I love leather gear bags. Not the froo-froo kind though. I’m talking about the more rugged style of leather bags. The kind that Indiana Jones might appreciate if he was a real person. The kind of bag that might be able to tell stories if it could talk. The kind of bag that isn’t made on an assembly line, but in a more personal setting. Bags from the Saddleback Leather Company of Texas fit this criteria and according to owner Dave Munson, these are the kind of bags that your grandkids will fight over when you’re dead. Sounds good enough to me, let’s take a closer look…
Cory at Spire USA contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their latest product: The Torq – a laptop backpack. Although I currently use a backpack bag for all my camera gear – the Crumpler Karachi Outpost backpack – and I only have one back, I thought I would give it a try. What could it hurt (aside from my back)?
Sometime back in May or June I decided to try a different approach for my photography business. Rather than the traditional portrait stuff, I decided to see if I could make a nickel selling action shots. So far my little endeavor (iphotsports.com) seems to be paying off pretty well. Anyway, getting round to the point, [...]
You’ve got to love a bag from a company named Bumbakpaks. Come on, it’s just fun to say. Bumbakpaks, bumbakpaks, bumbakpaks. Ok, now that I have that out of my system, I can tell you about their Urbanomic Hamptons Chocotango bag which the company refers to as a messenger bag. But to me it looks [...]
Product Requirements: Daily gear that needs a bag, a smaller sized laptop (up to 11.5" x 9.5" x 1.5" / 290 x 240 x 38mm) One of my favorite gear bag manufacturers is Tom Bihn. This unpretentious and friendly company has a past record for producing some of the best looking, hardest working and longest [...]
Introduction About a month ago I received a Volt XL backpack from Cory Barnes at Spire USA. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Spire manufactures a range of backpacks, courier-type bags and protective cases. The Volt is not the first Spire product that I’ve tested; a few years ago I bought one of the first of Spire’s [...]
As you can imagine, Julie and I see all sorts of laptop and gear bags in all sorts of styles and flavors. Obviously, some of them are better than others. Some of them have redeeming features but they aren’t quite ready for prime-time, and some…well some are so bad that we send e-mails back and [...]
Here’s the bag’s description printed on its tag: Durable Moisture Resistant Fabric Large Storage Compartment Cell Phone Pocket Audio Pocket and Portal Key Clip Zippered Accessory Pocket The Colorado Special Ops Sling Bag has a padded zippered pocket that rests against your back or side. It’s fairly thin, but I use it to hold my [...]
One of the best things about being a Gadgeteer is that I get to play with some of the coolest accessories that come onto the market, but then sometimes that can backfire. For instance, right before we took our Spring Break trip to Scotland, I was sent the new Tom Bihn Smart Alec bag with [...]
Notebook computers, gadgets, gizmos, PDAs, digital cameras, cell phones and other assorted stuff… what do you use to schlep it all around? A grocery sack? Duffel bag? Nope, not if you’re a gadgeteer. You want something that looks cool and is functional with lots and lots of pockets! One such solution is a STM Sport [...]
