December 2019 debut: These iconic handy little things (Icon & HLT 1 and 2)

[moriond]

Your strap shortening video is very helpful, because I am in need of a tutorial on how to accomplish this. The bag lengthening is very clear from the way the clip works, but I'm not able to scoot the strap down into the rabbit hole. I will try again tomorrow.

I think this could make a great day bag for travel. It's very compact and doesn't allow for as much flexible space as, say, the Maker's Bag, which has a huge space for the odds and ends one picks up during the day, but the charm of the Icon is that forces some decisions about what to carry.

Hi @GoStanford,

The way that I found it easiest to shorten the strap of the Icon was by sticking part of the Tom BIHN ruler against one side of the strap as I fed it down into the hole. Because the ruler has a smooth surface, and a long, flat surface to act as a backing/support for the soft webbing of the shoulder strap, when I grab a section of the strap between webbing and ruler, and push down to slide the strap in to shorten it, the part of the beneath the opening keeps the section of strap that you’re pushing down the side from bunching up near the top of the hole or tangling. Then, once you’ve pushed a section of the strap down, you can slide the ruler up again against the strap, readjust your grip point, and push down the next section.

You want to grip and push down to feed the strap in close to the top of the buckle/retaining mechanism, so I usually have the thumb and forefinger of one hand gripping the strap there to feed it in, and the fingers of my other hand underneath the strap and the flat side of the retaining clip support it — with the supporting hand’s forefinger just under the webbing loop adjacent to the bag. Then, after I feed a section of strap + ruler gripped between thumb and forefinger into the hole, I use my my thumb to rock back and slide the top of the ruler up, so that I can grip the next section of strap and push it into the whole.

It’s similar to the motion that @bartleby showed in his video with the addition of the ruler. Any flat, relatively smooth strip that is not wider than the webbing can be used for this purpose of supporting the soft webbing of the strap as just push it into the hole, and prevent it from bunching up near then opening. I just happened to find the Tom BIHN ruler well suited for this. And, since the ruler was included with the Little Swift, Swift, and Field Journal Notebook — all products that I separately purchased — I had this ready to hand.



HTH

moriond

ETA:

(I think that I actually used this with the ruler on the other side of the locking mechanism, but I don't have a photo of that on my phone, and it's too dark now to take another one. But hopefully, this will give you an idea of what I meant by saying this helps to guide in and support the strap as you feed it into the hole, and that the section of ruler below the opening ensures that there is a flat support for the strap.

[Shortie]

I've been experimenting with hacking so that the HLT1 can be used at the top of Luminary 12 (and original Luminary) to make better use of the space. This is preliminary:
Attachment 23810
Standard keystrap attached to O-rings
Attachment 23811
Attachment 23812

Main problem is that the position of the HLT1 will drop considerably when the bag (original Luminary in Black) is in a vertical position. But this is encouraging.

Sorry for the late postings, but photos were delayed by having to look after people who were coming down with colds over the last few days.

HTH

moriond[/QUOTE]

Thank you for this hack, Moriond. I'm planning to try to attach the HLT1 with the included carabinders in my Luminary 12. Did you try it?

[moriond]

I've been experimenting with hacking so that the HLT1 can be used at the top of Luminary 12 (and original Luminary) to make better use of the space. This is preliminary:
Attachment 23810
Standard keystrap attached to O-rings
Attachment 23811
Attachment 23812

Main problem is that the position of the HLT1 will drop considerably when the bag (original Luminary in Black) is in a vertical position. But this is encouraging.

Sorry for the late postings, but photos were delayed by having to look after people who were coming down with colds over the last few days.

HTH

moriond

Thank you for this hack, Moriond. I'm planning to try to attach the HLT1 with the included carabinders in my Luminary 12. Did you try it?

Hi @Shortie,

Yes, I did try to use the Double Carabiners with the HLT1 in the Luminary 12 and Luminary in an attempt to make better use of the top of the bag. The best results that I got were from hooking the Double Carabiners to the bottom set of HLT1 loops:

(I decided to use the Wasabi Green Double Carabiners in pictures as a way of distinguishing Medium from Large size; since I have both sizes in Black with the HLTs, this means I don't have to separately say "this is the Medium Size" when it's green). You probably want to try both the Large and Medium sizes, since both will work, but I haven't had enough time to say which holds up better -- there's certainly more room with the Large size Double Carabiners)


Here's where the HLT1 sits when the Luminary is upright. This is the 525d Nebulous Grey Ballistic Nylon Luminary 12/Dawn 210d lining, with a Seapine HLT1 suspended by Medium Double Carabiner clips attached to the O-rings on either side of the back of the main compartment.

The reason for using the bottom loops in the HLT1 is to get the HLT higher up in the Luminary or Luminary 12 when you flip it into position. The earlier pictures with a keystrap joining the O-Rings were because I was also experimenting with different ways to hack a variety of bags -- the solutions should work in the old Synapses (pre-dating any webbing loops -- for example).

HTH

moriond

ETA: The other reason for experimenting with the keystrap solution is that I didn't have official information on availability of the new Double Carabiner Clips:

Updates on debut item stock:

Note: everyone who ordered the first production run of the HLT of either size received two Medium Swivel Double Carabiners and two Large Swivel Double Carabiners; we included both sizes (even though the HLT notes that only one pair is included; so, the second pair we included first-batch only basically a bonus pair) because we couldn’t decide which size made more sense to include with the HLT and we want your feedback on that! So, as you begin to receive your HLTs, let us know which size of Carabiners you prefer here or emailus@tombihn.com

Three sizes of Swivel Double Carabiner will be available for purchase separately in early 2020

[backpack]

Thank you so much for the detailed pictures of the inside and outside of the HLT!

[latchford]

The HLT2 pouches will also fit the Red Leaf Pouchkin of the First or Second Aid Pouches (in Blue or Red) for an additional clear pocket that attaches to the center webbing that is handy for small items like stamps, flags, or small pills (aspirin, etc.)

Will the Leaf Pouchkin fit in the HLT1 even though the Pouchkin is just slightly longer than the HLT1? I'd love to use the HLT1 as a stationery kit as the HLT2 is kind of unwieldy for that purpose to me.

[moriond]

Will the Leaf Pouchkin fit in the HLT1 even though the Pouchkin is just slightly longer than the HLT1? I'd love to use the HLT1 as a stationery kit as the HLT2 is kind of unwieldy for that purpose to me.

Hi @latchford,

The simple answer is that the Leaf Pouchkin will fit in the HLT1 even if it is oversized, but it's not clear to me that it would be your best choice, instead of using, say, a double red or double blue pouchkin attached to an O-ring of the HLT1 instead. Neither of those double size pouchkins is oversized for the HLT1, so you don't have to overfill one side of your HLT1.

I suspect that the answer depends on the specifics of what you want to do. So here are some questions: where are you going to be putting your pens/pencils? The bayonet mounts for the leaf pouchkin are designed to slip along the elastic webbing. Because it's assumed that there is enough room either for these pouchkins to shift (both vertically as well as getting flipped forwards and back, this design in general doesn't interfere with items you place in the elastic bands. But if you are going to be placing the pen you most often use in one of those bands, you should consider that your longterm use of the leaf pouchkin in this mode involves not just clearing the large, flat portions of the pouch from corners, but also keeping the bayonet mount points from getting crowded against obstructions.

Do you just want to have access to the clear pouch portions, or are you planning to use the pocket on the reverse flip side, too, and if so, how thick an item are you planning on putting into it (keeping in mind that the HLT1 is overall smaller)? (One of the items I put into the reverse side of the leaf pouchkin is a Tom Bihn ruler, because I might have markers in the elastic straps on one side, and want this to be conveniently accessed. It will fit into the mesh zippered pocket of the HLT1 and also into the elastic on the side (and you might want to consider what alternatives you have if you are using your own ruler, because most of them are too long to conveniently fit in the HLT1). But in the HLT1 I probably wouldn't try to put much else in the reverse pocket.

Here's an alternative configuration for the HLT1:

The setup is for the HLT1 in 630d Seapine. The Field Notes Notebook overlying the top mesh zippered pouch shows the outline form factor of the red hardcover Moleskine notebook that will be inserted under the zippered pouch. (The space will accommodate a stack of about 5 Field Note Notebooks or about 1”).

On the left side are items that are loaded into the HLT1: a pack of frixion colored markers and a page cutter with ceramic tip get loaded into the black mesh zippered pocket. The red Moleskine notebook is inserted under that zippered mesh pocket. Below that is a double red pouchkin (like the leaf pouchkin, this has a clear front and divided zipper pockets containing stamps and postit flags)
I'm using the shorter double red pouchkin attached to an O-ring on the side of the HLT1 opposite from the zippered mesh pocket.

You can see that a Tom Bihn ruler is lying under one of the elastic bands, and another band is holding a set of Alite Cloverware nested utensils. The zippered pockets on this side to the left and right can each hold tea bags! (In the case of arriving somewhere with really awful tea). I'm probably carrying the red and green theme too far, but under the elastic bands at the spine of the HLT1 are a (red) Pilot Gel pen, and a Red Staedler marker.

In this case, I don't have to worry about the pouch exceeding the size of the HLT1.



The next frames show views of the contents getting packed into position, with the double red pouchkin attached to an O-ring. For comparison, on the right is a Logic Blue HLT1 with a red leaf pouchkin overlying the top of the zippered mesh pocket. You can see that it extends beyond the formal bounds, but can be finagled to fit into the HLT1. You can't see as well, how it doesn't work as well if you have a larger notebook in place (like the Leuchtturm1917 hardcover) or how the bayonet mount could push down on items placed in the elastic bands. The double blue pouchkin below it shows the contrasting size of leaf pouchkin to double pouchkin.


And here's the comparison with the leaf pouchkin in another HLT1:


The final shot has all items stowed away in position on the left, with the double red flipped up to show there is no separate pouch on the reverse side.


HTH,

moriond

[latchford]

Thank you for the photos and detailed reply, @moriond!

[Rei]

@latchford, @moriond
it answers the question I didn't get the time to ask ;) thanks