There are three new accessories (you can buy right now!) that also deserve a few nice words, so here's a little bit about the three items that came in the mail as a surprise but didn't take very long at all for me to find a good use for.
They all easily fit together (when packed full) into the Addax 31 with loads of room to spare. I would almost contend most folks could get away with the 26L size if you weren't tall or had a large laptop, because other than that, the 31L swallowed anything and everything I would logically take on a dayhike, and asked for dessert when I was done packing it.
1.) Small Grab Bag (Montana)
This is the smaller version of the existing Grab Bag, which is proof we can even get excited about scrap fabric (which is what these are made from).
It's got two carrying handles on the outside, one grab loop at each end of the zipper [to help with opening and closing], and two shoulder strap attachment points.
(And if you couldn't tell by the high-res pet hair, I share an apartment with three lovable - and very furry - cats, who all seem to love Tom Bihn bags as much as I do.)
There are two 2 O-Rings inside the bag, if those are things you like and use (I rarely use them, but folks who turn this into a micro shoulder/crossbody bag might clip their keys or an organizer pouch to them).
This is also proof that sometimes, making a second version of an existing product, but making it smaller or larger, opens it up to a whole new audience.
I honestly had no idea what to do with the damn thing when it came in the mail.
They told me they would send a bag, and well, I saw the backpack, so the other stuff was a bonus, but they were all things both new to the product line, and new to me (I didn't own either the full size Grab Bag, or the All Fabric Aeronaut Laundry Stuff Sack).
What did I know? The color combination is friggin' sweet. I'm such a sucker for 1980's retro-inspired color blocking that the custom-made backpack I use for backpacking is (big surprise) ALSO KHAKI AND TEAL. Truthfully, they should make a Coyote/Viridian version of every bag in their product line, because it just exudes this Sonoran Desert vibe that I can use on nights like tonight when it's currently (checking smartphone weather app) 9 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT WITH THE WIND CHILL.
It didn't take too long for me to find a good use for the Small Grab Bag, especially after quickly figuring out that that Addax would work really well as a day hiking bag.
It fits my 700mL titanium cookset PERFECTLY, with enough room below and around it to fit all the things I need to make backcountry coffee.
What's inside?
My cookpot stuff sack, which holds the pot, lid, canister fuel, and stove (in its own sack). A collapsible silicone cup (doesn't burn your hands off like titanium the same temperature as boiling water does). A spoon. Instant and pour-over coffees. A matchbook and mini lighter to start the stove. My pocketknife, which makes opening packages a little easier, especially with cold hands. And a small microfiber towel to help wipe things down dry after some simple dishwashing.
Small accessory stuff sacks and organizer pouches are GREAT for hikers and campers because they allow you to consolidate like items together, so that when someone asks to borrow your lighter, all you have to do is dig out the bag with the coffee stuff in it, and you know it's in there, instead of rifling through an entire backpack of loose items.
It's a simple design and I like it most because it's just enough room to fit all my coffee paraphernalia without leaving enough spare room for everything to rattle around each time I take a step hiking.
2.) Travel Laundry Stuff Sack (Mesh, Aeronaut 30, Cobalt 210 Cerylon)
The new, half-mesh travel laundry stuff sack is almost exactly the same size as the generic stuff sack I use to store my spare hiking clothes: rain jacket, rain pants, rain mitts, ankle gaiters, warm hat, warm gloves, sun hat, bug head net, quick drying towel, spare, underwear, spare socks, and a spare synthetic shirt.
What's super cool is since the Tom Bihn stuff sack is double-sided, I can toss my dirty socks or shirt on the opposite side after grabbing the clean ones, or if I want to keep something separate for easier access (like a bug head net) I can just stash it on the opposite side of everything else.
I used to just carry all those things in a solid fabric stuff sack, but it really helps being able to see all the items without having to empty the sack, and it's a really great organizational solution for keeping my spare hiking clothes organized in a way that not only consolidates them, but makes them easy to identify and grab. Trust me, when it start to rain and you're out in the wilderness, you don't want to waste time figuring out where you kept your raincoat.
It fits nicely in the bottom of most of my favorite packs, like the Addax, Smart Alec, or even the Cambiata.
It's already a stock feature, but using different color cordage for each side is a smart feature and an easy way to differentiate between the two halves.
It also occured to me - if you already own a Travel Tray, and you know how to convert the tray into a stuff sack, you will be able to roll down the top of the Addax backpack pretty easily. What the heck does this have to do with the laundry stuff sack? It's a stuff sack. With a cinch cord closure. So once you loosen the sack, you can roll the opening back down over itself if you want to get at the contents without spilling them all over the place (super useful when you're outside and dealing with wet and/or dirty ground).
3.) Vertical Packing Cubelet (Coyote 200 Halcyon)
Take the landscape-oriented 3D Organizer Cube, and instead of an opening on the long side, place it on the short side to give the pouch a portrait orientation.
That's the new VPC.
They did call it a Cubelet, and that makes sense to me, because it feels more like a stripped-down EC than a beefed-up 3DOC.
I still like one forum member's suggestion to rename it the "Rectanglet," but for now, I'll just call it the VPC from here on out.
The whole point of them making this organizer was the orientation. It stores a lot vertically while occupying a very minimal footprint at the bottom of your bag. The brick-like shape also means it stacks and packs neatly - they fit well next to another, and on top of another well.
There are 2 O-rings on the outside for a minimal shoulder strap or wrist strap, as well as 1 O-ring inside the pouch - but I don't tend to use either.
Like I mentioned briefly in my review of the Addax, I'm an advocate for the "cordless" method of interior organization, and these cubes are pretty ideally sized for slipping into the built-in pockets of bags like the Addax (or even my beloved Co-Pilot).
The vertical packing cubelet is great for power banks (I always carry not one, but three) as well as their charging cords and wall plug. This nests alongside my camera bag inside the inside bottom mesh pocket of the Addax.
I really like the vertical packing cubelet because it's a great internal organizer for tall bags with narrow bottoms (like most backpacks), whose orientation is great because it occupies less space at the bottom of the bag, and it's deep enough you can leave it unzipped.
For me, the portrait orientation makes these organizers a lot more useful than the classic landscape orientation of the original 3DOC - my next ask would be for them to make a Vertical Clear 3DOC so I could finally store my liquid travel size toiletries upright (my spray deodorant and hair spray are too tall for the current Clear 3DOC and things I have to store upright to prevent spills or leakage).
I did a test pack and learned two things:
1.) A fully-packed Vertical Packing Cubelet fits about damn perfectly in either the front left or right compartments on the Co-Pilot (and therefore should be an even easier fit into the same compartments on the Pilot). It also fits nicely into the main compartment of the Co-Pilot and will occupy about half the open space in front of the 2 pockets sewn into the back of that compartment (meaning you can probably fit 2 VPCs into the main compartment of the CP because, bag math).
2.) And it's also just the right side to fit exactly 1 t-shirt, 1 pair of socks, and 1 pair of underwear - the bare minimum change of clothes, if you wear pants, shoes, and a jacket (etc.) multiple days.
So, if you can also pack a fairly minimal toiletry kit, these cubes can potentially turn the Pilot and Co-Pilot into overnight bags!
It also works just the same for bags like the Cambiata, too. I was able to fit both a VPC (filled with a change of shirt, socks and underwear) and a STT (filled with an overnight's-worth of toiletries) at the bottom of the Cambiata with loads of room to spare. Those two things don't even fill up the bottom of the bag!
Nice to see TB supporting smaller bags with packing cubes again, even if it's a secondary use for a product like this one - I miss the days when you could almost buy coordinating cubes (Pilot, NFTD, Stowaway, etc.) but this solves that problem.
Hope the words and pictures were helpful for those of you considering the items for yourself or for gifting to someone else during the holiday season.
For now, I'm going to enjoy a heaping serving of crow for dinner because, for all the frustrated things I said about the Cambiata on the forums, I've had a Scrooge-on-Christmas-morning mood change about the bag, and I'll be damned saying it, but I love it and I've already carried it to work every day for the past week.
So, off to enjoy my delicious crow!
Om nom nom. Etc.
They all easily fit together (when packed full) into the Addax 31 with loads of room to spare. I would almost contend most folks could get away with the 26L size if you weren't tall or had a large laptop, because other than that, the 31L swallowed anything and everything I would logically take on a dayhike, and asked for dessert when I was done packing it.
1.) Small Grab Bag (Montana)
This is the smaller version of the existing Grab Bag, which is proof we can even get excited about scrap fabric (which is what these are made from).
It's got two carrying handles on the outside, one grab loop at each end of the zipper [to help with opening and closing], and two shoulder strap attachment points.
(And if you couldn't tell by the high-res pet hair, I share an apartment with three lovable - and very furry - cats, who all seem to love Tom Bihn bags as much as I do.)
There are two 2 O-Rings inside the bag, if those are things you like and use (I rarely use them, but folks who turn this into a micro shoulder/crossbody bag might clip their keys or an organizer pouch to them).
This is also proof that sometimes, making a second version of an existing product, but making it smaller or larger, opens it up to a whole new audience.
I honestly had no idea what to do with the damn thing when it came in the mail.
They told me they would send a bag, and well, I saw the backpack, so the other stuff was a bonus, but they were all things both new to the product line, and new to me (I didn't own either the full size Grab Bag, or the All Fabric Aeronaut Laundry Stuff Sack).
What did I know? The color combination is friggin' sweet. I'm such a sucker for 1980's retro-inspired color blocking that the custom-made backpack I use for backpacking is (big surprise) ALSO KHAKI AND TEAL. Truthfully, they should make a Coyote/Viridian version of every bag in their product line, because it just exudes this Sonoran Desert vibe that I can use on nights like tonight when it's currently (checking smartphone weather app) 9 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT WITH THE WIND CHILL.
It didn't take too long for me to find a good use for the Small Grab Bag, especially after quickly figuring out that that Addax would work really well as a day hiking bag.
It fits my 700mL titanium cookset PERFECTLY, with enough room below and around it to fit all the things I need to make backcountry coffee.
What's inside?
My cookpot stuff sack, which holds the pot, lid, canister fuel, and stove (in its own sack). A collapsible silicone cup (doesn't burn your hands off like titanium the same temperature as boiling water does). A spoon. Instant and pour-over coffees. A matchbook and mini lighter to start the stove. My pocketknife, which makes opening packages a little easier, especially with cold hands. And a small microfiber towel to help wipe things down dry after some simple dishwashing.
Small accessory stuff sacks and organizer pouches are GREAT for hikers and campers because they allow you to consolidate like items together, so that when someone asks to borrow your lighter, all you have to do is dig out the bag with the coffee stuff in it, and you know it's in there, instead of rifling through an entire backpack of loose items.
It's a simple design and I like it most because it's just enough room to fit all my coffee paraphernalia without leaving enough spare room for everything to rattle around each time I take a step hiking.
2.) Travel Laundry Stuff Sack (Mesh, Aeronaut 30, Cobalt 210 Cerylon)
The new, half-mesh travel laundry stuff sack is almost exactly the same size as the generic stuff sack I use to store my spare hiking clothes: rain jacket, rain pants, rain mitts, ankle gaiters, warm hat, warm gloves, sun hat, bug head net, quick drying towel, spare, underwear, spare socks, and a spare synthetic shirt.
What's super cool is since the Tom Bihn stuff sack is double-sided, I can toss my dirty socks or shirt on the opposite side after grabbing the clean ones, or if I want to keep something separate for easier access (like a bug head net) I can just stash it on the opposite side of everything else.
I used to just carry all those things in a solid fabric stuff sack, but it really helps being able to see all the items without having to empty the sack, and it's a really great organizational solution for keeping my spare hiking clothes organized in a way that not only consolidates them, but makes them easy to identify and grab. Trust me, when it start to rain and you're out in the wilderness, you don't want to waste time figuring out where you kept your raincoat.
It fits nicely in the bottom of most of my favorite packs, like the Addax, Smart Alec, or even the Cambiata.
It's already a stock feature, but using different color cordage for each side is a smart feature and an easy way to differentiate between the two halves.
It also occured to me - if you already own a Travel Tray, and you know how to convert the tray into a stuff sack, you will be able to roll down the top of the Addax backpack pretty easily. What the heck does this have to do with the laundry stuff sack? It's a stuff sack. With a cinch cord closure. So once you loosen the sack, you can roll the opening back down over itself if you want to get at the contents without spilling them all over the place (super useful when you're outside and dealing with wet and/or dirty ground).
3.) Vertical Packing Cubelet (Coyote 200 Halcyon)
Take the landscape-oriented 3D Organizer Cube, and instead of an opening on the long side, place it on the short side to give the pouch a portrait orientation.
That's the new VPC.
They did call it a Cubelet, and that makes sense to me, because it feels more like a stripped-down EC than a beefed-up 3DOC.
I still like one forum member's suggestion to rename it the "Rectanglet," but for now, I'll just call it the VPC from here on out.
The whole point of them making this organizer was the orientation. It stores a lot vertically while occupying a very minimal footprint at the bottom of your bag. The brick-like shape also means it stacks and packs neatly - they fit well next to another, and on top of another well.
There are 2 O-rings on the outside for a minimal shoulder strap or wrist strap, as well as 1 O-ring inside the pouch - but I don't tend to use either.
Like I mentioned briefly in my review of the Addax, I'm an advocate for the "cordless" method of interior organization, and these cubes are pretty ideally sized for slipping into the built-in pockets of bags like the Addax (or even my beloved Co-Pilot).
The vertical packing cubelet is great for power banks (I always carry not one, but three) as well as their charging cords and wall plug. This nests alongside my camera bag inside the inside bottom mesh pocket of the Addax.
I really like the vertical packing cubelet because it's a great internal organizer for tall bags with narrow bottoms (like most backpacks), whose orientation is great because it occupies less space at the bottom of the bag, and it's deep enough you can leave it unzipped.
For me, the portrait orientation makes these organizers a lot more useful than the classic landscape orientation of the original 3DOC - my next ask would be for them to make a Vertical Clear 3DOC so I could finally store my liquid travel size toiletries upright (my spray deodorant and hair spray are too tall for the current Clear 3DOC and things I have to store upright to prevent spills or leakage).
I did a test pack and learned two things:
1.) A fully-packed Vertical Packing Cubelet fits about damn perfectly in either the front left or right compartments on the Co-Pilot (and therefore should be an even easier fit into the same compartments on the Pilot). It also fits nicely into the main compartment of the Co-Pilot and will occupy about half the open space in front of the 2 pockets sewn into the back of that compartment (meaning you can probably fit 2 VPCs into the main compartment of the CP because, bag math).
2.) And it's also just the right side to fit exactly 1 t-shirt, 1 pair of socks, and 1 pair of underwear - the bare minimum change of clothes, if you wear pants, shoes, and a jacket (etc.) multiple days.
So, if you can also pack a fairly minimal toiletry kit, these cubes can potentially turn the Pilot and Co-Pilot into overnight bags!
It also works just the same for bags like the Cambiata, too. I was able to fit both a VPC (filled with a change of shirt, socks and underwear) and a STT (filled with an overnight's-worth of toiletries) at the bottom of the Cambiata with loads of room to spare. Those two things don't even fill up the bottom of the bag!
Nice to see TB supporting smaller bags with packing cubes again, even if it's a secondary use for a product like this one - I miss the days when you could almost buy coordinating cubes (Pilot, NFTD, Stowaway, etc.) but this solves that problem.
Hope the words and pictures were helpful for those of you considering the items for yourself or for gifting to someone else during the holiday season.
For now, I'm going to enjoy a heaping serving of crow for dinner because, for all the frustrated things I said about the Cambiata on the forums, I've had a Scrooge-on-Christmas-morning mood change about the bag, and I'll be damned saying it, but I love it and I've already carried it to work every day for the past week.
So, off to enjoy my delicious crow!
Om nom nom. Etc.
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