip and cart off my stuff? I don’t think so. I might as well cut the straps off.
Maybe I was unclear. I’ve seen people dragging those carry-ons with wheels around school. And it looks STUPID. Plus, to get into those, you have to lay them down and open them. And even the little ones are far too big for books and stuff.
Whereas if I’m going to be crossing a mud puddle, say, I can pick up my backpack and carry it across the trouble spot, then put it down and start rolling again. Then to get into it during class is easy; just unzip and grab. They take up less space.
Don’t like 'em? Don’t get one. As far as I’m concerned, they’re a real blessing. I also ADORE luggage on wheels.
I have five huge barrel packs, two small barrel packs, a ski guide’s pack, a wheeled lawyer’s case, a large bum bag, and a small bum bag. Lots of packs for lots of purposes.
Let people use whatever they feel like.
Ditto, where on earth do you live, that you have that much trouble finding a backpack? My problem, last time I went to buy a backpack was too MUCH variety (and no wheels on any of them).