Hi Jerry

Thanks for your measured response (unlike dulciusexasperis) and not just anger. I noticed the TB site says this about the [extra $$] pulls:'

The main advantage a cord pull has over a metal pull is that the cord pull is significantly quieter than the metal pull: you won't get that "I'm being followed by a golden retriever" sound with cord pulls.

Now, I may be cynical but that seems to me like they know exactly what's going on with bags like the Aeronaut; the implication is clearly negative. Nobody wants to think that they're "being followed by a golden retriever". All that leads me to believe that Tom Bihn is being dishonest and shady about a pretty significant feature of their flagship bag.

To answer your question, I got a navy in the "normal" material. The construction & features are generally stellar, but I'd say this "feature-not-a-bug" brings it down plenty notches, especially when they acknowledge that it's really, stupidly annoying, but don't fix it - just make you pay more (and do more of your own work) to fix it.