JuJu Be All or the Storksak Emily?

[tmarie]

I like the look of the Ju Ju Be All but wonder if it has enough room...I love the look of the Storksak but don't know if the organization will be sufficient. Right now I have an old Skip Hop. Please help me decide! :)

tmarie

dd#1 5/05
dd#2 6/08

[JSinChicago]

Two very good friends of mine have the Storksak Emily and love it. They say it has tons of room. I almost bought one myself except the brown and black ones are both nylon instead of the lovely buttery material of the pewter and bronze ones. For $175, I don't want a nylon bag ;)

One downside of the leathery ones is that the color comes off easily. One of the gals who has it is one her third one. She says their customer service is fantastic, but I'd rather not deal with that. (I bought the Skip Hop Studio instead. Just as roomy, half the price.)

If you do decide on the Emily bag, and you live near a Buy Buy Baby, you may be ale to use Bed Bath and Beyond's 20% off coupons on it.

[ang79]

I have a Babymel Amanda which is very similar to the Storksak Emily (made by a sister company) but at a fraction of the price! It retails for around $80 but if you google it you can find some good sales online, as they are discontinuing it in the US I believe. I love the insulated side zippered bottle pockets! The Amanda has plenty of organization and I can pack for my normal morning outtings for an infant and a toddler still in dipes. The Fleurville Hana is also very similar in size and organization (only one side bottle pocket and its not insulated) and runs $65-$75.

I don't have a JJB BeAll but I do have several other JJB bags (I think I'm becoming addicted!) and I love that they are machine washable! They wipe clean very easily but if they do get dirty you can use stain stick and just throw them in the washer! They are a bit heavier than some other bags but the quality is very good and they have lots of other nice features. If you are looking for a deal on one, check out the Pink Room on their website where people buy, trade and sell bags. You can usually get some great deals (but beware, the ladies there may rub off on you and they are totally addicted!)

HTH!

[k_k_momma]

I just wanted to chime in about the JJB bags... I'm totally addicted now too after getting mine last month. They are durable and have great pockets. I don't have a BeAll since I really wanted a backpack option.

[aajamu]

Actually, I would go for neither. The Be All is a heavier bag, boxy, and has a flap closure (annoying to some). It definitely looks like a diaper bag, hard to mistake it for anything but a diaper bag. I'm not a huge fan of the Be All (or most larger JJB bags - styles just don't work for me) but I do love to use JJB organization bags in my other bags (Be Quicks, Snack Capsules, mess shuttles etc...).

The Emily looks more purse like but was not big enough for my needs. The leather trim is prone to scratching/scuffing and I find I had to use a Sharpie pen on it to make it look new every few weeks (the scuffing reveals white surface below leather). For the money, I would expect a bag of a little higher quality. You can find them cheaper on eBay but then you have no warranty coverage. The organization is OK and it does not scream "diapers and sippies".

If your Skip Hop bag (Dash? Duo?) was too small, you might want to try their new Studio Tote. I was really impressed by it. It is roomy, extremely well organized, and looks more purse-like (I wish they'd lose that annoying bright red Skip Hop tag on the bag, though). The shoulder straps are comfy unless you pack every square inch of the bag and pack all 4 bottle holders with full sippies. It has nice built in stroller straps, too. No other Skip Hop bag worked for me - I had to dig around too much in the Duo, Dash was too small, and the Via bags seemed to have significant quality control issues. But the Studio Tote was very impressive - seems like SH really decided to upgrade their quality while still maintaining bag functionality.

[catpagmo]

Here's my $0.02 on the Emily bag. I bought one a couple of weeks ago, and returned it yesterday. I found the bag difficult to get into. The strap is very stiff, and everytime I tried to get something in/out of the bag, the strap would fall down right into the bag opening. There aren't any rings on the sides of the bag where it connects the strap to the bag, so the strap has no place to go except straight down....right into the bag opening. If there were rings, then the strap could go down on either side of the bag (I hope this makes sense!). It was very annoying. Also, I prefer a bag that I can wear on my shoulder. This bag wouldn't stay on my shoulder. It kept falling off.

I have since ordered a Babymel Amanda, and I'm hoping it works out better than the Emily did!

HTH!

[ang79]

I love my Babymel Amanda! Very stuffable, strap is comfy and doesn't slide off my shoulder, the strap adjusts long enough to wear cross-body if needed, and tons of pockets (gotta love those insulated side pockets!). Hope you like yours as well!

I also tried out the FV Hana and it is very similar to the Amanda and Emily. It was a little taller than the Amanda so I could stuff a bit more into it, but I liked the layout of the pockets on the Emily a tad more. If I could find the Ogo print Hana for a steal though, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat for a nice summer print (I had the black and it just wasn't as fun as my printed Amanda so I sold it).

[catpagmo]

I love my Babymel Amanda! Very stuffable, strap is comfy and doesn't slide off my shoulder, the strap adjusts long enough to wear cross-body if needed, and tons of pockets (gotta love those insulated side pockets!). Hope you like yours as well!

Glad to know it doesn't fall off your shoulder. I can't wait to get mine!