JanSport SuperBreak Plus Backpack Review
The school-bag classic, now with a laptop sleeve and a bottle pocket
The JanSport SuperBreak Plus adds a padded 15-inch laptop sleeve and water bottle pocket to a school-bag classic. Here's who it fits and who should skip it.
Bottom Line
At around $36, this is the backpack that keeps turning up in driveways and school pickup lines, and it earns the repeat business. It carries a 15-inch laptop, a couple of notebooks, and a water bottle without fuss, and buyers keep rebuying it in new colors year after year. It's light, it's simple, and it's backed by a name people trusted in the 2000s. Nothing fancy here — it just earns its keep.
JanSport has been stamping out this silhouette for decades, and the SuperBreak Plus is the version that quietly answers the two complaints people had about the original.
It Fixed the Two Things People Griped About
The upgrades are the padded 15-inch laptop sleeve and the side water bottle pocket, and they're why buyers reach for this over the base model that costs about $10 less. Owners report hauling it through a full school year, weekly washes included, with the stitching and zippers still holding. At 14 ounces it stays light, and the 600D polyester shrugs off the scuffs that kill store-brand bags in a few months. The story repeats: parents burn through three generic backpacks, buy this one, and stop.
Rain Is the One Thing It Can't Handle
It's not water resistant, full stop — treat a downpour or a leaking bottle as a threat to whatever's inside. Organization is thin, one big compartment and a front pocket, which a long-term reviewer called out directly. And the sleeve is a true 15 inches, so a bulky 16-inch laptop rides loose in the main pocket instead.
Buy It for the Commute, Not the Storm
Students and commuters carrying a normal laptop and books will get years out of it. Anyone who needs a weatherproof, heavily compartmentalized bag should look elsewhere.
