Questions about Aeronaut

[gmich]

I was hoping to get some feedback from some of you who have been using the Aeronaut for awhile. The one I ordered arrived today and it's an awesome bag. The styling, amount of space, and ease of carrying are all just what I was looking for. However, I'm wondering about two things. First, does anybody out there use the Aeronaut with a Brain Cell inside? If so, does it work well? My size 6 vertical Brain Cell fits no problem, but I'm worried it might get bumped around more since the the bag can be carried multiple ways. The other thing I'm concerned about is possible wear on the fabric of the bag. Since the bag really has no true "bottom" with a different kind of material, it seems like the side(s) that end up hitting the pavement repeatedly might get scuffed up pretty badly. Anybody know if that's the case?

Like I said -- I love the bag. I just wanted to check on these two things before deciding it's definitely a keeper.

Thanks.
Greg

[Darcy]

Tom used an Archetype tucked inside of the main compartment of the Aeronaut to protect his 12" Powerbook on his trip last year to Quebec. He made sure that he packed clothes around the Archetype to keep it from moving around inside of the Aeronaut.

The Aeronaut is made out of ballistic nylon. Ballistic nylon was originally developed for flak jackets/bullet-proof vests and is often used for motorcycle clothing/equipment. It's extremely tear and abrasion resistant.

Today one will see more and more bags made out of supposed "ballistic nylon" that seem to show signs of wear after just a couple of months of typical use. That is because those bags use a very cheap version of ballistic nylon made overseas.

We use U.S. made ballistic nylon -- the same fabric that is manufactured for the U.S. military. We've been sent samples of the ballistic nylon that is manufactured overseas, and in our tests, the cheaper stuff failed almost immediately while the more expensive, U.S. made fabric held up very well.

Anyway... I have been using an Aeronaut ever since it debuted almost three years ago and there's no sign of wear as far as I can tell.

[gmich]

Thanks, Darcy, for getting back to me so quickly. I'm headed to Maine (from Chicago) tomorrow for a few days, so I'll be putting the Aeronaut to good use. I'll let you know how it goes.

Greg