Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I don't understand all the positive reviews for these panniers. I consider them "pannier shaped objects" not real panniers. They work fine if they are full, but if you're seriously riding and they're mostly empty (e.g. just carrying a lock, spare tube, a handful of tools etc.) they sway back and forth as there is no positive clip to the vertical support of your rack, just a very long and thin bungee cord - and worse yet, they don't have any reinforcement on the bottoms so the contents of the panniers actually hang below the reinforcement boards. Over time they will start to sway so much that they go into the spokes of your rear wheel whenever you get a little less than smooth. Today I had one of my panniers go into my spokes at about 25 MPH when I got out of the saddle over a little rise rather than gear down, scared the whee out of me (and it can't be good for the wheel either.) My advice - don't buy panniers at all unless you need them (I'm getting a trunk bag instead, I can't wait for it to show up so I can ditch these embarrassing pieces of crap) and if you DO really need panniers get some good ones like Ortlieb or Jandd. Life is too short to be pissed off because you bought the cheap stuff, that is a lesson I am learning, and definitely too short to end up with road rash because you flinched when your cheap panniers went into your rear wheel and made a crucial sounding racket. (I haven't ditched my bike yet, but I'm not getting back on it until my trunk bag and new rack show up, fortunately tracking information shows them arriving tomorrow. I am trying the Topeak trunk bag is why I am replacing my rear rack.) In short these are cheap panniers and if you just need something for your city bike which never goes over 10 MPH to schlep around library books or light grocery shopping these will be fine, but if you ride seriously these will piss you off. Two stars only because these will actually serve their intended purpose if you are a light/easy rider, and they appear to be sturdily constructed, but really for my needs they're a zero star product. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised by an inexpensive product, but of course, that rarely happens.