Thanks to Cristina and bartleby for their initial reviews - I love how we all approach bags differently as we all have our own use cases. Hopefully you all will get a good overview and it'll be fun to hear what moriond has to say!
It may just be me, but I think ADX26 and ADX31 should be the abbreviations :)
On with the show...
I received a Burnt Orange Ballistic / Moab Halcyon Addax 26 courtesy of TOM BIHN for my review - my opinions are all my own.
My first thought when I opened the box and looked at the bag was 'oooooh, roll top!'. I've never had a roll top bag before, so it's been fun playing with it.
The box showed up in the evening a few weeks ago and I was out the door at 5am the next morning for a quick two night (driving) work trip, so of course I packed it up & single bagged it!
Main Compartment:
Work laptop; two small A30 Laundry Cubes of clothes flat packed on top of each other; 3DOC-Fabric & 3DOC-Clear with toiletries; SSC with all the chargers; non TB bag with sandals; a handful of papers in a plastic folder; an E/T Cubelet with my personal 'mobile office' stuff; medium YSS of knitting.
Side Pockets:
Vacuum water bottle and vacuum coffee bottle
Exterior Front Pockets:
Kindle, snacks, pouch of masks, work badge, small flashlight, GW of pens
I'm 5'4" and the bag is 16" from the top straps to the bottom of the bag, so it's a great size for me and the Edgeless straps are nice. The larger ADX31 is apparently 19" and would fit me but is starting to push it for my comfort level.
The roll top is pretty easy to work with but obviously takes longer to interact with than a zipper (some folks might like that for security reasons).
Total dork that I am, when I first rolled the top down, I clipped it across the top... only after playing with it and packing it did I realize that it more neatly rolls down and clips to the back.
If you load it up to max out that top space (it's A LOT of potential extra space), you can clip across the top.
The double laptop/tech pocket setup is cool!
I started off by putting my larger work laptop into the back/main pocket to access from top or side and my personal MacBook Air into the front pocket with no sleeve and it seemed just fine. At the last minute, I left my personal laptop at home and tossed in a bag with sandals instead (after wearing safety boots all day and driving for 6hrs, sandals are a relief). I could have still fit the extra laptop in, but who am I kidding, I'll never have time to use it on a work road trip.
That inside open pocket can gape open a bit and get in the way depending on how you're loading the bag & how scrunched it is.
My Kindle can fit either in the lower front flat pocket or in this second tech pocket...and really, it's not just for a tech item, but that's how I first thought of it.
I REALLY like the two outside bottle pockets and would have been even happier if the mesh one was just another zippered/gusseted one. I usually travel with a vacuum water bottle and a vacuum coffee bottle, so this is perfect for me. I am a little concerned about how durable that mesh pocket is (time will tell) and if my bottle will fall out as I sling it around (so far, it's been fine, it's bigger than it looks, it swallows a 12oz can).
I like the overall aspect ratio of the bag and how well it sits on the flat bottom without being quite as stiff/reinforced as the Cambiata. I love my Synapses, but sometimes it's annoying how they fall over.
There seem to be a good number of convenient o-rings as expected.
The whole "inside to outside pockets stealing space from each other" thing will annoy some people as usual, but to me it's been fine so far. I pick/use which pockets make sense for any given load and tend to use fewer built-in pockets vs cubes. With that being said, having one or both of the front pockets be a touch 3D would've been nice; they're similar to the Western Flyer or TriStar flat front pockets.
ETA: action photo from that first trip
The bag worked well on that quick trip - since then, I've carried it as my work EDC for a week or so.
EDC
I attached a halcyon SE inside at the top (in front of two of the built in pockets that are holding snacks) to carry random small things. Besides the laptop, SSC of charges, and E/T Cubelet, I usually have a larger plastic multi-file folder thing and often other folders of paper in there. It's nice to have all the extra space for if I need to carry anything extra or pick things up on the way home.
The lower flat front pocket holds a medium OP of masks and 4 or 5 Moleskin Cahier journals. The upper pocket has work badges, key fobs, GW of pens, more snacks, etc.
There's always a water bottle in the zip pocket.
The extra 5L vs the Cambiata (which I was carrying the past couple of months) is noticeable and makes carrying my bump cap even easier... and that's without the extra room if you don't roll the top all the way down.
I would grab this bag over my Smart Alec for when I want the option of that extra space... and the SA for when I want quicker access and the outside accessories (I use a SE and E/TC vs the SA pockets).
Style-wise, the Shadow Guide and Smart Alec are similar in that they're top loading cavernous bags.
For reference:
SG 23L - 12.6 x 19.3 x 9.0"
SA 26L - 11.75 x 18.5 x 11.75"
ADX 26L 12.8 x 18.5 x 10.2"
Note that all of them can be dark/harder to see, inside. I pack with cubes/containers the vast majority of the time for trips so that's not a huge issue for me and my EDC stuff is fine.
I like the little mini grab handle/yank handle on the bottom front; it makes a nice visual design element and it's a spot for a clip light.
There's a pass-through for a luggage handle, but I rarely travel with a roller bag anymore.
The overall look definitely feels right at home in the TB design aesthetic but with a twist; I think Jose did a good job with this evolution!
And thanks MatthewR and whomever else thought to add more dimensions to the product pages - everyone always asks for those details and that's great to see right out of the gate.
It may just be me, but I think ADX26 and ADX31 should be the abbreviations :)
On with the show...
I received a Burnt Orange Ballistic / Moab Halcyon Addax 26 courtesy of TOM BIHN for my review - my opinions are all my own.
My first thought when I opened the box and looked at the bag was 'oooooh, roll top!'. I've never had a roll top bag before, so it's been fun playing with it.
The box showed up in the evening a few weeks ago and I was out the door at 5am the next morning for a quick two night (driving) work trip, so of course I packed it up & single bagged it!
Main Compartment:
Work laptop; two small A30 Laundry Cubes of clothes flat packed on top of each other; 3DOC-Fabric & 3DOC-Clear with toiletries; SSC with all the chargers; non TB bag with sandals; a handful of papers in a plastic folder; an E/T Cubelet with my personal 'mobile office' stuff; medium YSS of knitting.
Side Pockets:
Vacuum water bottle and vacuum coffee bottle
Exterior Front Pockets:
Kindle, snacks, pouch of masks, work badge, small flashlight, GW of pens
I'm 5'4" and the bag is 16" from the top straps to the bottom of the bag, so it's a great size for me and the Edgeless straps are nice. The larger ADX31 is apparently 19" and would fit me but is starting to push it for my comfort level.
The roll top is pretty easy to work with but obviously takes longer to interact with than a zipper (some folks might like that for security reasons).
Total dork that I am, when I first rolled the top down, I clipped it across the top... only after playing with it and packing it did I realize that it more neatly rolls down and clips to the back.
If you load it up to max out that top space (it's A LOT of potential extra space), you can clip across the top.
The double laptop/tech pocket setup is cool!
I started off by putting my larger work laptop into the back/main pocket to access from top or side and my personal MacBook Air into the front pocket with no sleeve and it seemed just fine. At the last minute, I left my personal laptop at home and tossed in a bag with sandals instead (after wearing safety boots all day and driving for 6hrs, sandals are a relief). I could have still fit the extra laptop in, but who am I kidding, I'll never have time to use it on a work road trip.
That inside open pocket can gape open a bit and get in the way depending on how you're loading the bag & how scrunched it is.
My Kindle can fit either in the lower front flat pocket or in this second tech pocket...and really, it's not just for a tech item, but that's how I first thought of it.
I REALLY like the two outside bottle pockets and would have been even happier if the mesh one was just another zippered/gusseted one. I usually travel with a vacuum water bottle and a vacuum coffee bottle, so this is perfect for me. I am a little concerned about how durable that mesh pocket is (time will tell) and if my bottle will fall out as I sling it around (so far, it's been fine, it's bigger than it looks, it swallows a 12oz can).
I like the overall aspect ratio of the bag and how well it sits on the flat bottom without being quite as stiff/reinforced as the Cambiata. I love my Synapses, but sometimes it's annoying how they fall over.
There seem to be a good number of convenient o-rings as expected.
The whole "inside to outside pockets stealing space from each other" thing will annoy some people as usual, but to me it's been fine so far. I pick/use which pockets make sense for any given load and tend to use fewer built-in pockets vs cubes. With that being said, having one or both of the front pockets be a touch 3D would've been nice; they're similar to the Western Flyer or TriStar flat front pockets.
ETA: action photo from that first trip
The bag worked well on that quick trip - since then, I've carried it as my work EDC for a week or so.
EDC
I attached a halcyon SE inside at the top (in front of two of the built in pockets that are holding snacks) to carry random small things. Besides the laptop, SSC of charges, and E/T Cubelet, I usually have a larger plastic multi-file folder thing and often other folders of paper in there. It's nice to have all the extra space for if I need to carry anything extra or pick things up on the way home.
The lower flat front pocket holds a medium OP of masks and 4 or 5 Moleskin Cahier journals. The upper pocket has work badges, key fobs, GW of pens, more snacks, etc.
There's always a water bottle in the zip pocket.
The extra 5L vs the Cambiata (which I was carrying the past couple of months) is noticeable and makes carrying my bump cap even easier... and that's without the extra room if you don't roll the top all the way down.
I would grab this bag over my Smart Alec for when I want the option of that extra space... and the SA for when I want quicker access and the outside accessories (I use a SE and E/TC vs the SA pockets).
Style-wise, the Shadow Guide and Smart Alec are similar in that they're top loading cavernous bags.
For reference:
SG 23L - 12.6 x 19.3 x 9.0"
SA 26L - 11.75 x 18.5 x 11.75"
ADX 26L 12.8 x 18.5 x 10.2"
Note that all of them can be dark/harder to see, inside. I pack with cubes/containers the vast majority of the time for trips so that's not a huge issue for me and my EDC stuff is fine.
I like the little mini grab handle/yank handle on the bottom front; it makes a nice visual design element and it's a spot for a clip light.
There's a pass-through for a luggage handle, but I rarely travel with a roller bag anymore.
The overall look definitely feels right at home in the TB design aesthetic but with a twist; I think Jose did a good job with this evolution!
And thanks MatthewR and whomever else thought to add more dimensions to the product pages - everyone always asks for those details and that's great to see right out of the gate.
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