Managing cables and dongles is getting easier, but the curse of mobile battery usage and the need for chargers is still with us. Traveling with your full kit for a few days can really escalate that, since you usually have to dig out the chargers that live under your desk, or under/beside your bed. As a solution to this problem we all face, Zero-Grid sent us a black (Midnight) Electronics Travel Organizer & Tech Dopp to test. It’s also available in grey (Shadow). Let’s see the results.
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The Electronics Travel Organizer & Tech Dopp (kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) is exactly what it sounds like: It’s an organizer for your electronics and tech, just like a Dopp kit is an organizer for your toiletries. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the frustrating tangle of wires that the chargers, headphones, and adapter cables becomes when shoved into a backpack pocket or such. And twist-ties or cable ties have little value, especially when they fall off the small hotel room desk, never to be seen again. The ETO&TD is a 9″ x 4.5″ zippered bag that is slightly less than 2″ thick when it’s packed tight. The one-way zipper is a YKK nylon coil with a paracord pull that goes around three sides and all four corners, such that the whole thing can be laid open. There is a one-inch web strap that is sewn between the two ends of the zipper as a handle for when it’s all packed.
Inside, there are three dividers sewn into the seams: two stiff cards with ten elastic bands across the short dimension on each side, and a ripstop nylon zippered pouch slightly shorter than the cards. (For size comparison, the pouch can almost hold an iPhone 6/6s/7 Plus, but not quite.) Everything is bound heavily with bias tape, and tightly stitched. The two cards have a half-inch or so of ripstop between them and the hinge, so that if something thick is placed on the outside-facing side, there is room for it to sit up and not cause problems fitting in other items.
The idea is to wind up various cords and chargers, and place them under the elastic so that they don’t get tangled with one another. I was able to fit my MacBook Pro charger, the Archer Dock for Apple Watch, an iPad charger, my EarPods and a Lightning cable into the ETO&TD and zip it up. That bit of kit will keep everything going for as long as I have access to power every 8-10 hours. And it will all arrive neatly, without any tangles.
I could find nothing really wrong with the ETO&TD. I compared it to a Cocoon GridIt that I have, which has a similar design, but bands crossing randomly at right angles. While similar, I’ve found the GridIt gets warped because it has elastic on only one side. With the ETO&TD, there is a balance, even though there are no crossing pieces.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by ZeroGrid. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.
