Fleurville sling tote or skip hop dash???

[firstmom7]

Hi everyone. I am new to the board and am in search of a new diaper bag. I have 2 eddie bauer bags, a baby bjorn backpack, and the similac hospital bag. Sadly to say they are all too big, too small, or just wrong for me.

I've heard good things about the fleurville sling tote and the skip hop dash. I've seen the sling tote in real life and I liked it alot. I've never seen the dash, only the duo. I have a P3 so the stroller clips are very important to me since the basket is rather small.

Does anyone have either of these bags? What do you like or dislike about them? Is the sling tote worth double the price of the dash?

Any help is very appreciated.
Thanks,
-Lori

[hudsonam]

I have the Dash now, and I had the Sling Tote very briefly, but sold it because I felt it was too big for my needs. I love my Dash. It's a great medium to large size (depending on your point of view), GREAT organization - love, love, love the pockets inside and out - and a good shape for carrying messenger style. I also like the handle on the top for when you want to grab it and go. It's easy to find everything because it's wide and not too deep. The only negative is the velcro, which is really only an issue with me if I want to take the bag to church or something (noisy). I love that it can be machine washed, and it washes up beautifully. I really love this bag (and I'm not a huge fan of the Duo).

The Sling Tote is heavy and big. It has really nice pockets for mom's/dad's stuff - they're fleece lined. :) People love it, but it's deep and I've heard people complain about that fact. I'm not a huge fan of vinyl just because it scuffs.

For the price, durability, organization, size and weight, I love the Dash. HTH!

[gr8danemom]

I have a sling tote and don't really care for it. I love the look of it but after carrying it for 2 months I really dislike how bulky and heavy it is. I can't seem to fit very much in it and it's hard to find stuff that I can fit in it. I'm on the hunt for a new bag now myself so I can't really comment on any others.

Hope this helps,

Patty

[carolines mommy]

I have both. 2 sling totes and a dash. I love the sling totes one of which is black ballistic and the other is floral sky. I have had no problems what so ever with the vinyl on the floral sky getting scuffed up. The mothership I had previously did get scuff marks but Fleurville has since changed the vinyl. I can see why some people may feel the sling tote is too deep, I haven't found that to be an issue though for the way I pack. I can fit more in my sling totes than I can in the dash. The interior compartment of the dash, although well organized with lots of pockets, seems cramped to me. I don't like having to take the strap off the dash to use the stroller attachements. They are both good bags and I like them both for different purposes (the dash stays on my Baby Jogger city double and the sling totes are my everyday diaper bags for out and about.)

Erika
Mommy to Caroline Nov 03 and Chelsea April 05

[firstmom7]

Oh Boy.... Now I am really confused. I was leaning towards the sling tote, but now it seems like the dash is the way to go. The only issue I had with the dash is that you need to change the strap to connect to the stroller. The sling tote just clips on. Thanks for all your replies. They really do help.
-Lori

[my3fallkiddos]

I have had both the Dash and the Sling Tote. Personally, I love both but they are very different bags (IMO).

The Dash is:

- Not as deep but is longer than the ST. Nothing seems lost in the Dash, plus it has a good organization on the interior.
- The newer Dashs no longer have the velcro pockets; they changed them to magnetic snaps.
- I actually prefer the stroller attachment on the Dash over the ST (more on that below).
- The Dash is not as pretty but that's very subjective. I don't worry about beating up the Dash since it's a canvas material and washable.
- I think the "grab handle" on the back of the Dash is awesome! I have grabbed my Dash that way many times.
- You can easily fit miltiple bottles of water and/or formula and sippy cups in the Dash. It has 2 exterior bottle holders and 2 interior ones. The 2 front pockets can also hold sippies/bottles.
- The changing pad is on the smaller side but that hasn't been a problem for me.
- the front right pocket has 3-4 pen holders which I really like. I put my cell phone and an extra pen in there.

The Sling Tote:
- Is gorgeous! I have the new Aqua Stripe and looooooooooooooooove it!
- The new line of ST's have a different plastic material; it's PVC free and very soft. I do worry about scuffing it but I was going in and out of the car last week in the rain and thought how great that my diaper bag had the plastic coating to protect it!
- No bottle/sippy cup holders. This is a slight pet peeve of mine but since the ST is deeper there is more room at the top of the bag after I've ptu everything in so I can just add 1 sippy cup and maaaaybe 1 bottle of water depending on how much I've packed. It does come with an insulated bottle holder but it's huge and would take up too much space for me since I'm packing for 2 (or 3 if you count me, lol).
- Feet! The ST has 4 little metal feet that I so wish the Dash (and my Kate Spade diaper bag) had!
- The parent pocket is awesome. It's soft fuzzy material and 2 (maybe 3?) small interior pockets for sunglasses, cell phone, etc.
- Small changing pad. Maybe smaller than the Dash?
- I love the tote straps on my ST. It's at the perfect length. I took off the messenger strap because I won't even use it.
- The ST stroller attachments aer a bit harder to use than the Dash's. First you have to unclip them from each side of the bag, thread it through and then reclip. I find it to be a pain, personally.

Hope this helps!

Carrie

[firstmom7]

I just bought a skip hop dash in chocolate. I've only had it for 3 hours, but so far it seems like a great bag. I think I made the right choice. Thanks for all of your help.
-Lori

[MNmomtobe]

Hmmm... This post was quite helpful. I had not seen this new Aqua Stripe. I think it may just go with my Peg stroller in Synergy. Do the o-ring stroller attachments come with the bag? Thanks!
Did you order on-line or buy at B&M store? I would love to see it in person. Sometimes colors can look so different in person.

[julieakc]

I have both bags and like Carrie, love them both. They're both great bags..just different. I agree with everything Carrie said, with the exception that I prefer the ST stroller attachments because of having to take the messenger strap off the Dash.

I leave the o-ring clips for the ST on my stroller, so there's no threading through for me....just clip each side to the bag. I have an older ST and I think the stroller clips are a little different now so maybe leaving them on doesn't work anymore....that would suck.

Also since I have an older ST I don't have the removable bottle holder; they changed this right after I bought mine and at first I was really bummed, but then I saw one IRL and decided I liked my built-in bottle pocket better because as Carrie said the removable one takes up a lot of room. The built-in one works great and I use it for all sorts of other things if I'm not carrying a bottle/sippy.

I have the Aqua Stripe too.....glad to see it finally made a come-back. I was lucky to get mine....the Aqua Stripe was sold out practically everywhere when I bought mine and then it was out of commission for a while due to fabric supply issues.