Hands free with a Cache

[Pertinax]

By now, I have fully converted to the Tom Bihn ethos. That does not just mean one bag, wheel-free travel for me, but also the organization that is enabled by the accessories. I now know where everything is in my bag when I travel, and because everything is attached with a key strap, I never lose anything or leave anything behind anymore.

One area that I have struggled with, though, is how to carry my laptop and how to “undock” while on an airplane so I have what I want at my seat while the rest is stowed. I don’t really like the Brain Cell because it isn’t minimalist enough for me. I don’t need a Freudian Slip. I do travel with Packing Cube Backpacks, but they hold clothes while in transit. I love the Caches and own one for every electronic device I have, but they are really designed as internal storage.

I stumbled upon a solution for me as I was faced with a rushed deplaning while trying trying to juggle my laptop in its Cache and a Side Effect at my seat and needing to rapidly track down my TriStar, jacket and a fishing rod tube overhead in different places. I wanted my hands free during this process. I had the 3/8” shoulder strap that came with my Side Effect at the seat with me, so I looped it through the Cache straps before fastening it to the Side Effect. As a result I could sling the whole thing over my shoulder, and I got off the plane as fast as I wanted.

I looked through forums later and didn’t see this configuration documented, so I thought I would describe what I did in case others found it useful. Afterwards, I figured out that using the Tom Bihn Double Carabiners worked even better, and the Side Effect could still be strapped on. You can see what it looks like in the pictures below. Not terribly fashionable, but it gave me hands-free movement until I could get the Cache back into the TriStar.








The pictures show the MacBook Air 11” Vertical Cache, but the configuration works also for my iPad and should work even better for larger laptops because the Cache rails would be farther apart. I’m not sure the Cache is sturdy enough to stand up to this treatment every day, but in a pinch it seems to be fine.

[SKIMT]

Great idea! Thank you for sharing! People like you take the TB program to the next level of ingenuity.

[ceb]

Nice idea. Have you considered using a different kind of clip (Grimloc for example) to keep the rails from getting all scrunched up?

[Pertinax]

No doubt there must be a better clip. I usually have a couple of double carabiners with me, and they work to attach the Side Effect ok, but with the bunching you noticed. I didn't show a picture of the original configuration, which was to loop the strap through the cache rails before clipping to the Side Effect. Or you could just loop the strap through the rails and clip to itself. Those configurations seemed gentler on the rails.

[ceepee]

Resurrecting this thread to show an alternative way of adding a carry strap to a cache with rails.

I was looking for a way to safely carry my iPad onto the plane so that i didn't have to block the aisle whilst I retrieved it from my bag once I reached my seat. S25 waist belt to the rescue:



I asked this lady if she would mind modelling it for me: