I wish I had gotten something better

********UPDATE**********I would consider this bag to be inferior to the exact one it replaced. My daughter uses it in the same manner as the original--to carry her books back and forth to school. As I noted in the earlier comments below, the stitching in the shoulder straps has almost completely come undone. At some point I expect the bag to be completely functionless when a strap completely breaks. I'm willing to accept wear and tear around the body of the pack, but a broken strap renders a backpack useless.I WOULD NOT recommend this pack after seeing how quickly it is coming apart at the seams.************************This review is mostly based on our previous pack of the same model which lived its first year as a daypack for weekends and vacations. It served us well for a week at Disney World and held everything that our family of four needed each day at the parks. When my daughter entered 7th grade she needed an adequate pack to carry textbooks, binders, etc. back and forth to school, so this pack was large enough to suit her needs. After four years of heavy daily use we finally replaced it with the new one in this review.For most of the past year this bag was completely functional even though it had several holes worn through in the bottom. Granted, it wouldn't have lasted too much longer, but the fact is, even in a severely worn state, it still held several heavy textbooks and supplies. For that I give this bag FOUR STARS.I have to ding this bag for the following reasons:1) Stitching in the padded shoulder straps began to come undone within the first year of using this bag. I would consider the shoulder strap padding to be a high-wear/stress area and would expect better construction here.2) Not "hydration compatible." For me, it doesn't necessarily mean you can't easily adapt a hydration bladder, but I also use the sleeve that would hold a bladder to hold my laptop whenever I need to pack it with me. This may not be a deal-breaker for some people.Overall, this is a great pack that worked well for us. I trust that our new one will serve just as well.