jeffbartlettmedia.com

scottdavenportphoto.com

fstoppers.com

theoverratedphotographer.com

Scott Davenport

The Augusts

Shutter Muse

Think Tank Photo

 Like most camera-specific hiking bags, there really is no way to organize your gear this way and maintain the easy access. So, there is a trade-off for the rotational quick access. There are a lot of ways to attach and configure gear to the outside of the bag, which does help to move some of the heavier bits to better locations.  You can break the bag down into three main sections: the ROTATION 180° 10L waist pack, the main 40L compartment, and the external pockets and attachment points

 You can also fit a 70-200mm or 100-400mm lens attached to a body the long way. So, there are a lot of options depending on your needs.  Overall improved design with traditional hiking features Plenty of straps, gear loops, and mounting points The floating pocket top Drawstring closure and expandable top section Magnetic waist pack lid Durable and weather-resistant materials Waistband pocket

 It’s clear that MindShift Gear looked at what features were desired in a traditional hiking pack when redesigning the 50L and also pulled several features from their Backlight series of packs. There are two standout features when first looking at the bag that are improvements over the previous version. One is a large stash pocket along the length of the front, perfect for storing rain gear or warmer layers. Lots of bags come with some sort of pocket on the front, but this is in addition to a weather-sealed laptop pocket underneath

 It is definitely a major improvement over the design of the previous bag; yet, in my experience, even the best-ventilated back panel is going to leave you sweaty in warm weather.  Once properly fit and adjusted, the weight distribution is pretty good. I could easily scramble up some rocky areas with the pack fully loaded without it feeling like it would sway side to side. When hiking, you typically want your heaviest gear towards the middle against your back and attached on the outside, with the medium weight at the top and lightest gear on the bottom

A Review of MindShift Gear's Newest Series of ROTATION 180° Adventure Backpacks

 For me, the 34L is plenty bag for my photo trips - and it fits in most overhead bins (check those regional flights ... smaller planes are always a challenge)

 You can also use the pouch on the left side of the bag. There is a strap on the side to secure the top of the tripod, lashing it to the side of the bag. Heavier tripods may skew weight distribution, though.          Wide shoulder straps distribute the back weight and a padded, breathable back make the Rotation 34L Backpack comfortable

 Scott ... didn’t you just say the great thing about the bag is not having to put it down? :) Yes, that’s 100% true

Review - ThinkTank Updates The MindShift Rotation Backpack 34L — Scott Davenport Photography

amazon.com

expert-review

Mindshift Gear rotation180° Horizon 34L Review - Jeff Bartlett Media

stamped

Rotation 180 backpacks: the new series is now available by Jose Antunes - ProVideo Coalition

Latest MindShift Rotation Backpacks Released by Think Tank Photo - Digital Imaging Reporter

Mindshift Rotation 180 34L v2

Rotation 34L Backpack - Think Thank Canada

 This mesh is over a squishy green foam material, so we get some better breathability on this back panel and it's just a little more comfortable on the shoulder blades. With these two panels. It'S a full 10 point adjustable harness system. So, let's flip that over we've got of course, a little whistle on the sternum strap

 You know when i'm traveling with it somewhere on a day-to-day basis when i'm just out walking with one of these rotation packs. I don't need to use that zipper, and that means when you do get it out, and you want to access your camera much faster. Actually, just one-handed with these little tabs to pull the magnets open. Okay, so that's cool! That'S a nice addition to all of the rotation bags in this update in the top section here, just a little pocket again for batteries

 That'S not available with the 22 liter. What you can store for your camera gear is is all in the bottom here, so this top section here is just going to be for all your other day, hiking stuff, your outdoor gear, okay. So let's zip that up! Let'S flip it over now on the back here we can see another big change between this version of the rotation packs and the previous versions. So basically, what we have here is an adjustable torso length

Small but Mighty - MindShift Rotation 22L Review

 It'S it's much more. You know just kind of uh fluid and squishy and the newer bag it's just firmer and has a better shape to it overall, so uh slightly slightly thicker, which means there's slightly more capacity in there all said and done. These are both 34 liter bags and i don't know why we measure bag capacity in liters - it's, i guess kind of, like we measure light and candle power, but anyway it's it's a good sized bag. This is the medium-sized bag of the rotation series

 They really are uh same height, really about the same width. The uh, you know the strapping is all good. The stitching is all good. All of those things are, the same

 You just want to get that gear quickly, take a couple of photos and continue with your hike. We'Ve talked about fit and finish and construction, a capacity of both the inner pouch, as well as the top part of the bag, the pouches and accesses on the side. Tripod mounts: what else can i tell you about this bag? There is, there is a custom rain cover and the custom part is important because that lets you have a rain cover that works with that rotation portion of the bag. So the cover will fit on there and still allow you to access that inner belt pack get to your most critical gear

 I just pulled the thing out: i'm leaving everything, as is i kind of leave the zippers open on the stashmaster when i have it in the bag. There is a safety strap here that connects across the top, so i wouldn't have this flap like open up. Surprisingly, on me and have any gear spill out, i can always zip it closed. If i want to another way, is to take out there's a foam insert inside the top part of this dash master

ThinkTank Rotation Backpack Review

 Of course, this is always the same. We'Ve got the sternum strap with the emergency whistle. We actually have some really nice thick shoulder padding here. Using the same material, that's been on, most of the recent mind shift bags all of the backlight bags if you're familiar with those big thick lumber, support, really nice and deep

 Just kind of day-to-day accessories get a flashlight in there now there is also a little key clip doodad. Of course, i don't use these for keys, but i do put my memory card wallet on this thing every time now your memory card could have a thousand dollars worth of memory cards in it these days so important to secure that. So that's in the top there more of these little loops to attach things to this is the main zipper again, not an aqua guard zipper, but a big flap to prevent the rain running directly onto the zipper so unzip that top half of the bag, big elastic Pocket here put your binoculars in there put some more clothing. In there i mean there's a there's: a ton of space in the top of this 34 liter version for non-photography stuff, if you're just keeping your camera in the bottom of the bag, which we'll get to got this little strap here as well

 There'S a tripod cup and a strap in the bottom. So if you want to front carry your tripod put the feet in here, secure it with that strap and then behind this other green tab is a second strap, so you can front, carry the tripod! You know. I don't recommend doing that if you have a very big heavy tripod, because it puts the weight away from your center of gravity pulls you backwards, but if you've got a smaller tripod front, carrying is an option put this away now. Another option is on the side here, so a big stretchy

 I really like this color. Then we have another big feature for these new versions and that is adjustable torso straps. So if i was to pull this open, if i was to pull open a little further, you can then slide this whole thing up. You have about this much adjustment there about three or four inches to slide the whole

MindShift Rotation 34L Review - Is This System a Genius Idea??

packhacker.com

Pack Hacker Reviews

r/onebag

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30 | This is a good way to make use of extra straps you have at home.

The Techonaut comes in two sizes, 30 liters or 45 liters—both definitely on the larger side of the size spectrum. That’s good news for us since we like to make use of every cubic inch of space in our bags. We sure got good mileage out of either size, and we’re happy to say that the harness system was a joy to use on the Techonaut 30. 

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30 Review | Pack Hacker

**Backpack folks** - this thing is a million times better as a backpack than aeronaut.  

  As such when I say 'side', or 'top' or 'bottom', I am referring to the backpack mode where the secondary, smaller zipped pocket is on the bottom of the bag - backpack mode.

 The backpack strap hideaway made me laugh when I realized how it works - basically they carved two channels that the straps neatly slide in to, which minimizes bulk when you carry it in duffle mode.  They are using new zippers which slide super easily, with much less force than the old zippers on my Aeronaut.  Zippers are loud when they clang together, as usual, so I'd absolutely advise adding pulls or heat shrink or some sort of method to silence them.

The new laptop pocket is nice, and certainly gives you a ton of room.  It is suspended from the bottom of the bag, ensuring your device stays safe.  No issues with a macbok and an ipad nestled in there.  The back panel has mesh annd a dedicated padding again, changes the carry completely from an Aeronaut 30

  Zippers are loud when they clang together, as usual, so I'd absolutely advise adding pulls or heat shrink or some sort of method to silence them.

I got my hands on a pre-production Tom Bihn Techonaut 30. Put together initial impressions, comparison to TB's excellent Aeronaut and would be happy to answer questions or take photos.

 You can also access it from the top. You have a nice zipper here so that you can easily grab your laptop, particularly when you're sitting in an airplane, and you pull the bag from out from under the seat. It'S a lot easier to pull it out from the top, as opposed to having to deal with the side, access zipper and so plenty of space in this laptop compartment. As you saw earlier, i have a 13 inch macbook pro, but you can see there's just plenty of space here at the top to hold up to a 15 or 16 inch laptop and then the sleeve itself is made out of a really nice kind of soft And durable mesh - and this has some padding, but it's a little bit less rigid than i would like to see for a laptop sleeve

 And then the last option that i'll mention here is the tortuga set out laptop backpack, which is one of the most versatile bags that i've used. I talk about it, a ton on the channel, and that is just a really solid, 25 liter option, so it works. Well, for day-to-day carry or minimal travel, it can hold a lot of stuff. I really love all the organizational options that it offers

 I like that on the inside. It has this kind of soft meshy material and then, if you don't want to use it for a water bottle, it's just a nice tall compartment. It'S going to offer plenty of space for something like maybe a tech organizer, that you want to be able to get to quickly as well during the day and then next up on the sides, you have two additional zippered pockets that have a very similar layout. So, starting with this one here on the right, this is really where you start to see kind of the magic of how space is distributed along all of these compartments

 That feels like it's going to be with you for many years to come. Continuing on with the capacity as mentioned in the name of the bag, it comes in at about 30 liters, which is a really great kind of one. Bag travel size, and this is a generous 30 liters. I was really impressed with just how much it was able to hold definitely more than enough for a week or a couple of weeks of travel

Tom Bihn Synik 30 Review - the Synik 22’s Bigger Brother is a SOLID Minimal One Bag Travel Pack

 This material feels like it's going to hold up, and you have some great ykk zippers all throughout that have worked very smoothly, continuing along the outside of the bag. You have two simple loops, one on each side, which are going to be great for loading. This into an overhead storage compartment into a trunk - i really love when you have the ability to kind of grab a bag easily. These are a little bit on the thinner side, but it's like a seat belt material that still feels like it's going to hold up

 Strap that i believe is sold separately would have been nice to have the shoulder, strap included, given the price point of the bag. It is nice, however, that you can remove and attach it if you want a cleaner look if you're somebody who just wants to carry it by the handles - and in this case these are some very nice handles they're well padded. This is a comfortable padding that they have here. You have two handles, so you can open the bag up wide and hold it open

 This is the important thing about having these sorts of pockets, the more volume they have, the more useful they are. It'S not a super flat compartment, so i was able to toss in a lot of bulkier kind of pouches to add my own organization to the bag. So in this case, i tossed in my air slim pouch, which is a pouch that i have with me on most days. It has a lot of tech accessories, portable batteries, things like that, then on the inside

 You'Re going to get any sort of fatigue with the padding that's offered here and then, as far as the sizing, this one comes in at about 21 to 22 liters, which is pretty interesting in my opinion, for a duffel bag. This is definitely kind of a nice. Smaller size, it's going to be great, for you know, keeping stuff in the car for the gym or for a shorter weekend or overnight trip. It'S not going to be able to hold a ton of stuff, especially like bulkier, packing cubes, but it can still hold an impressive amount just due to the simpler layout

Tom Bihn Old School Carry All and Tray Bien Review - Simple and Useful Accessories!

 So that's this size of a sandal here. I can't stuff that in here like quite as easily, i can, if i bend it around, but let me show you now, with the 45 liter of version of the techo knot, there's just going to be a little bit more space on the inside here. So i can shove that in and that's a little bit more space for that flip-flop, which is nice. I really appreciate that so yeah um, you know you can see that there's just a little bit more space in the bottom

 This is a little bit more leader independent, so it does stuff up here a bit and depending on, if you stuff it, you know that you're going to have a little bit of variance there. However, when you unzip this there's enough extra fabric to where you can basically negate the bottom of this this bag. So if i really want to let the main compartment here be as large as it can be, i just unzip that, and this extra fabric will fall into this bottom pocket more. So it's like up to you

 I kind of like that. It'S like tom bin branded as well. That'S where the absolute shoulder strap attaches. I think that you know runs near like a hundred bucks

 So i got my 16 inch macbook pro in here no problem. Let me just grab it and show you how it fits inside 16 inch, no problem right in the back all right, so that right zipper here for a laptop zipper here for shoulder straps. I think on the techo knot, it's a lot more useful and then i would say we could compare the back panels, but there really isn't one on the aeronaut either i mean there's some padding in here. But overall you know it's it's

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30 Review (2 Weeks of Use)

 You can kind of see how it looks on the side there, so that makes for easier grabbing. So a lot of duffels too will like the straps will flop over. So you have to like grab one grab the other and this this stood up really well and there there's a good amount of foam padding in here as well, so it is a really comfortable carry. This is how i found myself carrying it

 If you want to bring an extra pair of shoes - or you just have some additional toiletries or something like that, this bag is, you know more than just more than just a gym bag, i mean that's, why they call it. The carry-all is that they kind of re-amped this duffel that was intended for the gym and made it more than just the gym duffel. So there you have it: the tom bin old school carryall, thanks for keeping here at pack, hacker your guide to smarter travel and we'll see in the next one. 

 This is really good for that. It'S placed a little bit it's kind of centered, but when it does, hang it hangs really straight. So that's really nice because you know it's not like lopsided or going all over the place. You can kind of decide which orientation you want to actually hang it from um

 So there you have it: the tom bin old school carryall, thanks for keeping here at pack, hacker your guide to smarter travel and we'll see in the next one. 

	Thinktank Rotation 180 34L Backpack	Tom Bihn Techonaut 30
Image
Grade	C	C
Reviews	9	9
Summary
Price	CHECK ON AMAZON	CHECK ON AMAZON

Thinktank Rotation 180 34L Backpack vs Tom Bihn Techonaut 30

Reviews by Topic

Carry-on

Thinktank Rotation 180 34L Backpack

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30

Comfort

Thinktank Rotation 180 34L Backpack

Size

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30

Strap

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30

Zipper

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30

Compartment

Tom Bihn Techonaut 30

You might also like