How do you decide on a color?

[Kelly S]

I'm sat here on the eve of the Pop Tote debut and for the life of me, I can't decide what color to get.
At $95 I can't really buy one of each color, and I would only buy one anyways, so there's enough to go around for all the bihnions that want one.

The only two colors I've ruled out are black (a bit too boring for me) and cloud (too likely to get dirty).

My s25, my daily carry bag is olive cordura with ultraviolet zipper pulls and interior.
Thinking pop tote would be either olive or maybe alphaviolet, but then the deep blue looks like nice too and so does the Mars red.
It's so hard to decide on a color....ack!!

[skoobdo]

I'm sat here on the eve of the Pop Tote debut and for the life of me, I can't decide what color to get.
At $95 I can't really buy one of each color, and I would only buy one anyways, so there's enough to go around for all the bihnions that want one.

The only two colors I've ruled out are black (a bit too boring for me) and cloud (too likely to get dirty).

My s25, my daily carry bag is olive cordura with ultraviolet zipper pulls and interior.
Thinking pop tote would be either olive or maybe alphaviolet, but then the deep blue looks like nice too and so does the Mars red.
It's so hard to decide on a color....ack!!

At least you're ready to purchase one. My dilemma is it not being large enough. I hope there will be a larger size available one day that's close to the size of the large shopping bag (love those bags). I would pick Mars red. Love that color. I will use it for the overflow as a carry-on for jacket, scarf and miscellaneous stuff.

Good luck in your color choice. Wish I could buy one

[pammy]

I love bright colors so I only have three black bags. But for some weird reason I can't even understand, the black Pop Tote is calling to me. I love Ikyways's picture of a small zest shop bag inside her Pop Tote. I would never have considered black just because I would be afraid the interior would be so dark that I couldn't find anything. So I think the bright shop bag is a genius idea, plus it's two bags in one. If I buy too much at the market, I've got it covered with the two bags. Now I don't have any concerns about buying a dark color since I plan on using my zest small shop bag in the PT.

[Kelly S]

I had a LSB and liked it, but I thought it was sometimes too big. I like the size of the pop tote, it's small enough that I won't be able to carry too much weight in it, and if I don't pack it full, it will qualify as a "personal item" on most airlines. For larger loads I'd use my s25 (I use it a LOT as my "grocery bag").

Mars red is very pretty....
Ultimately I think I'll be happy with pretty much any color.

[skoobdo]

...... For larger loads I'd use my s25 (I use it a LOT as my "grocery bag").....

that's funny. lol

[Awbee]

I'm just like you @Kelly S. I spent the whole week going back and forth between colors and up until tonight, I was stuck. Then--I decided. Here's how I did it. Maybe it'll help you too.

1. What colors do you normally wear? Are there any colors that don't work with your wardrobe? (If so, cross those colors off the list.)
   
   
2. What will you use your Pop Tote for? Does the color need to be professional? Chic? Fun? Neutral or will it be your outfit's POP of color? If it'll be your multipurpose bag, consider all of these uses it'll need to work for. (Cross another color off your list?)
   
   
3. What color(s) are your other bags? Would you like them to match what you have? Be an accent for them? Or just be its own awesome self?
   
   
4. And the most important question: "What color makes me happy? Which one would I LOVE carrying around with me every day?"

I spent the whole week trying to find a color that would match EVERYTHING I had, fit every possible function. But I always ended up at "yeah, but..."

Tonight with the debut looming, I asked myself--what is the one color that would just make me happy? And I swear it was as clear as crystal.

I tend to overthink things way too much. It's usually when I stop trying to find the "correct" solution i.e. make one color work for everything, that it becomes pretty clear what I'd be most happy with. And I think that's the best way to choose anything. (That and all of the 525 colors are great! Tom really made it hard this time to narrow color picks down. ^^)

So which Pop Tote are you most excited about?

Good luck tomorrow, @Kelly S and all fellow Bihnions! May we all decide on (and checkout with) our lovely Pop Totes!

[chungliwen]

I tend to prefer bright colours, except for the exterior fabric for my main backpack (S25) and luggage (A45). Aside from that, I go with whatever bright colour I can get inside. I'd love Island, but I've never had the chance to get something in Island yet.

[moriond]

My s25, my daily carry bag is olive cordura with ultraviolet zipper pulls and interior.
Thinking pop tote would be either olive or maybe alphaviolet, but then the deep blue looks like nice too and so does the Mars red.
It's so hard to decide on a color....ack!!

I opted for Mars Red. I also really like deep blue, but I have the experience of the earlier Lux bags (Swift predecessor) and the first generation of Smart Alecs, which used Ballistic Nylon, but were unlined, so the color on the reverse of the Ballistic is the color of the inside of the bag. Contents are really visible with this interior, although with open style bags you can always rely on the use of accessory pouches and cubes that are brightly colored. I'm also really happy that the red Ballistic Nylon options have come back, since it's been over four years since Cardinal was retired

At least you're ready to purchase one. My dilemma is it not being large enough. I hope there will be a larger size available one day that's close to the size of the large shopping bag (love those bags). I would pick Mars red. Love that color. I will use it for the overflow as a carry-on for jacket, scarf and miscellaneous stuff.

Good luck in your color choice. Wish I could buy one

I think that @Ilkyway's innovative pictures using a Small SHop Bag as a liner may have given some people a misleading impression about the size of the Pop Tote. Apologies for the color scheme, but I wanted the color contrast to show up the real difference in the size of Small Shop Bag compared to the Pop Tote:



Here's the view of the bottom of the Mars Red Pop Tote compared to the bottom of a Small Shop Bag in Wasabi. Notice that when you use the length of the Small Shop Bag (SSB) you're nearly 3 inches short of the length afforded by the Pop Tote (whose bottom is slightly oval in contrast to the rectangular shape of the SSB, so depending on where you put the "edge" it's between about 2.7" - 3"/6.9 - 7.6 cm longer)



The width of the sides of the Small Shop Bag is closer to the width of the Pop Tote, although again, the SSB is just slightly narrower. This, in combination with the rectangular base of the SSB, is what makes it easy to pop it into the Pop Tote to act as a liner. However, the capacity of the Pop Tote is really much larger than the SSB, if not quite the size of the Large Shop Bag. It's bigger than a Swift or Lux Bag, which I can pop into the Pop Tote and zip up in case of rain.

I love bright colors so I only have three black bags. But for some weird reason I can't even understand, the black Pop Tote is calling to me. I love Ikyways's picture of a small zest shop bag inside her Pop Tote. I would never have considered black just because I would be afraid the interior would be so dark that I couldn't find anything. So I think the bright shop bag is a genius idea, plus it's two bags in one. If I buy too much at the market, I've got it covered with the two bags. Now I don't have any concerns about buying a dark color since I plan on using my zest small shop bag in the PT.

The bright SSB as liner does work, and provides additional pockets, but see my comments and pictures above.

I'm just like you @Kelly S. I spent the whole week going back and forth between colors and up until tonight, I was stuck. Then--I decided. Here's how I did it. Maybe it'll help you too.

1. What colors do you normally wear? Are there any colors that don't work with your wardrobe? (If so, cross those colors off the list.)
   
   
2. What will you use your Pop Tote for? Does the color need to be professional? Chic? Fun? Neutral or will it be your outfit's POP of color? If it'll be your multipurpose bag, consider all of these uses it'll need to work for. (Cross another color off your list?)
   
   
3. What color(s) are your other bags? Would you like them to match what you have? Be an accent for them? Or just be its own awesome self?
   
   
4. And the most important question: "What color makes me happy? Which one would I LOVE carrying around with me every day?"

I spent the whole week trying to find a color that would match EVERYTHING I had, fit every possible function. But I always ended up at "yeah, but..."

Tonight with the debut looming, I asked myself--what is the one color that would just make me happy? And I swear it was as clear as crystal.

I tend to overthink things way too much. It's usually when I stop trying to find the "correct" solution i.e. make one color work for everything, that it becomes pretty clear what I'd be most happy with. And I think that's the best way to choose anything. (That and all of the 525 colors are great! Tom really made it hard this time to narrow color picks down. ^^)

So which Pop Tote are you most excited about?

Good luck tomorrow, @Kelly S and all fellow Bihnions! May we all decide on (and checkout with) our lovely Pop Totes!

Yes, the Mars Red makes me happy, too.

HTH

moriond

[pammy]

Wow! @moriond, your pictures are extremely helpful. I didn't realize how much real estate I would lose by using a SSB as a liner. In some cases, that would be fine, but when I travel, I really pack out a shop bag. Do you know if a large shop bag could be used as a liner or is that too big for the Pop Tote? I love the idea of using a bright colored halcyon bag as a liner but not if it's impractical for my purposes. That said, I may rethink my choice of black and go with a bright color to avoid the black hole syndrome.

[Kelly S]

I'm just like you @Kelly S. I spent the whole week going back and forth between colors and up until tonight, I was stuck. Then--I decided. Here's how I did it. Maybe it'll help you too.

1. What colors do you normally wear?
   
2. What will you use your Pop Tote for? Does the color need to be professional? Chic? Fun? Neutral or will it be your outfit's POP of color? If it'll be your multipurpose bag, consider all of these uses it'll need to work for. (Cross another color off your list?)
   
   
3. What color(s) are your other bags? Would you like them to match what you have? Be an accent for them? Or just be its own awesome self?
   
   
4. And the most important question: "What color makes me happy? Which one would I LOVE carrying around with me every day?"

So which Pop Tote are you most excited about?

* I tend to wear neutrals and blue/green/purple. I like Mars red, but I tend not to wear it.
* I'm going to use it as a small grocery bag, for short trips out of the house and for weekend trips when I don't need to carry everything with me. It'll also be used for travel, but I don't fly often enough for that to really be a consideration.
* My other bags are Olive green/ultraviolet (s25) and black or black cordura.
* I love the alphaviolet. Purple is my favorite color.

I've resisted getting bags in colors that aren't gender neutral because I keep thinking "maybe my husband will want to use it" but really, he never does.
I think I'm going to try for alphaviolet, it's about time I bought a bag that is not for sharing

(I'll be happy to get one in pretty much any color though lol)

[Kelly S]

that's funny. lol

Yesterday my s25 had a gallon of milk, a half gallon of orange juice, a half gallon of lactose free milk, and a 3 pound bag of mandarin oranges.
I probably could've fit more if I'd used the side pockets and water bottle compartment lol.

[moriond]

Wow! @moriond, your pictures are extremely helpful. I didn't realize how much real estate I would lose by using a SSB as a liner. In some cases, that would be fine, but when I travel, I really pack out a shop bag. Do you know if a large shop bag could be used as a liner or is that too big for the Pop Tote? I love the idea of using a bright colored halcyon bag as a liner but not if it's impractical for my purposes. That said, I may rethink my choice of black and go with a bright color to avoid the black hole syndrome.

Hi @pammy,

I didn't try a Large Shop Bag as a liner, because you can see from @Ilkyway's great pictures that the LSB is wider on the side compared to the Pop Tote. I was in middle of composing a post about sizes in that thread, but I'll give you my thoughts on why the Pop Tote model has approximately the size it does. My guess is that Tom designed the side pockets so that the zippered sections could accommodate the new large phones. In order to deal with the range of current phone/phablet sizes, and have these conveniently slip into and out of the side pockets, he used the "V" shape demarked by the black webbing strips that continue on upwards to become carrying handles. That sets the "width" or "depth" of the sides of the bag.

In addition, for the people who shoulder carry the Pop Tote, you probably can't make the side panels too wide, or this would be an awkward carry for smaller frames. (These are only my thoughts about the design -- and may have nothing to do with the actual design features).

The Pop Tote is larger than my Swift, but not as large as a Large Shop Bag. On the other hand, I might carry a 13" Mac laptop in its cache inside a Pop Tote (it fits horizontally along the width of the bag, and that's also something that absolutely wouldn't work in a Small Shop Bag), but even though a Large Shop Bag has the space for this, I probably wouldn't carry a laptop this way (even in the 210d Ballistic Nylon Large Shop Bags).

Here's a comparison of the Mars Red Pop Tote with my Crimson Lux Bag (same size as a Swift) that is over 10 years old:



The Lux is smaller than the Pop Tote -- it's actually a bit taller, but the handles are sagging. I can put the Lux into the Pop Tote and zip the whole thing up.

Here's another picture to show the side panels and that converging "V" for the pockets. It's really optimized for large phones. The Kindle Paperwhite that I stuck into the pocket can go there in a pinch, but it stickes out a bit (even without a case). The larger iPad Mini wouldn't fit at all. I felt a bit weird going around checking in the Apple Store that the iPhone 8+ fit into the zippered pocket, and (in Whole Foods) that the Hydroflasks that are about 2.9" in diameter also are good fits.



Side view of Mars Red Pop Tote with Kindle Paperwhite in pocket.

The 20 oz wide mouth Hydroflask for Coffee looked good in the side pockets, though you can fit a taller flask:



HTH.

moriond

[pammy]

@moriond, thank you for taking the time to put together this very detailed post. I actually laughed aloud reading your adventures to the Apple Store and Whole Foods to test out phones and Hydro Flasks that would fit in the tote's pockets. But great info that will help me make a decision on color. Now the question to ponder, is one Pop Tote enough or do I need two? Hmm. Debut day is always exciting, but I always feel under the gun to get what I want and check out under 5 minutes.

[moriond]

One more picture showing the Crimson Lux bag sticking out of the Pop Tote



The top of the Swift is very slightly taller than the Pop Tote.

moriond

[anna2222]

I think that @Ilkyway's innovative pictures using a Small SHop Bag as a liner may have given some people a misleading impression about the size of the Pop Tote. Apologies for the color scheme, but I wanted the color contrast to show up the real difference in the size of Small Shop Bag compared to the Pop Tote

Even though the SSB is smaller than the Pop Tote, wouldn't it "sag" outward as it is filled to fill the pop tote more completely? It sure looked like that was happening in Ilkway's photos.