In my opinion, this is the best travel backpack. A soft carry-on duffel with backpack straps. Its
sleek and designed to be highly useful. Every time I look at it I want to
take it for another trip.
Built With A Purpose
The bag is built with a purpose and it reflects this in its design
and materials. Its purpose is to be reliable, long lasting, and useful in
several configurations. You can use this bag as a backpack or stuff away the
straps in their special compartment and use it as a sleek duffel bag which is
excellent when on a train, bus, or airplane because the straps don't get in the
way or caught on things. The sternum strap that comes with it is great and
keeps the bag secure to your body.
The material is ballistic nylon which is difficult to fray or
damage. The zippers are big and high quality and the zipper fabric is water
resistant. This bag should be able to keep your belongings safe in a light rain
but don't take it out if its pouring outside.
The compartments are designed for maximum functionality. it’s not
like your regular backpacking pack which opens from the top and you struggle to
put stuff in or take stuff out. It has a clam shell type design that fully
opens up the main compartment and gives you quick access to all your
belongings. It is also the largest size possible for a carry-on so that you
never have to pay to check in our bag or wait at the baggage carousel. I have
personally used it as a carry-on on the most stringent of airlines.
Design
The main middle compartment is wide and long enough to hold a
folded pair of pants or a folded shirt. It’s also big enough to hold all the
clothes I would need for a 1 bag trip and even had enough room for me to put my
day bag. The main compartment also has straps to hold everything in place no matter
how you carry the bag. It has two big side pockets which can fit 1, maybe 2,
pair of men's shoes each. The main compartment can expand into the two side
pockets if you unzip the zippers running along the bottom of the main
compartment and the side pockets collapse. I won’t go into the specific size of
the compartments since you can find them on their website listed below. Either
end of the bag has a zipper that opens small compartments which are big enough
to keep documents or flight tickets in. The panel which opens the middle
compartment has a zippered compartment on it which can also be used to store
other papers or small objects.
Security
With all the traveling I was also concerned about the security. In order to feel safer I added locks to the bag so that I could keep them zipped shut. It took two locks and I was able to lock everything except one end pocket. Another technique I discovered while on YouTube was to add an S-Biner to the end handle and then clip the bag to a rail or to my girlfriends bag so that they wouldn't be able to snatch it and run. The S clip also came in handy for clipping my water bottle to my bag strap while walking around. Here's the link to the clip: Nite Ize SB4-03-01 Size-4 S-Biner, Black
. The bag also fit inside the lockers at the hostels. The locks I had used for the outside of the bag I was able to use to lock the locker as well. Here is the link for the locks: Master Lock 627D Brass Luggage Padlock
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. The bag also fit inside the lockers at the hostels. The locks I had used for the outside of the bag I was able to use to lock the locker as well. Here is the link for the locks: Master Lock 627D Brass Luggage Padlock.
My Favorite Bag To Date
I took this bag on a 5 week trip to Spain, France, Italy, and
Germany. Even though I went on several flights while I was there I never had to
check it in. I wanted to take just one bag so that I didn't need to head
directly to the hotel to drop off the bags once I got to a new place. You can
walk around the town with out looking too much like backpacker. I was able to
pack everything I needed for the trip in this one bag and even after the trip I
realized I had packed too much. There are several methods of packing light and
I'll talk about exactly what I packed in another post. You can choose what
compartment to store what however you feel comfortable. I chose to have all my
electronics and gadgets in one side pocket and use the other mainly for dirty
clothes. The dirty clothes pocket collapsed and didn't take up any space when
empty and as the trip progressed it expanded and the main compartment got a bit
smaller. In the main compartment I had my clothes and still had room around the
edges for random things. But, its not about how much you can carry. To be
honest, I would been happier if I had taken less things with me. It would have
kept my bag lighter and also allowed more room to buy things while
abroad.
I'm 5'7" and the bag didn't look too big on me which was a concern at first. In the second picture I had my day pack out so that I could store the Aeronaut in the the overhead compartment. We traveled to 22 different cities while we were there so the bag got a lot of use. Although there was a lot of moving around, nothing happened to the bag except get a little smudge on a corner.
Final Thoughts
After all the research I did while searching for the right bag and the traveling I did with it I can confidently say this is one of the best bag to travel with. Although the price tag is pretty steep compared to some other bags, I wouldn't hesitate buying it. You get your money's worth in the materials used and its design. Its available in all sorts of colors and Tom Bihn also carries lots of accessories for all your travel needs. I highly recommend one. So if you are planning a 1 bag trip or you are just looking for a durable yet sleek weekend carry-on, this is the bag you should get. Follow the link bellow.
My Favorite Bag To Date
I took this bag on a 5 week trip to Spain, France, Italy, and
Germany. Even though I went on several flights while I was there I never had to
check it in. I wanted to take just one bag so that I didn't need to head
directly to the hotel to drop off the bags once I got to a new place. You can
walk around the town with out looking too much like backpacker. I was able to
pack everything I needed for the trip in this one bag and even after the trip I
realized I had packed too much. There are several methods of packing light and
I'll talk about exactly what I packed in another post. You can choose what
compartment to store what however you feel comfortable. I chose to have all my
electronics and gadgets in one side pocket and use the other mainly for dirty
clothes. The dirty clothes pocket collapsed and didn't take up any space when
empty and as the trip progressed it expanded and the main compartment got a bit
smaller. In the main compartment I had my clothes and still had room around the
edges for random things. But, its not about how much you can carry. To be
honest, I would been happier if I had taken less things with me. It would have
kept my bag lighter and also allowed more room to buy things while
abroad.
I'm 5'7" and the bag didn't look too big on me which was a concern at first. In the second picture I had my day pack out so that I could store the Aeronaut in the the overhead compartment. We traveled to 22 different cities while we were there so the bag got a lot of use. Although there was a lot of moving around, nothing happened to the bag except get a little smudge on a corner.
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