The old and the new

[Fat Crip]

Well, in December we went off to our place in Spain with my steel/steel ballistic Aeronaut as we have one for over two years without any complaint. On our return, my wife took a snap of me on my scooter while we waited for our plane at Alicante Airport. As you'll see, I use the ruck sack straps to sling the bag on the back of my scooter (Pride Go-Go Elite Traveller Plus). It's out of the way, but if I want something out, I stand up and fold the seat forward. The Aeronaut then sits on the folded seat, can be opened and, when you're done, just lift the seat and you're good to go.

[Fat Crip]

But, my wife and I got the new steel 400d Dyneema Aeronaut and Tri-Star in time for our January trip. So the Aeronaut sits on the back of my scooter again, but now, instead of a checked in body-bag sized behemoth, the lovely little Tri-Star sits neatly between my feet. Again at Alicante, my wife took these snaps.

[Fat Crip]

Finally on the plane, space was at a premium! The Tri-Star slotted easily in to the overhead bin, but sadly, it was too busy to grab a snap. Actually the Aeronaut would have fitted in to the same bin twice over, but the Tri-Star was removed by the hostie and shoved in to a tiny gap in the bin opposite so that a hunk of blow moulded Samsonite wheely bag could take it's place - one bag where three could have gone! They then proceeded to take about 10 late arrivals' wheely monstrosities to the hold. What happened to the Aeronaut I here you ask? Off to the hold? No chance! It fits easily under the seat. And the 400d Dyneema lets it slide in and out with ease. If we'd been nice, the Tri-Star could have gone under the chair too, but I couldn't see any of the other bags sitting in the space it was in.

Sorry this picture is so poor, but it's the best I got and it does make the point!

[jeffmac]

Hey Eric, i am thinking about making the jump to a Dyneema travel bag over my Cordura Tri-star...

Any regrets?

[julawils]

And I'm thinking about getting a Steel Dyneema Tri-Star now... It's professional enough for meetings and I love seeing it in action.

[Fat Crip]

Hey Eric, i am thinking about making the jump to a Dyneema travel bag over my Cordura Tri-star...

Any regrets?

None. The "old" Aeronaut isn't going out yet! We'll use all three when my son or daughter are with us too. The problem now is going to be choosing which one to use when I'm on my own! Actually, the answer is probably the Tri-Star... the minute Heather saw it, it was her's and I didn't get a look in. For business travel, I reckon it'll be great.

[Fat Crip]

So, after the plane, the taxi and look what was in the Tri-Star's front pocket?

[lotuseater]

I think I'm coming around to the idea of a steel Dyneema Tri-Star for business travel. Question for you, Eric - in the pic where the Tri-Star standing up on its end, it seems slightly underpacked. Did you use anything like Eagle Creek Pack-It folders to help it keep its shape, or is that just how the bag stands up?

[Fat Crip]

The Tri-Star keeps its shape whatever you do, except that it flattens itself down a bit, concertina style. That being said it had a TB large Tri-Star packing cube in the back, a 13" MacBook Pro in a Crumpler Gimp neoprene pouch in the middle, a MCB in the larger front section and a PCSB in the smaller section. Each was only part full as we've just come home 9 days for a few work commitments and we're going back to Spain a week today. To be honest we could probably have managed with just one bag between us as we've left a lot of stuff out there.

[lotuseater]

Sounds like the MBP was what gave the Tri-Star so much of its structure. As for partially full - I could never be accused of leaving any space in my crimson Tri-Star. It would always bulge around the midriff, rather like its owner. That's why I forced myself to downsize to the Western Flyer. However my new boss has hinted that international travel will become a reality within a couple of months, and so I'm considering the volume capacity without the weight in the dyneema Tri-Star.

[Fat Crip]

Sounds like the MBP was what gave the Tri-Star so much of its structure. As for partially full - I could never be accused of leaving any space in my crimson Tri-Star. It would always bulge around the midriff, rather like its owner. That's why I forced myself to downsize to the Western Flyer. However my new boss has hinted that international travel will become a reality within a couple of months, and so I'm considering the volume capacity without the weight in the dyneema Tri-Star.

No, I don't think so. The MCB wasn't in the Tri-Star for any of the pics. I have some thoughts on packing the TS though. When Heather first packed it, it was both barrel shaped and the middle pocket was almost unusable. It took a little thought to sort it out. First I took the PCSB out of the front and unpacked it. I re packed it, taking care to ensure that it was rectilinear, and put it back in. The large Packing Cube came out next and was re packed, this time aiming to make it thinner in the middle and thicker at the edges - in reality this usually fails, but does end up with it being uniformly flat. I put it back in and strapped it down tight, before doing up the zip. Result? Well, still as barrel shaped as ever! Why? The tie down straps! They are fixed to the top and bottom of the bag, pull them tight and you're pulling bottom to top creating the barrel! I loosened them off et voila, a rectilinear bag. I left them done up loosely just in case of a zip failure and all was well. The bag looked great and the middle pocket went back to being as capacious as ever! In went some rolled up socks along the bottom topped with my 13" Mac Book Pro and a carefully packed MCB containing Heather's iPad and both our kindles (they want all these out now, went in the larger front pocket).

[lotuseater]

No, I don't think so. The MCB wasn't in the Tri-Star for any of the pics.

That serves me right, using too many acronyms. What I was attempting to suggest was the 13" MacBook Pro ("MBP") was what gave the most structure to your Tri-Star, as it was the one non-squishy item in the bag. Having other packing cubes etc in the outer compartments helped, but were secondary.

Well, still as barrel shaped as ever! Why? The tie down straps! They are fixed to the top and bottom of the bag, pull them tight and you're pulling bottom to top creating the barrel! I loosened them off et voila, a rectilinear bag.

I must have packed my Tri-Star over a hundred times, and never once did I think that the tie-downs could be the cause of its unsightly bulge in the midriff. The Western Flyer doesn't have tie-downs, and even when I've overloaded it, it still seems more streamlined. Hmm, you have me thinking. I'll have to try your suggestion when I'm home again. I just flew in on a regional jet to San Jose, CA this morning. It was a great feeling of satisfaction walking off with my WF and Cadet, seeing 2/3 of the plane waiting in the jetway for their rollaboards to be returned to them.

[Fat Crip]

Again, I don't think so. The 13" MacBook is too small for that. I really think that the secret is to pack everything in to brick shapes, without letting the blocks bulge in the middle I.e. bundle packing is out! When we first packed it, you could barely get the MacBook in as both the front and the back bowed in too much. Once they were right, the middle pocket sits open and that was it pretty crammed full on our outward leg - with the computer, iPad, etc. it weighed in at12.5Kg!

I am certain as well that the tie down straps encourage the bulge - next time you pack think about it and experiment. They pull the top and the base together. As that happens the volume between can only go out sideways and that's exactly the opposite of what you want. I worked this out by trying it for myself.

As it happens I'm not wild about the ones into Aeronaut either. Because of the shape of the Aeronaut relative to the dimensions of the luggage tester you need to keep the bag to 20cm rather than its 'natural' 23cm plus. It can be as wide as it likes, but the straps tend to again make everything more barrel shaped. I think that well packed cubes work much better even though I've only used them for one trip.

[lotuseater]

Again, I don't think so. The 13" MacBook is too small for that.

Now I follow. I misinterpreted that part of your previous reply.

I really think that the secret is to pack everything in to brick shapes, without letting the blocks bulge in the middle I.e. bundle packing is out!

The holy grail of packing?! Experimentation time next weekend.