Pilot - Exterior Material and PCSB in (Ballistic) Back Pocket of Pilot

[Squirrel]

I am interested in a Pilot mainly as a personal item / cabin bag but am confident I will be using it outside of travel, too. I really like black Dyneema, and black, and steel in ballistic nylon and dream of an iberian interior for the pilot. Steel as interior color might work also if getting lots of iberian cubes/stuff sacks . I don't think I'd like Wasabi that much from the look of the pictures.

So far I only own (and have seen) Dyneema bags, last week I got a black Dyneema / iberian side effect and a steel PCSB. Both look awesome I think.

I tend toward a Dyneema exterior for the Pilot to counteract the look of 'yet another briefcase/laptop bag'. Might be only an impression at first glance, as I read here so often that the ballistic nylon looks especially nice. I think if there were a red option for the ballistic nylon I would really like that, too. In bags like the swift black ballistic does not bother me, I even like it. I think it's the context of the laptop bag that makes me fear the pilot might look too much like a 'blah' office bag.

So now I have seen the option of a black ballistic / iberian Pilot come (and go) three times in the last weeks. I emailed customer service about the black Dyneema / iberian (or steel) option and got the answer from Hannah that it's definitely possible they'll make a black Dyneema / iberian Pilots like that "at some point". She could, of course, not give me any timeframe. Now I am debating if I should snatch up a black ballistic / iberian Pilot the next time this might become available or hold out for the option of my i black dyneema / iberian combo. Any thoughts? Does anybody know if there have ever been Dyneema Pilots with iberian interior? I am in no particular rush as I only would like to use it for my next bigger trip in March.

Another question in my decision making: I thought it was very cool what @tangfj showed in the "The New Pilot Available for Pre-order" in post #458, that a PCSB could fit in the back pocket of a Dyneema Pilot. Can anybody tell me if that works with a ballistic Pilot, too?

Thanks in advance!

[moriond]

Welcome to the forums @Squirrel,

The Pilot has only been offered in 3 different Dyneema combinations since its release in early February this year: Nordic/Solar, Steel/Steel, and Black/Wasabi. (Steel 400d Dyneema and Nordic 400d Dyneema were retired, so I don't think these combinations have been available past late July or so.) The Pilot has also not been offered in as many Ballistic Nylon color combinations as other Tom Bihn travel bags. For example, it has never been made in Aubergine, despite several requests, and was only given a run in Forest this summer, just when the announcement that Forest was being discontinued was made. We have not had a new 400d Dyneema fabric announcement, and a rough guess would be that this will not happen soon, given the spate of other new products that are/will be appearing.

Unless there is a sign that more color combinations in Dyneema are forthcoming for the Pilot, my inclination would be to grab up Black/Iberian in the Ballistic Nylon combination, if you like those colors, the next time it becomes available, even if it is well before your March trip. In general, there are more color combinations offered near the holday period, even if they do come and go out of stock more quickly.

And to answer your other question, yes, a PCSB will fit into the back compartment of either Dyneema or Ballistic Nylon Pilots.

HTH

moriond

[Squirrel]

Thank you so much for your insights, @moriond (and for making it through my longish post ).

Sounds great that the PCSB will work in the ballistic back pocket also (I suppose given that it's not too full). I envisioned using the PCSB as an "in-flight bag" using the double carabiners as suggested in the forums e.g. for the SE. The main compartment then could hold other things.

The advantage of getting the Pilot sooner than later would of course be that I might factor in some of the new products you mention (and that are awaited and discussed eagerly ). And that everything might be called 'Christmas gifts' .

Will think about it!