There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
I've had it since its first drop - I got it in late May, 2015 and have been using it regularly (everyday) since.
Okay so basically, overall I'm happy with the canvas. I like how the leather and canvas have aged and how their color has changed over time. I love that the bag has a leather bottom rather than a canvas one, that helps a lot, and it gets scratched up so looks cool too.
The leather which has seen the most aging is on the flap, the leather that comes from the top to the buckles. The edges have become dark, and at the top (the area exposed the most to the sunlight and any light) has become almost uniformly darker brown.
The bad stuff. The stitching on the handle at the top came loose really early. It's become worse now, and I've thought about cutting it off. That loose thread that you see in the photos is annoying and makes the bag look cheap because hey, a thread is hanging loose.
The reason that I have so many photos of the leather straps on the back is that I wanted to show that I like to keep them fairly tight, but they ALWAYS get loose and slide down to this one spot. Also, the burnishing on one of the straps has come completely off, so that's annoying too.
Overall I like the bag, and I actually get a lot of compliments on it. That said, I do wish that they had used better construction on the bag, cause I am not entirely sure how long this will last.
For reference, this has been my everyday backpack for college and work for a year, the typical load of a (super heavy) laptop, some books, charger and mouse is shown. For short trips I would take this backpack too, fill it up with rolled up clothes and toiletries.
I love the lining too, btw. and the color is beautiful. Now I'm repeating things but I wish the construction was better.
EDIT @massdrop I would actually like being able to see the photos when I edit my post, so that I can rearrange the comments to the photo I want. When I upload these many pictures it's hard to keep track of which photo is which when all you see are links to the image files (which typically happen to be time-stamped.
And will also flag your feedback for the good folks here
@AlexPeterkin it has indeed. Thank you!