From all of us at Tom Bihn to all of you, have a great 4th of July weekend.
Note: The Tom Bihn Customer Service Center, Internet Shipping Center, and Seattle Factory Showroom will be closed on July 4th. No orders will be shipped or delivered that day.
And just for the fun of it, here’s a cute picture of Riley:
Back in March, we gave you, our customers, a sneak peak and a few hints about the upcoming small messenger-style bag named the Imago that Tom was designing. You asked us questions. We gave you vague answers. We asked you what colors you’d like to see the Imago in. You told us. We liked the colors you picked and selected at least four Imago color combinations based on your color ideas. And our factory went to work on what I think is my favorite Tom Bihn bag ever.
The Imago is now available for order on our site and is in-stock and ships immediately. If you order the Imago before 2:00pm Pacific time today, it will ship out today. If you order the Imago after 2:00pm, it will ship tomorrow.
I’ve been using an Imago for about two weeks and it’s all I want to carry. It’s the perfect size (not too big, not too small) and I have plenty of pockets for my keys, wallet, checkbook, notebook, etc. On both sides of the Imago are small pockets lined with Ultrasuede(r) and closed by #8 YKK “splash-proof” Uretech(r) zippers. These pockets are where I put my cell phone (great for fast, easy access), and iPod or sunglasses. I don’t have to worry about my iPod or sunglasses being scratched because of the Ultraseude lining, and the pockets are really easy to access. One of the reasons I like messenger bags is that you can flip them around to your front and reach into the pockets while you’re on the move, and both of these side pockets are perfect for that.
In the main compartment, I can fit a liter bottle of water, a light sweater or jacket, a standard sized book, a 5″ x 3″ x 3″ accessory bag, and a small lunch, with a little bit of room leftover just in case I pick up something along the way.
Check out the Imago and don’t forget to let us know what you think about it in our forums.
The Empire Builder briefcase is now in-stock in all colors: Black/Black/Steel, Black/Black/Deep Blue, Black/Steel/Steel, Black/Steel/Wasabi, Black/Steel/Crimson, Black/Crimson/Steel, and Black/Crimson/Crimson.
If you’re wondering why the Empire Builder consistently sells out only weeks after it becomes available, check out some of these recent reviews.
The Empire Builder: Named #8 Coolest Laptop Bag by Product Dose
Slacker Manager: Bombproof Bags
MacTeens
The Daily Gadget
Burney’s Gadgets for Legal Pros
Customer Review
The Buzz was one of a few products that Rainy Day Magazine took on their recent urban hike. What were their initial impressions? Check out the review.
Image from Rainy Day Magazine
The Size 4X Horizontal Soft Cell, designed speficially for the 15.4″ MacBook, is in-stock and ready to ship.
A padded sleeve for your laptop, the Soft Cell is designed to protect your laptop against scrapes and scratches. It is available in seven vertical sizes and four horizontal sizes to fit a wide range of laptops.
MacDailyNews recently reviewed the Smart Alec backpack. What did they think? Here’s an excerpt:
“The first thing you’ll notice about the Smart Alec is the lack of pockets, zippers, netting, straps and other assorted junk that seems designed to catch on things under airline seats and just about anywhere else. The Smart Alec’s designers seem to have spent a lot of time with and thinking about the backpack and how it would actually be used by people. One doesn’t need 57 pockets and zippers tacked on everywhere if the pockets and zippers provided are correct already (Bihn does offer other, more traditional bags and backpacks. Please see link below). It’s minimalist design with maximum usability – like the Mac.”
And:
“I tried Bihn’s Soft Cell ($30) soft-sided sleeve and also the hard-sided Monolith ($45) inside the Smart Alec. Both are vertically-oriented, so you can slip your MacBook in and out of your backpack without having to take the sleeve out of your backpack as you would have to do with a horizontal sleeve. Even though I consider both sleeves to be overpriced by about $10, I quickly chose the Monolith because I felt it offers more protection (even though my PowerBook was no worse for the wear using a sleeve very similar to the Soft Cell for years), has a convenient handle on the top, and also secures to the Smart Alec’s interior with a clip system. Either sleeve will work well.”
My thoughts: It’s true that our bags cost more than most bags out there. Why is that? We use the best quality materials possible, and we make our products in our own factory in Seattle, Washington. Making our products in our own factory ensures that our employees are treated well and our products are made right. It does cost a little bit more, but I think it’s worth it.
What do you think? Post in our forums.
The Size 6 Horizontal Soft Cell, designed speficially for the 13″ MacBook, is in-stock and ready to ship.
A padded sleeve for your laptop, the Soft Cell is designed to protect your laptop against scrapes and scratches. It features an exterior made of durable 500 Denier Cordura and an interior of super-soft brushed nylon. The Soft Cell protects your laptop with little bulk added and is ideal for those who don’t want their laptop case to make their loads heavier or take up a lot of space.
You’ve asked for them, and here they are — new, improved pictures of the Freudian Slip.
The Freudian Slip is made to fit inside either the Brain Bag, the Smart Alec, or your current daypack. One side has organizer pockets for your pens, PDA, cell phone, or any small electronics. The other keeps your files and folders neat and protected. It provides otal organization.
We’ll be adding more new pictures of our bags every other week, so stay tuned.
XtremeComputing recently reviewed a number of Tom Bihn bags, including the Brain Bag, the Monolith, the Soft Cell, the Freudian Slip, the Snake Charmer, and Organizer Pouches.
The review has tons of amazingly detailed pictures and as many interior shots of the bags as you could want. It’s an excellent way to show how these bags work together.
They also put the Monolith to a serious test:
“Here at Xtreme we decided to go one further and do the bag of sugar drop test. Sound weird well let me explain, take a sugar bag its filled quite tight with 1kg gram of sugar, the average weight of laptop is about 7lbs, so that’s 3 bags of sugar we will use, these will be taped together and placed in the base of the bags laptop compartment. We will then drop the bag from 6ft, sound a bit unorthodox doesn’t it? Well if the bag does its job the sugar bags should come out the same with no indentations, if it doesn’t protect it there will be indents in the sugar bag. We will do this until we don’t find a dent in the sugar bag and then tell you the safe height. A bit of a strange way to test, but rather the sugar than my £500/$799 laptop wouldn’t you agree?”
How did the Monolith do in the XtremeComputing drop test? Read the full review to find out. (Hint: We rock. Or at least the Monolith laptop case does.)
More links:
The Aeronaunt (our new maximum carry-on bag that you asked us for), has been selected by the readers of RainyDayMagazine to be RainyDayMagazine’s “Featured Review” of the week. The Aeronaut was selected by readers from over 100 different products reviewed by RainyDayMagazine.
If you haven’t yet read RainyDayMagazine’s review of the Aeronaut, now is your chance. It’s worth checking out for the pictures alone — they do a great job of showing off the features of this bag and what makes it so cool.
