Product review – Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer TSA friendly laptop bag

by Scott Carmichael on

Back in August, the Transportation Safety Administration relaxed its rules for getting your laptop through the security checkpoint.

Essentially, the rules say that a laptop can stay in its bag, as long as the X-Ray machine has a clear and unobstructed view of the computer. There can be no pockets, zippers or items blocking its view of what is inside the laptop.

Several manufacturers immediately announced that they would have their own TSA friendly bags on shelves within a few months.

The first of them to actually deliver on that promise, is Tom Bihn with the new Checkpoint Flyer. Tom Bihn is not your average luggage company. For starters, they still make their bags in the United States, Tom Bihn himself is in charge of designing them, and they are hand made in their Seattle factory. The end result is something unlike any bag I’ve ever seen.
The Checkpoint Flyer comes in three color combinations and three sizes;

  • Black/Crimson
  • Black/Steel
  • Black/Black.

The different sizes are designed based on the Apple Macbook dimensions of 13, 15 and 17 inches. Fear not though, because these sizes mean the bag will fit virtually any laptop on the market, and I had no problem fitting a “normal” 15″ Dell inside it.

The bag has 2 pockets on the front, 2 on the back, a cavernous storage pouch (with 2 internal pockets) and of course, the special laptop portion. The rear pocket zips open on the bottom for sliding it over the handles of a rolling suitcase.

To open the bag for inspection, you simply unclip to latches on the bottom, and flip the entire laptop bag out. Tom Bihn really found the perfect and most efficient way to do this, because in the few attempts I made, I was able to open the bag in a matter of seconds. The laptop portion of the bag stays secure when you carry it, because its handle slips through a slot in the top of the bag, becoming the second handle on the top. Yes, the description sounds complicated, but I can assure you it is something you can do without needing a manual. Tom Bihn have made a short video clip on their site outlining the steps for opening the bag.

As I mentioned earlier, the quality of the bag is simply amazing. I always considered myself a bit of a laptop bag “snob”, and have regularly purchased expensive bags to protect my goodies, but none of them are as well designed and well made as the Checkpoint Flyer. All the zippers on the top are splashproof thanks to special YKK zippers. The material feels bulletproof and I absolutely adore the color combination (I have the crimson/black version).

Of course, the real test happens at the airport, and I am happy to report that things actually went smooth; on a flight from Chicago to Amsterdam the bag unfolded and went through the X-Ray machine without any TSA agents yelling and screaming. And to be honest, it wasn’t the bag I was fearing, it was lack of training of the TSA agents. Thankfully most of them seem to have received the memo, and the bag was able to pass security without running the risk of losing a laptop. Unfortunately, the airport sterile zone is not the kind of place where you can pull out your camera and photograph what is happening, so you’ll have to settle for some photos made on my patio.

Of course, the new regulations are not just for our enjoyment, a recent report claims that passengers at US airports lose almost 12,000 laptops every single week, and while I personally doubt those claims a little, laptops DO get left behind at the X-Ray machine more often than in the past when they could just stay in their bag.

The Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer costs $220. When you purchase the bag, you’ll want to add some accessories. The bags are currently on pre-order, but these orders are shipping out fairly quickly.

The bag does not come with a shoulder strap, so be prepared to add an additional $20 or $30 to the purchase price depending on the version of strap you order. On the bag I reviewed, I tested the “Absolute Shoulder Strap“. This simple looking strap has a stretchy shoulder pad, which acts as a shock absorber, greatly reducing the load on your shoulder.

Other accessories to consider are the Tom Bihn “Horizontal Freudian Slip” ($35). This insert increases the number of pockets in the bag including space for pens, folders and electronic gadgets. When you arrive at your destination, or simply need access to some of your items at the airport, you can pull the entire slip out of the bag.

Finally, Tom Bihn also has 2 different packing cubes ($18 each or $30 for the pair). While these may also be of the same excellent quality of the rest of the items, I’m not sure the price can be justified unless you are going for an “all Tom Bihn” look for your bag. The cubes are quite handy though, and they hold a large amount of stuff which is especially handy for bundling your cords or other loose items.

My conclusion is simple; this is a fantastic bag. It holds all the stuff I carry, and I don’t have to keep a constant eye on a $2500 laptop leaving my sight in a plastic tub. I’m absolutely in love with the style and the attention to detail Tom Bihn has put into designing it. There is no denying that $220 (plus some more for the accessories) is more than many people are willing to spend on a laptop bag, but if you are a frequent traveler, you’ll want to seriously consider investing in a bag that can speed things up at the checkpoint, and make you look cool at the same time.

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When not to listen to your GPS unit

by Scott Carmichael on

If I had to make up a fake statistic, I’d say that one in three cars currently has a GPS navigation system. In the past decade, these systems have gone from the ultimate in luxury to just another $100 gadget.

One thing that has not changed however, is the inability of some people to make up their own mind and drive around without using the GPS commands as something other than a mere suggestion.

Here are 5 incidents when a driver let the soothing voice of their GPS unit tell them exactly where to go; without thinking about their next move.

Turn right at the railroad crossing with the approaching train…

A grade crossing in Bedford Hills, NY was the scene of an accident where a driver took a GPS suggested turn, right onto the tracks of the Metro-North railroad.

When the car got stuck, the driver and passengers got out and called 911. Unfortunately, the dispatcher was not able to reach the oncoming train on time, and it struck the car. Nobody was injured but passengers in the train were delayed several hours. An exact same incident occurred earlier this year, also involving a GPS unit.

Via: LoHud.com news and Engadget.com

Road safety truck stuck…

This stuck truck would be just as hilarious as any other situation where a driver failed to check the height of his truck before driving under a bridge. But the truck in question was on its way to a seminar to teach school children some important lessons on road safety. It took a salvage company several hours to pull the truck from under the viaduct.

100ft cliffs on the road to Crackpot

I’m not sure what is funnier; that GPS units have been directing people on a route along the edge of a cliff, or that these people are on their way to a village called Crackpot. When drivers get stuck on the perilous route, they attempt to reverse their car along the edge of the cliff. Thankfully nobody has gone over the edge yet. Villagers are trying to get the route removed from GPS maps.

Source: BBC News

Turn left (if you are a bus)

The Dutch have a fantastic public transport system. Their roads are so bus friendly, that they actually make entire routes and shortcuts just for the bus drivers. So, let that be a lesson to anyone who is NOT driving a bus. This bus route has a hydraulic gate which opens and closes for the local bus, and is clearly strong enough to lift your poor Volvo in into the air.

Corner VS. truck – corner wins!

Residents of the Welsh village of Tycroes have tried everything to warn drivers about the dangers of Cwmferrws Road, but it took this stuck Polish truck driver to finally force the council to design a road sign telling truck drivers not to rely on their GPS units for navigating the village. The truck in question was stuck for hours, and kept hitting a garden wall in his attempts at getting his truck unstuck.

Product review – Kodak Zi6 pocket HD video camera

by Scott Carmichael on

Welcome to my product review of the new Kodak Zi6 pocket video camera. This pint sized camcorder is capable of recording video in HD, which translates to a resolution of 720p at a maximum of 60 frames per second.

The Zi6 has a pop-out USB plug, which means you don’t need any cables to transfer your video recordings to your computer. It also has video ports for connecting to a regular TV or an HDTV.

The camera is about the size of a late 90’s mobile phone. On the rear of the camera is a spacious 2.5″ display, 2 buttons and a small joystick for controlling the various features. On the bottom of the Zi6 is a regular screw-thread for using the camera on a tripod or other mount.

On the front is of course the lens, as well as a button for the pop-out USB connector. The Zi6 operates off 2 regular AA batteries, and Kodak have included 2 rechargeable batteries as well as a charger in the box.

On the left side of the camera is the battery compartment, SD slot cover and a slider switch, for putting the lens in macro mode. On the right of the unit is the USB connector and the ports for AV and HD video connections.

Operating the camera couldn’t be easier; you slide the power switch on the top, and in about 2 seconds, you can start recording. Startup, shutdown and record are all accompanied by some funny sound effects. The Zi6 has a fairly limited built in memory, which is only sufficient for about 30 seconds of video, the first thing you will want to do, is purchase an SD memory card. The Zi6 has support for SD and SDHC (high capacity) cards, which means you’ll be able to add fairly large memory cards for very little extra cash (8GB cards can be found for around $30).

When the camera is turned on, you can either instantly start recording, or you can switch the video recording mode. By moving the joystick left or right, you cycle between the 4 different settings; photo, VGA, HD and HD60. Moving the joystick up and down controls the digital zoom. The buttons to the left and right of the joystick are for reviewing and deleting recordings.
Included in the box of the Zi6 is the camera itself, a Kodak branded charger with 2 AA batteries (pre-charged!), AV and HD cables, a manual and a CD containing a version of the Arcsoft video editing package.

Now, on to the most important part of the camera; video quality. Let me open immediately by letting you know that the Zi6 will not be replacing a professional grade HD camcorder any time soon.

Recordings in the 2 HD modes are quite decent, but you will immediately notice that every little bump and jitter becomes quite apparent. The camera struggles a little dealing with transitions from light to dark and takes about 4-5 seconds to make the adjustment. My best results were when I used the camera on a small tripod. Audio is sadly quite poor as there is no wind noise cancellation, nor will you find a microphone input jack. Also, don’t expect to use the camera in any kind of low light environment.

I have uploaded an HD recording which should give you a decent idea of what to expect. You’ll see that the quality is not comparable to the kind of HDTV you get from your cable company, but it is certainly better than making a video with your regular digital camera (You’ll need to click on the “HD” button to view it in HD).

Recordings on the Zi6 are made in the H.264 system and can be played back on most powerful computers. Kodak recommend a computer with a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 or higher.

Included with the camera is a version of Arcsoft Media Impression for making some basic edits of the recorded media. This software is PC only, so Mac users are on their own. The software allows you to import all the video clips to your PC, and upload them to Youtube or convert them to a different format.

It is clear to me that Kodak it out to conquer the market, and that they are gunning for Flip, who currently rule the world of pocket camcorders. I’ve used several of these small camcorders in the past, including the Flip, the Sony Net-Sharing cam and the Creative Vado as well as several lesser known Chinese brands, but the Kodak emerges as the clear winner.

There are a couple of shortcomings with the Zi6; The USB plug pops out a little too easy. Often when I grabbed the camera from my pocket, I’d press the front button, making the plug pop out.

The plug also lacks rotation; on my PC I used one of the front mounted USB plugs, which meant I had to plug the camera in upside down. I would have preferred a small USB extension cable or a rotating USB connector.

The low light performance of the camera is quite bad; anything outside or in a bright room will be fine, but don’t expect any usable recordings in a dim room.

Finally in my list of complaints; would it have hurt Kodak to include an SD card? The 128MB memory in the camera is barely enough for 30 seconds of recordings, and with memory prices at an all-time low, even a 2GB card would have been a nice thing to include.

Other than that, it is hard to complain about a good quality camera capable of recording pretty decent HD video for just $179. Between the use of regular AA batteries, the ability to connect to your home (HD) TV, quick startup and extremely easy operation it is clear that Kodak have a very competent little camera here, and I’m sure they’ll be found under many Christmas trees this holiday season (just remember to include a memory card!). The Kodak Zi6 is available in pink and black, and can be purchased directly from the Kodak store.

Product review – Scottevest “Scott Jordan Signature System” jacket and fleece

by Scott Carmichael on

Let me open by apologizing if this review seems messy; I’m more used to reviewing products with lights, buttons and beeping noises.

Reviewing fashion isn’t really “my thing”, but I had no problem making an exception for this review.

The SeV Scott Jordan Signature System consists of 2 different products; the Quantum jacket, and the Fleece 5.0.

Scottevest (SeV) has been making “technology enabled clothing” since 2000, and their products are essentially a travelers best friend; plenty of pockets, innovative ways to store anything from a water bottle to a small laptop, and high quality fabrics and stitching.

I’ll break this review into 2 small portions and will start with the jacket. Each product is available separately and functions perfectly on its own, but if you are heading towards a really cold winter, you can combine both into the “Signature System”. The Jacket and Fleece do not connect together, which was a decision SeV made based on customer feedback (I have to agree with them here).

The new SeV Quantum Jacket

The Quantum jacket is the fifth generation jacket from SeV and combines all their experience and innovations into a rugged winter coat. Some of the features of the jacket are:

  • 28 different pockets on the inside, outside and even on the sleeves
  • Removable hood
  • Magnetic front closure flap
  • Handwarmer pockets deep enough to stick half you arm in
  • Integrated wire management ports (SeV call this their Personal Area Network) – these small openings run through most of the pockets and allow you to route cables from pocket to pocket
  • Clear touch-screen accessible pockets – perfect for your smartphone or iPod
  • Headphone cord management – allows you to hide your headphone cord and bring it up into the collar
  • Weight management pockets for holding heavy items
  • Individual pockets for your keys, PDA stylus, memory cards, eyeglass cleaning cloth, change and even water bottles or a hydration pack.

The list of features and innovations in this jacket is endless. The jacket itself is made of breathable and water resistant ENAFF material.


The new SeV Fleece 5.0

The new SeV Fleece 5.0 is, as the name describes it, their fifth generation fleece jacket. Just like the Quantum jacket, this fleece has a huge list of features. The main differences (besides the fabric) are that the fleece has removable sleeves and no hood. The fleece jacket has 24 pockets (just 4 less than the jacket) and all of the other innovations that I listed for the Quantum jacket.

The “Signature Edition” price and use

Both the jacket and the fleece feel absolutely fantastic, and you can really tell a lot of effort was put in to the design and manufacturing process. You won’t find any loose threads or bad stitches on this thing.

The Quantum jacket retails for $250 and the fleece costs $140. If you purchase them together as the “Signature System”, you’ll save $50 ($340). This is in line with any other premium winter jacket, but has the added advantage of all the SeV features.

I’ve spent well over $300 in the past for a good jacket, and only got 6 pockets. The best part of the investment is that you actually get four different garments: a jacket, a fleece, a fleece/jacket combo, and a vest (when you remove the sleeves from the fleece). The 2 products should provide comfort for autumn, through winter to early spring.

The best part about the jacket or fleece filled with gadgets, is that you don’t even notice them; the pockets have been specially designed to be “no bulge”, and with the weight distribution system, you don’t feel like you are carrying your office in your pockets. Once you reach the airport, you simply take your jacket off, and place it in a bin.

To give you an idea of the storage space, I filled my jacket with all the usual stuff I carry in my laptop bag, including a Cradlepoint wireless broadband router with 3G modem, 3 phones, an iPod touch, a digital camera, a backup battery pack, several memory cards, my Slacker G2 music player, a Livescribe Pulse smartpen with notepad, a Franklin speaking global translator and 2 Bluetooth headsets (one stereo). The back of the jacket even has one massive pocket large enough for a small laptop (my Acer Aspire One fits just fine). Of course, I am hardly an average user, so my extreme example won’t apply to most travelers.

Final thoughts…

The SeV Scott Jordan Signature Edition is kind of like finding presents under the Christmas tree. Once you are done opening everything, you always find one or two other packages everyone missed. With these jackets, it is no different; even after wearing them for an hour, I kept finding new pockets, or other ways to access a pocket.

SeV have added a small business card in every pocket describing its function, what it can store and whether it is connected to the “personal area network” cord management system. In one of the front pockets is also a stack of “Vestimonials” which are perfect if you want to spread some SeV love around.

Even if you are not a gadget freak like myself, the SeV jacket and fleece provide a great quality winter combination, and are fine if you only plan to carry some basic things like your iPod, phone and some lip balm.

There really isn’t anything I can complain about with the jacket or fleece. Naturally some may find it a little on the pricey side, but if you compare it with other pro-grade winter gear, you’ll see that it is very much in line with their prices. If anything, the only minor complaint is that washing the jackets will take longer, because you have to go through all 52 pockets to be sure you didn’t leave any of your gadgets behind.

The Scott Jordan Signature Collection is available directly from their site.

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Product review – Etymotic Research hf2 noise isolating headset

by Scott Carmichael on

In this product review, I’m going to give you a closer look at a pair of noise canceling headphones for your mobile phone.

The Etymotic Research hf2 headphones combine excellent noise canceling features with a microphone and call control button. What you end up with is an absolutely fantastic pair of headphones that work on your iPhone or other compatible mobile phone.

I’ve been a huge Etymotic Research fan for years. The headphones made by Etymotic Research are passive noise canceling, which means they cancel out noise by isolating your ears from the noise instead of using electronics to cancel it out. The level of noise reduction with these headphones is astounding, provided you get a good solid fit.

Included in the box of the hf2’s are of course the headphones themselves, as well as 2 different ear pieces; one set of foam fittings and one of smaller silicone rubber fittings. Also included is an ear filter replacement kit, since the headphone are “in-ear”, they’ll eventually pick up some of the wax left in your ear, so this filter kit allows you to clean things out a little. It sounds quite gross, but it’s a lot better than just leaving stuff in the headphones. Etymotic Research also includes a nice carrying pouch with room for the headphones and all the accessories.
Getting the headphones to fit takes a little getting used to, in my case, I prefer the standard triple flanged earpieces. Once you insert the headphones, you need to wiggle them around a little to get a perfect fit. As soon as they are “installed” correctly, you’ll instantly notice it, because almost all the ambient noise is gone. Another big benefit of blocking outside noise, is that you can keep the volume of your music down to a minimum.

The audio from the hf2’s is outstanding. I’m not an audiophile, so I won’t bore you with extensive descriptions of the highs and lows, but playback off an iPhone and Blackberry Curve was just great. Plenty of bass, and combined with the noise isolation means you get really rich sounding audio. I’ve tried the hf2’s on a 2 hour flight, and at no point did they become too uncomfortable. I did have the urge to remove them every half hour or so for a minute to give my ears a bit of a break.

Call quality was also great, the built in microphone did its job just fine, and on my Blackberry I had no problem picking up and disconnecting phone calls using the call button housed in the microphone unit. People on the other end of my calls never complained, and the sound is most certainly better than most Bluetooth headsets.If you plan to use your mobile phone to listen to music on a plane, you will need to enable “flight mode” (unless of course you are on a flight with wireless Internet access).

Good quality audio comes at a price, and the Etymotic Research hf2’s are no different; the MSRP is $179, but when you compare this with other brands of premium noise canceling headphones you’ll actually see that they are quite affordable. I have tested other in-ear headsets in the past, but the Etymotic Research hf2’s are miles ahead of anything I have ever listened to. You can purchase the hf2’s directly from the Etymotic Research site.

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