Synik straps not that comfortable

[tofulosophy]

Hello all. I just received my first TB bag, the Synik 30. I was super excited for this bag and but am bummed about one thing. The straps, while thick, are a lot narrower than I expected. I'm coming from a North Face Borealis. The Borealis' straps are almost a whole inch thicker where the straps touch the collar bone. Even though the Borealis straps are not as cushy as the Synik, I feel like the extra width disperses the load on the shoulders/collar bone more effectively. I'm really torn but feel like I might be returning the Synik. Just for context, I loaded up both bags and walked around the apartment doing some light chores for about 15 minutes with each bag.

Does anyone have similar observations and wish they were wider?

[father_dawg]

Interesting thought. I like their “squishiness” but I wish it went the full length of the strap, you know? I dont do heavy hiking, and this is kind of a commuter bag for me, but I think I know what you mean re the straps.

[carrot]

I don't have a Borealis and I have stuck it out with a lot of decent but not fantastic straps.

The Tom Bihn bound straps are decent and the new edgeless (Synik and Luminary style) straps are a substantial improvement. I only own the Synik 22 and not the 30 but I found the edgeless straps to be quite comfortable and ideal for long travel days. I am sorry to hear they don't work for everybody as much as I enjoy mine.

I am trying out the Goruck GR1 for the first time and I think it's a great bag. I sorely miss the organization from my Synik (and Synapse) but I needed to carry a little more this time (my work laptop and some notebooks) and the GR1 finally got to leave the closet. The straps are possibly even better than on the Synik, but the strong downside is the strap and back are made of Cordura 1000D and like to eat delicate clothing. Not so good for merino traveler's shirts!

[pcmike]

Hey carrot,

Long time no chat, I’ve been thinking about the CPF days a lot lately. How have you been? Where have you been hanging out lately?

[carrot]

Hey carrot,

Long time no chat, I’ve been thinking about the CPF days a lot lately. How have you been? Where have you been hanging out lately?

Hey pcmike. It has been a long time. Doing well, trying to get a few visits to some national parks while keeping a low impact travel profile. Probably the trickiest travel we've ever done. Prior we've been cooped up like most since March. Thankful for remote work. How about you???

Funny running into you over here, I feel like there's an unofficial circuit that a lot of us travel as forumites. I keep thinking about using a new name in new places but then I'd lose the possibility of chance encounters!

I am back into flashlights again after a pretty good hiatus so I am on reddit r/flashlights a lot under another name. I pop up on CPF once a month, and I am still over at Spyderco forums. Lurking a lot at BLF. Finally got into PC gaming after resisting for about forever. Cyberpunk2077 is on the shortlist.

[pcmike]

Lol, absolutely think the same regarding people who seek out niche message boards.

I was just migrating all my data from my old storage array to a new one and I came across tons of pictures of various flashlights and knives I had over a decade ago. I honestly don’t even remember having all the McGizmos I ultimately found pictures of, but I guess I did. I also still have the McGizmo auction spreadsheet I made when he auctioned off like 20-30 lights at once.

So I signed up to this forum just because of the Synik 30. I currently have a AER TB2 X-pac that I got for a 10 day trip to Spain last year. It was good on the trip, but I found it be rather annoying to get in and out of because of the buckles on the side. Plus it’s so rectangular it doesn’t really lend itself to walking around a city kinda empty. I’m truly hoping the Synik 30 isn’t TOO BIG to walk around a foreign city all day unloaded. Honestly thinking of selling my AER and getting a Synapse 19.

That being said I also dug around in some drawers at home and found an old HDS LED light. It’s actually not an HDS, but rather the eventual company... Novatac. Not sure if they’re still around. I also still have the amazon special hexbright lights that I use from time to time. I’m thinking of adding the Novatac to my Synik for travel since it’s so small. I also found two brand new EDCF spyderco manix 2 moonglows BNIB. I’m not at 15 posts on EDCF yet so I can’t even see their BST, but hopefully soon. Any idea which forum would be best to unload those? I’ve got no use for them. I also found a small Sebenza at the same time which I sent into CK for a spa day and I should get that sometime next week with my Synik.

What’s BLF?

I never got into any gaming, but since we last spoke I did get married and we got two girls. The youngest plays fortnite like it’s her job!!

[carrot]

Crazy coincidence, pcmike, because I just added one of each (McGizmo and HDS) to my collection. BLF is Budget Light Forum where all the real action is these days. There is an open source firmware called Anduril written by a BLF member and a handful of BLF projects that range from slight variant all the way to fully designed by forum and produced by flashlight OEMs in China. The Lumintop FW3A and Emisar D4v2 are truly worth the hype, particularly if you have fondness for Novatac/HDS from the old days. Both are sized nearly identically to the Novatac but take an 18650 battery.

Those EDCF Manix 2 Moonglows are kinda rare. I'd try Reddit r/knife_swap because it's free to list but if you pay forum fees Bladeforums is a great option.

Congrats on the married and two girls! I guess time really, really flies.

I tried an Aer Small Gym Duffel 2 and really liked it. But it eventually ended up too small for my gym loadout and fell prey to a larger, less convenient backpack.

I've done a lot of traveling with the Synik 22 and the Synapse 19 that preceded it. I really like the 19. The 22 is great, but we're still in the honeymoon phase so I am kinda babying it which makes it harder to fully appreciate. The 30 is a big bag, but if you are a big person, it carries nicely. My best friend carries one mostly empty as his two-bag setup.

[pcmike]

I’m not that big... 5’11” and 166lbs. Unfortunately it’s what I’ll need to carry everything on trips across the world I think. No room for a second bag. Should have it Wednesday. I wonder what size hydroflask fits in the pocket and doesn’t suck up too much space.. wonder if the 40oz will fit since it’s slimmer and only ever so slightly taller. I’ll have to check out BLF tomorrow. ����