Unique Backpack Is A Winner
The school season is upon us and the first thing on my upcoming fourth grader’s personal “school musts” list was a new backpack. She insisted that she had outgrown her old backpack that saw her from second through third grade. After two years of use, I too felt that perhaps it had done its job and it was time to retire it.
Cue the Optari backpack. It is a nice, bright shade of green; coincidentally my fourth grader’s favorite color. The Optari website offers five additional colors (black, blue, pink, purple and red). The backpack measures a roomy 6 x 13 x 17 inches and has a real cutting-edge design that I think has the potential to be attractive to elementary school students as well as middle schoolers. I‘m not sure it would be “cool“ enough for high schoolers; though Optari does offer totes and wristlets that may attract these older students.
The front of the backpack is made of some sturdy kind of rubber/plastic/foam material that has 21 holes for Fobbz; similar to the decorative tabs used on Croc shoes. Their website features about 80+ Fobbz designs ranging from animals to sports and even initials to personalize the backpack even further. The Fobbz come in two sizes: Mini Fobbz which are about 2” in length and cost $3.00 a piece, and regular Fobbz which are about 4” in length and cost $4.99 each.
Due to the flexibility of the material, the Fobbz are very easy to put on and remove, which comes in handy when your children grow in and out of particular interests. This, along with the sturdiness of the bag will hopefully extend the life of it; possibly even carrying her through early middle school.
The compartment behind the decorated material is tall enough to fit a regular sized sheet of paper (think forms and notes to and from teachers). It has small pockets for storing every day supplies and small compartments for pencils, erasers, etc. The main compartment expands pretty wide; and has two separate dividers for organizing papers, books, notebooks and is even large enough to fit a laptop within the large space. There are two mesh holders on each side of the bag for water bottles or a small pocket pack of tissues.
One of the many things I as a parent look for in a backpack is comfort. In third grade, she was carrying home an obscene amount of books and papers and since she is a walker and not a bus rider, the weight of it all was beginning to affect her back. The straps of the Optari backpack look like nothing I have seen before. They are connected in one strap so instead of having the load put a strain on the shoulders, it seems to fall on the back of the neck and shoulders, somehow balancing the load.
This is really the most unique backpack I have ever seen. I personally love the idea of personalization and the kids being able to make it their own. I can guarantee that nobody at her school will have a bag like hers; even if it is another Optari bag!
I have a strong feeling that we will be ordering two more backpacks from the Optari website in the next couple of weeks; and because they’re currently priced at $25, the order might go through even sooner than that.
Product Manufacturer: Optari
Price $29.95; currently on sale for $25.00
www.optari.com
| Durability | 5 |
| Ease of use | 5 |
| Comfort | 5 |
| I would purchase this for myself/child | yes |
| I would purchase this as a gift | yes |
| Overall rating | 5 |
All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.
Meet The Reviewer!
Lucia Alami is a mother of five
daughters, the youngest of which
are a pair of 11 month old twins.
She enjoys photography, reading,
writing, drawing, playing board
games and doing craft activities
with her girls.
