Tom Bihn is a boutique bag maker.  Our senior correspondent, Sol, remembers Tom Bihn from his college days in Santa Cruz in 1995, though now the company is based out of Seattle, WA.  As (both) of our steady readers are aware, I have long been on a search for the *perfect* laptop bag.  This might be a messenger bag, it might be a shoulder bag (as distinct from a “messenger bag”), or it might be a backpack with a laptop sleeve. I haven’t found the perfect bag yet, and that does include the Smart Alec (the backpack which is the subject of this review.)  But I will say that this bag that the folks at Tom Bihn sent me comes closer than anything else I’ve used so far.

That’s no faint praise.  I’ve used some good packs (back and otherwise) and I’ve used some terrible ones.  I look at size, comfort, versatility, aesthetics, materials, and a number of other categories.  On almost every level the Tom Bihn Smart Alec kicks ass.  I’ll dive into some details.

The bag is a good size.  You can fit a remarkable amount of crap inside, especially considering the clean, svelte look of the bag.  It has a narrow profile and a sparse exterior (which I like), and that appearance belies a capacious interior with just the right amount of organizational versatility (i.e., pockets.)  :)

Comfort is the (only) area where the Smart Alec falls a little short for me.  I’ve been looking for a bag that suits all purposes, which is admittedly a patently unfair criteria.  I use it for walking around conferences, for car commuting, and for commuting on my bicycle.  The bicycle commuting was the only issue for me – the backpack straps were a little thin and hurt my shoulders a bit.  This is when I’m loading the bag fairly heavily (macbook pro, charger, clothes, shoes, notebook and a cup of coffee), and riding a relatively long time (45-55 minutes.) With that load and over that length of time, I found that the bag hurt my shoulders a bit.  Not unduly, but not cushy either.

In terms of versatility, I’ve never seen a better designed townie pack.  (That’s as opposed to a mountaineering pack.)  The laptop sleeve, called a brain cell, clips into the pack with the hands down absolute best clip system I’ve ever used; one that’s easy to open and close, and that fits intuitively and easily.  The sleeve is easy to install and remove, and makes the bag useable for a variety of purposes from commuting to grocery shopping to day hikes. It appears to be pretty darn safe too, as this video demonstrates. (Wonder how many takes it took.)  It also has great pockets, intermal and external both.  The top loader style has a wide, oval-shaped main opening that’s easy to open and to use, and the two side pockets are elliptically shaped and proved an enormous amount of space without any sense of being bulbous or oversized.  (Easy to fit a Nalgene bottle in there.)

Aside from long distance, heavily weighted (dis)comfort, the other main issue is price.  $130 for a daypack isn’t the *most* exorbitant price I’ve ever heard of, but it’s far from the most reasonable.  If your budget is flexible (i.e. you have disposable income) this is a great buy.  Also, an argument could certainly be made that this bag will last a lifetime, and pay for itself over a period of blissful, pack-filled years.  Certainly in the course of 6 months of daily, all-weather use, I’ve seen no signs of wear or fallibility, and that’s pretty impressive considering how much I abuse my gear. This pack ain’t cheap, but in my estimation it’s giving damn good value for your money.

I’m not the first person to review this pack, and likely I won’t be the last.  They’ve been making this design for a number of years, and it doesn’t seem to have changed much.  That’s for good reason – they made it the right way.  Both MacNN and our friends at LIVEdigitally reviewed this pack in the past, as have others.  But my review is better.  Smarter.  Bigger. Longer.  Uncut.  If I were forced to give this pack a numeric rating between 1 and 10, it would get a 9.  They did it right, and aside from a minor quibble or three, I’m pretty impressed.  You can buy one here, right now, and you probably should.

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I just got a Benchmade Griptilian knife.  On a scale of 1 to 10, this knife is hot.

This blade from Benchmade features a lightweight molded handle, ambidextrous thumbhole, a combo edge and a sheepsfoot blade shape.  The blade shape is gorgeous, with a gentle belly and and a good cutting front edge that’s easy to control.

This knife has swiftly become a favorite of mine for everyday carry. It’s extremely lightweight and comfortable, and the black clip actually fades against pants or jeans making it less noticeable than bright stainless clips.  The edge retention is outstanding, despite lots of rough cutting and use, from carpentry pencils to box opening to cutting rope.  I’m extremely pleased thus far.

I did have one big problem with it.  I took a spill off my bicycle on my morning commute to work, landing on my right hip and sliding a bit.  My body was largely undamaged except for a good scrape on the knee, but the knife took a bad hit.  The clip and part of the Black Glass Fill Noryl GTX®/Color Valox® Handle Scale broke off, exposing the blade tip on one side.  I was very surprised to see this break occur.  I wouldn’t have expected the handle scales to be that brittle, especially since the knife was padded on one side against my hip.

I was also a little surprised when my email to Benchmade went totally un-answered.  I visited their website and in the “contact us” section was a web-form to fill out and send an email.  I received no reply to my request for service, and after 5 days I called them directly.  The customer service rep I spoke restored some of my faith in the legendary Benchmade service reputation.  She was courteous, solicitous, and concerned not only about the quality of the product they had made, but also about my condition post-accident.  I thought that was very sweet.  :)

I’ve sent in the knife, and been assured that they will repair or replace it.  I haven’t heard any communication from the repairs department (it’s been about a week) but I expect everything to turn out all right.  I will update this post when I get the knife back.

In regards to customer service, I am reserving judgment on Benchmade. Their rep was outstanding on the phone – but communication has been slow and needed to be initiated by me each time, and I like to know what’s going on.

As far as the blade is concerned, I think this is a fantastic knife. At a price point of $100, the Griptilian isn’t cheap exactly, but you’re getting a lot of knife for your money.  Light, sturdy, beautifully designed and with an outstanding 154CM Stainless Steel blade, this is a knife that should last a lifetime.  So long as you don’t fall on it.

If I were forced to give it a numeric rating between 1 and 10, I’d call it a 7.  (Would have been a 9 without the handle failure and slow communication.)  If you’re looking for one to pick up yourself, I’d look at The Blade Shop – they have it available for $75 right now, $25 less than the recommended MSRP.

UPDATE:

The knife arrived today (8/18.) It looks brand new – not sure if they replaced the handle scale only, or if they actually replaced the whole knife.  If they just refurbished it, they did a hell of a job making it look new. 

Note: Dylan Tweney from WIRED had a nice roundup of a couple different folders, including the Griptilian this past June.

Knife Details (from the Benchmade website):

Blade Length: 3.45” Blade Thickness: 0.115” Blade Material: 154CM Stainless Steel (550T: 440C) Blade Hardness: 58-61HRC Blade Style: Hollowground Modified Sheepsfoot; Ambidextrous Thumb-Holes Weight: 3.25oz.

Clip: Tip Up, Reversible, Black Lock Mechanism: AXIS Overall Length: 8.07” Closed Length: 4.62” Sheath Material: Sold Separately Class: Blue

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This review is about messenger bags, bike messenger bags, and specifically those made by Chrome.  I got my grubby mitts on a Citizen Bike Messenger bag from Chrome Industries, based in foggy San Francisco, CA. Typically a messenger bag is a single shoulder bag that opens horizontally, has one main strap, a large primary compartment, some level of secondary organizational compartments, and then a myriad of different possible accessories.  These might include some degree of padding, a laptop compartment, stabilizer straps, a removable primary strap, a grab handle, etc. etc. ad nauseum.  (I like bags.)

Working daily in San Francisco, I keep seeing Chrome gear all over the place.  Mostly they’re carried by dirt-baggy, scruffy faced ruffians who nimbly dodge through traffic and congregate during lunch on Market and Montgomery (read: bike messengers.)  The other primary class of people carrying these bags are poseurs.  I mean, serious wannabes who think the logo is cool and want to seem hip with their designer, hip-hugger jeans, their button down shirts with swirly embroidery, their stupid looking goatee with pencil-thin sideburns on their jawline and their aviator sunglasses… yeah, you know who I mean.  I don’t want to be that guy.  And I’m not sure I can pull off the Citizen, especially off my bike (you know, just walking around.)

Now, to be clear, I am looking at messenger bags from a particular perspective.  I do use it on my bike, I commute from San Mateo to San Francisco using my bicycle and the Caltrain.  My typical time on the bike varies between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes per day, depending on which route I choose.  So I am doing a fair amount of biking with the bag.  But I am not a bike messenger.  This means a couple things.  I am not on my bike 8 hours a day.  And I specifically need to carry a few key items, not all kinds of random crap for delivery across the city.  I am commuting to work, not routing back and forth across a concrete jungle.  I need to carry:

• laptop
• power charger
• sunglasses
• a book
• a layer
• a snack
• an iphone charging cord
• gum

I’m on the train for part of my commute, so I frequently need to yank out my computer, or get to my book to catch up on some leisure reading.  I want the bag to be comfortable, even when heavily weighted.  I want it to be weather proof, I get caught by rain frequently, especially in the Winter time. I’d like some organization options, multiple pockets and compartments.  Ideally I’d like a padded laptop sleeve, so that I can pop out the computer without having to scrabble past all the other junk in my bag.  And I want it to look dope.  Yeah, I’m vain.  I deal with it, and so should you.

Before I ever picked one up, I went to the streets and asked some regular folks sporting Chrome what they thought.  One person complained that though he was really excited at first, he didn’t like the fact that it was just a big sack.  One big hole to drop stuff into, with little or no organizational options.  This is one of my concerns too.  On the one hand, I like simplicity.  The Citizen is straightforward – it’s a bag, it holds stuff.  There are a few pockets.  One zippered, one non-zippered, and a couple of pen / pencil sleeves.

This is sufficient for most of the small items, and offers a decent level of organization.   My biggest gripe, organizationally speaking, is really the lack of a laptop sleeve and the lack of padding.  It would be great to be able to pull out the laptop and leave the rest of my gear undisturbed.  As it is, I use a neoprene sleeve that I bought aftermarket in order to put some padding around my way-too-expensive mac.  This works fine, but the sleeve would be a nice built-in feature.

It’s important to note here that the Citizen is not intended to be, and was not designed to be a laptop bag. It’s a messenger bag, for carrying stuff around on a bike.  I am choosing to use a messenger bag as a laptop bag.  If I use a screwdriver to drive a nail, I might succeed in pounding the sucker in, but I also might get some bent nails.  So I am duly forewarned. That being said, more and more people are bike commuting all the time – lord knows it’s hard to get a seat on the Caltrain for the 8:15AM train.  So I think I’m not the only person who’d benefit from a couple of design alterations.  And Chrome, btw, does offer some laptop-oriented bags.  But none of them are quite like the classic “messenger-style” bags, and none of their messenger bags really hit the mark for the computer commuter.

Another oddity to me is the stabilizer strap.  It seems to me like it ought to run opposite of the primary strap.  In other words, if I wear the bag on my left shoulder, then the stabilizer strap should logically come up my right side, no?  Well, Chrome disagrees, and their stabilizer runs along the same side as the primary strap, and runs under armpit (see left.)  I found this to be pretty ineffective – the bag rolls on me just as much with this as without it.

There are a couple of things I would change about this bag, to make it the perfect bag for me. Let me reiterate – these are not necessarily shortcomings in the bag itself (at least not all of them); rather, these are things that would improve the bag for my purposes:

• Padded laptop sleeve (I’ve covered this)
• Waterproof zipper with storm-sleeve to access the laptop sleeve – it would be awesome to be able to yank out the laptop without needing to unbuckle two clips and rip apart massive velcro.
• Better stabilizer strap – I think it ought to come from the other side of the bag

The lack of a zipper will stop me from using this bag when I travel.  It’s just too difficult to pull things out of the bag when it’s stuffed under the seat in front of me when I’m riding coach in an airplane.  All that velcro, ugh. But I can also understand not wanting to compromise the waterproof integrity of the bag.  And for riding into work everyday, I am willing to put up with the shortcomings because there a lot of things I really like.  I’ll tell you what I think makes this bag a big winner:

• The buckle – it’s darn near iconic in San Francisco, and it’s just like a seatbelt in a car.  That’s rad.
• The materials – ballistic nylon and truck tarpaulin are badass, durable and waterproof
• The anatomical, padded shoulder strap – even heavily loaded this is a comfortable bag to ride with, even without any padding to speak of
• Shoulder strap again, specifically, the way it holds the bag upright – with a lot of other messenger bags I’ve used (including an Osprey and a Jandd bag) there is a constant tendency for the bag to swing sideways.  The shoulder strap on the Chrome messengers actually hold the bag more or less vertically, and the shape itself (with a little help from gravity) actually hold it in place.  It was this design element that first caught my eye.
• The one-handed tightener and loosener on the chest strap

Here’s a quick video demo of the Citizen:

Demoing the Chrome Citizen Messenger Bag on 12seconds.tv

The Citizen from Chrome is an outstanding messenger bag with an unusual and innovative design, outstanding materials, the sweetest logo on the market, a wickedly cool (unbreakable?) buckle, and awesome color options.  There are some things it does really well, and others that could stand improvement.  But on the whole I think the bag will serve well enough for my biking commuter-geek purposes, and it’s clearly outstanding for the purpose for which it was originally intended – to be a bike messenger bag that will last for years of hard abuse.  When I’m riding my bike, I’m stoked to have this bag cause it’s comfortable, functional, and cool-looking.  When I’m not on my bike and I carry this bag, I feel like a poseur, a big lame-o that’s trying too hard to look cool.

If I were forced to give this bag a numeric rating between 1 and 10, I’d have to split things up a bit.  For the purposes of a computer-commuter bag, I’d give it a 7.  As a travel bag it’s a 5.  And as a bike messenger bag this one is a 10.  If I change career paths and start delivering packages via bicycle, I won’t carry anything else.  (I’d be laughed at, scoffed and mocked by the other guys if I did anyway.)

This review is also available at LIVEdigitally.

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Wait, hold on.  Let me explain.

While on Facebook, I saw an advertisement related to rock climbing.  I like rock climbing.  So I said to myself: “Why don’t you check that out.”  The ad suggested that the advertisers in question were seeking Beta testers to check out their new rock climbing-based social network.  I then thought to myself: “You’re on a social network right now.  Maybe this one would be cool too.”

So I clicked.  I was taken to a site offering me a free T-shirt to become a beta tester.  Interesting.  Not great.  Just interesting.  That’s a pretty old-fashioned marketing technique for a web 2.0-style site.  But hey, I wear t-shirts all the time.  And clearly these guys are not appealing to Twittering tech geeks (at least, not unless they also climb rocks.)  They are going after a niche (technically, it will have to be a niche within a niche, those who like rock climbing, and who also frequent the internet / social networking world.)  So, they decided to throw some marketing dollars into it.  I sort of get that – I guess.  I mean, they are going after a tough to reach audience.  Kinda.

What really threw me for a loop was the scammy, “sign up for 2 or more credit cards” advertisement I was shown right after I signed up for the Beta.  I gave them my info (email, DOB, gender, the basics), hit submit, and was immediately shown an advertisement displaying an awesome package deal of rock climbing gear, as long as I sign up for at least 2 services, for a fee of no more than $5.  Super ghetto.  Giant turn off.  Totally inappropriate.

I just find the whole thing frankly weird.  Are they trying to make ad money already?   On the signups to the private Beta they haven’t finished offering?  They’re throwing money away on the one hand (paying for ads they don’t really need,) and then trying to re-coup it in a totally inappropriate way on the other (serving creepy, spam ads.)  Here’s what I don’t understand:

• Crankjam is advertising on facebook for beta testers?  $$$
• Crankjam is giving away a free t-shirt for beta testing?  $$$
• Crankjam is pushing credit card schemes (and netflix memberships) after Beta signup?  Too weird.

Now I’m not just trying to be a pill here.  I like rock climbing.  And I like social networking.  I think it could be a great site.  I just don’t understand what they’re doing – seems like they’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Why are they buying ads on Facebook to recruit for their private beta?  More importantly, why are they serving spam ads right after.  Here’s some of the things I think they should be doing:

• Use free social media: Twitter, FriendFeed, FB fan pages, Jaiku, Pownce, Message Boards, Discussion Forums, make a funny video on Youtube, create a channel on 12seconds - there’s all kinds of social media and services with which to create community and market yourself.  The key here is to be active in the community, spend time there, follow people, listen to what they say, and make sure they know you’re a real person, not a spam bot.  Then ask them questions.  What do you think of this idea?  Do you know anyone who likes rock climbing?  Get some real market data, and recruit some real Beta testers.
• Partner up with other people – do a little Business Development.  Reach out to the admins at rock climbing forums and retailers – tell them you want to trade some ad space and partner up.  You’re creating a rock climbing social network.  They sell gear to rock climbers (or provide a locale for them to gather and share thoughts.)  It’s a good fit and a win-win situation.
• Contact University groups – every college campus in America has a rock climbing club, rock wall, rock gym, etc.  Every one of those groups has young people who like to climb, every one of which uses the internet on a daily basis.  That’s your target audience.  Recruit them.  Buy them pizza (instead of FB ads) and recruit there.

This is the news announcement they’ve issued, and there’s an excerpt below.  Crankjam is a mass producer of niche social networks based in Columbia, South Carolina.  Lifefitter in turn seems to be a product of another “incubator” called LoudDoor, also based in South Carolina.  Now, the Lifefitter guys seem to sort of “get it.”  They have a blog.  And they’re even writing some posts that express expertise and understanding of their space.  Kudos, that’s sincerely excellent.  They are creating a bunch of niched social networks, online communities for the outdoor (and technologically) minded.  Cool.  Personally I think Ning makes more sense, where existing communities can form their own online social network, but there’s a place for this product too.  It’s even a cool idea.

However, this spammy approach is creepy, up and down. It’s disconcerting.  If I had to give this a numeric rating, on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d call it a 2.  And that’s without ever getting a chance to see the product itself.  Purely based on the experience of finding and signing up for the Beta, I am truly uncomfortable.

New

Lifefitter to release CrankJam, a social network for rock climbers, in private beta.

Columbia, SC: Today, Lifefitter Networks announced CrankJam, a new social network dedicated to the rock climbing community. The site is accepting requests for invitations to the beta program and will be released in private beta within the next 45 days.

“Rock climbing is such an intense sport, it takes a lot of guts to go out and climb all over the world,” said General Manager Bobby Redfern.

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On a scale of 1 to 10, these sites are dope (if you’re a tech-weenie on a budget.)

As most of my friends know, I am a gear queer.  I like outdoor stuff.

I wrote a post a few months ago about Steepandcheap, a website for buying cool outdoor gear at low-low prices (insert tv-promo voice here.)  I wanted to put a quick post about a couple of related websites that are also cool, and have more specific foci:

Chainlove: for all your biking needs (at a discount)

Tramdock: If you are into backcountry skiing (for reduced prices)

Whiskey Militia: If you’re a skate-punk on a budget, this site is for you

I’ve been digging on all of these sites, and found good deals everywhere.  In spite of my initial concerns about Steepandcheap, I officially now a fan.  Dig it y’all, these sites are great.

If I were forced to give a numeric rating, I would call each of these a 8 out of 10.

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Patagonia is expensive.  We call them Patagucci.  The gear costs a lot of money.  However, I think it’s worth it for two reasons:

1. The gear is of super-high quality, and lasts a long time.

2. If for some reason you decide that you need to exchange, return, or otherwise change your mind about a product, they have the best warranty policy of all time. No questions, no arguments, no discussion.  Give them the old one, and they’ll give you the new one.

I had a piece of capilene long underwear that split a seam.  I brought it in and showed it to the retail employee. They put it on the counter, checked the size, grabbed a new shirt in the same size and color, snipped the tags, and handed it to me.  That was it.

If pressed for a numeric rating, I’d give them a 10 out of 10 for customer satisfaction and warranty policy.

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I am incredibly disappointed. I have a bone to pick and a forum from which to descry the ineptitude and irresponsibility which is www.myshoestore.com. To put it another way, they suck as badly as it is possible for an E-tail shoe store to suck. Al Bundy would be an improvement to their sales team.

My fiancee (soon to be wife) needed a pair of hiking boots for our honeymoon in New Zealand. We looked the old fashioned way, and 3 different brick and mortar shoe stores were unable to provide the right boot for her size 5 1/2 foot. So we went online, and found the right pair of boots, “available” in the right size, for a good price. And with free shipping! El yay.

So I placed the order, received an on-screen confirmation with the promise of an email confirmation to come. No email came. I check my spam folder, and still no email. My credit card was charged – a total of $158.99. I waited three days, and when I still had received no word I called the customer service line. I was told that the order had been placed and received, and that it normally takes 10 days to fill an order and ship it out. The customer service rep said that my email had most likely been placed in spam by accident. She promised to re-send the email, and suggested that I check my spam folder. Great.

So, I kept an eye on my inbox for the rest of the day. No email. I checked my spam folder repeatedly. No email.

Oh well, they said it would take a little while for the shoes to arrive. So I waited. I waited for 12 days. No email. No tracking number. Nothing. So I called again.

I spoke with a woman who informed me that the shoes I had ordered were out of stock. At this point I have paid $160 for boots. I’ve waited more than 3 weeks. My honeymoon is now less than 2 weeks away. I’ve received no emails from the company. I was told, in person over the phone, that my shoes were on their way. They have my money. I have no shoes.

Enough I told her. Forget it, please refund my money. And that is when I learned that it takes 30 days to process a refund. A refund for an item I never received, an item that is not available. So I ask for a supervisor. A supervisor was unavailable, so I asked for a call-back. Guess what happened.

I hate myshoestore.com. They are evil, smelly, and despicable. They deserve less than a 1 rating, but this blog is called 1to10reviews so I cannot give them a lower mark. It just wouldn’t make sense.

So I am making it my mission to join every review website and rating website I can find to give them a poor ranking. The have created an enemy in me, and I will shout from every rooftop available to me that they have terrible customer service, lousy communication, they steal money without providing goods or services, and they should be run out of business as quickly as possible.

Here is my review from RateItAll.com:

Here is my submission to the Better Business Bureau:

I’ve threatened to submit companies to the BBB, but this is the first time I actually did it. It feels good. I am still looking for more review sites. If anyone knows of any good ones, please leave a comment and let me know.

———————————————————————————————————————————–

UPDATE:

According to the most recent comment, MyShoeStore.com seems to be out of business.  When I visit the webpage it seems to be down.  I’d like to think that I had a little something to do with it. 

———————————————————————————————————————————–

FURTHER UPDATE 7/7/08:

It’s official.  Their site has a goodbye and goodnight message posted up.  Here is a screenshot:

I don’t know if I really had anything to do with it, but I sure feel vindicated.

———————————————————————————

Comments on this thread are closed.

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Julbo is a manufacturer of high quality optics for the outdoors (sunglasses, goggles, etc.) They are based in France, and they have two websites; one for international users, and the second tailored specifically for the United States. I have owned two pairs of Julbo’s Nomad sunglasses, but I suspect I will not own a third.

I like Julbo glasses in general.  They are a well known brand, considered to be high quality,  and 100% UV protective.  You can get multiple lenses for their glasses, and they have optics which focus on a variety of outdoor activities, from mountaineering to water sports to urban lifestyle.

The Nomad in particular is a mountain piece with a neat twist.  They feature removable face shields that snap into place along the stems.  These convert a regular pair of sport sunglasses into mountain goggles which help shield the eyes from dangerous glare off of surrounding snow. This glare can cause retinal damage and permanent blindness in extreme cases.  Sun damage to the eyes at high elevation is extremely common and extremely dangerous, and many mountaineers use protective goggles with leather shields to avoid this danger.  The Nomad is a more versatile (and arguably more stylish) option.

But the damn lenses scratch.

I owned a pair, which I purchased from REI, and the lenses scratched to the point of un-usability.  I returned them and recieved a new pair, which have now scratched as well.  I am generally careful with my gear, expecially expensive and potentially delicate items like mountain sunglasses.  I think that these are overly prone to scratching, and it’s annoying.  A close friend and climbing partner named John has also owned a pair of these and encountered the same problem.

I think that these glasses are well designed and versatile.  They fit somfortably, stay in place on my face, and they look reasonably cool. But even though I keep them in a case if they are not on my nose, and I always clean them with either an optic friendly wiping cloth or soft clean cotton, they consistently wear poorly and become unusable.  I want them to be a ten, but they are sadly only a five.

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