If the Brain Cell came in only two colors...

[backpack]

I voted Sapphire because I love Blue and it is an easy color to match.

I think Steel is an outstanding business color, not as stuffy as black and very elegant.

I have a Monolith (Brain Cell older version ) in Steel and it is gorgeous and professional looking .

[leon]

crimson is one of the most effective ballistic nylon colors.

Would you please expand on this for me? Something I might not be considering, effectiveness varying by color.

Also, I thought it was a cordura exterior- that's crimson nylon?! Awesome.

[moriond]

Bet you saw a surge in other crimson purchases to go with [the introduction of the Aeronaut), since the crimson is one of the most effective ballistic nylon colors.

Would you please expand on this for me? Something I might not be considering, effectiveness varying by color.

Also, I thought it was a cordura exterior- that's crimson nylon?! Awesome.

Hi leon,

I agree with your statement that if there are only two colors (gack!), then one of them should be a neutral color.

If it's only two options, one almost has to be a neutral color. Black or Steel.

I actually checked crimson and steel for the two suggested colors. The comment about ballistic nylon is that there are overall fewer color options with these bags. If you check the forum discussions, you'll see some requests for this (and other ballistic nylon bags) in blue (for example), and other colors. The answer is usually that the Tom Bihn staff haven't found a good (blue or other suggested color) sample in ballistic nylon. The Aeronaut was originally offered in Crimson, Sage (very briefly), Kiwi, Steel, and Black, and sold out in the order: crimson, then sage and kiwi, then steel and black. Later, the kiwi sold out, and they substituted grape, and then located a sample of hunter green which they eventually introduced as a new color.

The point is, if you're choosing a color in ballistic nylon for a bag like the Aeronaut, you can't just say "I'd like sapphire or cocoa" because those aren't options, and even if you like purple colors, and would be willing to consider plum (in cordura), you might not find the grape (in ballistic nylon) as acceptable. So your color choices are modulated by your response to these color variations. (In the interests of full disclosure, I have a crimson Aeronaut, a sage Aeronaut breve, and a plum (Cordura) original buzz. My new (Cordura) buzz is sapphire. I'm not going to get into the colors of my other Bihn bags.) Maybe "effectiveness" was a poor choice to describe the colors. Anyway, I like wasabi more than kiwi, and plum a lot more than grape. In each case the first color is offered in cordura and the second is the closest corresponding color in ballistic nylon. Crimson comes across well in both ballistic nylon and cordura. Just my opinion.

Hold on though - the Brain Bag is in Cordura, and I think there should be some difference between sales of a certain color in Cordura vs. sales of the same color in Ballistic. The colors do look different in the different fabrics, after all.

Confess! You bought a crimson Aeronaut, didn't you? Just joking. The comment about ballistic nylon is that there are overall fewer color options with these bags. I don't disagree with your point that the "same" colors look different in ballistic nylon and cordura. But I was scanning over the color combination samples of different bags, with an eye to what would clash, and I noted that the Empire Builder had a lot of steel combinations. Plus many of the people who posted about that bag spoke of getting "conservative" colors, so I was suggesting steel would work (and also go with other bags that had a wider variety of colors).

Hope this explanation helps.

P.S. How many of the people who are suggesting black as one of the colors actually use black brain cells? I bought a black brain cell (discounted, dating from when they were changing over to the loops that could slip onto the clips in larger bags, instead of the old style snaps), and I never use or have bought a black brain cell since. If I need a neutral color I use steel.

[leon]

The answer is usually that the Tom Bihn staff haven't found a good (blue or other suggested color) sample in ballistic nylon.

Aah, didn't think about that. Certain colors just work better with different materials; might explain why crimson is leading the poll- wouldn't have otherwise expected that. So how do olive, black, and steel "work" in ballistic nylon in your opinion, considering this?

But I'm still unclear on whether the colored material of the brain cell is actually ballistic nylon or not.

[moriond]

Aah, didn't think about that. Certain colors just work better with different materials; might explain why crimson is leading the poll- wouldn't have otherwise expected that. So how do olive, black, and steel "work" in ballistic nylon in your opinion, considering this?

But I'm still unclear on whether the colored material of the brain cell is actually ballistic nylon or not.

Black and steel "work" fine in ballistic nylon, and there's nothing that corresponds to olive in the current ballistic nylon options. The brain cell colors (listed in the poll) are cordura. The point I was trying to make is that people choose the brain cell colors both to coordinate with other bags (and their colors) and to use by itself.

When you're talking about using bags where the colors are the ballistic nylon colors the coordinated colors restrict the range of good color matches. Sapphire is coming up as a popular cordura color, but if hunter green is increasing in popularity in ballistic nylon, how likely is it that someone who buys a hunter green bag will choose a sapphire brain cell? Maybe we just go back to assuming one color for the brain cell will be black, and having this as the poll for just one other color. In bags like the Empire Builder, if the brain cell is clipped in, I actually find that it's better to have a light or contrasting color to more easily find things in the interior. YMMV.

[Just]

Confess! You bought a crimson Aeronaut, didn't you? Just joking. The comment about ballistic nylon is that there are overall fewer color options with these bags. I don't disagree with your point that the "same" colors look different in ballistic nylon and cordura. But I was scanning over the color combination samples of different bags, with an eye to what would clash, and I noted that the Empire Builder had a lot of steel combinations. Plus many of the people who posted about that bag spoke of getting "conservative" colors, so I was suggesting steel would work (and also go with other bags that had a wider variety of colors).

Actually, I do confess to something else - I was thinking Brain Bag all this time when it was actually Brain Cell... but they're both in Cordura so my comments still applied (whew!) ;)

Ok - so if there's a lot of steel combinations on existing exterior bags, it wouldn't clash if the BC was offered only in steel and something else *ahemCrimson/Red* but it might not contrast enough for my taste - a steel BC would kinda get visually lost inside a exterior bag of the same color or with the same color lining IMO.

I like contrast. I don't like contrast that clashes (your Sapphire/Hunter Green example) but I'd definitely go with a Deep Blue BC inside my Black/Black/CrimsonRED *looks around in fear for dsg29* Zephyr... heh, or my Red Aeronaut Breve =) But on that note, I'd have to change my vote... I vote for Deep Blue and Crimson instead of Black and Crimson... because there's no contrast on the Black BC. And while no contrast on an exterior bag is okay, the BC should really have some contrast between the mesh and the bag =P

I notice that Deep Blue is not an option, but that Sapphire is, though... which gets a big "Huh?" from me. Does Sapphire=Deep Blue for purposes of this poll, or will Deep Blue get discontinued and replaced with Sapphire (which I think is brighter?)

Actually I think the way to do this would be to keep one "neutral" color (whether that be Steel or Black would be up for vote) and then offer two color choices besides that. Because there's always going to be people going for something conservative, and people that aren't - and those people won't agree on the same color, no way!

[leon]

The brain cell colors (listed in the poll) are cordura..

OK, thanks.

[Darcy]

I notice that Deep Blue is not an option, but that Sapphire is, though... which gets a big "Huh?" from me. Does Sapphire=Deep Blue for purposes of this poll, or will Deep Blue get discontinued and replaced with Sapphire (which I think is brighter?)

Sapphire has replaced Deep Blue: any new bags made by our factory in a 500 denier Cordura blue will be Sapphire.

[Darcy]

Black, Steel, and Crimson are the three colors that new batches of Brain Cells will be made in. A couple of sizes of Brain Cell will be available in Black only.

The third color (currently Crimson) may change periodically. Stay tuned for orange, or a different shade of red. Or maybe a blue sometime in the future.

[moriond]

Black, Steel, and Crimson are the three colors that new batches of Brain Cells will be made in. A couple of sizes of Brain Cell will be available in Black only.

Makes me glad I ordered some Brain Cells in Deep Blue and Wasabi after this thread was started and before these color selections vanished. I notice that your Brain Cell color selections for MacBook Pro laptops are already limited to Black, Steel, and Crimson.

[Darcy]

Makes me glad I ordered some Brain Cells in Deep Blue and Wasabi after this thread was started and before these color selections vanished. I notice that your Brain Cell color selections for MacBook Pro laptops are already limited to Black, Steel, and Crimson.

Deep Blue is gone forever, so the Brain Cells that you have in that color will be truly unique. We will continue to use Wasabi 500 denier Cordura, but just as a lining color for bags like the ID and Super Ego, among others.

[suamme1]

I'm glad I picked Crimson (even though I've already got one).

I must admit, being a member of the Wolfpack definitely helped sway me toward the red color...

[moriond]

Black, Steel, and Crimson are the three colors that new batches of Brain Cells will be made in. A couple of sizes of Brain Cell will be available in Black only.

Makes me glad I ordered some Brain Cells in Deep Blue and Wasabi after this thread was started and before these color selections vanished. I notice that your Brain Cell color selections for MacBook Pro laptops are already limited to Black, Steel, and Crimson.

The third color (currently Crimson) may change periodically. Stay tuned for orange, or a different shade of red. Or maybe a blue sometime in the future.

Hi,

I was just checking the Brain Cell web page, and I noticed that the new size 6T Brain Cell that was announced at the end of September, and that I ordered in Crimson at the end of October, is now completely sold out in Crimson. Since this was one of the first models to be fabricated under the new Draconian (smile) restricted color offerings of Crimson, Steel, and Black, I thought it was pretty interesting that this color was the first to go -- especially after all the time we spent agonizing over how there would only be 2 colors and black would have to be one of them, because that's what many people would insist on ordering. I'm curious as to the relative popularity of Black, Steel, and Crimson among the new orders. Any comments, Darcy?

moriond

[Darcy]

I'm curious as to the relative popularity of Black, Steel, and Crimson among the new orders. Any comments, Darcy?

Black and Steel remain the most popular two colors, but Crimson is right up there. The 6T will soon again be available in Crimson, but not for long: Cayenne is replacing Crimson for part of '08.

[kengreen]

It's RED. It's not Crimson. RED RED RED. Scarlet, if you like, but it's very much not crimson. And whatever you want to call it, it's my favorite Tom Bihn Color. Oh, the olive's good, too.

Agree with every fiber of my being...

My Brain Bag is Olive - and it looks great. My ID is black/red/steel and soon-to-be delivered Aeronaut is red. RED.

The Tom Bihn red is simply beautiful. It's a deep, powerful red... not too bright, not too dark. I describe it as "super-hero red."