As you may recall from the video announcement on Friday’s post #500 – the giveaway product for September includes the newest bag system from Thinktank Photo. You read that right, it’s a bag system! Totaling $320 in value retail the bags include the following:
- Multimedia Wired Up 10 Bag (Retail value $140)
- Mic Drop-in Bag (Retail value $40)
- Audio Recorder Bag (Retail value $40)
- Big Audio Bag (Retail Value $50)
- Wireless Mic Kit Bag (Retail value $50)
Rather than describe the function of each, here I am going to defer to the descriptions Thinktank provides on their site because their descriptions are pretty good and I figure why re-invent the wheel. Instead, I’ll share here my lists of pros and cons on the system overall. So, here’s the lowdown from my perspective:
Pros:
- Design – The overall design of these bags is just superb. Because it’s designed as a multimedia system, the idea of incorporating a way to feed cable lines from one component to another is just brilliant. This way cables are not interfering with operation of anything. I also very much enjoy the idea of incorporating both a belt and harness method for carrying gear. While belts can tend to sag down when loaded, the shoulder harnesses prevent this from happening without being too constricting.
- Material – Additionally the material is the excellent canvas/nylon-style on the outside with very well-thought out padding on the inside (although I think the pads could still stand to be a smidge thicker). They also were very generous in that most of the bags have a rain cover that easily pulls out should you get caught in a sudden downpour.
- Space – Even though the Wired-Up 10 bag is the smaller of the two (there is also a Wired Up 20), it can hold an impressive amount of gear. Although I had to take off lens hoods, I was able to get all of the following into the bag:
With all this crammed in there I still had room in the front portion to accommodate a few other accessories (like radio triggers, media cards, batteries, etc. The rear pocket also allows for things like grey cards, business cards, and other slim style things (I tossed my 1.4x TC in there along with the flash diffuser cap for the 550EX). I know this isn’t exactly a multimedia gear list, but it does give you an idea of what all can fit in there. Here’s a quick snap I took with everything in there:
The rest of the system also holds up well – with what appear to be very durable zippers, which have bungee-style pulls that make them easier to close. The accessory bags also are designed with stiff flaps on the backs and Velcro to add them onto the main belt bag (the Wired up 10 or the Wired Up 20). What I especially liked about each of the bags is that not only could I see the use for each designed component, I also could see other items being substituted in and out. Ipods, P&S cameras, and other components could easily fit in here. Probably the thing I was most pleased with was the slim pocket that sits against your back. It was a little snug but I was able to fit a mini-laptop in there (my wife’s Acer Aspire One). I literally could go completely mobile and reduce my overall technology footprint to fit inside this bag/betl system. I think the Wired Up 20 would probably be more desirable just because things were a little too snug. For a trip though – it could work in a pinch – check it out:
Cons:
Design: My two druthers in the design are the belt and the suspender/shoulder straps. On the belt, I wish it had a little more space to put the accessory bags on them. With the current design, each bag would butt up next to one another without any room between them. While this may not matter if you are up and moving around, but I can imagine that sitting down while fully loaded could be tricky. Sure, you can always take the whole setup off, but if you are bending and squatting or wanting flexibility then this could conceivably have trouble with maneuverability. The other element were the shoulder straps – they were thin which made them less obtrusive. However, because of their thinness, this could cut into your shoulders if you are heavily laden down with gear. Thankfully, I don’t own enough gear to really have that kind of an impact, but for the multimedia minded, with audio recorders, mics, and all the bells and whistles, I could see it kind of digging in a little too much.
Other than these two elements I really couldn’t even think of much else I would change – even the price is right for what you are getting. All five of these bags is still under $350 which is quite a good deal! Heck, even the matte black and thin blue pin-striping that is a part of the Thinktank design looked cool here. All in all, this is definitely one to consider. While no bag or bag system is perfect – this is the closest to perfection I’ve seen yet! (And I’ve tried a few systems…)
Well, that’s about all for today – just a reminder that we are in the last week of the current month’s giveaway where you can “Win a Wacom”! Get your photos in by Friday to the Flickr thread, be eligible for this giveaway. Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the latest software review (and you should know what that is – if not watch the video from last Friday!)
4 comments for “Post #501: Hardware Review – Thinktank Photo Multimedia Bag”