A revealing post from a baggage handler, Confessions of an Airline Baggage “Thrower,” appeared on Huffington Post yesterday (12/16/11); an excerpt:

I’m not going to lie, your checked luggage takes a beating. They call it “throwing bags” for a reason. There isn’t an easy way around this. Airplanes only make money while in the air, and no airline wants an airplane on the ground too long. Due to the nature of some aircraft, it would be impossible to turn around a 737 or 757 in an hour or less without throwing bags because it’s just faster. On these planes, there are only two long and narrow cargo holds where your luggage goes.

Of particular note to travelers is his recommendation for the type of bag that’s least frequently damaged:

Cheap bags that you buy at the discount store break very easily. If your handle is sewn on or is very flimsy, it’s probably going to break. If you travel a lot or pack heavy, make sure you buy a quality, durable bag. Hard-sided suitcases will get less damage, but also look for well-designed handles that are attached with rivets and some sort of protection around the wheels. Speaking of wheels, the best bags to get are the “spinners” with four wheels on the bottom. We like these because we don’t have to throw them when loading. We just roll them down the belly of the plane so your bag and its contents will suffer much less damage.

I’m not sure I’m ready for a spinner, but this could definitely make me give it consideration.

If you’d like to read the entire article, see it here:  Confessions of an Airline Baggage “Thrower”: Why You Should Buy a Four Wheeler Suitcase

The Highs: Thoughtful design; impeccable quality;  TSA checkpoint friendly;  a 320 pound bodyguard couldn’t provide your laptop more protection

 The Lows: Quality ain’t cheap, son

 The Verdict: A dual purpose laptop bag for the new millennium

In the ancient history of the 1980′s, the contents of my daily bag looked a lot different than they do today.  Back then, I’d have a slew of folders and papers, and on occasion, a three ring binder. Today, it’s basically my MacBook Air, a digital camera, perhaps a few random papers, plus a lot of small essentials – ear buds, a couple of Field Notes books, a few pens, an iPod touch, and so forth.  If I need to bring “documents” home, they’re on a jump drive.  My daily bag has gone digital.

As such, my needs in terms of the bag itself have changed.  Twenty years ago, I used a conventional briefcase;  today, a small Timbuk2 messenger bag. 

I have two basic requirements for a daily bag:  I need something that works for both my daily commute and as a seatside bag or “personal item” on flights.  The T2 messenger bag does this well; the only downside is that I’m occasionally asked to remove my MacBook Air when everything goes through the magnetometer.

Entering the fray is a new contender from Tom Bihn, the Cadet.  What makes this bag unique is the fact that it’s checkpoint friendly by virtue of a clever slide-out laptop (or iPad) padded sleeve (or “Cadet Cache” in Bihnspeak); more on this later.

For now, the basics: the Cadet is a “minimalist briefcase” that’s available in two sizes: 15/13 for MacBook Pros and MacBooks, and 11/Air for the 11″ MacBook Air or an iPad. As is the norm with Bihn, both are available in a wide array of colors, and if you’re not going to use it with a laptop or iPad, there’s a “Cache delete” option which results in a $30 lower price. 

Tom Bihn Cadet Features & Specs

• Meets TSA guidelines for “checkpoint friendly” bags
• Exterior made of U.S. 1050 denier Ballistic nylon: this Ballistic has twice the abrasion resistance of 1680 denier fabric
• Lined with ultra-light yet super-tough Dyeema/nylon ripstop. Made in Japan
• .25″ / 8mm closed cell foam on the front, back and bottom
• YKK Uretech® splash-proof zippers on main compartment (#10) and exterior pockets (#8)
• Overall dimensions:
  15/13 Cadet: 16.25 x 12.5 x 4.5″ / 410 x 320 x 115mm
  11/iPad Cadet: 13.5 x 10.5 x 4.5″ / 345 x 270 x 115mm
• Features a dual-function “roll-aboard” sleeve/magazine pocket on the back
• Weight:  1.4 to 2 pounds
• Made in the US

A photo tour

The Tom Bihn Cadet is clearly the product of a crazed subset of the species that is hellbent on producing bags that are cleverly designed and ridiculously well made.  The thing is gorgeous.

It features 3 compartments. Up front, there’s an Ultraseude® lined valuables pocket, perfect for your wristwatch or smartphone:

In the middle, a Dyneema lined pocket with a few pen slots and a couple of compartments for a power supply, your passport, a travel mouse, and perhaps your digital camera.  A couple of O Rings are available for the (included) key retainer and if you wish, other Bihn pouches.  By the way, the model pictured here is the 11/Air version.

Finally, the laptop sleeve or “Cadet Cache” resides in the main compartment. In this image, we’re looking from the rear of the bag, and as you can see, there’s a divider panel toward the front of the compartment (for a few papers, or perhaps a manila folder).

The sleeve (or ‘Cache’) is made of 1/4″ thick foam padding laminated with an exterior of black 4-ply Taslan and interior of brushed tricot. Whatever the materials, it clearly is going to protect your laptop well, particularly in concert with the closed cell foam padding built in to the front, back, and bottom surfaces of the bag itself.

The Cache is mounted to the bag via two of Bihn’s (removable) “Gatekeeper” clips which mount to, and slide on, two vertical pieces of webbing sewn into the back panel of the Cadet.  So what?  This is how the bag/cache combo is TSA checkpoint friendliness: when you get to the magic magnetometer moment, unzip the main compartment, and the sleeve/cache slides out so it can lay flat on the belt:

.
I found it helpful to grasp the bottom of the bag while sliding out the Cache.  Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it’s quite easy.

A few close-up shots

As I alluded to earlier, the build quality of the bag is stupendous.  It’s virtually impossible to find a loose thread, sewing error, or any sort of flaw in these bags.  The padded handles, incidentally, are quite comfortable:

YKK splashproof zippers are used throughout; the polymer hardware appears to be durable, and extensive use of my Bihn Tri-Star has proven it so.  Bihn has a few options with regard to shoulder straps, including the marvelous “Absolute” strap.

Below, a close-up of one of the Gatekeepers that allows the sleeve/Cache to slide in and out at TSA checkpoints:

Finally, another nice touch:  there’s a magazine sleeve on the back of the bag. Near its bottom, a zipper which when unzipped, enables you to slide the bag over the handle of a wheelie:

Finally, a side by side comparison of the 15/13 (L) and the 11/Air (photo courtesy of Tom Bihn):

The 11/Air is to my eye more of a man purse (similar in size to the Bihn Co-Pilot), than the 15/13, which is more obviously a laptop bag.  The two are priced identically, which begs the question of whether iPad or MacBook Air users might want to opt for the larger bag in order to take advantage of its greater capacity. Whether that makes sense in actual practice,  I can’t say, as I haven’t used the larger Cadet.  It’s worth consideration, though, and perhaps a call to Bihn’s Customer Service folks.

Wrapping up

What’s clear is that the Cadet definitely works as a modern, digital briefcase, and certainly meets the requirements of a seatside bag, given its capacity and checkpoint friendly design.  If you’re constantly lugging about a lot of papers and hard copy documents, this isn’t the bag for you.  But if you need to carry a laptop and a few other essentials to work and on the road, definitely check it out.

You can see it here: Tom Bihn Cadet.  $170.  $140 w/o the Cadet Cache/sleeve.

Made in Seattle, Washington, USA. Lifetime Guarantee, 60 Day Return Policy. 

Can hipster messenger bag firm Timbuk2 challenge Eagle Creek in the packing folder arena?  The company recently introduced a pair of folders, each of which features a zippered main compartment versus EC’s four flap & velcro set up.  The T2 packing folders also have a separate compartment for storing the packing template, further differentiating its folders from those of Eagle Creek.

The T2 “OCD” (I can relate!) Folders are an interesting alternative to the Eagle Creek versions, but may be undone in the marketplace by their lofty prices.  The EC folders are usually available at hefty discounts: at present, eBags is selling the 15″ EC Pack-It for $17.25, and the 18″ model for $19.87; by comparison, the 14″ T2 OCD Folder is $35, and its larger sibling (17.3″) is $39.  When you consider that the Campmor Essential Carryon bag sells for less than $30, thirty five bucks for a packing folder may be a nosebleed inducing experience for some.

A no cost added bonus, however, is this wacky video from one of the merry pranksters at T2:

.

Features:

• A tidy, commute-friendly holder to keep work clothes wrinkle-free
• (M) size for daily commutes, (L) size for weekly commutes
• Zip up closure on both sides for easy access to your clothing.
• Fits easily into your your messenger bag or backpack.
• Fine weave ballistic with the Timbuk2 color and durability you would expect.
• Available in two colors
• Imported

An additional concern I’d have is how much these folders weigh – with the extra slot and zippers, they no doubt weigh more than the EC versions, and adding weight is not something many travelers are looking to do.  T2 doesn’t provide weights on the OCD Folder page, incidentally.

See the Timbuk2 packing folders here:  OCD Packing Folders

Any size, color, or material. Offer good until 4am tomorrow (11/10/11) morning.  Use code fromzerotohero 

Rickshaw Bagworks

Practical Hacks review of the Medium Zero

The Highs: Reliable, compact, simple to use, 2 year warranty, less than $20

The Lows: Slight variations (~1-3 ounces) in readings

The Verdict: Solid product; highest rated luggage scale @ Amazon

This may be the first review of a luggage scale written by someone who heretofore regarded luggage scales as novelties. After all, I check luggage about as often as Senator Chuck Schumer walks by a TV camera without stopping. Which is to say, hardly ever.

But in a few weeks I’m heading off to Texas for a golf weekend with a couple of buddies, and last time I checked, United Airlines frowns on golf clubs as a carry on item.  Having recently switched from a (lightweight) stand bag to a (heavier) cart bag, I began wondering what the grand total poundage might be for the new bag, travel bag, and all my assorted crap, er, accessories. So I bought an EatSmart (their original business is bathroom scales) Precision Voyager digital scale, as it’s the highest rated luggage scale at Amazon and is only $19.95 (as an Amazon Prime member, 2nd day shipping is included).

Specs

• EatSmart’s proprietary two handed SmartGrip designed handle
• Compact & Lightweight Design
• Durable Strap & Easy Clip Buckle
• 2 Measurement Modes: Pounds / Kilograms
• Graduation: 0.1 lb / 0.1 kgs
• Max Weight: 110 pounds / 50 kilograms
• 20 second Auto-Turnoff
• Includes Lithium Battery

Simple design, simple to use

This YouTube video clocks in at 32 seconds, and covers the basics as to how the Precision Voyager scale works:

One thing worth noting: if your bag is close to the limit prescribed by your airline, you can bring your luggage scale along with you on the trip in order to make sure you haven’t exceeded the weight limit with purchases made during the trip. The scale itself weighs 5.3 oz or 150 g.

A photo tour

The Precision Voyager’s molded polymer handle is reasonably large and comfortable, and feels quite sturdy:

EatSmart recommends using two hands when using the scale, although you can certainly use one hand. I suspect they recommend two just from the standpoint of comfort when weighing heavier bags.

The readout is bright and legible; the “Unit” button enables measurements in pounds or kilograms. The unit is powered by a single CR2032 lithium battery. The On/Off button is not recessed, so if you do take it along on a trip, I’d take care with how the handle is oriented in order to avoid it accidentally powering on in your bag (it does feature a 20 second automatic shut-off). Obsessive-compulsives can pull the battery, I suppose.

Accuracy & other miscellania

The Precision Voyager provides consistent readings. I’ve weighed a number of items several times, ranging from ~5 to 30 pounds, and the variation in readings is usually in the +/- .1 to .2 pounds range (~1½ to 3 ounces). The lighter the object is, the narrower the range.

Cross checking the Precision Voyager’s measurements with a digital bathroom scale revealed that it’s accurate, again within an ounce or so. If you’re cutting things that close, prepare to be hit with baggage fees.

As for my golf bag, I discovered that it weighs about 28 pounds. United’s limit is 50 pounds, so I should be well under the limit; it’s nice knowing that I won’t be at risk of incurring extra fees.

Availability

The EatSmart Precision Voyager is available from Amazon: EatSmart Precision Voyager

$19.95; 2 year warranty