New colours? ID Redesign?

[Darcy]

I'm glad I have my imago now. I love the colors- steel, blue, kiwi. I just use it as my regular daily bag- not for my laptop. It's perfect. I'd still like a smaller brain bag but I imagine that's not going to happen. I use mine for trips where I take my laptop but it's too big for a regular laptop bag. The features are perfect except for the size for a 5ft tall person.

A small Brain Bag is definitely in the works. Keep an eye out for it in late 2007.

I like the Steel/Kiwi/Blue Imago too. I think the Imago is a bag that we'll experiment with color-wise every batch. It's fun because we have Ballistic and Cordura colors to choose from for the exterior.

[Tom Bihn]

Also, can you share how the design decision is made whether certain bags are made with the toothed slide and others are made with D-rings for the shoulder strap. There is definitely a different look to each. I think both designs work well and look good. The D-rings give you the flexibility to use a strap with different bags. I can use the Absolute Shoulder Strap with my Aeronaut, with my vertical or horizontal Brain Cell, and with other bags that have D-rings.

Basically, D-rings are a good choice when you may or may not want to carry the bag with a strap. The Empire Builder, Aeronaut, Brain Cell etc. might be carried by a handle exclusively and never have a strap attached. The ID, Super Ego, & Imago are all designed to be shoulder bags and I assume always have a shoulder strap attached.
The toothed slide is a simple, light-weight-but-tough little buckle that we've used for some time on the Super Ego and the ID in a 2" size. It has only recently been made available in the 1-1/2" size which is compatable with the Absolute Strap. The toothed slide works because it, like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, has such big teeth. The rub is that when the teeth are exposed they catch on everything and are particularly fond of human flesh. The teeth would be exposed if you simply removed the shoulder strap from one of the above bags. Enough of the teeth are exposed on a 2" toothed slide when used with 1-1/2" webbing (Absolute Shoulder Strap) that we don't recommend that either.
You can still swap 1-1/2" straps, but you'll have assemble & disassemble the slide/snaphook parts when swapping between a bag that has snap hooks and one that has toothed slides.
We're working on another optional strap which will have a very long pad and a quick-adjust buckle - specially designed for cyclists.
Hope that helps!

[maverick]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for helping to provide clarification.

I was just thinking about trying to move the Absolute Shoulder strap onto my ID bag, but I am somewhat attached to my flesh : ).

Considering the nature of the teeth, it's probably best to dedicate a strap to bags that have the teeth, whichever strap you use.

We'll look forward to seeing the new strap design also.

Thanks again,
Maverick

[Joy]

Speaking of redesigns ... any chance that the side pockets of the Imago will be enlarged so they fit more MP3 players / PDA's, etc? Every review seems to mention that they are too small for many devices. Are the new ID pockets the same size as the ones on the Imago?

[Darcy]

Speaking of redesigns ... any chance that the side pockets of the Imago will be enlarged so they fit more MP3 players / PDA's, etc? Every review seems to mention that they are too small for many devices. Are the new ID pockets the same size as the ones on the Imago?

The pockets on my Imago will fit my (not all at the same time, of course) tubby 1st generation iPod, sunglasses, and my cell phone.

One review claimed that the pockets wouldn't fit an iPod, which is incorrect. They did end up changing that in the review, though.

Do any of you find that the Imago pockets are too small for the devices you use?

[Just]

The ultrasuede pockets on my Imago fit my cell phone and digital camera just fine :)

[Joy]

Do any of you find that the Imago pockets are too small for the devices you use?

I don't have one yet. :) I was just going by the various reviews I had read. It's nice to know that they are not as small as the reviews implied.

[renegadeot]

The pockets fit my nano and RAZR phone on the imago. It would be nice if there were larger lined pockets on some of the bigger bags for pda's, nintendo ds, cameras, etc.