So, yes. 4 star. 5 means "perfect"
Pros: Wife LOVES the bag, just everything about it. Color, style, shape, pockets, materials, craftsmanship...all very well done. Compartments are roomy, but not "bottomless pit" you need to dump it to find something. Simple, and stylish and so far, quite robust.
Strong use over the period of nearly 3 weeks
Cons: my cons are moreso con-cerns. 1) leather. Since it is close to a swede leather, it gets dingy quick. So she'll have to keep up on leather cleaner and conditioner.
My main concern, and the entire reasoning for purchasing the bag, the carry pouch. The pouch itself is VERYA spacious, which is needed for my wife's carry choice. She also has a compact light, so there's plenty of room (slightly smaller than g19 size)
The conflict I have, is a slight design....miss? If I chose the correct word. Double zipper, perfect, large cubby, awesome, centered access zipper with smaller zipper than pocket ratio-why? The "velcro" inside is a nice touch, but it's only on 1 panel, thus the carry sags. The holster it comes with, just don't bother including, just find a holster company to work with and send a voucher coupon. Now, my main frustration. The carry zipper access. You have a pocket nearly 10" tall, but zipper access of 6. When spreading the zipper to access the pocket, that hight distance shrinks. So tossing it in is easy, but pulling out is "finicky". I've tailored a special holster inside for easier use, but this could easily be addressed and KEEP the same great style. The access to the carry pocket is centered. I can see one reason as a plus, so when you open it the carry doesn't slide out. But, in a draw situation, you'd want it to slide out, not get hung up on corners. My recommendations fir this would be: move the zipper to favor the rear of the bag, aswell as taller zippers. On the zipper panel towards the front if thr zipper side add on top and bottom a "swing out", like a 1" piece that allows the zipper to be spread apart without the top and bottom collapsing to eachother. This coupled with the pocket flap presence negated by being moved towards the rear of its compartment, will allow much faster, safer, more controlled access to small or large framed carry pieces.
I would highly recommend this bag to any who are looking for this style but also be using a medium framed carry (instead of the micro compacts or similar) -not large frames.
I could list carries this does fit in terms of compartment size, but the holster it comes wouldn't be universal for those and I don't know if UC leather could technically "claim" those on their site.
I do invite UC leather to reach out to me if they have questions or comments about my recommendations
And again...my very picky wife LOVES this bag
