Still working towards best Laptop carry/padding solution in S25 - thoughts?

[ontheuptick]

Hello all!

Absolutely love my Synapse 25. My one problem is, I can't quite get the padding situation the way I want it for my laptop sleeve. A few of my general thoughts:

• While yes the Cache system looks smooth, in practice I didn't find it to work the best. 1 - I have work documents and stuff that fits against the back of the bag, so to be pulling the cache in and out wasn't great with all the other stuff stacked on top of it. 2 - I don't feel the need to have tons of padding, and the extra step of zipping in and out my laptop each time was more of a pain than it was worth. So I don't really want a laptop sleeve that I zip it in and out of.

• The interior pocket facing towards the front of the bag I find is the perfect spot for my laptop. I can easily slide it in and out. But then the question is - is the bottom padded sufficiently?

So, many months ago I searched the forum and got some good recommendations. One person recommended getting a bunch of straws, taped together, and place them at the bottom of the bag. I found that my laptop ended up working its way past these and hitting the bottom of the bag.

Secondly, someone recommended getting a "Camping Pad" from Walmart, and cutting a piece to fit, and duct taping it inside of the bag. Here's a picture of the Camping Pad

I went about this, and find that the duct tape doesn't hold perfectly well against the Halcyon Fabric. Here's a picture of the inside of my bag with the pad at the bottom.

The pad and tape adjusted and half of the duct tape came off. I'm debating whether to cut a bigger piece of the pad so that when it adjusts it will still wrap around more. Or, can you think of another way to attach it to the inside of this pocket?

So, for those like me who don't want to use a cache with rails system and like to slide the laptop right into the internal pocket, what do you do for protection?

[pvn]

I don't have the S25 but I've used Waterfield sleeves for similar uses in the brainbag (I have the older BB with the annex clip loops but I'm not a huge fan of the cache rails anyway), LCB and makers bag. I have the vertical cache but the WF sleeve is a little nicer for cases where I want to just slip the sleeve out and walk around with it (it has a velcro closure that can fold away if I don't need it and it has a slash pocket for papers or small cables).

[rogsim]

There's not going to be an elegant/neat solution to this. The S25 interior pocket isn't sufficiently padded or have a false bottom to protect a unsleeved laptop. Unless you're pile-driving the backpack into the ground like an angry wrestler, I don't see how something like a well padded neoprene (or similar) sleeve isn't sufficient enough if you always have your backpack with you. Exactly how much padding do you think you'll sufficiently need?

[ontheuptick]

Exactly how much padding do you think you'll sufficiently need?

Not much at all. For a while I was using it with no padding, but then decided it would be better to be safe and have a little padding in the bottom section. The camping pad (about a half inch thick, maybe 3/4") seems like the perfect solution. I just don't know how to fasten it. Obviously other solutions welcome too though

[aedifica]

What about sticking your Cache in that pocket and leaving the top of the Cache unzipped, so you can slide your laptop in and out of it easily?

[ontheuptick]

What about sticking your Cache in that pocket and leaving the top of the Cache unzipped, so you can slide your laptop in and out of it easily?

The cache that I tested out I don't have any longer. But, to your point, getting either a cache or a cheaper Amazon alternative is a consideration. I would just want one that could be left unzipped. The cache at $45 seems a little rich for that purpose without using the rail system, etc.

[Passagare]

I have a BB, a monstrous 15" Dell laptop, and no cache. On a recent work trip, I used a rolled up pair of jeans/pants on the bottom of the back BB compartment as the "bottom" padding for the cache-less laptop. It was a nice hack and gave me a spot to store my spare jeans as I traveled halfway around the world.

[TheLibrarian]

If you don't mind it not being removable, I would just sew it in. You'll need a longer needle to get through the padding and maybe a nylon thread for strength (or maybe elastic thread for stretchability/movement?), but either shouldn't be too hard to find.

To sew it just to the lining for the front portion a curved needle would be helpful as it would make it easier to sew JUST to the lining. I'd suggest making sure you're only sewing to one layer, that way they can shift independently without stressing the stitches.

My S25 is still packed (just got home last night, yay!) and I can't remember exactly how the front of the pocket lays but if you want I can look later and see if I can think up better suggestions for directions. (I'm also still half asleep, so maybe I'm making less sense than I think I am, lol.)

Note, this may void the fabric warranty but you can check with TB on that (also why I recommend a thin needle and only sewing through a single layer).

[agland]

A yoga mat? What? Get this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

in whatever model fits your laptop. It gives more than enough protection and the vertical sleeve means it's easy to slip in, slip out.

If they have one that fits your laptop, 'tomtoc' (sourced from here: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/be...sleeves-cases/) has a pretty neat one that converts for use as a mini-briefcase. I had envisioned using one as a laptop sleeve while in my S25, but flipping it over to briefcase use when at my destination (for work travel)

[rbc3585]

Eagle Creek and Sea to Summit used to make lightweight, relatively inexpensive vertical padded laptop sleeves. A quick google search seems to suggest they're no longer widely available, but if you can find one that might be a good solution. Both sleeves do have zippers, but you can keep them permanently unzipped.