Week In Review ~ 1 September

A military pack that is overloaded with awesomeness (is that even possible?), a daypack that’s suitable for work and play, a pretty sweet lens holder, a clever key/wallet hybrid, plus some insight from Mission Workshop’s co-founder. Welcome to the Week In Review…

To Daypack Or Not To Daypack – That Is The Qwstion

Qwstion’s new Daypack has all the style and functionality of its big brother the Qwstion Backpack but with some pretty handy additional features. The handles can be attached horizontally or vertically depending on your needs or preferences, plus the straps can be stowed away when you aren’t using them. The Daypack is suitable for carrying a 15-inch laptop in its dedicated laptop compartment. Its clean and sophisticated look makes it a great choice for use as an office bag and it provides ample space for your day-to-day carry whilst being compact enough that commuting with it is easy. We’re definitely liking this bag – some excellent versatility whether you want to use it for work, leisure or both.

Commando Carry

Mystery Ranch is packing – in every sense of the word. Their NICE Overload 3Zip BVS (Bolstered Ventilation and Stability) pack, a smaller version of the NICE Overload Alpha BVS pack, features easy access via three zips as well as the overload feature which enables soldiers to carry rifles, other weapons, ammunition boxes and the like between the pack and the frame. If you have no need to carry a small munitions factory on your back, the overload feature could come in pretty handy for carrying all sorts of urban adventure gear, such as smaller packs if you’re travelling, skateboards, metre-long baguettes, your friend after he’s had one too many…on second thoughts you don’t want to be that close without a quick escape available in the event of a projected-missiles assault. He may be your brother in arms but there’s a limit to your heroics. The pack itself has a 49-liter volume, two water bottle pockets and two vertical long pockets, so there’s no shortage of carry space available.

Ready, Aim, Shoot: Quikdraw

Engineer and photographer Riley Kimball has gotten crafty with camera carry and has designed Quikdraw, a lens holder that sits around your waist and which can hold multiple lenses at once. There’s several benefits to this – quick, easy access to lenses, no need for back or lens caps, the ability to change a lens with one hand without having to put down your camera, plus no need to carry a dedicated camera bag around. This system looks like a good way of distributing weight more evenly, so for photographers who aren’t famous enough to have swarms of free labour (interns) eagerly vying to be their designated camera gear hauler, this may be the answer. Note – this isn’t in production yet but you can help coax it into the light of day by pledging via the associated Kickstarter page.

Key Idea Opens Creative Carry Door

Another Kickstarter project which is looking pretty interesting is the Keylet, a combination of a key and stainless steel wallet that can hold bills and cards. Derived from the creative minds of Anthony Hoang and Nhu Truong, the Keylet is significantly thinner and smaller than traditional wallets and provides quick access to both your keys (it can hold two keys) and your cash or cards. This project has been successfully funded, so if you’re digging this type of creative carry, a Keylet can be yours to own.

A Quick Bite of Industry Insight

We hope you guys have been enjoying our ’5 Minutes With…’ series. Our latest post in the series offers up some insight from Bart Kyzar, one of the co-founders of Mission Workshop.

* To round off this week in review, if you’re a student, you have kids or you know someone who does, you may be interested in checking out this guide to the 20 best back to school backpacks. We’re putting together our own guide for school backpacks but it’s always good to get some comparisons going. Suffice it to say these backpacks are great – if you’re absolutely loaded and prefer style over practicality. Now to be fair, the link is aimed at campus students rather than school kids and they don’t all cost enough to keep you in pizza for a year but still…what happened to the stereotype of broke students scrounging for money for key priorities in life (alcohol and gig tickets)?! We’re all for getting various viewpoints so we’d be keen to hear your thoughts on this guide.

This brings our review to an end, so until next week, keep calm and carry on.

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Catherine

Catherine is a tea addict, a fan of hands-free carry (backpacks, messengers, etc.) Her favourite EDC is her Leatherman. Catherine’s also the reason our grammar and spelling is so awesome, running her eye over every post that you get to read.

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3 Responses to Week In Review ~ 1 September

J. A. says:

September 3, 2012 at 00:11

Picked up a denim Timbuk2 Swig on sale off Amazon recently and I love it. Slightly smaller than my previous Jansport but still fits my daily class items. One thing that was recently useful was the fact that it was waterproof. I got caught in a typical tropical downpour and even though I was completely soaked, all my books were fine. Downside? The outside side pocket is too short. My normal water bottle just falls out and even a smaller 500ml plastic water bottle does the same. Would not mind an extra hidden outside back pocket too. My jansport had a small one and it came in handy when I needed to stash keys and stuff.

recur says:

September 3, 2012 at 00:57

That Mystery Ranch bag is just nuts.

J.B. says:

September 4, 2012 at 04:24

Dana Gleason is a talented pack designer and Mystery Ranch quality is superb!