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Tom Bihn's Synapse 25 is the perfect starter professional backpack
Tom Bihn's Synapse 25 backpack taught me an important lesson over the month I spent testing it on numerous road trips. That lesson? Stop buying cheap backpacks. Investing a little extra money right now can save you time packing, unpacking, and getting through airport security in the future. Say hello to the Synapse 25 backpack, the road traveler's best friend. Design From a purely aesthetic standpoint the Synapse 25 is a stylish and compact looking bag. While its pockets are cavernous, they don't stick out from the bag like the bulky pouches on your old high school backpack. This is simply a beautiful bag to carry around, and the multiple color options provided by Tom Bihn allow you to match your backpack to your work situation. Not everyone works at an office with a foosball table and a lax dress code. Sometimes you just need a nice professional solid color. Even when loaded down, the Synapse 25 is comfortable to wear. Its backing and straps have a dense foam padding that never feels squishy and provides plenty of support. The bag comes with removable chest and waist straps for hiking, along with additional straps for attaching gear and other accessories. The main compartment of the Synapse is massive with a room to easily store a laptop, books, assorted notebooks, change of clothes, and personal grooming supplies for a few days travel. Inside you'll find an extra elastic-ringed open-top pocket and several o-rings for attaching keys and other accessories. The main pocket also features clips to attach Bihn's Cache with Rails laptop and tablet case (sold separately). Cache with Rails is a soft padded envelope with a fold-over flap that comes in a number of different sizes for the iPad, MacBook, and MacBook Air. Simply attach the Cache to the clamps in your main compartment to quickly slide the carrying case out of the backback. It features five outer pockets of various functionality. There are two big side pockets -- one with a Ultrasuede-lined space for your phone and the other with three pen holders -- and a large front pouch with room for chargers or an extra book. The other two pockets are found on the center of the outer flap. One is a simple shallow space for pens, keys, or other small objects. The last pocket however is big enough to hold a 1 liter bottle, making this pack perfect for bikers who don't want their water hanging off a mesh side pouch. Functionality I took the Synapse 25 with me on several weeks worth of travel around the country. Even when completely stuffed the straps remained comfortable on my shoulders during long walks or waits in line. Getting through security checkpoints with my laptop was a breeze, as I simply needed to slide the Cache case out of my bag on its rails instead of taking it out and messing with another x-ray bin. When I was done with the check point my Cache slipped right back into my bag. Trying to reassemble yourself after a checkpoint can be a hassle. Thankfully the Synapse makes struggling to re-secure your most expensive travel companion a breeze. I wish they'd figure out a rail system for my shoes. Synapse offers travel cubes and bags to make packing easier, each designed to perfectly fit the bags various pockets. I packed with the travel cube samples they provided for one trip and without them for the other. Traveling without the cubes, the bag's bounty of space meant I could still easily roll up a few days worth of clothes and still have room for all of my work supplies to rest neatly on top. Repacking everything and remembering the order things went in took some extra time, but there was always room. When using the travel cubes to organize your bag's contents, packing became a breeze. Fold your clothes, zip them up, insert cube into bag. Place books and notebooks in front. Done. It's remarkable how much faster packing goes when everything is organized into boxes. The Synapse is a great bag without the extra packing cubes, but with them it becomes an incredible one. Best of all, the bag is largely pet resistant. I have two cats who shed like crazy and want nothing more than to sleep on top of my backpacks. Even when put up against the worst shedder in my house, the bag barely picked up any cat hair, even in the zippers. For students and professionals with furry friends at home, this pet hair resistance will be a delightful added bonus to an already impressive package. Conclusion There comes a time in everyone's life where you realize perhaps spending a little more money on a quality product is better than regularly replacing your cheap items. At $170 plus the cost of accessories, Tom Bihn's Synapse 25 a bit of a long-term investment. But the storage, durability, and general stylishness of the bag make it a worthy investment for commuters and students looking for a reliable backpack for work or play. Pros Mixes comfort and style with equal success Solid construction is designed to take abuse Seemingly unending pocket space Cache with Rails system for laptops makes travel checkpoints easy while protecting your gear Pet hair resistant Lots of little hidden features like Ultrasuede phone compartment, pen storage, bottle pocket, and copious o-rings. Add-ons like the Cache with Rails system and packing cubes make organization a breeze Cons At $170 dollars this bag is a bit of an investment, but it's one that will last Cache with Rails system takes some getting used to Add-ons like the Cache with Rails system and packing cubes must be purchased separately Who is it for? Students and traveling urban professionals who want a stylish backpack/laptop case that doesn't sacrifice extra space.
Tom Bihn Cadet laptop / iPad bag organizes your belongings in style
Seattle-based Tom Bihn has been creating impressive travel bags since 1972, and I've had the pleasure of using and reviewing some of their laptop bags for TUAW over the past few years. In response to advent of smaller MacBook models and the iPad, the company recently unveiled the new Cadet laptop and iPad bag (US$170 base price). Read along as I provide a hands-on review of this well-constructed and durable case that is perfect for the MacBook Air and other Apple devices. Design While the external design of the Cadet is rather utilitarian, it's the details that make this bag so attractive. It's not an oversized bag; rather, it's designed to take your laptop, a few paper files, your power supplies and some other small accessories. There are two sizes: 15/13, which fits the 15" and 13" MacBook Pro, the no-longer-available 13" MacBook, and the 13" MacBook Air, and the 11/iPad that is designed for the 11" MacBook Air and the iPad. I reviewed the 11/iPad case, perfect for my 11" MacBook Air. The Cadet, like every Bihn bag I've reviewed, is built to take the abuse of daily life in stride. The exterior is covered with 1050d ballistic nylon. Another Bihn bag that I own has been literally dragged, dropped, and stepped on for five years, yet looks like it was just delivered from the factory. The inside lining of the Cadet uses a Japanese nylon ripstop fabric to keep pointy things and sharp edges from causing damage. There is a quarter-inch of foam padding all around to protect your equipment from bumps, and the zippers are splash-proof to keep the bag interior dry in wet situations. The handles on the Cadet are padded, which is nice when you choose to carry it like a briefcase. There are also shoulder straps available: the standard strap is included, while the Absolute Shoulder Strap sells for an additional $30. That strap uses an internal control-stretch system that makes carrying a heavy bag a more pleasant experience. With a strap installed on the Delrin eye-loops on either side of the Cadet, it can be carried either on one should or like a messenger bag. %Gallery-144840% I found myself in awe of the number of pockets on the Cadet. On the front of the bag are two zippered pockets for little goodies, while the back has an open-top pocket perfect for magazines. The smallest zippered pocket is lined with Ultrasuede and is the perfect spot to hide your iPhone while going through airport security. The next pocket unzips to reveal a space large enough for several power adapters, has a key strap for holding onto your car and house keys while you're on a trip, and adds five open top pockets -- two for mice or small notebooks, two for pens/pencils, and one for markers. The key strap clicks onto an O-ring, which is an O-shaped plastic ring for securely attaching accessories. There are two of these O-rings in the larger exterior pocket. But the most amazing part of the Cadet is the main pocket. Once again, there are two O-rings onto which various Bihn accessories can be clipped. But there are also two thick straps that are on one side of the case. These area used to secure a Cadet Cache to the case. What's a Cadet Cache? It's a padded sleeve (made for either a laptop or an iPad) with what are called Gatekeeper clips on the bottom. When you pass through a TSA checkpoint, you just slide the Cadet Cache out of your case with your iPad or laptop securely stowed within. It's still attached to the rest of the case so nothing is going to be separated as the assembly goes through the X-ray machine. There's one more great feature. That magazine pocket on the back of the case? It has a zipper near the bottom -- not so you can lose your magazine, but you can unzip it to create a wide "strap" and slide the bag onto the handle of a rolling suitcase for hands-free carrying. Sweet! The bag comes in a variety of color choices, so if you don't like the forest green of the review model (which I loved), you can select from five other schemes. That, in a very large nutshell, is the Cadet case. How does it work in actual use? Read on. Functionality I wanted to test out the Cadet with all of my mobile gear -- iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and 11" MacBook Air. Tom Bihn thoughtfully provided both the Cadet Caches padded sleeves for the iPad and 11" MBA, so I was able to try both. In additional, I loaded the bag up with most of the adapters, cables, and accessories that I normally take with me on trips. As you can see from some of the gallery photos (above), I was able to put all of that equipment, plus cables, power adapters, keys, and more into the Cadet ... and this is the small version! It's like this bag expands into another dimension, magically adding space when you need it. Fortunately the weight of the equipment wasn't overwhelming, but the Absolute Shoulder Strap did make carrying it quite comfortable. I could have easily placed my podcasting headphones into the bag as well, and I'm betting that my Canon PowerShot SX30IS -- not a svelte camera -- would have made it into the Cadet as well. I'd love to try packing all of my tech gear into this bag for Macworld | iWorld next week, but we're going to be giving away the Cadet and its accessories at a TUAW meetup the night of January 26. Conclusion Tom Bihn bags are not the most inexpensive computer bags around; in fact, with all of the add-ons in this Cadet, the price tag was about $245. But if you're planning on keeping the bag for a number of years, you can rest assured that the Cadet is going to stand up to a lot of abuse and keep looking good. Tom Bihn does an amazing job of building functional, durable bags for your consumer electronics. If you're in the market for a bag to keep your MacBook Air and iPad protected and at your fingertips, be sure to give the Cadet your full attention.
TUAW TV Live: A little bit of this, a little bit of that...
Keeping with the recent trend of my life being crazy -- yes, I will be doing four podcasts today -- the TUAW TV Live show is going to be a mashup of anything that's close at hand. Whether it's a pile of new cases from Hard Candy, a home monitoring system that plugs into Skype, a sweet new bag from Tom Bihn, a discussion of electronic publishing, or chatting about the latest Apple news, we'll do it on TUAW TV Live. Below, you'll find a Ustream livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments. If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone and join the chat by downloading the free Ustream App. It's a universal app and is wonderful on an iPad, both for viewing and participating in the chat. We'll start at about 5 PM ET, so if you're seeing a prerecorded show, be sure to refresh your browser until you see the live stream. For those of you who are not able to join us for the live edition, you'll be able to view it later this evening on our TUAW Video YouTube channel and as part of the TUAW TV Live podcast viewable in iTunes or on any of your Apple devices.
Carrying your Apple TV in style
I'm not sure why you need to haul your Apple TV around (though it might work if you spend a lot of time in hotels, or traveling between two houses, which is certainly a possibility), but if you do find yourself moving Apple's set-top box often, you might as well do it in style, right? For that reason, there's this custom-fitted WaterField case, which has everything you need to move the new Apple TV from place to place, and look really good while doing it. It's $45, which isn't all that cheap, but if you've ever used a WaterField case, you know it's probably worth the price anyway. Also in the category of excellent cases for Apple accessories: Tom Bihn has released a case for the Apple Wireless Keyboard. Like most of the Bihn cases, this one's exceptionally well-designed, combining solid protection with pretty excellent style. If you've been hauling around an iPad and a keyboard to use with it and want something that will secure your cargo a little better (not to mention turn heads on the plane when you pull it out to use), you can give that a look. It's available for $30.
First Look: Tom Bihn Ristretto bag for iPad
I blame Steve Sande for my newest iPad-related purchase. Well, there's a lot of things to blame Steve for, but it was his reviews of the Tom Bihn Western Flyer and Checkpoint Flyer that had me checking out the company he bought the bags from last year. Tom Bihn is based in Seattle and has the distinction of being among those rare companies that still makes its products in the U.S. using mostly U.S.-produced materials. Only a few components are sourced from overseas, but those parts are fully disclosed. Tom Bihn was also had gear designed specifically iPad right off the bat, announcing its offerings -- The Ristretto and the Cache for iPad -- just hours after the original iPad announcement. The US$110 Ristretto, which also comes in a larger size designed to hold a MacBook, is a vertical messenger bag with a padded area that is large enough to hold a netbook or an iPad. After having my iPad and accessories bounce around a larger bag for a few weeks, I caved and placed a Ristretto order to see if it suited my needs. I could have gone cheaper, I could have used a regular netbook case, but I'm glad I held out for the Ristretto.
Road Tested: Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer laptop bag
After I traveled to Africa in February with a Tom Bihn Western Flyer bag loaded with geek gear, I wrote a post talking about how I packed that bag for the trip. It was the perfect bag on that vacation, as it allowed me to pack all of my gear into various little nooks and crannies, and it converted to a backpack for easy lugging through airports. However, it wasn't the best bag for my many business trips in the USA. Happy with the products that Tom Bihn makes, I decided to get their Checkpoint Flyer briefcase for my business travel. What makes this bag so special is that it is specially designed to take advantage of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules that allow you to keep a laptop inside a case as it's going through the x-ray machine, provided that case contains nothing else. That, of course, can be a huge problem if you're carrying backup drives, cables, backup cell phones, an Amazon Kindle 2, and other digital effluvia.
TUAW Tips: Packing your gadgetry for travel to faraway lands
In case you've missed me, I've been in Africa for the last couple of weeks. On top of all the business traveling I do, I also love traveling to exotic or fun locations with my wife several times a year. One question I often hear from friends, clients, and TUAW readers is "How do you pack all of your techie gear for traveling?" The Africa trip gave me the perfect opportunity to answer that question, since I not only had to take a computer with me, but two digital cameras, two iPhones, a backup drive, a snakes nest of cables, power cables and plug converters, a handful of memory cards, an Amazon Kindle, and an HD camcorder as well. The picture at the top of this post shows you just about everything I needed to pack. Click the Read More link below for tips on how to travel with all of your stuff... without going crazy in the process.
Tom Bihn's Checkpoint Flyer laptop bag in the wild, reviewed
We could tell from the press shot that this here laptop bag was far and away the most beautiful of the TSA-approved bunch, and a recent review over at Gadling confirms it. Put simply, the Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer is "fantastic," and even the reviewer found himself startled at just how much he dug it. The build quality was remarkable, the ease of use was commendable and the design itself was obviously worthy of praise. The only real rub is the bloated sticker; the price of admission is a stiff $220, and that's before you add in any useful straps or extra packing cubes. 'Course, you're probably wondering how this thing fared in real-world use, and we're happy to report that no cavity searches were required when passing through security on a flight from Chicago to Amsterdam. Check the full writeup and a hands-on gallery in the read link.
Tom Bihn's Checkpoint Flyer: a TSA-approved bag worth owning
Now that the TSA has doled out the official verbiage about what it considers a checkpoint-friendly laptop bag, expect to see the usual players toss in an option or two for frequent fliers. Thus far, all we've seen are cases that get the job done while throwing style to the wind in the nearest dumpster; now, however, we've a better option to choose from. Tom Bihn's stylish Checkpoint Flyer meets all of the TSA's requirements while still looking like a briefcase we wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with. The 2.6-pound bag is crafted from US 1050 denier ballistic nylon and 500 denier Cordura and includes a trio of pouches on the outside, splash-proof zippers and ten smaller pockets for stashing those increasingly rare bags of peanuts / pretzels. It's available now in three colors for $220 (yeah, we know, but it's made in the US of A).[Via Electronista]
