Posts Tagged Tom Bihn
Where Do You Pack All Those Gadgets and Cables?
As the number of gadgets and electronic devices in our travel bags has grown, so has the number of accompanying cords for connecting and charging. Even if you get around the manufacturers’ love of proprietary connectors with something like the Chargepod Callpod or the Kensington Power Adapter, you’re still left with a gaggle of USB thumb drives, memory cards, Skype devices, music earbuds, battery rechargers, and who knows what else.
On my recent two-month trip abroad, I managed to keep all this madness in check with the Snake Charmer from Tom Bihn. It’s basically a $25 elongated packing cube with two compartments, two zippers, and mesh on each side. Nothing fancy, but it does what it’s supposed to do: keep all your gadget accessories where you can find them.
I kept all my items with cords in one compartment and all the other items in the other. In the old days I would be brought to the brink of throwing things through windows when I couldn’t find that one particular accessory I needed in various pockets around my laptop bag/backpack, but this time I was a Zen master when it came time to locate what I needed. Everything was in one place and I could see through the mesh where it was.
This Tom Bihn item isn’t the be all and end all item of course: you could easily adapt a small toiletry kit or other two-compartment packing cube to accomplish the same thing. But this Snake Charmer seemed to be just the right size to hold everything and still fit easily in any open corner of my bag. It comes in four colors and is made in the USA.
It can only be ordered direct from the manufacturer, so click here for details and how to get yours.
Posted by Tim L. in Travel Light on August 26th, 2009
Packable Double-duty Backpack from Tom Bihn
If a gear item is inexpensive, light, and comes in handy for multiple uses, it’s right up our alley here on the Practical Travel Gear blog. This Tom Bihn packing cube backpack is far from ergonomic and it’s not much more then a few pieces of cloth, two straps, and two zippers, but sometimes less is more.
The idea of this bag is that you use it as sort of a giant packing cube in your suitcase/bag, then when you’ve unpacked you can use it as a daypack, a shopping bag, or whatever. I’m kind of ambivalent about packing cubes though and confess than I only have one with me on my current tw0-month trip for the summer.
Instead I just jam this into a corner or lie it flat between layers of clothing. Then after arrival I use it almost daily it seems. I can ball it up when I’m not using it and it doesn’t add any extra weight to what I’m already carrying when I come back from the store loaded down. And it can get loaded down if you want it to: it holds a respectable 16 liters (975 cubic inches).
It has two compartments: one smaller one on the bottom and the main one on top. It’s made of lightweight but very strong nylon and has heavy-duty zippers. Made in the USA, but it lists for only $35. Nice. It comes in black or yellow.
There’s one more use for this bag that I’ll be taking advantage of on the way home. You can pack souvenirs in it when you come back with more than you left with and need an extra bag for the plane.
You can only get it direct from Tom Bihn though (keeps the overhead down), so check it out online.
See our other Tom Bihn product reviews:
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Travel Light on July 15th, 2009
New Gear Review: Tom Bihn Tri-Star Travel Bag
On some flights, I’m torn between taking a backpack or a shoulder bag as a carry-on. Now, I don’t have to choose— thanks to the versatile and extremely well-made Tri-Star travel bag from Tom Bihn.
I can use the Tri-Star as a backpack. Or tuck the backpack straps into a compartment and carry it like a briefcase. Or snap on a strap and it transforms into a shoulder bag.
Finally, I can have it all in one bag!
My first impression of the Tri-Star is a bag that is well-built, with a lot of thought going into the design. Just introduced by Tom Bihn, it’s made of tough ballistic nylon with splash-proof zippers, which should keep your belongings dry even if a thunderstorm pops up.
At 19″ wide, 13″ tall and 8″ deep, the Tri-Star is big enough to carry what most travelers would need for a short trip. Yet it’s slightly below the maximum size allowed as cabin baggage on most U.S. airlines.
The Tri-Star is even designed to meet the size requirements for going through London’s Heathrow airport, which for many travelers is a painful experience with baggage sizers.
That’s an important point, since most carriers these days are charging additional fees for checking bags unless you fly enough to reach their elite levels like silver or gold or platinum. Packing everything you need in a carry-on also saves lots of time waiting for checked bags to be delivered at luggage carousels.
(Tom Bihn also makes a slightly larger carry-on bag, the Aeronaut, for those who need a few extra inches of room.)
So let’s take a quick tour.
Starting on the outside, the Tri-Star has four zippered pockets on the front. One is handy for keeping boarding passes and this pocket also has a cleverly-designed snap pocket to hold a water or soft-drink bottle. (Just remember to buy the drinks after going through security.)
The other exterior pockets can keep your passport, wallet, keys and other small items within easy reach. There’s also room for sunglasses, a book or even a Kindle reader.
Inside, the Tri-Star is divided into three main compartments. The center compartment is ideal for business gear, with clips for an optional pouch, the Brain Cell, to give your laptop added protection. Another option is the Freudian Slip, which gives you extra pockets for organizing files, papers, pens and other small items.
The front section can be further split into two compartments with a zippered divider, good for carrying an extra pair of shoes and more.
The rear compartment is made for clothing, with tie-down straps to help keep your wardrobe wrinkle-free or plenty of room for packing cubes.
There are grab handles on the sides, making it easier to retrieve the Tri-Star from an overhead bin. That’s a nice feature and, again, shows the thoughtful planning that went into the design.
Tom Bihn offers many accessories for the Tri-Star and the company’s full line of bags. These include packing cubes, clear organizers, key straps and two varieties of shoulder straps.
The Tri-Star comes in a choice of four colors: indigo, crimson, steel and black.
Tom Bihn bags are made in the good ol’ USA, in Seattle, and include a lifetime guarantee covering manufacturing defects, but not normal wear and tear.
They are more expensive than some bags—the Tri-Star is $240, plus whatever accessories you can’t live without. But the company chooses not to use cheaper materials and believes it can maintain better quality control by not farming out manufacturing overseas.
I’ve bought plenty of cheap bags in my time and been disappointed by their design and durability. So I’ve learned better quality is often worth the difference in price.
Overall, it’s refreshing to see a company like Tom Bihn that cares about its products and customers. The Tri-Star is a five-star winner.
Posted by JohnG in Business Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on June 29th, 2009
The Pros and Cons of Packing Cubes
On the first version of this Practical Travel Gear blog I reviewed a bunch of different packing cubes, some from Eagle Creek and some from Tom Bihn. Magellan’s also has their own brand of packing cubes and if that’s not enough to choose from you can check out a Rick Steves version too.
So obviously these little rectangular pouches are pretty popular. But just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone (witness Twitter, reality TV shows, or the new Fast and Furious movie.)
I’ve used packing cubes on some trips and have left them behind on others, so I guess I’m on the fence overall. The people that love them really love them though, the same way people who love the book Getting Things Done see its teachings as something almost spiritual. Sometimes they’re the same people: those clean-desk types who love it when everything is in its place. The key thing is, with these packing aids you can group similar items together and keep the dirty clothes separated, making it much easier to find what you’re looking for.
The anti-cube crowd has a point too though. If you are a one-bag carry-on packer who is trying to make the most of every inch of available space, packing cubes can be a hindrance rather than a help. It’s a lot easier to stuff rolled t-shirts, socks, and underwear in the remaining cracks after you’ve packed everything else than it is to confine them to a blocky cube, leaving wasted space on the sides. The exception is an integrated bag like the Tom Bihn Aeronaut one I reviewed earlier, where a packed long pouch fits perfectly into a paired side pocket—nothing wasted.
The way I see it, the cubes’ main benefits are in the unpacking rather than the packing. When you get to a hotel room, you pop the cubes out and you can unpack in a minute flat. If you are moving from hotel to hotel (or hostel to hostel) this can be a great time saver. You’re not as likely to lose a stray pair of undies or a single sock either, plus some cubes are designed with two sections, for dirty clothes and clean. Most have mesh on one side so nothing gets mildewed by being confined.
To decide whether packing cubes would be useful for you or not, see how many of the following questions you can answer with a “yes.”
1) Will you be moving around a lot on your trip?
2) Are you carrying a rectangular suitcase or bag?
3) Do you have room to spare in your bag?
4) Do you have trouble keeping track of your clothes while traveling?
5) Will you need to pack up quickly to catch a flight or train?
6) Do you have an inordinately large Tupperware collection at home and a credit account at The Container Store?
If you scored a three or above, go shopping for some packing cubes:
Magellan’s
REI
Backcountry.com
Tom Bihn cubes
Rick Steves cubes at Amazon
Posted by Tim L. in Business Gear, Travel Light on April 22nd, 2009
Tom Bihn Aeronaut True Carry-on Bag
If you’ve ever stood in a line of people in the jetway connector between the airplane and the airport, waiting for your gate-checked bag to arrive from the luggage hold, you know that the phrase “carry-on bag” is not a strict one. The Eagle Creek 22-inch Hovercraft bag I reviewed earlier, for example, is technically a carry-on, but only for the largest jets. And if a gate agent ever made me stick it into one of those frames by the gate, no way it would fit.
This Aeronaut bag from Tom Bihn is a different story, as you can see from the airport gate photo I shot above after it was fully packed. It fits easily and it even “meets Heathrow requirements.” I used this bag on a four-day trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, which it turns out is not a very warm place to be right now, so I had to pack some warm things.
Amazingly though, it holds 45 liters (2700 cubic inches). I packed all I needed for a four-day trip and still had room to spare. I’m talking a pair of shoes, a fleece jacket, four shirts, three t-shirts, three pairs of pants, a bathing suit, two hats, underwear and hiking socks, an extra belt, a deck of cards, a thin nylon daypack, and chargers for my gadgets. It holds far more than I expected when I first loked at it.
It weighs about two and a half pounds empty, which is less than half what any “lightweight” carry-on with wheels weighs. You can pay an extra $20 for a shoulder strap if you don’t have one already, but it has regular handles and zip-away straps that make it work as a backpack.
This is one tough bag I expect to put through its paces for many years to come. The best zippers, the toughest ripstop nylon, and made in the USA on top of it. It also works with the Tom Bihn packing cubes I reviewed a few posts back. One size of those fits exactly in the rectangular side pockets that are on both ends of this bag, so you can stuff a lot into those and then pull them out and be organized at your hotel.
This Aeronaut bag is not the cheapest one you’ll find, but $180 is still a good value considering the workmanship and quality materials. If you’re a road warrior that needs to pack a lot for short trips or you just hate handing money to airlines for rapacious extra baggage fees, this can be your “one bag” you can use for every trip. It comes in three colors and you can buy it in Tom Bihn’s Seattle store or direct from the Tom Bihn site. Highly recommended.
Posted by Tim L. in Business Gear, Travel Light on March 26th, 2009
