Mike

In 2001 I traveled around Europe for two months with a proper travel backpack. I couldn’t imagine trying to roll around a piece of luggage all over Europe. These bags certainly do have their limits. But in my current situation, where my luggage travel is limited to: from car to plane to car to hotel, and the most I’ll have to bear the brunt of its additional heft is when lifting the bag five feet into the overhead bin, is the rolling bag really such a bad a choice?

Let me also fill in a few more blanks: I’m based out of Los Angeles, and since I’m only doing short hauls, I’ll rarely, if ever, have a stop over. I’ll also be traveling primarily on JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, both of which have lenient carry-on policies. 

Although I used Costco as a hypothetical, I will buy my luggage there. And since they have an absurdly lenient return policy, I’m not too worried about the longevity of such a bag — if a wheel breaks in 5 years, I can just bring it back and they’ll give me something brand new. 

Is my logic off target? What am I missing? Thanks!

I use my old Spire Volt XL as my main bag for work. I don’t think Spire do that one anymore, the latest incarnation is the Torque – about the same size as the Volt XL, but with two compartments. My Volt XL is a bit tatty now, but perfectly functional. I have a vertical Tom Bihn Brain Cell inside the Volt as the Spire sleeve (the Boot) does not offer much protection. I also have a Tom Bihn Freudian Slip to organise things and keep the contents from flopping at the bottom of the Volt.

This said, its all change at the moment. “Her indoors” was complaining that my Volt looked too scruffy and also that I carried too much stuff in my pockets. So, after resisting for many years, I have finally got a “man bag.” I have just taken delivery of a Tom Bihn Ristretto for iPad in black and wasabi. Its Fab, and stops my gadgets from pulling my trousers down. I also ordered one of the new brain bags in black, but it has not arrived yet. Not sure what’s going on at TB, but its been a while now. Will have to chase.
Anyway, I decided on this combination because I work in two places, at home, and at my office in my university. I have to lug 15″ macbook pro, podcasting kit, sports kit etc back and forth. So I needed a big backpack. However, when at either place I might have to go to meeting, or give a lecture with just ipad, wallet, phone etc. Did not want to carry the whole setup around; hence the Ristretto. The idea is that the Ristretto and gym kit goes in the front of the Brain Bag, with the brain cell and other bits in the back.

I have a Spire Meta, but its too big and floppy / unstructured. I considered buying the Spire Torque, but it looked a bit too small. The Tom Bihn Brain bag looks just about right – gives me just the few litres of extra space that I need. We will see. I hope to take delivery of the Brain Bag soon.

As to your questions on the Aeronaut v Tristar for a beach trip – either will do, but I would think beyond the one trip unless you are loaded. Get the back that serves most of your travel needs – the Tristar is a bit more structured, and better for shorter business trips when you have laptop plus gadgets. The Aeronaut is better for more casual things (beach trips for example) where you can just squash stuff in there. For me, the Tristar has the edge, but when I travel its mostly business-related.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Mike

You mentioned that you used to have the Brain Bag by Tom Bihn. Do you like the Spire Volt more or did you get rid of the Brain Bag for some other reason?

Also, did you notice a big difference in what you could carry between the Aeronaut and Tristar? I’m taking a 7 day trip to the beach and was unsure which of the two to get (a few bathing suits, about 5 pairs of shorts/polo shirts).

Thanks for your incredibly helpful reviews. They are gold!

The thing about the Tom Bihn Tristar cubes is that they fit PERFECTLY into the Tristar. Also, they are very inexpensive. I would say get them. I have some Eagle Creek packing gear, and its very good, but its not going to fit so well. Also, remember that the TriStar has tie downs to keep whatever is in the main compartment flat.

Very spooky this you know. Last night I was looking at my gadget bags and I decided to replace my old and tatty, but very functional Spire Volt XL with a new Brain Bag from Tom Bihn. I ordered the black one, and its coming at the end of the month. I think I will be able to fit my TriStar packing cubes into the Brain Bag and so it might make a good bag for overnights / long weekends. I also ordered the Tom Bihn Ristretto for iPad a couple of weeks back (ordered wrong colour, but that’s another story) and the Ristretto carries quite a lot of gear, so my backpack / travelbag does not need to be so big.

If it all works out, and I can get my gear in there I will probably sell my Tri Star. Need to have a clearout anyway, as missus is starting to kick up about so many bags around the house.

Anyway, the Tri Star is fab, just make sure you get a darker coloured one as the loud ones are dirt magnets.

Best,

Mike

The clincher though, is that “Her indoors” will beat me up if I come home with things all messy and creased!

Best,

M

This is the bit that bugs me. At the end of a vacation, I’m sometimes lazy enough to just stuff the dirty clothes into my suitcase willy nilly. Just be done and go home. This rigid organization prevents my normal stuffing.

If you don’t like bulging pockets etc., then I’d forget about the Air Boss. The Air Boss is unstructured. As you asked the question, I just now went upstairs and tried packing two suits into the TriStar. I used the biggest of the packing cubes (the TriStar large). I inverted one of the sleeves on each jacket and folded one half of the jacket into the other. I then folded the result in half. The trousers had two folds and were laid on top. It all fit into the Tristar no problem. It was snug, and there would likely be some creases after a trip across the pond, but it works. These suits were modern and lightweight (Rohan and Digel) and so they tend to resist creasing. A wool suit might not fare so well.

The Aeronaut will take two suits easily. My recommendation here would be to buy a couple of cheap, thin suit covers (Ikea for example). Put the suit jackets in the covers with the buttons done up, then do two horizontal folds. The result just about fits into the main compartment of the Aeronaut (as long as you don’t have too much in the end pockets). Make sure the two suits go in so that their necks are “opposed” – evens out the bulk. The slipperiness of the suit covers tends to prevent creasing. The Aeronaut is less structured than the TriStar, but nowhere near as floppy as the AirBoss.

I seem to remember Tom Bihn saying a while back that he was going to make some suit packing “thing” – just looked on their website and there is nothing there yet.

I’m talking about large mens suits here, so for women’s suits its going to be way easier.

If you want compactness and structure, go with the TriStar. Make sure you get the packing cubes though – these things make a big difference. If it was not for the horrendous import taxes, weakness of the pound and the sky high shipping, I would order two each of every packing cube and accessory pouch that Tom Bihn makes – these things are amazingly useful. Also get a Freudian slip – sooo useful, if a bit geeky on long flights! Just hang it on the seat-back. The Freudian also slip keeps things from slipping to the bottom of the bag and so prevents bulging. I’m going to order a vertical one for my backpack – I’m using my old Spire Volt for work at the moment, but it needs some internal organisation.

Anyway, sorry – going down a rathole here. Hope this helps, if not post another question. Best, Mike

I was wondering on your thoughts comparing the tri-star, aeronaut and the air boss. I fly frequently to europe and need to be able to pack two suits in the bag, I am currently using an old version of the victorinox weekender which I like for the garment section and expandability, but hate the bulging side pouch (also have been forced to check it a few times). Any thought on which of the three bags would be best for me?

Thanks

Drew

So it looks like we are agreed on colour choice . I think I had better bite the bullet – sell this one and order another in black.

As to your questions Chris:

Don’t worry about the water bottle thing – its not a huge issue. My review comments were more a critique on the (assumed) design logic rather than a reflection of any great problems in use. I suppose it would be an issue if you carried big and bulky shoes in that area, in which case BTW you would not fit them into the packing cube. They would have to be loose in the front compartment.

As to Aeronaut v. Tristar. Sure – greater flexibility in packing is plus point for the Aeronaut, but in all other respects the Tri-Star wins it I think. As long as you are reasonably disciplined in packing, go for the Tri-Star.

Rohan are a really good, but annoying company. They make some fantastic products, but they run out of the good stuff way to early in the season. You have to be quick. I’ll maybe do a review of the suit one day, but it might not be much use to readers unless they bring the line back into stock. Suffice to say, that you can trust what Rohan say in their brochure about easy wash, creases dropping out, very light weight. The cut of Rohan gear tends to suit a slimmer shape, which is a problem for me as I’ve just gained a bit of weight. The shirts they make are awesome – especially the “expedition.”

Best,

Mike

Second, you mention using the Aeronaut, and since I’m trying to decide between the two bags could you say why you felt your experience with the Tri-star was better? I like the format of the Tri-star better, but it seems like the open compartment of the Aeronaut would lend itself better to a wider range of packing tasks.

Finally, I’d love to hear more about your experience with your Rohan suit. I visited their website, but it looks like they have only one option (sold as separate jacket and pants).

Thanks again for your great review, and for the indirect validation. I just bought the Western Flyer and after much deliberation decided to go with black.

But I do confess to a little buyer’s remorse in that I ordered my Tri-Star in Indigo… don’t know why, but I did. I should have gone for Steel or Black. But, I’m loving it… for all the reasons you’ve laid out.