Guys (& Ladies),
Just wish to share my somewhat brief and personal review of my Tom Bihn's Products (below) with my recent trip to Taiwan for 7D6N.
No check-in luggage, carry-on only with Airasia (International) and Malaysia Airlines (Domestic/Interstate).
• My wife carried Defy Bucktown Backpack, weight about 6kg. Inside stored two Travel Tray, a Packing Cube, Quartz Bag and a Packable Duffel.
• I carried A45, slightly overweight 8.5kg (Airasia requirement is 7kg) and Pilot. A45 hold our Large Packing Cube, Snake Chamber, Large Yarn Stuff Sack (Jackets). I also carry Upper Module Pocket and the Pilot.
Left: My Navy/Solar A45 Backpacking and Steel Dyneema Pilot at Terminal 2, Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan; Arrival
Right: My Navy/Solar A45 and Defy Bucktown Backpack at Song Syue Lodge, Hehuanshan, Central Taiwan.
We brought 16 shirts, 8 pants & dress, 12 stockings, 15 undies, 1 medium-layer jacket, 1 zipper hoodie and 1 fleece.
I managed to compress the Jacket, Hoodie and Fleece, all into my Tall Yarn Stuck Sack which is stored just-right on one of A45's Side Pocket.
While remaining fitted inside the Backpack and A45.
*Sorry, I forget to snap photo on this part.
While on the Pilot, I'm not sure that I like it so much than I initially think so. Because
1- It looks bigger on me. I hoping Co-Pilot wouldn't be too small either :P
1- It is floppy due to the Dyneema material.
2- It is unusual expandable. Sometimes, this could be good and bad. The good is it could hold a lot. The bad is I tends to stuff more and it would become heavier and awkward looking. Also, my shoulder would get tired easily.
But overall, I do really like its very organize feature - the Front, Main, Back, Bottle and its interior Pockets.
If my travel itinerary doesn't need a lot of walking, then I wouldn't mind bringing Pilot. Thus for this Trip, I only use the Pilot during the day of flight departure/return, Transit and/or most of the time in the car. Also, another main reason I find the Pilot very useful is it help maximize the Carry-On Limit so my A45 could be lighter to meet the 7kg Limit. Especially those Tablet, Charger, First Aid Kit, Quartz Bag do easily weight a lot, yet they have smaller dimension.
Left: My usual content in my UMP. I'm not sure whether I posted this elsewhere before. Sorry, if I repost.
Middle: I wearing cross-body my Steel Dyneema UMP. Strap is 2 Key Strap jointed (1 Black, 1 UV Dyneema). It may looks big from the picture. This is due to my selfie's angle of shot.
Right: Nordic PCSB hooked onto the front seat tray, via a Double Carabiner from Tom Bihn. Inside my filled UMP, Passports, Bottle and other small items.
Shall my day itinerary has a lot of walking such as City Traveling, I just leave it at my Hotel and switch to Packing Cube Shoulder Bag. I don't use Tablet outdoor, so PCSB is just right for me + my wife's thingy. Plus, I will be carrying my usual UMP for my usual stuffs. More lightweight, just right sufficient space though we have to compromise on the Bottle Compartment of Pilot. Packable Shop Bag inside a PCSB will be more awesome (I have none. Still saving for 1 LSB) so you wouldn't need to carry multiple plastic bags from your shopping. Just threw everything in. They wouldn't be that easily to be accidentally forgotten during meal stopover or taxi ride.
Also, from this trip, I start to learn to love the Absolute Shoulder strap and very dislike the Standard Strap. The Pad of the Standard Strap love to displace itself, annoyingly.
Before, I only use the Absolute Strap in non-Cross-Body mode as the non-slippery material caught on my shirts and I wouldn't able to easily swing to front or back. Then from this trip, I learn that I could swing effortlessly by switching the side of the non-slippery material upside down. Hence, with the material on top rather than normally on the bottom where it face/rest on your shoulder, I could use the Strap as like any kind strap, plus the Absolute Strap is more kind to my shoulder with its springy feature.
This is our first carry-on-only trip and we had learned that we could go even lighter as there are still quite a number of apparels we did not use/wear.
NOTE: Both my Wife and I are averagely less than 5.7 feet and weight around 65kg. Shirt size are XS-S, depends on the Brand/Design. Shoes size are about US8.0. I'm noting, to give a rough understand as it could effect the number of apparel fitted.
Just wish to share my somewhat brief and personal review of my Tom Bihn's Products (below) with my recent trip to Taiwan for 7D6N.
No check-in luggage, carry-on only with Airasia (International) and Malaysia Airlines (Domestic/Interstate).
• My wife carried Defy Bucktown Backpack, weight about 6kg. Inside stored two Travel Tray, a Packing Cube, Quartz Bag and a Packable Duffel.
• I carried A45, slightly overweight 8.5kg (Airasia requirement is 7kg) and Pilot. A45 hold our Large Packing Cube, Snake Chamber, Large Yarn Stuff Sack (Jackets). I also carry Upper Module Pocket and the Pilot.
Left: My Navy/Solar A45 Backpacking and Steel Dyneema Pilot at Terminal 2, Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan; Arrival
Right: My Navy/Solar A45 and Defy Bucktown Backpack at Song Syue Lodge, Hehuanshan, Central Taiwan.
We brought 16 shirts, 8 pants & dress, 12 stockings, 15 undies, 1 medium-layer jacket, 1 zipper hoodie and 1 fleece.
I managed to compress the Jacket, Hoodie and Fleece, all into my Tall Yarn Stuck Sack which is stored just-right on one of A45's Side Pocket.
While remaining fitted inside the Backpack and A45.
*Sorry, I forget to snap photo on this part.
While on the Pilot, I'm not sure that I like it so much than I initially think so. Because
1- It looks bigger on me. I hoping Co-Pilot wouldn't be too small either :P
1- It is floppy due to the Dyneema material.
2- It is unusual expandable. Sometimes, this could be good and bad. The good is it could hold a lot. The bad is I tends to stuff more and it would become heavier and awkward looking. Also, my shoulder would get tired easily.
But overall, I do really like its very organize feature - the Front, Main, Back, Bottle and its interior Pockets.
If my travel itinerary doesn't need a lot of walking, then I wouldn't mind bringing Pilot. Thus for this Trip, I only use the Pilot during the day of flight departure/return, Transit and/or most of the time in the car. Also, another main reason I find the Pilot very useful is it help maximize the Carry-On Limit so my A45 could be lighter to meet the 7kg Limit. Especially those Tablet, Charger, First Aid Kit, Quartz Bag do easily weight a lot, yet they have smaller dimension.
Left: My usual content in my UMP. I'm not sure whether I posted this elsewhere before. Sorry, if I repost.
Middle: I wearing cross-body my Steel Dyneema UMP. Strap is 2 Key Strap jointed (1 Black, 1 UV Dyneema). It may looks big from the picture. This is due to my selfie's angle of shot.
Right: Nordic PCSB hooked onto the front seat tray, via a Double Carabiner from Tom Bihn. Inside my filled UMP, Passports, Bottle and other small items.
Shall my day itinerary has a lot of walking such as City Traveling, I just leave it at my Hotel and switch to Packing Cube Shoulder Bag. I don't use Tablet outdoor, so PCSB is just right for me + my wife's thingy. Plus, I will be carrying my usual UMP for my usual stuffs. More lightweight, just right sufficient space though we have to compromise on the Bottle Compartment of Pilot. Packable Shop Bag inside a PCSB will be more awesome (I have none. Still saving for 1 LSB) so you wouldn't need to carry multiple plastic bags from your shopping. Just threw everything in. They wouldn't be that easily to be accidentally forgotten during meal stopover or taxi ride.
Also, from this trip, I start to learn to love the Absolute Shoulder strap and very dislike the Standard Strap. The Pad of the Standard Strap love to displace itself, annoyingly.
Before, I only use the Absolute Strap in non-Cross-Body mode as the non-slippery material caught on my shirts and I wouldn't able to easily swing to front or back. Then from this trip, I learn that I could swing effortlessly by switching the side of the non-slippery material upside down. Hence, with the material on top rather than normally on the bottom where it face/rest on your shoulder, I could use the Strap as like any kind strap, plus the Absolute Strap is more kind to my shoulder with its springy feature.
This is our first carry-on-only trip and we had learned that we could go even lighter as there are still quite a number of apparels we did not use/wear.
NOTE: Both my Wife and I are averagely less than 5.7 feet and weight around 65kg. Shirt size are XS-S, depends on the Brand/Design. Shoes size are about US8.0. I'm noting, to give a rough understand as it could effect the number of apparel fitted.
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