I started with Tom Bihn back in 2016 I think, but wasn't smitten by my S25. I wrote about it in https://forums.tombihn.com/photos-vi...tml?highlight=. It's not personal, but it's just not the bag for me.
Queue two years later, where I not only got my girlfriend a medium Cafe Bag and a Travel Cubelet. She absolutely loves those, so I gave her my S25 as well. This taught her the joy and tricks of 1-bag traveling and I'm really glad I found a use for that bag too.
Fast-forward yet again to a few weeks ago and I decided to treat my dad to something nice, and suggested a TB bag. He picked the Aeronaut, which I got him to pickup from the factory on their open Saturday a few weeks back.
My girlfriend immediately honed-in to the Aeronaut 30 as well, so THAT became her present. Steel for dad, and Aubergine for my dearly beloved.
They also had a Brain Bag there, a bad I'd been curious about, but never 100% into trying. Why not? It's huge.
But for some reason... after having seen Aubergine in person, and really seen it in person... I couldn't help it. She got me an Aubergine/Island BB for christmas. Of course I've already been using it plenty.
Now. I am a bag addict. Just in the past few weeks, I received a Brown Buffalo Conceal, a SkinGrowsBack Pak30, a SkinGrowsBack MidPak, and a Ynot Magnetica. That's on top of bags I already have (plenty of Qwstion, AER, Timbuk2, DSPTCH, a Mixed Works Falcon M, a Crafted Good Rigi, er... probably more eh).
Hence, I absolutely.did.not.need the Brain Bag. On top of having too many bags:
* The BB is HUGE
* The BB has the same issue I had with the S25, in that if the outside pockets aren't used, the space is wasted
* The BB feels like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, to me. If it were a travel bag, it'd open clamshell. If it were a laptop bag, it'd be smaller... So what is it?
It's every single thing you want it to be, or exactly the only thing you want it to be. The BB isn't 'I wish it were X' or 'I wish it also did Y'. The BB is ALL these things, always.
I am LOVING this bag. Yes, ok, it's big. It could do with being a couple of inches narrower (as it is it's basically the same width as my own back). But it does compress down, and the capacity opens up interesting possibilities.
It's great-looking. It's not tactical, but it's not formal either. It's got its own thing going on. It doesn't LOOK serious, but it acts and feels serious.
The only thing that doesn't 100% work for me are the width, and well... honestly, and this is rare, that may be it.
Everything else works just fine. I won't ever use the water bottle holder feature, but I attached a carabiner to it and called it a day. I don't need a waist-belt, and there is none.
Typically, my pet peeves on bags are ovoid shapes (resulting in wasted capacity vs. squared/rectangular designs), floppiness (when they lose all shape when empty or flop down helplessly when set to the floor) and impracticality (inaccessible or too-small pockets, new features that just don't work). The BB doesn't have any of this:
* The bag compresses down if needed, but doesn't get floppy if empty
* It's outer pockets don't protrude too far out, resulting in no extra space taken by unused capacity
* It stands-up on its own when put on the floor
* All the pockets are usable. ALL of them. The front pockets have some light organization which may be all that's needed for most folks. My girlfriend also got me a Freudian slip which allows me to swap my payload across bags and also allows me to put in more organization into the main pockets, as I am not always keen on putting expensive smaller items on outside pockets
The carry strap is perfect. It's not too big, not too small, and since it's in the middle of the two large compartments will pretty much guarantee carrying a balanced load. It's very well thought-out and just makes sense it its utilization.
I have to take an impromptu, urgent trip to Europe next week for almost a month, and I am thinking the BB may be all I need. I MAY strap a rolled-up Messenger bag (Timbuk2 Flight Messenger) to the side for when I don't need that much space, but that just reflects its ability to take MORE, not less.
I will use its middle-compartment for a couple of packing cubes, and its rear compartment for laptop + snake charmer containing cables. The top quick-access pocket will have headphones, DAC, USB cable and charger. The mesh pocket will hold my gloves and hat. The front side pockets will hold bits and bobs, including passport pouch, pens and field-notes, and wallet and phone for airport security checkpoints.
For now I have been using it for my daily commute. It certainly hasn't been pushed to its limits, and I've taken it nowhere near them at all. But given my tendencies to downsize over the past year or so (making the Brown Buffalo Conceal my ideal daily bag otherwise), I've been extremely pleased with how well this bag handles smaller loads, how comfortable it is, and how good it looks despite its slightly oversized dimensions.
What the Synapse 25 is better for:
* That bottom front pocket is HUGE and fits anything without eating up the main compartment. Such a feature is pretty much always welcome, for an extra layer or winter accessories or extra pair of shoes. If you carry fixed-loads of smaller stuff, the S25 is probably more your thing
* It's easier to access, as pockets are easier to open overall due to the lack of fabric covering them
What the BB is better for: everything else.
* It travels great due to its HUGE capacity, but can be a daypack when you land (note: other bags do this better, e.g. my Timbuk2 Jet or my SkinGrowsBack Pak30. The BB is VERY big. But it certainly DOES work that way AND can be compressed down to a much more manageable load!)
* It fits larger items better
* It sits upright when set on the floor (I did get the S25's frame when we went to pick-up the BB, but we've not tried it with it yet)
* It always just seems to swallow more and not get out of shape. The S25 would go very egg-shaped and become uncomfortable when I got it fit to capacity
Ok, so, yes, it's 100% true: nothing of the above is less than completely obvious. Looking at the website's pages for either of these bags will show exactly what I described. I'm fine with it. Clearly, I was unable to make these conclusions 2 years ago :P But I'm glad I have now!
I'll check back on this when I get to test it out a little (hopefully, a lot) more.
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Originally Posted by definityx
