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Booq Boa Nerve Messenger Bag Review

If you’re looking for a well constructed bag that you can throw around on your travels or daily commute to work, Booq’s Boa nerve could be a good fit.

The Good: High quality materials, solid construction and lots of storage.

The Bad: Could do with improved padding in laptop pouch, and it can feel quite large & heavy to carry.

The Bottom Line: Booq’s Boa nerve is a very well made bag with plenty of storage options and strong, long-lasting build quality.


If you’re looking for a well constructed bag that you can throw around on your travels or daily commute to work, Booq’s Boa nerve could be a good fit. This 15” messenger bag is made of of ballistic nylon on the outside to give it a strong resistance to the elements, and with water-repellent coating you’ll be safe when the rain decides to coming pouring down too! It just feels like an all-round solid bag that can take a beating.

Booq Boa Nerve
Booq’s Boa nerve is made with top-quality materials.

Booq have used “the highest quality” YKK zippers with the hope that this bag will last you for years to come, along with strong and well-padded shoulder straps for a more comfortable journey.

The Boa nerve’s metal buckle is also a cool little feature here. Unlike your traditional shoulder strap which can be adjusted by tugging at the strap, the Boa nerve’s metal, magnetic buckle allows you to quickly swing the bag over your shoulder and strap it into a perfect fit for you. Its magnets help to keep the strap in place, while making it incredibly easy to just pull away and take the bag off when you arrive, too.

Booq Boa Nerve 3
The metal buckle makes it nice and easy to take on/off the Boa nerve bag.

One of the few downsides I noticed with the Boa nerve bag is its weight. You can notice how hefty it is before even putting anything inside of it!

Storage, Storage, Storage

The Booq Boa nerve has plenty of zippers and compartments scattered all round the bag, but there are two main compartments worth talking about.

Booq Boa Nerve 2
The Boa nerve is capable of fitting a lot of stuff!

Throw back the Boa nerve’s flap/cover and you’ll find the main storage compartment with plenty of space for your laptop, tablet, paperwork, accessories and more. Most of the interior is lined with a creme/beige coloured herringbone material which feels great, but what really stands out is the lining for the laptop pouch where Booq have used a lovely suede-like material. There’s also a convenient velcro strap above that laptop pouch to make sure it doesn’t slide out of place.

My main criticism of this bag is its lack of padding in the laptop pouch; the bottom and rear of the bag hardly have any protection, meaning if I drop my bag on the floor my laptop gets the first knock.

Leaving that aside, the main compartment is surprisingly capable of taking a ton of equipment. I recently went on a trip to Edinburgh and managed to store my Canon DSLR (in its own bag), along with my 13” MacBook Pro and its charger, battery packs, cables and a few more bits in that single main compartment. I genuinely didn’t think I could get away with squeezing so much stuff into this thing!

The other compartment worth mentioning is at the front of the Boa nerve, where you can store basic stuff like pens, keys, wallets and so on. This section of the bag is also lined with herringbone too and it has plenty of storage options for things you need quick access to.

Watch this video below to see how much you can fit in:

Booq Boa Nerve: Verdict

For someone who needs to carry a ton of stuff and wants a solid bag to do the job, the Boa nerve won’t let you down. It’s very well made from the inside and out, offers plenty of storage options and is comfortable to use on a daily commute.

Because of my size I would have preferred a 13” version of it myself (hint hint, Booq), but if you’re comfortable with a larger bag, the Boa nerve is one I’d definitely be able to recommend.

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By Fabio Virgi

I'm the guy behind Let's Talk Tech and a travel blog called Fab Meets World. Some people call me a geek, I think they're probably right. I'm fascinated by technology and innovation, love good design and own way too many gadgets for my own good. Want to connect? Get in touch on Twitter and Instagram.