OSCA is the Tristar of gym bags

[Cristina]

I have been testing the OSCA for a few days now, provided free of charge in exchange for my honest feedback.

I have used this as a swimming bag, with my Side Kick in the non-mesh side pocket and goggles and shower stuff in a Small Snake Charmer in the mesh side pocket.


In the main pocket, towels, bathing suits and snacks.


I would like to take the OSCA as my smaller bag on our next beach/swimming vacation, packed similarly but with more snacks.

You could, of course, take it as your one bag on a trip, particularly since the length-wise pockets would accommodate shoes. If I was doing that, I would put my Deluxe Spiff Kit and my 3DOC full of cables in the non-mesh side pocket.



I believe that every bag has a way that it likes to be packed. I think the OSCA likes to be packed like a Tristar. By that I mean that each section packs best with items oriented a bit flatter, with larger packing cubes or folded items slotted in vertically. Even a Small Snake Charmer and a Clear Quarter Packing Cube sit better along the length of the bag instead of across its width. The side pockets and the main pocket will not encroach on each other if packed lengthwise.

OSCA packed width-wise, which I wouldn’t advise:

Here is the OSCA packed lengthwise:



I would definitely splurge on a comfortable strap as this bag can easily get heavy when full, especially when carrying wet swimming stuff.

Looking forward to taking it away on our next trip!

[bartleby]

Hi Cristina, love your review (and great pics)! The comparison with the Tristar in terms of packing style is great, I noticed that when I tried to put a pair of shoes in the middle compartment. It's best to stack them on each other (perhaps in a packing cube) because if the side pockets are full it is difficult to put them side by side on the bottom (at least with my size, i.e. US 11).

[Titus]

I know this is kind of a random question, but can someone stick the head of a tennis racquet in the OSCA and see how well it fits? According to the dimensions on the website and due to the curved nature of the bag, it seems to me it would fit (with the handle end sticking out of course). And it seems to me that a couple of cans of balls would fit in one of the outer pockets as well. :)

[bchaplin]

I know this is kind of a random question, but can someone stick the head of a tennis racquet in the OSCA and see how well it fits? According to the dimensions on the website and due to the curved nature of the bag, it seems to me it would fit (with the handle end sticking out of course). And it seems to me that a couple of cans of balls would fit in one of the outer pockets as well. :)

I don't have a tennis racket, but if you let me know the dimensions of the head, I can give you a general idea if it should fit.

[G42]

I know this is kind of a random question, but can someone stick the head of a tennis racquet in the OSCA and see how well it fits? According to the dimensions on the website and due to the curved nature of the bag, it seems to me it would fit (with the handle end sticking out of course). And it seems to me that a couple of cans of balls would fit in one of the outer pockets as well. :)

I don't have a tennis racquet either, but this was mentioned in the design notes blog post:

https://www.tombihn.com/blogs/main/osca-notes

"Side zippers will be #8 with 2 sliders. Two zipper sliders is nice for a couple of reasons: if you’re left handed you can push both sliders to whichever side works best for you. Also, if you need to carry an odd shaped item such as a racquet, you can still mostly zip that side pocket shut around a protruding handle."

You could also contact the fine folks in Customer Service for info if you need a quicker reply

[Lartymarf]

Hi Cristina,

Thanks for the review! What kind of shoulder strap is in the picture?

Thank you!

[moriond]

Hi Cristina,

Thanks for the review! What kind of shoulder strap is in the picture?

Thank you!

I’ll let Cristina answer in detail about how she has rigged it, but that’s the Quick-Adjust Messenger Strap that was one of the shoulder strap options for the original version of the Parental Unit. One of its features was that you could quickly readjust the strap when the bag was transferred between people with very different body types, heights and builds (e.g., different parents, friends or relatives). The April 2017 design update changed the strap connection points so that people could use a shoulder strap that they bought for other bags and snap connect it onto the Parental Unit, but this removed the ability to make easy adjustments with a Q-AM strap. In other, older classic messenger bags (many of which were retired in 2015), and in bags like the Large Cafe Bag, Ristretto, and Imago, the Q-AM strap allowed the bags to be quickly shifted into a position where it could be worn high on your back if you were riding a bicycle. However, a lot of people who used it for smaller bags like the Imago, really liked it because it was easy to swing these bags (while you were wearing them on your shoulder) into different positions to access pockets, etc. and also improve the comfort. I know that Cristina has hacked her current generation Parental Unit to use the Q-AM strap — I suspect for the latter reasons. tpnl (one of the forum mods) hacked his Pilot to use the Q-AM strap because it was more comfortable for him to wear. If you want to see a picture of the Q-AM strap that adalangdon posted and marked up in the Uses of the Parental Unit from December 2014(when the original version debuted)
HTH

moriond

[Cristina]

Thanks moriond . I have been trying to remember exactly what I did to that strap. I think, and moriond please correct me if I am wrong, that the Q-AM strap, as it comes, is to be threaded through a buckle thingy on the bag instead of clipped with a snaphook like the Absolute Strap.

I believe that I added 1.5” snaphooks to the the Q-AM strap. In the past I have sewn the ends down and also added little triglide buckly things to keep the ends in place (like on the Absolute Strap. I cannot remember if I took them off another strap or if I asked Customer Service for a pair.

I also added a quick-adjust glider to the Absolute Strap but that was a more harrowing modification because I had to cut the end off.

I hope this is helpful! I am happy to take some pics of my various modifications but I cannot promise to remember everything I did.

Hi Cristina,

Thanks for the review! What kind of shoulder strap is in the picture?

Thank you!

[moriond]

Thanks moriond . I have been trying to remember exactly what I did to that strap. I think, and moriond please correct me if I am wrong, that the Q-AM strap, as it comes, is to be threaded through a buckle thingy on the bag instead of clipped with a snaphook like the Absolute Strap.

I believe that I added 1.5” snaphooks to the the Q-AM strap. In the past I have sewn the ends down and also added little triglide buckly things to keep the ends in place (like on the Absolute Strap. I cannot remember if I took them off another strap or if I asked Customer Service for a pair.

I also added a quick-adjust glider to the Absolute Strap but that was a more harrowing modification because I had to cut the end off.

I hope this is helpful! I am happy to take some pics of my various modifications but I cannot promise to remember everything I did.

Cristina I suspect this is hackable, along the lines of how tpnl did some mods shown in pictures in the Q-AM Strap and Pilot / CoPilot thread from 05-27-2014,
https://forums.tombihn.com/forum/tom...-pilot-copilot

There’s a later thread where he changed some of the accessory parts, but it doesn’t have the same detailed photos.As it stands, one webbing end of the Q-AM strap will fit into the slot under the current part where the shoulder strap can be attached via a snaphook (this is the same slot used to connect this part via webbing to the side of the bag). I’m sure that this can be secured, if only by passing the webbing through a 1.5” triglide. The other webbing end of the Q-AM strap is stitched double thick at the very end, and looks too thick to pass through the slot, but I suspect there’s a way to rig this, too, possibly using single gatekeeper clips (which they appear to recently have stopped selling). Just my initial thoughts.

moriond