Need new dad bag

[Cookie Monster]

I ended up using my already-available HPG kit bag...I took it on a ten day trip to Ontario through airports etc etc with all the critical stuff.

It was actually really, really handy. I thought it might cause trouble in airports for looking to military or something, but the only problem I actually had was with a totally civilian, innocuous grey shoulder bag, which I was asked to empty in front of a flight security agent.

It was a pain, because the thing was really overstuffed and I'd been in line for three hours with a two year old who was up five hours earlier than usual and they were trying to force me to make him walk the security gauntlet through the scanners alone and he was freaking out and things got hostile from there because I was about out of patience with lowly-trained idiots enforcing rules that were evidently beyond their own comprehension.

Anyway their reasoning for forcing me to empty it was "to take that case of beer out."

"You want me to remove a case of beer from this bag?"

"Yes, that's right."

"No, I can't do that. Sorry."

"If you won't, I will."

"No, you won't."

So the agent opened it up furiously and started pulling stuff out, eventually getting to a baby formula box (incidentally not all that close in proportion to a case of beer.)

"I figured you wouldn't be able to pull a case of beer out of that bag. Anything else before I tie up your table for a while repacking it?"

"You still can't have this much liquid in a carry-on," she said, holding the box.

"How much liquid is that?"

"Each bottle would have to be under 100ml and you couldn't have 12 of them."

"Fine. You want to throw away every single bottle you find in that box, or what?"

"I can throw out the entire box."

"No, I need the box and all its contents."

"I told you, you can't take this much liquid on the plane."

"I can and I will."

"Sir," she said, emphasizing each word, "you can not."

"Do you want to open the box?"

The box contained a carefully folded suit which weighed nothing even close to the equivalent amount of baby formula.

"Great work, agent. Keep those skies safe."


Usually by this point Erin is trying to make me stop talking but they made the kid cry and I am pretty sure she wanted me to make the agent cry in retaliation.

I’ve seen them make a weeping mother dump out breast milk needed for her infant. We had struggles getting milk through those mofo when they had no definition of a toddler. Our autistic boy soothes with milk from a sippy cup. I have had times wanting to throat punch those mofos.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

I’ve seen them make a weeping mother dump out breast milk needed for her infant. We had struggles getting milk through those mofo when they had no definition of a toddler. Our autistic boy soothes with milk from a sippy cup. I have had times wanting to throat punch those mofos.

Yeah, there's a Ulysses S. Grant quote about nothing eroding respect for authority like enacting rules you can't enforce...but personally, I think enforcing rules you can't justify is at least as bad.

[rob_s]

Not sure how long ago the 3.0 version came out, but it’s nice to see Vertx continuing to iterate and make improvements.

I still don’t think this would work for me, personally, but I like a lot of these features. For one thing, they’ve turned the hidden pistol compartment from a uni-tasked that just added built and weight for someone that wouldn’t be putting a gun in there to something that’s more multi-tasked and has potential function for others. It now opens up Al, the way, fully flat, and I could see using that compartment for a laptop and/or iPad, myself.

[rob_s]

little bit of an update, mostly for myself…

Firstly, the sling Concept has been great. I even had occasion to bust out the backpack again a few weeks ago and really missed the simplicity of the sling. And the Aer Day Sling 2 has been really great. I think the newer3 is a little smaller and might not actually work for me if I were to buy today.

That saidkive done what women do with houses and put so much day to day stuff in there that I don't have room to carry other stuff when I need or want to. About the only thing I can feasibly cram in there now is the ipad mini, and once that's in there the whole thing gets really tight.

So I'm kinda back on the prowl, not sure if I'm willing to go larger, haven't really found the right combination of size and internal organization, wondering if I even *need* all the organization...

There's what I have in there now, by default at all times. I think mostly it's self explanatory. Everything to the left of the small zipper bag goes in that bag, then in the sling inside the interior zipper pouch.


There's my current comparison chart.

[breakingtime91]

At labor and delivery now, wife is due in two days but we might have a early baby this time around. Im not new to dad bags but I may steal Robs idea. That's a great sling bag for fathers!

[RoyGBiv]

At labor and delivery now, wife is due in two days but we might have a early baby this time around. Im not new to dad bags but I may steal Robs idea. That's a great sling bag for fathers!

Prayers up for smooth sailing!

[cmbarny2]

New dad here and tired of the giant bag the wife has packed to take the baby anywhere.
Looking for a small sling bag basically like the Viktos Upscale 3 sling. This is a short trip bag so looking for something for a few diapers, wipes, bottle, change of clothes, booboo kit, and a regular sized water bottle. I feel like I could make the Viktos bag work for everything short of the water bottle. Anyone have some ideas?

[rob_s]

New dad here and tired of the giant bag the wife has packed to take the baby anywhere.
Looking for a small sling bag basically like the Viktos Upscale 3 sling. This is a short trip bag so looking for something for a few diapers, wipes, bottle, change of clothes, booboo kit, and a regular sized water bottle. I feel like I could make the Viktos bag work for everything short of the water bottle. Anyone have some ideas?

I never did that level of dad-baggery, but I'd be looking at some of the larger slings like the chrome Kadet Max (15L)
https://chromeindustries.com/products/kadet-max

You might even make the OG Kadet work for you (9L)
https://chromeindustries.com/products/kadet-sling-bag

Or possibly even the Chrome Tensile (7L)
https://chromeindustries.com/products/tensile-sling-bag

Generally I haven't gotten into these bags because of the lack of interior dividers but for your use case of some bulkier items they might be just the ticket

[rob_s]

Probably had a thread elsewhere on this but this seems as good a place as any...

Still super happy with the sling option, but also still on the hunt for something slightly larger for actual travel (e.g. take it on an airplane) as the current bag can get a little stretched.

Point of this post, however, is that I'm back in the market for a work backpack. Resisted for a long time because backpacks are for kids, but they have become commonplace enough that I'm ok with it.

The company gave us branded Ogio bags so I've been testing with that. it's big, bulky, has too many pouches, it's heavy... but I'm good with the backpack at work idea now.

Been shopping a bunch of different makes and models, but haven't come up with just the right match, and at the price of some of these things it's tough to order something that might not work out.

Recently, Alpha One Niner came out with their Evade 1.5 bag. I think I bought one of the earlier versions and, for the "dad bag" use where it was getting carried a lot, it was just too heavy, and the dedicated pistol pouch added weight and bulk I didn't need or want. The 1.5 is still a little heavy at 3.3 lbs for the 500D model (coming from my old shoulder bag at 2.6 lbs and a few of the other bags I'm considering at ~2.5 lbs), but I think it'll carry better than the Ogio I'm testing with now.

One thing that I like in a work bag is a lot of internal partitioning, and the 1.5 has a little of that off the bat but also allows for a lot more with the addition of their velcro organizers. yes, it adds even more weight, but it adds 8-9 more pouches. I also like that the bag has a water bottle pocket and two compression straps.

I've also toyed with a divided accessor pouch to toss into the bag, which seems like the more popular option on YouTube these days. Still, I dislike having to open a zipper, pull out a pouch, and open another zipper, maybe even a third zipper, to get to what I want. I like just reaching into my bag and pulling out what I need after opening one or maybe two zippers.

the one thing that has me close to changing my mind on the accessory pouch idea is the Evergoods CIVIC ACCESS POUCH 2L which you can plop down on the desk, open up, and have access to all your stuff in one place.

Evergoods also sells a bag, the Civic Panel Loader 24, that's #2 or 3 or my list of possibles. A little lighter than the Evade at 3.1 lbs, and a little more offic-y looking IMO, but also goddamn expensive at $280. lacks compression straps and an external water bottle pocket (which I like mostly as a quick stash pocket for an umbrella, etc.).

In case anyone is surprised, the comparison chart of bags has gotten completely out of hand...


Evade 1.5



Civic Panel Loader 24



Civic Access Pouch 2L

[vcdgrips]

Rob S -

A quick review of this thread and re reads of my posts at 131, 211 and 217 still has me recommending something in the 20Lish to 30Lish range by Osprey at sub 100USD or a Tom Bihn Synik 22/30.

While I acknowledge the temptation to go smaller as you like to use your sling bag, I am a huge proponent of going bigger so long as the bigger bag does not size you out of a commonly used storage space i.e. under seat/over head on an airplane.

The TB 30 will fit in any jet overhead and will fit the vast majority of the time under seat so long as it is not packed out 100+% and you are not in a funky one off row with a weird box sticking up out of the floor.

The Synik has a built in padded laptop area, comes with a frame sheet that takes some weight off the back and has a pass thru slot so it fits on the handle of a pull suitcase i.e. checked bag.

I sold multiple bags and bric a brac in 2021 to fully fund an S30, a Freudian Slip and various org pouches from Tom Bihn. The stuff is not cheap. It is sewn in the USA with Tier 1 materials and it simply works and works well. I use the bag 5 +days a week with no appreciable wear. The clamshell zipper has NEVER come open unintentionally.

Multiple car and airline trips to NYC/OKC/STL and Europe keep me convinced that the brand/bag is superlative.

FWIW/YMMV Greatly