Synik 30 question about colors

[largefarva]

I'm curious if anyone has the blue Synik 30 (Constellation 525 ballistic), and their opinion on the color itself. On the website it appears to be a rather bright blue, but websites can always be deceiving. I would prefer the darker blue that is available on the Synapse 25, but unfortunately it's not available on the Synik.

I'm looking at getting a Synik 30 here in the very near future, and can't decide between this blue color or the darker brown color (Ursa 525 ballistic). So just looking for the opinions of people who have these colors. Any info that can be shared would be appreciated. Thanks.

[G42]

Welcome to the Forums largefarva!

I have a swatch of the Constellation fabric... it is appears to me to be like a French Blue.
The Deep Blue colour you see on the Synapse is much darker/deeper and very close to Navy

In normal times, Customer Service will mail you a free fabric swatch if you'd like... there may be delays now, but worth contacting them to ask for swatches of the colours that you're interested in.

[moriond]

Hi largefarva and welcome to the forums,

Both Constellation and Ursa are relatively new colors, so you will find most of the discussion about these colors, and any pictures of the Synik in these colors, occurs among folks who participated in the Guide's Edition Synik pre-orders. One of the slight difference to filter into these discussions compared to your selection is that the Guide's Edition version of the Synik uses Coyote trim and zippers instead of black, and a Coyote interior. I think that one of the factors behind the why there were not more orders of the GE Syniks in Constellation, was the knowledge that Constellation was going to be produced with a Solaris interior as one of the color options for the regular Syniks. (Solaris is a 200d Halcyon color that is close to Solar -- a popular yellow shade that people have been asking to be brought back for years).

In any case, here are a few excerpted quotes with comments and pictures about Constellation from people who ordered the Guide's Edition version of the Synik in that color.
RichardMcG, who ordered Syniks in both Ursa and Constellation, started a thread titled Guides Edition Mistake:

I just received my GE Synik 22 and 30. I ordered the 22 in Constellation and the 30 in Ursa. They are both beautiful. However, I just didn’t realize how much I was going to love Constellation. It is my favorite Bihn color yet. The pictures don’t do it justice. I wish I had reversed my color choices because the 30 is more likely to be my daily carry. Even so - they are both spectacular colors that I hope stay around for a while. Now if we could just get a few new amazing halcyon colors...

(You can read the remarks in the context of the parent thread either by clicking or tapping on the right arrow at the top of a quoted section or by clicking on the the thread link that I gave.)

The only picture of a (Guide's Edition) Synik in Constellation that I recall seeing is one of a GE Synik 22 posted (#2904, dated 03-27-2020) by abiartemis in the middle of the long Your Photos Are Needed thread.



I've excerpted the post picture, but if you visit the link to the post, you'll be able to see other pictures of GE Syniks (including in Ursa) as well as read a text description of the picture (which includes accessories in both Island and Constellation). Or, you can read the Constellation blue? thread, where this photo is also excerpted, and read the discussion about how Constellation differs from Island, with additional pics.

Also, to find more posts/pictures about the new 200d Halcyon colors that might be used as interiors for the Synik, check this post (#2202, dated 03-02-202) in the middle of the long Discussion of New Colors, New Designs thread, and scroll up to see some possible combinations with Sitka (not released yet), based on the fabric swatches of Wilderness and Ursa, and an old Sitka pouch.

To read an explanation of the currently offered Synik bag colors, as well as to get a view of the recent color combination offerings of the Syniks, see my post (#2267, dated 04-02-2020), replying to a query from GeetaJonsdottir about the (then) current listing of available and in production Synik 30 and Synik 22 colors. Scroll down to read her summary. My linked post includes the last few production batch listed color combinations.

HTH

moriond

[largefarva]

Thanks for those replies, much appreciated. The more and more I look at this color, and the other available colors I’m digging this Constellation blue. I also like the Wilderness green now. They’re both classic backpack colors...at least what I can remember growing up. I joined the Tom Bihn Facebook group this morning (in search of other pics of the colors) and have discovered that I’m not as big of a fan of Ursa as I originally thought. Part of that is my own fault because I usually tend to go for more earthy and darker colors....generally brown is a big favorite of mine. But for this backpack I think I prefer to go with something that is a bit brighter....and while I said the Constellation color is kind of a classic color for backpacks, I just don’t see that kind of color very often.

So I’m leaning towards getting this color when the boss (wife) gives permission to place the order. I’ll keep a close eye on it, because it appears that when they get low stock on something they put a little warning on their product page stating as such. If that happens, I already told her it’s getting bought.

Another question....do they not put any kind of “Made in USA” tag on their products? Just looking through several products I can’t see any of these tags in any of the pics on their website. Just curious because most companies tend to prominently display such a tag.

[G42]

Another question....do they not put any kind of “Made in USA” tag on their products? Just looking through several products I can’t see any of these tags in any of the pics on their website. Just curious because most companies tend to prominently display such a tag.

The materials are from a few countries, including the US. The bags are all made in Seattle. There are couple random accessory things they source, like the Shepherd's Cloth that aren't.
When you have time, poke around the main website in the 'about us', 'materials', etc. sections - good reading.

[largefarva]

Yeah, I’ve read through most of those pages and such and it dawned on me earlier that I haven’t seen a Made in USA tag in any of the pics I’ve seen. Usually companies that can get away with putting this label will do so.

For instance, I worked for a transformer manufacturer and the steel that they used was normally sourced from various countries like Canada, China, and a couple countries in Europe, and they didn’t meet the technical requirements (steel accounts for approx. 80% or so of the materials that make a transformer) for being able to use a Made in USA label.....but they did anyway. In fact, the only units they did not put the labels on were the transformers that had specialty coils that came from Germany or China (the rest of the coils were all wound in-house). They wanted to put the labels on those too but it was too obvious in those units the material requirements couldn’t be met.

[Drpepper]

The tag has changed over the years...used to say Made in USA, then said Portable Culture Made in USA, and now says Since 1972 Portable Culture.
You could find the older tag in the BST group if you want an older bag.
Not sure why the change it over the years but it does help to figure out what year the bag was manufactured.


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[largefarva]

Something like these would be a most welcome addition, especially these days. In my opinion, of course.

https://www.amazon.com/100-WOVEN-CLO.../dp/B00362OUSM

Anyway, the boss said I could go ahead and get my backpack placed on order so next week I should get my Synik 30 in Constellation blue (according to my order status page). Looking forward to checking it out in person.

[moriond]

For an overview of some of the label history, take a look at the Label Cthronology? thread from April 2017 (the year they went back to incorporating “Portable Culture” In the label). At the end of the thread, there are links to a blog post with accompanying video on how labels changed from 1975-2017. There’s also another blog post on how they started using the term Portable Culture

(Note: the address format of the blog and forum URL addresses changed when they moved the hosting services, so do not use the link in first blog article to find the post on history of “Portable Culture”. Instead, just look down to the bottom right corner below the blog post to move to the adjacent post on the history of Portable Culture.)

[moriond]

Another question....do they not put any kind of “Made in USA” tag on their products? Just looking through several products I can’t see any of these tags in any of the pics on their website. Just curious because most companies tend to prominently display such a tag.

I thought I’d add that they do have “Made in USA” on the back side those long, skinny labels they use for pouches, and it’s written both in English and Chinese. If you have an Organizer Pouch, Knitting Tool Pouch, Passport Pouch, Pocket Pouch, etc., and flip over the label with the red airplane and “TOM BIHN” that is sewn against a seam, you’ll see this, along with the web site address and 800 number for phone contact. That detail is not described in the blog post video on the history of labels that I gave the link for, where they speak about having put the web site and phone number on the label. You can look at the old What's on the label? thread from January 2010. Near the end of the thread I gave a link to a query I made back in 2007 when the mini size organizer pouches debuted, and the new label had something extra. Tom wrote back:

We've been using that new label for about a year now. Indeed, it says "Made in U.S.A." in both English and Chinese: I get so tired of seeing "Made in China" written everywhere in English, so I figured a new label was my opportunity for a little revenge.

This also doesn’t cover special labels, like the triangle shaped label that was used for many years on the Tri Star, or the Field Journal Notebook label that showed the red airplane flying over trees.

HTH

moriond

[largefarva]

Thanks for that last reply. It’s good to see that post made by Tom Bihn himself about his opinion of seeing “Made in China” everywhere. It applies even more so these days I believe (at least it does with me anyway). I was going to spend $80 on a laptop backpack that looked really nice...until I looked up where it’s made (China). That lead me down the path of finding out about this company. I wan’t necessarily looking specifically for a US made product.....just anywhere other than China. But to be honest, I like the look of these bags (even though people call them dad bags) and the reviews of any of TB bags out there are overwhelmingly positive made the decision easier to go with a bag from TB. I just happened to notice no tag stating Made in USA and wondered why it’s nowhere to be found.

Onto another more pressing question:

What color of paracord zipper pulls should I go with that will pair up with the Constellation blue? Just stick with the black or something else out there that would look great with it?

[melminimalist]

largefarva nws pull tabs? Or go matchy-matchy with island.


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[largefarva]

What does nws stand for? I looked in the acronym thread and didn’t see it.

[Winston19]

Nws = northwest sky.

[moriond]

Northwest Sky is not a color option for the cord pulls, although it is available for key straps.

What does nws stand for? I looked in the acronym thread and didn’t see it.

Nws = northwest sky.

I think black would work fine, if you’re selecting from the Tom Bihn options. If you’re looking for other colors from third party sources, maybe try something like charcoal, if you’re trying to match the diameter of the TB cord pulls. Most paracord options are thicker in diameter, so it depends on the kind of pulls you want to make. Take a look at my post (#22, dated 04-06-2019) and links at the end of the Cutting weight, maybe a step too far? thread. I think that the excerpted picture of the “Touch of Grey” paracord that some people use with Black 400d Halcyon, would also work for Constellation, but it’s not available in the narrow sizes that match the TB cord pulls (if you’re planning to use the TB cord pull tabs) instead of knotting your own. The Attaching fobs and/or zipper pulls contains the information about “95 Paracord” matching the weight of the TB cord pulls in AlaskaGirl’s posts (with pictures) near the end of that thread from September 2019. This was a question that was asked, but not answered in the earlier thread that I linked, which talked about 550 Paracord and 425 Paracord.

HTH

moriond