This’ll be quick – I’m on a ten minute break during a meeting in Chicago.
No question the new MLC represents a bipolar sort of “upgrade.” The backpack straps are great and the bag is handsome. The elimination of the additional (“3-1-1″) pocket was a boneheaded decision, and the small zipper and reduced features on the remaining front pocket are a big step backward. I jury rigged a keytainer – will take a shot of it when I’m home.
The cavernous “laptop sleeve” – which is actually a large padded compartment – poses problems when you have a couple of items in it. For the first time in decades I had to lug along a small LCD projector as well as my laptop. In the backpack mode, both slumped to the bottom of the laptop compartment. Bihn-style clips for securing a true laptop sleeve would be great.
I like the bag ok, but if I were presented a choice between this version and the prior version, it’d be no contest – I’d definitely pick the old one.
I”ll be on a regional jet on my return home – we’ll see if there are any issues, although I don’t anticipate any.
10.15 Edit: How I addressed the lack of a key tab or retainer – I shoved the male end of a braided cable through the mesh pocket and hooked a Bihn key tab on it. Inelegant, but it worked just fine.
I used the Eagle Creek Pack-It on this trip to pack a couple of oxford dress shirts, and it worked surprisingly (to me) well. I’ll have to do a full test and review – this could change how I pack, particularly for longer business trips…
October 15th, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Kevin, exactly my thinking. The old one is preferable and I haven’t even used any of them. Unfortunately, it looks like the old one is completely gone from the market. I did a search yesterday just for kicks. So if you have one, hang on to it.
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Michael W. Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Ha ha Till, you are like me, you finally decide on a product after it’s been discontinued.
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Kevin Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 5:59 PM
Till:
see this on eBay: http://is.gd/4lrom (Unless the seller used an old photo, this is the last gen model.) I gave mine to one of my sons, and now regret it.
The new version has no charm, less utility than its predecessor, a goofy laptop compartment, but very nice backpack straps. It’s one of those bags that will immediately go to the back of my bag closet. Too bad.
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October 15th, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Well I started trial packing my new edition (same as yours)MLC for my trip to Thailand in January, which provoked peals of laughter and sly derision from my wife, who packs the night before any trip. The sacrifices we brave experimenters have to make in the name of packing science.
This next trip, since I have to check a bag through anyway, I am trying to cut down from two carry-on bags to one. In the past I had to use a second carry-on under the guise of “personal item” to evade the Draconian 15 pound carry-on weight limit.
This next time I am going to pack my “seat side” items in an ultra light, relatively small, “peak bag” or day pack, the Marmot Kompressor:
http://marmot.com/fall_2009/eq.....kompressor
So except for the weigh point at the ticket counter, this Kompressor “seat side” bag will transit inside the MLC. When I get on the plane it will come out and get stowed underseat until I need its various contents (water, snacks, toothbrush, eyeshades, neck pillow), then get re-stowed in the MLC an hour or two before I arrive in Taiwan. When I get to Bangok, it will be a great relief to truly only have to deal with two bags – the MLC and my checked-through piece (a soft-sided, $35 RedOxx Small Aviator Duffle) when I arrive. That third piece is just not a good idea.
I chose this small pack over the REI Flash 18 I used as a destination bag last trip, and over other day packs I have like the Patagonia Lightweight Travel Pack, because the Kompressor’s height and width fit almost perfectly into the main compartment of the MLC and it is so light (10 ozs.) and non-bulky when empty (even the shoulder straps are refreshingly “flimsy”). The Flash 18 is too tall yet too narrow; the Paty Lightweight Pack is too big, a little heavier, a little more bulky. And oh yeah, the Kompressor has a handy zipper opening “lid” which will increase it’s value as a “destination” day pack – I missed that feature on the Flash18 when I took my last trip.
(At least all 3 of my current options would weigh a lot less than the 2-3 POUNDS a Gator, Lightwire Brief, or Metro would weigh, if I were to try to stuff them in the MLC.)
Originally I was going to stuff the Kompressor into the “dirty laundry” front slot of the MLC (the slot that has a thin panel separating it from the main compartment, that “steals” space from the main compartment, having no true depth of its own), and it will fit, but causes the front slot to bulge awkwardly. Instead I’ll just fit the Kompressor in the main compartment on the near side of the built-in divider, maybe with some Crocs on the same side to even out the thickness. I’ll save the “dirty laundry” slot for the arrival hall in Bangkok where I’m sure I’ll want to shed the last of my outerwear pieces and need a place to stow them.
Finally, my emergency/3-day supply of clothing (lightweight, thin travel pants, couple of tees, underwear & socks) will go in a Bihn “long” packing rectangle (or in an EC folding pouch if your upcoming review tilts me in that direction).
My desire to try reducing to a single carry-on bag was provoked by the other luggage thread, where one poster had a similar goal, albeit with a different destination piece (the RedOxx Metro iirc). He’s right. Life is too short without having to juggle two bags through the various jigsaw pieces that make up transcontinental flying these days.
This will probably be my last trip to SE Asia for a year. Next year my shorter vacations will be to Manhattan to visit my brother and maybe some car trips to Tahoe and SoCal to visit Disneyland and/or the Little Thailand district with its fine (authentic) Thai food. We’ll see how well what I’ve learned reading here and elsewhere plus my own experiments translate to other types of trips. The main issue, I suspect, is going to be dealing with the bulkier clothing requirements of flying to a colder clime (Manhattan in winter).
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October 15th, 2009 at 10:56 PM
Kevin, thanks for the link. You did see the price on that, did you? I am thinking seriously about the Eagle Industries Alpha for $80. That might be nice for a review, too.
Michael, if you mean the EC shirt folder, forget about it as a lightweight solution. The 18 incher is heavy. Almost a pound, IIRC. It is very much worth it if you pack dress shirts in it and wrap silk ties between the shirts. In my experience there is no better way to transport these items and have them arrive almost impeccable. It is also an excellent core for pants or even a suit to wrap around. Works great. In addition, it can give structure to an otherwise floppy bag. In all these uses it is highly practical.
I heard that it works just as well without the heavy baseboard. I figure if I use it and put the now “unboarded”, soft side against a stiff, flat surface of my bag, it should indeed work well and the weight would be cut almost in half. I will try that on my next trip and report back.
So, yes I’d definitely recommend one, if you have one of the above uses for it. If, otoh, you want to put some “ordinary”, non-fragile stuff in there, you are better off with a packing cube because it will weigh MUCH less; like 5-10 times less depending on the model.
Even an Alok-sak would be a great solution for your emergency clothes supply. It can be compacted almost as much as the EC compression bags and is lighter yet still sturdier than a ziploc and more waterproof than a packing cube. Esthetically inferior, though. Don’t know if that matters.
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Kevin Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Till: I did note the price. It’s the same as how the bag was priced on the Patagonia site.
Coincidentally enough, a brief post about the Pack-It 18 will appear tomorrow AM.
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Michael W. Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Thanks Till. It’s appealing to have a folding board but I don’t think I can justify the weight of the folding board vs. an ordinary cube or ginormous Ziploc when I am taking casual clothing and wrinkles are not mission critical. Now I’m going to go read the review Kevin just posted.
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October 15th, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Awesome for the Pack-it 18 review; right on. Feel free to copy my comments from this thread or I can do it, too. They might be more helpful for the readers in the new post. I will also share my impressions of the 15″ version in the new post’s comment section.
As for the Patagonia MLC price, I think Patagonia had them on sale for around $90 when they were trying to get rid of the old model about two months ago. Protravelgear had them on sale for $80 just two weeks ago.
Well, I can’t own every bag. :) And God knows I’ve got more than one could possible justify.
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October 16th, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Hey there’s a couple of things I’d like to say in the MLC’s defense – since I’ve fallen in love with it since it arrived last month:
1. It doesn’t look cheap. Yes it is smaller than the Rick Steves Classic Backdoor bag, but the Rick Steves bag DOES look cheap as you duly noted a long time ago.
Not looking cheap is vastly underated. At least by those of us who ARE cheap.
2. I don’t want another bag as big as the Rick Steves, which was truly “maximum legal carryon” sized.
3. Yes the laptop slot in the MLC is overkill of the worst sort. But the extra foam padding panel DOES add useful structure to the bag, and I swear I’ll find something to stow in there (not pizza, j/k). You ARE absolutely right that there should be an o-ring in there so we can clip a “hanging” netbook pouch in there so a netbook is easy to find and remove through security. Those are the details that smaller designers like Bihn nail, and that’s why they are in business and give designers like Patagonia fits.
4. I got my new edition BLACK (which never goes on sale at Patagonia) MLC for only $126 delivered by watching for specials on the internet. At $160 I’d rather pay extra and upgrade to a Bihn. At $126 I’ll gladly downgrade to an MLC, since for most travelers the functionality is reasonably comparable.
And yes, some details of last edition are better than the current MLC, but the backpack straps are most important to me and they make up for it. Also some of the features you like on the last edition MLC don’t exist on other bags either – the real comparison is to other current bags, not to Paty’s own last effort! (No more review samples for you!)
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Kevin Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 7:17 PM
MW:
1. Agree it doesn’t look cheap.
2. I like the size as well. It’s plenty large enough for 3-5+ day trips.
3. The laptop compartment is poorly executed, at best.
4. Agree.
As to your last point, this is de-evolution AFAIC. I think it’s fair to ask if this newest version is an improvement on the previous iteration. It’s not. And I imagine if we were to look carefully, we’d find a similarly equipped bag out there with some of the features the old MLC had.
The backpack straps on the old model were by no means horrible, BTW. They were quite serviceable.
Anyway, I like the bag alright, but wish I’d kept the last gen… of course my older son now has a nice bag!
kc
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October 31st, 2009 at 1:24 PM
You said you were taking it on a regional jet – how did that work out? I can’t get anywhere without taking a CRJ 200. Any chance the MLC could be squashed into an overhead on one, or would it be smarter to just gate check it?
Other than that it looks like it might be a reasonable choice for me.
Marion
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Kevin Reply:
October 31st, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Marion, it fits beneath the seat on any CRJ just fine, and on regional jets with overheads, it will definitely fit in the overhead. Gate checking is always an option, but why bother? I’ve even traveled with it on a Beech 1900, and it fit beneath the seat on that!
If you are looking for a lighter duty bag, you might want to check out the Outdoor Products Essential Carry-on. It’s not as robust as the MLC and lacks the brand name, but on the other hand, it’s $32.99 at Campmor: http://is.gd/4JstG
If you want to learn more about the bag, check out reader Berg’s video comparison of the Outdoor Essentials bag and the Osprey Porter 46 at 1bag1world: http://is.gd/4JsD9
Hope this is of help, and let us know how you make out. Thanks for commenting!
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Michael W. Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:52 PM
How robust is the $32.99 (is that a misprint?) Essential Carry-on compared to the $79 or so Rick Steves Classic Convertible? I presume it doesn’t scream “cheap” or you wouldn’t even recommend it….
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Kevin Reply:
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Ha. No misprint. I would say it’s roughly comparable to the Steves bag, although the Classic does come with a few extras that this bag lacks. No one will mistake it for a Red Oxx clone, but at the price, it’s a very solid value. I’ll review it here within the next couple of days.