November Debut Thread

[cazique]

* I am not an enabler.

Except on 36L duffels. And maybe anything Aubergine/Island

[b1gsky]

Alright, alright, I do need one! Not that it took much convincing. Now I just need to decide on a color. I’m thinking either steel or black. I think both would look great with my Aubergine DLBP. And while I do love Aubergine I think having both backpack and duffel in Aubergine might be a bit much for my taste. I’m leaning towards black right now, but I’m not sure.

[Darcy]

Those wallets are fabulous - what I wouldn't give for a single O-ring on them though!

Can't wait to order one! And yes, I wish there was an O-ring to attach it inside of another TB bag like the previous wallet.

Oh yes! An O-ring please........or a little webbing loop for attaching a strap

I was thinking that an O ring would be great but I think the minimist won out for pants pocket use.

Maybe a little webbing loop to enable key strap attachment.

I second/triple/quadruple the request for a small (minimalist) web loop to be added to the wallets so that they can be used with key straps if desired. Common TB, make it happen for us!

Nik did test various ways of adding a snaphook attachment point to his wallets, but in the end, decided to keep the variations of wallets at three total and keep them as minimal as possible. I shared your feedback with him, and that prompted him to reconsider.

Next, he found Fong on the factory floor and together they went to work coming up with four variations of a webbing loop within half an hour or so. The webbing loop (as @KAB noted) is a little lower profile than an O-ring, and we think it works just as well. The rest of the afternoon was spent testing the various options, assessing how manufacturable on a larger scale each option would be, and getting feedback from the crew as to which option they thought worked best.

Here's the version we decided on, and it has become Wallet #4:







Wallet #4 is on the Nik's Minimalist Wallets page for email notification sign-up. We don't have official photos of each color yet, but we will soon. Note: it actually takes some time and precision work to add the webbing loop and ensure it's just right. Because of that, the price of Wallet #4 is $2 more than Wallet #3.

I'm glad the new minimalist wallets have arrived!
I'm totally ok with them not hooking/clipping/attaching to anything

You're not alone! In fact, there was some initial concern here amongst those of us who have been using / testing Nik's Wallets for the past year that Wallet #3 would basically become Wallet #4. Those of us who like the three pocket Wallet #3 but don't want the little webbing loop for snaphooks were relieved to hear that Nik's intention was to add Wallet #4 and keep Wallet #3 the way it is. The little webbing loop really doesn't get in the way, but for those who don't need it, it's just not necessary. And leaving behind anything not necessary was part of the intention behind these wallets.

[KAB]

Alright, alright, I do need one! Not that it took much convincing. Now I just need to decide on a color. I’m thinking either steel or black. I think both would look great with my Aubergine DLBP. And while I do love Aubergine I think having both backpack and duffel in Aubergine might be a bit much for my taste. I’m leaning towards black right now, but I’m not sure.

May I add a third "you do need one".........I too love my Medium Road Duffel.....one of my very favourite bags of all time....and now I shall have to add a Road Buddy to my ever increasing TB collection.....and probably a Shadow Guide....and a Wallet or two.......

[jessmakes]

Nik did test various ways of adding a snaphook attachment point to his wallets, but in the end, decided to keep the variations of wallets at three total and keep them as minimal as possible. I shared your feedback with him, and that prompted him to reconsider.

Next, he found Fong on the factory floor and together they went to work coming up with four variations of a webbing loop within half an hour or so. The webbing loop (as @KAB noted) is a little lower profile than an O-ring, and we think it works just as well. The rest of the afternoon was spent testing the various options, assessing how manufacturable on a larger scale each option would be, and getting feedback from the crew as to which option they thought worked best.

Here's the version we decided on, and it has become Wallet #4:







Wallet #4 is on the Nik's Minimalist Wallets page for email notification sign-up. We don't have official photos of each color yet, but we will soon. Note: it actually takes some time and precision work to add the webbing loop and ensure it's just right. Because of that, the price of Wallet #4 is $2 more than Wallet #3.



You're not alone! In fact, there was some initial concern here amongst those of us who have been using / testing Nik's Wallets for the past year that Wallet #3 would basically become Wallet #4. Those of us who like the three pocket Wallet #3 but don't want the little webbing loop for snaphooks were relieved to hear that Nik's intention was to add Wallet #4 and keep Wallet #3 the way it is. The little webbing loop really doesn't get in the way, but for those who don't need it, it's just not necessary. And leaving behind anything not necessary was part of the intention behind these wallets.

I love you guys so much. This is one of the most amazing things about TB - you listen to your users and the fact that you just created wallet #4 on freaking launch day due to feedback BLOWS ME AWAY.

[KAB]

Nik did test various ways of adding a snaphook attachment point to his wallets, but in the end, decided to keep the variations of wallets at three total and keep them as minimal as possible. I shared your feedback with him, and that prompted him to reconsider.

Next, he found Fong on the factory floor and together they went to work coming up with four variations of a webbing loop within half an hour or so. The webbing loop (as @KAB noted) is a little lower profile than an O-ring, and we think it works just as well. The rest of the afternoon was spent testing the various options, assessing how manufacturable on a larger scale each option would be, and getting feedback from the crew as to which option they thought worked best.

Here's the version we decided on, and it has become Wallet #4:







Wallet #4 is on the Nik's Minimalist Wallets page for email notification sign-up. We don't have official photos of each color yet, but we will soon. Note: it actually takes some time and precision work to add the webbing loop and ensure it's just right. Because of that, the price of Wallet #4 is $2 more than Wallet #3.



You're not alone! In fact, there was some initial concern here amongst those of us who have been using / testing Nik's Wallets for the past year that Wallet #3 would basically become Wallet #4. Those of us who like the three pocket Wallet #3 but don't want the little webbing loop for snaphooks were relieved to hear that Nik's intention was to add Wallet #4 and keep Wallet #3 the way it is. The little webbing loop really doesn't get in the way, but for those who don't need it, it's just not necessary. And leaving behind anything not necessary was part of the intention behind these wallets.

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You are all just the best! Just off to add my name to notification request!!!

[maverick]

I love you guys so much. This is one of the most amazing things about TB - you listen to your users and the fact that you just created wallet #4 on freaking launch day due to feedback BLOWS ME AWAY.

I couldn't agree more, @jessmakes!

The other lesson here is that when @Darcy goes radio silent on debut day, chances are there is one more thing is brewing on the factory floor in response to forum feedback!

[jessmakes]

I couldn't agree more, @jessmakes!

The other lesson here is that when @Darcy goes radio silent on debut day, chances are there is one more thing is brewing on the factory floor in response to forum feedback!

As soon as she said that Nik and Fong were working on something, I crossed my fingers. ☺️

[moriond]

Oh, wow! It took me too long to upload more wallet pictures. I had also tried to fiddle with where a webbing loop could be attached, but this Nik's solution was way better!

moriond

[setrombley]

Oh, excellent! Pushes me across the line to getting one, I think. I currently use a double organizer pouch as my quick-use wallet (for the cards I use a lot, rather the ones in the fancier wallet buried at the bottom of the bag), and it's fine but a bit big. This would fit better, I think.

[Darcy]

Dream would be that all of the zip top shop bags come back in stock, the A30 in black ballistic / northwest sky comes back in stock, and there's the chance at a few new bags all shipped in the same box.

The Aeronaut 30 in Black/Northwest Sky will be in-stock as of tomorrow. I do think you’ll be able to order that + Zip-Top Shop Bags in Halcyon on 11/26 — all shipping in the same box If there’s any other bags you’re wondering about the in-stock status of, feel free to ask here or emailus@tombihn.com

I LOVE the lash straps and the traction loop for the Road Buddy!! Might the traction loop start showing up for other bags too? I'm always unzipping pockets on my Synapse to provide a finger hold for providing traction.

That’s a good question, and I have to admit: I don’t know! I asked Tom and Nik and they said it really depends on the design. They don’t foresee themselves adding lash strap functionality or traction loops to any existing designs, but we never say never around here (well, almost never).

So I'm trying to downsize my aeronaut 45, and we love our aeronaut 30 in 'duffle mode'. Is the road buddy 36 a nice in-between? The A45 is just too heavy, but I'd love a little extra packing space vs. an A30.

edit: the road buddy 36 seems big for european carryon right?

I do think you’d find the Road Buddy 36 a nice in-between (the A30 and A45) size. It’s what I use as a road trip bag and I love it. It is, however, too big to fit as a European carry-on.

Glad to see the Road Buddy! I usually fly with a small Yeoman (and use it daily as a gym bag) but every time I use it I wish it had side pockets for shoes. I will test the 36L Road Buddy as a carry on this Christmas. My only wish right now is that it would come in Coyote.

Let us know how it works for you!

One thing, though: while the Road Buddy isn’t available in Coyote (with black trim, just like the other colors, which I think will look great) this time around we do expect it to be available in Coyote sometime early next year. We would’ve made it an option this time but didn’t have quite enough Coyote 1050d to make that happen.

I love these new designs! More soon, but I wanted to share a quick video of Nik's Minimalist Wallet! I love how they feel in my hand!

That is such a great video @maverick — it was fun to watch Nik watch it! He enjoyed it and thinks it's thorough and accurate overview of the wallets.

Love the new stuff!

@darcy, what's happening with the new key straps with split rings? All the chat about adding o-rings to the wallets made me think a split ring would actually be much slimmer but would let people clip it to stuff. Then I remembered how nice and sturdy those TB split rings were, and I remembered they haven't debuted yet!

They’re here! See: Snaphook/Split-Ring Key Straps on the Key Straps page. They just got a little lost in all of the other news.

I’m so excited about the Road Buddy! I’ve been wanting a large Road Duffel in Aubergine for so long, but was never crazy about the coyote trim. And since we just welcomed a new baby a week and a half ago, I’ve realized I need more packing options for travel trips to our family’s houses...now we will be traveling with the two of us, a newborn, a 2 year old, and two Great Danes, which makes for a LOT of stuff to haul. It’s definitely time to pull the trigger on getting one, so I’ll be purchasing one of the new designs for sure!

Congratulations! That’s very exciting!

@darcy, will we see the new wallets in nebulous gray?

Although we think the wallets would look quite good in Nebulous Grey, they’re only in 210d ballistic and 400d Halcyon. 525d would be a little too heavy to work with in a design as tiny as the wallet.

So I believe that embedding Maverick's video on the product page would be a very good idea, and make a note that the business cards are U.K not U.S size.
….
Would it be possible to offer Clear Urethane extra pockets to modulate the wallets in some manner?

Excellent suggestion @backpack — we were thinking the same thing. maverick’s video is now on the product page.

No plans to offer extra Clear Urethane pockets at this point.

P.S. I wanted to give a shout-out to moriond’s Nik’s Minimalist Wallet thread with all of its great photos — lots of detail and information over there that we didn’t quite cover on the product page.

[Shortie]

Ummm… I originally thought that the plan was that the Road Buddy would be made in Coyote, but I don't see it in the offerings. I haven't had time to shoot pictures, but when she asked me which color I wanted I said a Coyote Medium, but I guess that was why I got Navy instead. I'll try to take some pictures, but things have been busier than I expected, and my original reaction was, "My God, that's huge!" -- and especially in comparison with my Aeronauts and Yeoman Duffels. Mind you, I hadn't ordered the Road Duffel before, but it's taller in its side profile. My initial thought was to use it (even the Medium size) for disaster relocation, where I had to take along emergency lanterns (I'm not kidding -- I tried packing these into the side pockets), tons of blankets and garments, and portable supplies. As for shoes, I was thinking about dumping a load of different athletic shoes in the side pockets. (You have to understand that I can put size 6 shoes into the end pockets of the Night Flight Travel Duffel -- I even found that I could stash high heels into a Side Kick and put it into the side pockets of the NFTD.) @Shortie, the Medium Road Buddy may be a lot bigger than you think.

moriond

Thanks for the info, Moriond, that was really helpful. I can probably use the Road Buddy + Side Kick to replace my current Yeoman/Pop Tote/Side Kick setup for air travel. And I'll start campaining for a small sized RB on the wish list thread to use as a gym bag.

ETA: I think I'll wait until early next year to order it, when it's available in Coyote. Thanks, Darcy.

[Darcy]

Also, are the lengths on the road buddies correct? The side by side pictures looks like there is much more than 1” difference in width...

We double-checked (thanks for pointing this out!) and it looks like the only dimension that was incorrect was the length/width of the Road Buddy Duffel 60.

Correct Road Buddy Duffel 60 dimensions are up on its page, and for everyone's convenience, here they are:
Dimensions: 26" (w) x 14" (h) x 12" (d) / 660 (w) x 355 (h) x 305 (d) mm

[jpto]

I'm really hoping to pickup the Shadow Guide pack but I'm going to be on a flight on 11/26 8am PST and afraid I"m going to miss out of on the order

@Darcy - is the Shadow Guide going to be super limited? Any chance of a restock or is it a one time run?

[moriond]

Just a couple of quick comments on the other large bag items that I received but haven't had time to do a lot with (pictures) yet. For the Medium Road Buddy (people who have the Medium Road Duffel may already know this), the main compartment will fit a 13" laptop like the current Retina MacBook Pro Touchbar models -- or any laptop that you can put into one of the Swift/Maker's Bag Freudian Slips.

And on the Shadow Duffel, there is a really clever pull arrangement for closing the top cord in typical minimalist ruck sack fashion. I'm wondering if that will be used on any other bags (or even the Citizen Canine) -- it makes it really easy to both pull to close and also to adjust the length of the cord end at the same time. On the other hand, it is really black! I got out my Four Sevens original Titanium Quark Tactical flashlight to use with this in the interior. But it is a beautiful, simple design. I can see people who would really want this bag, even if they can't justify the Guide's Pack.

To be continued… Sorry, but things have been really busy on all fronts.

moriond