I’ve been using the Storksak Claire for about 11 months now, and while it’s not the perfect diaper bag (I don’t imagine there is a perfect one out there), it is pretty great.  It is a stylish, practical diaper bag, described by Storksak as a unisex backpack that converts into a shoulder bag.  I wouldn’t necessarily agree with this.  First, my husband will carry it, but says it’s girly, so I don’t know if I would consider it unisex.  Second, I wouldn’t consider it primarily a backpack.  I think the more proper description would be a shoulder bag that converts to a backpack.  As a shoulder bag it’s great.  The strap is easily adjustable, slides smoothly and quickly, but holds steady when not being adjusted.  As a backpack, it’s okay.  The shoulder strap is clipped to loops at the bottom corners of the bag, and threaded through a middle loop at the top.  This makes it a little difficult to put on, because the strap will pull tight on the one side, when you place your arm through the other side.  It also does not stay centered on the back and can slide a lot when you’re bending over.  That said, I was happy to use it as a backpack on my recent trip from Germany to the US, but if you primarily want to use your diaper bag as a backpack, you’d probably be happier with another choice.

A great feature of this bag, is that it has stroller straps in addition to the shoulder strap.  I’ve also got a Skip Hop Duo and it bugged me that if I took it off the stroller, I’d have to pause to attach the shoulder strap. With the Claire, I just detach it from the stroller and go.

Inside, there are two large storage pockets and two medium storage pockets, along with a large zippered pocket.  There’s a detachable key clip and a small detachable bag.  Outside, there is a medium and a small zippered pocket on one side, and large pocket with two storage pockets on the other.  On either side, are insulated bottle holders that will hold fairly large bottles and claim to keep them warm/cool for 4 hours, although I haven’t really tested this out, but they are large enough to hold big 12 ounce sippy cups.  So storage space is not a problem.  I often go into town in the morning and stay until evening, needing to bring everything with me in this bag, and it’s maybe just a tad bigger than I really need, but that just leaves room for small purchases and such.  It also includes a diaper bag.

One problem you may have if you want to attach it to a stroller and your stroller tends to tip backwards easily, this bag is a little heavier than some others on the market, due to the weight of the leather trim.  I counter this by hanging it lower on the stroller, so it’s bottom just clears the back tires/my feet when I’m walking, instead of hanging it from/on the handles.

Overall, if you’ve got the money for it, it’s a great diaper bag that I highly recommend.

You may also be interested in reading:

• Review: Fleurville Escape Pod (7)
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While I was pregnant with Oliver, I read up quite a bit on diaper bags.  I decided in the end that I should have a small, medium and extra large diaper bag.  For the small, I chose the Fleurville Escape Pod.

The escape pod measure 10.5“x6.5“x2.5″ and is large enough to fit a couple diapers, a pack of travel wipes (you get a nice orange plastic container for the wipes), a couple travel-size bottles, and some cash and credit cards.  There’s also a small 21“x12.5″ changing pad included.

How useful has it been?  Oliver is now 14.5 months old and I haven’t used this bag once.

The Escape Pod is seriously cute.  Just pulling it out now to play with it before writing up this review, I thought, “Dang, this is cute, I should take it out sometime.”  The only thing is, I don’t find it very practical in the life I lead.  I’m wondering if maybe it’s the kind of bag a mom who spends most of the time in the car needs.  I still have a hard time imagining it being that much more useful in that situation, but I’ve decided to take it along when I travel to the US later this month to see if I put it to use there.

If you’re like me, and spend most of your time tooling around town with a stroller, you probably only need a medium or large bag.  Something that fits on the stroller.  That’s really the only size diaper bag I use, although my large one does get taken to the pool, but that’s a review for another day.

I would recommend Fleurville diaper bags though.  The quality of the Escape Pod is great, although if I were to use it, I would prefer a pocket for putting money in that is accessible from the outside, so that I wouldn’t have to zip open the whole bag in order to pull out my cash.

Do you have a Fleurville Escape Pod or a Skip Hop Dash, or any other mini-diaper bag?  How do you like it?  Do you get a lot of use out of it?  Let us know, maybe you will inspire me!

You may also be interested in reading:

• Review: Storksak Claire (5)