REVIEW – I love a good accessory organizer! Meet the Cable Kit 3, from AER’s 2024 Tech Collection of bags. This is AER’s latest iteration of the Cable Kit, designed to wrangle all your cords and plugs and doodads while you’re hauling your tech from here to there. Let’s learn more. To the review!
What is it?
The AER Cable Kit is an organizer for your tech accessories like plugs, adaptors, cables, and whatnot with room for the bits and baubles that might be jangling around in your bag. AER offers this bag in two material choices. I’m testing the Cordura version, but an X-Pac build is also available.
Tech specs
Click to expand
1680D Cordura ballistic nylon exterior
Recyced nylon interior
840D nylon face with a durable, weather resistant coating
YKK zippers
9.5″ by 6″ by 2.75″
2.6 L capacity
0.6 lbs total weight
Design and features
I’m testing several items from AER’s 2024 Tech Collection, which focuses on optimizing tech-heavy carry for creatives and professionals. The Cable Kit 3 is the smallest bag in a lineup that also includes a sling, a brief, two different backpacks, and two different material options (Cordura and X-Pac).
The Tech Collection presents with a minimalist aesthetic that emphasizes simple, efficient shapes from every angle. The exaggerated rounded corners & those pronounced corner pleats are one of the signature design features of all the bags in the lineup that softens the edges a bit.
The design is efficient, clean, and purposeful. Other than the white lettering in the AER logo, you won’t find any fancy design bits or whimsical elements to detract from the workmanlike vibe.
This is my first experience with AER products, and the details in the build are excellent. The Cordura is rugged but has a softer, more pliant feel than many Corudra products I’ve worked with. Hardware is excellent throughout with YKK zippers and rubberized pull tabs. The construction features reinforced seams, zipper garages, and excellent finishing work inside and out. This is a deceptively tough little bag.
Not only does is have a nice grab handle on the back side, but that handle is taken as seriously as the rest of the build with a bit of extra padding and reinforcement. They even designed a bit of a cavity into the back panel so that the handle sits flush against the bag when not in use.
Open her up, and you’ll find the interior quality matches the exterior. A uniform light grey soft-touch material is used throughout that’s great for visibility.
The brilliant bit of this design is the way that it opens. Dual zips run to the base on either side of the bag. There’s a centerline divider that is bracketed by bellowed strips of fabric connecting the centerline to the front and rear face of the bag. Put it all together and you have an organizer that opens like a clamshell, stands up on its own, and fully exposes access to all the internal pockets and pouches while keeping loose articles from falling out.
There are many, many pockets and pouches in this little organizer. The front face of the bag and that internal center divider feature shallow zipped pockets for long skinny things (like pens). Their shallow depth keeps them from impeding on the other pocket spaces. Two squared pockets sit behind the front of the bag, with an additional wide drop pocket sewn into the divider on that side. I have mu Macbook Pro power brick (the big boy) and cable here, along with some additional cables in that wide drop pocket.
The opposite side features a wider, deep pocket that would fit your phone or maybe a small e-reader or notebook, fronted with three pockets for smaller bits. I have a pocket knife in there for size reference, but these spaces would also be good for flat adaptors or slim cables.
You can see two more pockets peeking up from the divider on this side. They’re not as big as the pockets behind the front face which will fit my Macbook Pro power brick, but they’ll work for smaller iPhone power bricks and such. I have one of my adaptors in there for reference.
You also have the space between the center divider & pocketing to work with for smaller notebooks, your phone, a passport, or similar items.
Performance
As a tech organizer, this is a shockingly good design. I really didn’t expect to be as impressed by this bag as I have been using it in practice as an office companion.
I commute to shared office space these days, so I’m carrying everything on me when I set up shop at my desk. I keep this bag loaded with my adaptors, plugs, cables, instant coffee pouches, pens, mints, etc. I plunk it on my desk and it sits there throughout the day as my portable desk caddy.
Access is ridiculously easy to all parts of the bag, and the light grey interior makes it easy to see what I’m grabbing for.
The form factor is slick and holds a remarkable amount of stuff despite its relatively streamlined size. It is not a small bag at 9″ wide by 6″ tall by 2.75″ deep, so you’ll need to think about what you’re using as your primary bag to make sure you have room for it. But it does a nice job of organizing a lot of stuff in a smaller footprint relative to other similar products I have tested.
The grab handle is nice if you’re moving about. I could see this as a sweet carry-on item to stash your phone, e-reader, earbuds, and essential flight doodads if you don’t feel like lugging an extra personal item. It’s a shame they don’t make a strap for that sort of use, as this would be a lovely small sling.
The build is simply amazing. I expect no issues with durability here.
I also really like the design aesthetic. The pleated front face is not as pronounced as you’ll see on some of the other bags in the collection I’ll be reviewing, but I think it adds a little subtle character to the minimalist look.
What I like about AER Cable Kit 3
- Brilliant clamshell design allows easy access to all the contents while standing up on its own
- Outstanding construction quality
- Pocket geometry allows for a lot of storage in a deceptively small space
What needs to be improved?
- It’s a bigger organizer, so check your primary bag for space to carry this one
- Would love to see an option for an add-on strap for solo carry
Final thoughts
We’re starting off strong on the tour of the AER Tech Collection with the AER Cable Kit 3. I have no history with AER or the the previous iterations of this bag, but I am really impressed with the quality and design of this little workhorse. It’s also a great deal at $59.00. Highly recommended if you need to organize a bunch of your tech bits in an easily accessible way that sits apart from your primary bag.
Price: $59.00
Where to buy: Get it at the AER web site!
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by AER. AER did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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I see that Lamy Safari there Bob. Well done good sir.
It’s my favorite pen. I bought that thing 5 years ago. I’ve traveled everywhere with it and done no maintenance other than changing the cartridges (occasionally wiping down the nib) and it’s still going strong. Just remarkable.