My Timbuk2 bags have served me well over the years, but as of late, my left shoulder’s been complaining that the right doesn’t do anything all day but answer the phone. So, in my continuing effort to spend more money than sense on things that I don’t need, I’m looking at backpacks.
I just wanted something that let me carry my PowerBook and accoutrements, my current reading material, iPod, a bottle of water, snacks, my GBA SP, a couple of notebooks, digital camera, and whatever DVDs I happen to pick up on the way home from Best Buy. You know, the essentials.
The one thing I need always happens to be the thing that I leave behind. So I take it all.
I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started shopping. Gone are the days when a manufacturer could just slap some nylon straps onto a bag and call it a backpack. Now they have to have value added.
Case in point, JanSport. They have a crazy animation for the Jansport Euphonic up. As far as the flash animation is concerned–“Well, you see, when a pair of headphones and a backpack love each other very much. . .” I can’t even begin to imagine the board meeting for that particular ad pitch. Jansport’s also sunk a lot of tech into their regular backpacks, such as air filled gel straps, and suspension foam for their laptop carrying models.
I’ve got a backpack right now that can hold my laptop, but not much else. Browsing through eBags, I find the four backpacks that I’d like to check out.
First, from Nike, and rating very high on the stealthy-and-sexy category is the Nike Epic. There’s also the Epic 2, which rates very high on the “Electric Boogaloo” scale of naming conventions.
Jansport also has two models that I’d like to check out. There’s the Razor Back, and the Syncline. Sure, I don’t carry around an ice axe everyday, but it’s nice to know that I’ve got the straps to carry one.
I’d still like to find a brick and mortar retailer so I can try either one of them on for a comfort evaluation.
Not high on my list of things to wear is Ogio’s Flight Vest. This is an accessory that asks the question, “Am I luggage? Or am I clothing?” Three pounds for an unladen vest, that’s not even bulletproof–pardon me, bullet resistant.
Whatever I decide, I know that my best option can be summed up in three, simple, one syllable words: Carry. Less. Shit. Stuff.