Le Petit Derrière first impressions

[Cristina]

I just want to post some thoughts on the LPD before preorder closes, as I’ve been able to try it out for a couple of days now. This bag was provided to me free of charge by TB for review.

I like the LPD a lot.

I have used the LPD in shoulder mode, as a sling, and as a waist bag. I’ve even used it as a running waist bag, and it worked great! I am no elite runner, I just jogged slowly around my local area for a little while, and it was cold so I didn’t really sweat on it. I imagine the ballistic back might become a bit too hot for summer running.

I’m thrilled that it fits in the top pocket of the Shadow Guide 23, whereas the LGD does not. The fact that it’s a good bag-in-bag fit makes it a good contender for our next vacation, because I’m always struggling to ensure both my everyday bag and my travel bag are comfortable for all-day carrying, and a wide waist strap has the advantage over literally any shoulder bag for long hours.

Do I wish it had a bit more organization inside, like the Side Kick does? Of course I do. I’m an unabashed pocket freak and I’m not going to change. That’s really my only point of criticism, though. I think the LPD is a great bag for Side Kick users who want a little bit of extra space for slightly bulky items like a hat, gloves, a small drink, or a folding shopping bag. If you just want to add in more tiny items, you’ll want to corral them in a Cubelet or organizer pouch.

I’ll be around tomorrow to answer any “will it fit” questions for people on the fence about ordering.

And now, pics (as attachments, fingers crossed!)

Not sure how these pics will display but you can see a gorgeous Seapine LPD with its contents displayed and also an LPD stuffed into the top pocket of a black SG23, and you can also see it stuffed into a Logic Blue LGD.

[G42]

"unabashed pocket freak"

:)

I sense a new acronym coming... UPF

[Tonya]

"unabashed pocket freak" :) I sense a new acronym coming... UPF

I would certainly be in this acronym camp. We need a club. ;)

[Tonya]

I have used the LPD in shoulder mode, as a sling, and as a waist bag.

Would you mind sharing photos on how this worked in shoulder mode? Or describe exactly how well? I'm not a fanny pack person, mainly because I'm usually carrying (we have some seriously predatory wildlife here) and have to keep my waist area clear. But I fall into the SK person who needs a little extra room. Thanks for supplying your review and pics!

[moriond]

Would you mind sharing photos on how this worked in shoulder mode? Or describe exactly how well? I'm not a fanny pack person, mainly because I'm usually carrying (we have some seriously predatory wildlife here) and have to keep my waist area clear. But I fall into the SK person who needs a little extra room. Thanks for supplying your review and pics!

Tonya I was trying to convey in my review that you could carry this on a shoulder strap like the Side Kick, but it’s sides are wider. The thing that would be attractive for you is that sketch books and art supplies fit in here. You lose the large amount of Side Kick pocket organization but you gain the depth to load up the LPD in that large volume of space. For me, this size works better than the larger LGD, and I look upon it as an accessory to use when I want the extra depth in a Side Kick sized bag. I didn’t try out the Shadow Guide 23, but I thought it was likely to fit in the top pocket based on my memory of the Side Kick fitting there (with room for more depth).

Cristina, I was either going to pick the Seapine 630d option or a 400d Halcyon Option for the LPD. Although I really like the color of Sangria, I just really wanted to go with a Halcyon lining. and again, that’s just my preferences for a more pliable material combination in case I did wear it around the waist. And I’m happy with a Solaris interior. Also happy that I can carry my 11” iPad Pro inside this. My wearing experience was similar to G42 in sling and waist mode — more comfortable than the LGD (for the 5’4” crowd), especially with a more pliable fabric.

moriond

[Tonya]

moriond Thanks for the clarification.

[Cristina]

G42 in the UK, sunscreen uses a rating called UPF rather than SPF, and it also only goes up to 50, so I’m quite happy to rate myself as UPF 50 for my level of Unabashed Pocket Freak intensity! ??

Here are some pics from a little jog that turned into a hike. I wore it in waist mode today and added the Hip Pocket for my tea. Tonya I have included a pic of how it looks from the side in shoulder strap mode.I don’t know if I can add anything to @moriond’s excellent description. I will say that since it is a little bigger than a Side Kick it will get a little heavier too, so a 1” strap might not be as comfortable for long hours than a 1.5” or even an absolute strap. Just depends on your own personal preference, intended use, and shoulders.

Pics as attachments again, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

[moriond]

G42 in the UK, sunscreen uses a rating called UPF rather than SPF, and it also only goes up to 50, so I’m quite happy to rate myself as UPF 50 for my level of Unabashed Pocket Freak intensity! ??

Here are some pics from a little jog that turned into a hike. I wore it in waist mode today and added the Hip Pocket for my tea. Tonya I have included a pic of how it looks from the side in shoulder strap mode.I don’t know if I can add anything to @moriond’s excellent description. I will say that since it is a little bigger than a Side Kick it will get a little heavier too, so a 1” strap might not be as comfortable for long hours than a 1.5” or even an absolute strap. Just depends on your own personal preference, intended use, and shoulders.

Pics as attachments again, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Cristina, Tonya and others
My general recommendation for people who want to move up to a more heavy duty strap where an Absolute strap would be overkill is to get the OpTech Mini SOS strap that is made by the same people who make the Absolute Strap. (links given later in post)

Here is an old picture comparing the two straps:


This is from an old post about Hacking the Field Journal Notebook to use other straps because the weight of art supplies and heavier contents made using the default 1” wide webbing strap uncomfortable to use. The hack added 1” triangle clips from parts and secured them with cord pulls to webbing loop ends of the FJN shoulder strap points, so that any shoulder strap with snap hook ends could be used. What’s connected to the hacked FJN is and Op Tech Mini SOS strap, and what’s shown to the right is the Absolute Strap with its curved padded section and wider webbing. You can read the post this comes from in a 2015 thread titled Field Joirnal Weight?

I’m also going to point people to a more recent 01-09-2020 thread Optech "Mini Absolute" Strap Hack for a Co-Pilot that gives links to a few alternative external links in the last post for other straps. I’ve linked to the black strap at Amazon, there is also a steel strap option. You can find this strap at other camera stores (SOS stands for “Save Our Shoulders” in the name).

A final reminder to mods and users: photos and content that appear under the Just for Registered users section of the forum will not be visible to anyone who is not a forum member and logged in as a member. If I answer questions there, or provide solutions, I cannot assume that content is readable to the general forum viewer who is logged in; I have to explicitly copy the content or upload a photo.And what I’ve found is that even when Google can locate the image of versions that were posted in the general forums, last year’s vBulletin5 update is not showing all the photos that Google points to when you’re taken to these publicly accessible posts (the text is there, but the images aren’t displaying).

The Op Tech strap is used on a lot of smaller bags that can be heavy enough to warrant more support than plain webbing (Co-Pilot, Pilot, Packing Cube Shoulder Bag, Daylight Briefcase, etc. Depending on their load).

HTH

moriond

ETA: A reminder also to members of the Tom Bihn Knitting Bags forum over at Ravelry. This is also true for you guys: anything you link to in those forums — photo, information in a post, etc. Is only visible to othe Ravelry members who are logged onto Ravelry and the vice versa about linking from there to posts or photos in the Tom BIHN forums also applies — it’s invisible to Ravelry members unless it is in the publicly readable forum sections. And if it’s an older post that uses the links before the vBulletin5 upgrade, the link won’t go to the correct place. So it is better, if possible, to include enough information to identify where the information might be coming from, or even a direct sample upload image,

A lot of the tasks of moderators is finding/pointing out information relevant to forum discussions regardless of where it originates. In the past, this would only get out to the Google searches if we were persistent about putting the information in summary posts. A lot of the relevant information comes from posts that are not directly in line with a person’s search — like the original post (long before the one I actually linked) about what shoulder straps to use for small bags that are heavier. The original question I answered was how to modify the Field Journal Notebook to carry other art supplies, and it led to a discussion of how to better carry that extra weight.

The recent trend of having random questions on all sorts of topics pop up in unrelated threads or in the blog postings has made this task harde, since there is no good search method for the blogs.

[Tonya]

Cristina thanks for the shots, especially the side shot. Very helpful! I really like the LPD size, but I think the lack of easy-access pockets and the additional baggage from the hip belt may rule this one out for me. Glad you're enjoying it, especially in that beautiful location!

moriond Thanks for the link to the shoulder strap. I've read about the Op Tech strap in the forums before. Kinda interesting about some considering the FJN too heavy. Most days, mine is packed to its limit and I've never had an issue with the weight. I think because it's so slim and stays close to my body (unless I'm climbing or something like that), the weight seems unnoticeable to me. I tend to prefer lighter, thinner straps. If a crossbody bag is thick or so stiff that it doesn't stay close to my torso/hips, pushing the weight outwards (or worse, bumping against me), that's when I start having issues and have to switch to a pack, no matter how nice the shoulder strap. Very interesting how each person is built and what they need to be comfortable - would be an interesting study, for sure!

I think at this point, I'm waiting for the DLBC to become available in a colorway that I'd like. Or even better, for TB to start producing a slightly larger SK. :)

Oh I should probably mention that I don't usually carry a crossbody bag on my side. It's usually hanging behind me, sort of like a crossbody fanny pack lol. That may also have something to do with the weight distribution and why I can't carry thick bags.

[moriond]

Tonya Some forum questions are motivated by temporary conditions (mobility restrictions, recent surgery, etc,), which can also be why they aren’t being posed in the general forums, but the solutions are generally applicable, and in the case of the FJN, there were a lot of posts about how it was possible to modify the original 3-ring insert design to reconfigure that accessory — even if most people didn’t go that route. My preference is for lighter straps, except that the earlier 5/8” straps in webbing tended to tangle up like spaghetti, so I would substitute a 1” wide plain webbing strap before that was generally available (it was briefly available for another accessory that they retired, so I used it on the Side Effects).

The Mini SOS strap is a way to get a solution that is a step down from the Absolute Strap.

The other big change is that the blogs used to be great sources of summary information in a way that was fast to find and searchable. That changed when they started using it more for photo spreads, and its original design also proved to be a web accessibility challenge for people who need to use screen readers to navigate contents.They’ve been working on this, but a lot of really good content is not easily available there unless you remember the content or previously cited it in forum posts.

As it is, I’m running a lot of content through based on my memory of posts read over the last 16 years.

moriond

[Walker]

I received delivery from TB yesterday, which included a Le Petit Derriere. I got home late, so I did not have much time to play with it.

Good news - the main compartment fits my hard dual compartment eyewear case + small binoculars + Zojirushi 12-oz bottle. The front pocket with the buckle closure "sort of" fits my iPhone XR. I imagine I will put my car key in the zipper front pocket.

Bad news - the rain protector flap is annoying. Maybe adding zipper pulls will help?

I am curious - has anyone removed the stiffener material in the back? Is it easy/can it be removed and put back? I am sure there is a reason for it being there, but I am thinking that the bag would "mold" better without that stiffener.

[KGG]

Hi Walker, I have an LPD and love it. For me, adding zipper pulls helped with the rain flaps, but they still are in the way on occasion. I didn’t remove the back panel but can say that it was very stiff at first and has softened over time such that the bag now conforms much more nicely to my side during crossbody wear. HTH, and as always, YMMV.

[moriond]

Hi Walker, I have an LPD and love it. For me, adding zipper pulls helped with the rain flaps, but they still are in the way on occasion. I didn’t remove the back panel but can say that it was very stiff at first and has softened over time such that the bag now conforms much more nicely to my side during crossbody wear. HTH, and as always, YMMV.

I got the Le Petit Derriere in Black 400d Halcyon/Solaris. and the it conforms more than Ballistic Nylon would. I haven't removed the backing.

[KGG]

Excellent point, moriond; mine is halcyon too.

[Walker]

KGG, moriond thank you so much for your feedback. I emailed the TB crew - Kat responded that the backing is a piece of foam and it can easily be removed and put back. User feedback is always great.

I have not experimented with taking out the foam backing. I am not sire about keeping it. I am sure there is a good reason why it is p of the design and probably best to leave it and allow it to soften over time.

i love halcyon!