I bought this backpack in September 2011 for a middle school student.  The first issue with this backpack is that it is quite heavy. It weighs 5 pounds empty. Add another 20 pounds of books, notebooks, a laptop, etc it becomes extremely heavy to carry on one's back. So, why not use the pull out handle?  The handle is not sturdy in this backpack. It looked suspiciously unstable and wobbly . As expected it simply broke off in mid December. Therefore, the backpack lasted about 3 and a half months. The way handle broke it can not be fixed and since the backpack is so heavy with books it has become unusable.