Finding a good bag to carry your Nintendo Switch is pretty straightforward, but when you start exploring the range for the ASUS ROG Ally or Steam Deck variants, there’s a shorter supply. Even with the number of cases available for the Nintendo Switch, I wouldn’t call any stylish. Enter the bags available from Grams28. These aren’t marketed for gamers on their website but are more than capable of being the ultimate, elegant way to carry your handheld gaming consoles, knowing that they’ll be safe and you’ll look good.

I’ve been using the GRAMS28 154 City Pack and 156 City Sling for my daily travels for a month and have high praise for both these bags. The 154 City Pack has been a great fit for my Nintendo Switch OLED model, while the 156 City Sling easily fits the bigger ASUS ROG Ally.

154 City Pack

There’s more than enough room for the Nintendo Switch in this bag, probably why a Grams28 advised it as a suitable option. However, it won’t fit the ASUS ROG Ally, which is why I have two bags to discuss here. This thing feels like overkill if you’re only using it to take the Nintendo Switch to and from work, which is how I started using it before quickly realising it could just be my one bag to take out the door in the morning. 

I’ve managed to fit in the Nintendo Switch, a charging AC adaptor, and sunglasses, and I’ve still been left with room for any random thing I felt I needed to bring with me on a particular day. 

  • Main Material
  • LEATHER: Full Grain Pebbled Leather
  • TANNERY: Gruppo Mastrotto
  • TANNING: Environment Certified Tanning
  • MADE IN: Arzignano, Italy
  • 27 W x 21 H x 7 D cm (10.5” W x 8.25” H x2.75″ D )
  • Max. Capacity 5L
  • Front Zip Pocket
  • Back Slot
  • Adjustable Strap

Using this as a gamer bag, there’s a zip pocket where I could easily throw in several Nintendo Switch games. I’ve also been keeping my PlayDate console in one of the mobile phone holder pockets, where it fits perfectly. The dedicated glasses pocket, which has a magnetic opening, was also a great spot to quickly throw in some 3.5mm headphones on a day I went to test something else that wasn’t Bluetooth.

156 City Sling

This messenger bag fills out faster than the 154 City Pack, as the ASUS ROG Ally I was using it for is substantially bigger once I have everything I need in the bag for a daily trip. Thanks to the console battery life itself, I feel the need to bring a large laptop-size battery pack anytime I take the ASUS ROG Ally anywhere, and between that at the console, along with a USB-C cable, a lot of the room in this bag was taken up quickly. I still had enough room to throw in a pair of Galaxy Buds that I use with the handheld, a phone charge, and AirPods for my phone.

  • Main Material
  • LEATHER: Full Grain Pebbled Leather
  • TANNERY: Gruppo Mastrotto
  • TANNING: Environment Certified Tanning
  • MADE IN: Arzignano, Italy
  • 31 W x 15.5 H x 7.5 D cm ( 12.2” W x 6.1” H x2.95″ D )
  • Max. Capacity 5.5L
  • Front Zip Pocket
  • Back Slot
  • Adjustable Strap
  • Heavy-duty Buckle

Finding a good bag for the ASUS ROG Ally is substantially more complicated than other consoles like the Nintendo Switch, thanks to its size. Unlike when I was using the 154 City Pack, I felt the need to still bring another bag with me to work with a few other bits and pieces and extra room in case I needed it. This isn’t a downside of this bag; instead, it is just a continuation of the issues I’ve had with the ASUS ROG Ally as a comfortable handheld to travel with.

Design & Build

There’s no denying the stylish design of both of these bags and the pebbled leather, which looks and feels fantastic. Honestly, using either of these bags for taking a video game console to work feels like a waste of the bag’s potential. You’ll feel like you should be at a fashion show or something, not attempting to play Persona 5 Tactica on your lunch break or putting more hours into Vampire Survivors. Everyone who saw me pull a gaming console out of these bags was surprised I had it inside, as they assumed it was just an everyday bag. In the case of the 154 City Pack, it was fulfilling those needs, while the ASUS ROG Ally size still had me double-bagging. 

I love that both bags have a dedicated AirTag pocket, which I’ve only previously seen included in my luggage bags. I much prefer to know the AirTag is in a dedicated spot and not going to fall out when I’m moving other things around accidentally. Another thing that Grams28 have done that I haven’t seen in a bag like this or most products is a full price breakdown on each product page, so you know exactly how much each bag costs. It’s a level of transparency I can respect.

Wrapping Up

So, who are these bags for? Are they great presents for you if you’re looking for a bag for a loved one for Christmas this year? It could be, as long as they use it as a daily bag. Paying for either of these bags to use only for the Nintendo Switch or another handheld device would be a waste, and throwing these bags, with the consoles inside, into another larger bag would just be criminal. I will find it hard to suggest the 156 City Sling as a great daily bag to those with ASUS ROG Ally. That console just takes up a little too much room. The 154 City Pack, however, is perfect for the Nintendo Switch gamer and could replace a bigger, chunkier bag with a more stylish one. 

Take away the angle of reviewing either of these bags as ‘gamer options’; they’re simply fantastic everyday bags for anyone who wants to carry around a small laptop, iPad or console and a few other things. 

You can purchase either of the GRAMS28 bags directly from their website.

(Review units were supplied for the purposes of this article.)