I had another look at some of these bags, esp the
Eagle Creek Commuter and the
Tom Bihn Tri-Star.
I think that a bag without the specialized laptop compartment (or at least a removable one) would be better suited to different types of packing styles and types of travel. When you don't bring the laptop, the 1.5" narrow slot plus the 1/2" of surround foam padding really kills a lot of available packing space. Also, what can you really pack in that 1.5" slot other than a laptop? The total volume of the laptop folder is a lot of valuable carryon real estate.
Another pet peeve of mine would be the over engineered organizational panels. When there is too much, it gets heavy. In some bags, that panel weighs over 1-lb! Plus, your important documents would probably either be on your person tucked away safely or in your "plus-one" (aka personal) bag. Even at your destination, the slots for cell phone, pda, calculator, 12-cards and stacks of paper will go unused unless you are taking the type of trip where you will be schlepping the entire 20 x 14 x 9 bag around with you at all times. For organizational panels, a simple pen slot, a slip for magazines, another for a boarding pass and a small mesh pocket for the smaller things will suffice. It's not
how many pockets, but
what type of pockets. ok - rant over
I do however love the exterior clean "slim-look" of these 2 bags. The lack of protruding pockets and dangly bits make them look smaller than they are. Or maybe they look just right and the other bags with the dangly bits look bigger than they really are
To digress a little to the carryon bag I am currently having my love-hate relationship with:
Yes, the
Kipling Sherpa is a lot like the
Red Oxx Gator but my first choice was actually the
Tumi Cortina Boarding Bag. I love the more refined look of the leather straps and the satin-nylon material. The dual-zippered trolley sleeve on the back better than the simple trolley sleeve, however the weight! It weighs 3.6lbs compared to the Kipling's 2lb. It is also 4x the price of the Kipling.
My current love-hate relationship stems from a sore shoulder and the resulting stiff neck from carrying all that weight on one shoulder. I can stuff a lot into one bag!
AND by the time I'm a few steps past security, I'm wishing for backpack straps or wheels. Both the Eagle Creek Global Commuter and the Tom Bihn Tri-Star are very similar in volume to these carryons (when you include the two big exterior pockets the carryons have) and they are convertible too, so I'm wondering if a convertible is the way to go for me and my wallet (but not my chiropractor's mortgage).