New small bag picture in blog/on instagram

[nsh]

Hi All,

I noticed the sneak peak of the new small bag on the latest Winter update blog and on instagram (a few more pics). One thing I noticed (that I find very attractive) is that the new small bag seems to have the option to be worn pulled through on a waist strap. I realize we don’t have details on the new small bag, but wondered if the Mods might know: What backpacks does TB currently sell that offer the waist strap (such that in the future I might be able to attach the new small bag)? I think the Synik 22 might work but any others? I was thinking of making a purchase of the big pack before the price hike.

[nsh]

Y’all, I answered my own question and found that the Synapses have the straps too:-) I am more a Synapse gal than a Synik. I even have a super super old Synapse 19 from 20(12)ish but I could totally go for the blackout label one:-)

[G42]

First I heard about the new bag was in the blog post and I'm not on Instagram, so you know more than I do! It's also on Twitter, which I'm also not on, but at least it's easier to see there.
It's fun to speculate, so here's what I see at first glance...

The side o-ring to snap hook shoulder strap look similar to the SE. Has the new version of the blackout label (i.e., without the text tagline and with better contrast).




Overall it looks longer but not necessarily taller than a SE, though that's hard to tell without a good reference. If someone has one of the new XPac bags from TB, they could measure the height of the woven pattern and give us an idea.

The back photo shown looks a bit like a call back to the original SE that had a built-in waist strap (similar to how the LPD & LGD hide away theirs)...

Here's a LGD top left and old SE to the right. Note that LPD, LGD, and the old SE had fixed/sewn in waist straps (and feedback about the original SE is what led to the more current version with the Gatekeeper strap separate vs sewn in). The LPD/LGD have a padded panel vs the old SE has a couple layers of the material because there's a POCKET back there.



Only this new photo looks like an additional way to maybe have the bag be repositionable along the waist strap webbing vs only attaching via the Gatekeeper loops (as on the current SE) by having that large fabric panel.

It looks in the second photo like they're showing it attached to the backpack webbing loop, in effect turning it into a waist strap/pocket for the packs. How well that works will partly depend on where any given pack hits your waist and if there's nothing to secure it, the tradeoff there is that it will fall off the webbing when you unclip, similar to the accessory water bottle pocket (speculation, all of this).
The vertical on that back panel may be enough to accommodate the larger padded hip belts.



What I don't see is a exterior pocket, as on the SE (shown in the Plum SE in the previous photo), which would be a bummer ((no, wait, that's yet again a different bag)).

Oh, and nsh I think all the bigger packs have an included webbing waist belt of one sort or another. I generally don't use them and have a pile of them if you ever need one.

ETA: added some photos & more commentary & fixing the inevitable typos

Overall, it looks like an interesting attempt to bring some of the features of the original SE, the now retired LGD, and theoretically-current-but-unavailable LPD, Bummer, and some user feedback into one bag.

It doesn't definitively look like it's a larger Side Kick/PCSB w/SE/SK organization (which many folks have asked for) but who knows what they'll end up releasing and what else is in the pipeline for later. At the very least, getting the new XPac into a smaller bag is a good way for people to try out that material vs a larger & more expensive bag.

[G42]

I realized that I do have a bag with the new label (Black 400 Halcyon/Açai 20 Halcyon Pilot) so a quick guestimate/pure speculation, using that label size (keeping in mind that they use more than one label size) and assuming a 1" Gatekeeper waist strap as presumably show in the back photo, this bag is maybe ~9.375" (238) wide x 5" (127) high?
So basically the same size as a Bummer?

For quick reference:

SE 8.7" (w) x 5.1" (h) x 2" (d) / 220 (w) x 130 (h) x 50 (d) mm
Bummer 9.4" (w) x 5.5" (h) x 4.9" (d) / 240mm x 140mm x 125mm
SK 9.6" (w) x 7.5" (h) x 2.8" (d) / 245 (w) x 190 (h) x 70 (d) mm
LPD 11" (w) x 6.9" (h) x 4.7" (d) / 280mm (w) x 175mm (h) x 120mm (d)
PCSB 11.8" (w) x 7.9" (h) x 3.1" (d) / 300mm (w) x 200mm (h) x 80mm (d)
LGD 12.6" (w) x 8.2" (h) x 6.2" (d) / 320mm (w) x 210mm (h) x 160mm (d)
Icon 13.6” (w) x 9.6” (h) x 5.3” (d) / 345 (w) x 245 (h) x 135 (d) mm

[John1970]

First I heard about the new bag was in the blog post and I'm not on Instagram, so you know more than I do! It's also on Twitter, which I'm also not on, but at least it's easier to see there.
It's fun to speculate, so here's what I see at first glance...

The side o-ring to snap hook shoulder strap look similar to the SE. Has the new version of the blackout label (i.e., without the text tagline and with better contrast).




Overall it looks longer but not necessarily taller than a SE, though that's hard to tell without a good reference. If someone has one of the new XPac bags from TB, they could measure the height of the woven pattern and give us an idea.

The back photo shown looks a bit like a call back to the original SE that had a built-in waist strap (similar to how the LPD & LGD hide away theirs)...

Here's a LGD top left and old SE to the right. Note that LPD, LGD, and the old SE had fixed/sewn in waist straps (and feedback about the original SE is what led to the more current version with the Gatekeeper strap separate vs sewn in). The LPD/LGD have a padded panel vs the old SE has a couple layers of the material because there's a POCKET back there.



Only this new photo looks like an additional way to maybe have the bag be repositionable along the waist strap webbing vs only attaching via the Gatekeeper loops (as on the current SE) by having that large fabric panel.

It looks in the second photo like they're showing it attached to the backpack webbing loop, in effect turning it into a waist strap/pocket for the packs. How well that works will partly depend on where any given pack hits your waist and if there's nothing to secure it, the tradeoff there is that it will fall off the webbing when you unclip, similar to the accessory water bottle pocket (speculation, all of this).
The vertical on that back panel may be enough to accommodate the larger padded hip belts.



What I don't see is a exterior pocket, as on the SE (shown in the Plum SE in the previous photo), which would be a bummer ((no, wait, that's yet again a different bag)).

Oh, and nsh I think all the bigger packs have an included webbing waist belt of one sort or another. I generally don't use them and have a pile of them if you ever need one.

ETA: added some photos & more commentary & fixing the inevitable typos

Overall, it looks like an interesting attempt to bring some of the features of the original SE, the now retired LGD, and theoretically-current-but-unavailable LPD, Bummer, and some user feedback into one bag.

It doesn't definitively look like it's a larger Side Kick/PCSB w/SE/SK organization (which many folks have asked for) but who knows what they'll end up releasing and what else is in the pipeline for later. At the very least, getting the new XPac into a smaller bag is a good way for people to try out that material vs a larger & more expensive bag.

Jose said in a similar discussion on the Facebook group that "I can't say much about this one yet, but you are referring to two different bags." So it sounds like there are two smaller sized bags coming; interested to see these.

[G42]

Jose said in a similar discussion on the Facebook group that "I can't say much about this one yet, but you are referring to two different bags." So it sounds like there are two smaller sized bags coming; interested to see these.

YAY!

Thanks so much for sharing that (I'm not on FB either).

The blog was slightly ambiguous about whether there was one bag upcoming or two...it seems to read clearer now that there are two, but I don't know if they edited it or I just wasn't reading it right the first time around.

[Walker]

It looks like a 3D cube to me with the snap hook on the strap.

[Cristina]

Very curious about the second bag, now that the Bantam has been announced!

https://forums.tombihn.com/forum/tom-bihn-forums/general-bag-discussion/345834-new-bag-alert-the-bantam