04 February 2007
My favorite bag is back! [kind of]
After reading the excellent OneBag web site before my trip to Paris last year I set out on a quest for a lightweight "convertible" carry-on with no wheels. There's a lot of bags in this category including the Rick Steves Convertible, the Tom Bihn Aeronaut, the Red Oxx Air Boss and more. At that time Jansport was closing out most of their product from the Modus line so I ended up with the Modus Soft Convertible Carry-On for $50.
I've taken it on 4 trips so far and with a couple exceptions it's perfect. I love the "book style" opening, it eliminates the need for any packing cubes or stuff like that [all I use is one Eagle Creek compression bag] and even completely packed with stuff I've never had to check it. The only things I don't like are that the "quick access" zipper into the main compartment isn't lockable [curiously the main zipper next to it is] and the shoulder strap is a bit of a pain to adjust. Otherwise it's been fantastic and several people have asked me where to get one.
Until recently I had to say "yeah, they don't make this any more." Now it's back in the form of the JanSport Euro Sak. The main differences are minor and seem to be mostly cosmetic and if it's anything like its dead older brother it should be a great piece of luggage. I'm going to check it out the next time I'm in REI.
I've taken it on 4 trips so far and with a couple exceptions it's perfect. I love the "book style" opening, it eliminates the need for any packing cubes or stuff like that [all I use is one Eagle Creek compression bag] and even completely packed with stuff I've never had to check it. The only things I don't like are that the "quick access" zipper into the main compartment isn't lockable [curiously the main zipper next to it is] and the shoulder strap is a bit of a pain to adjust. Otherwise it's been fantastic and several people have asked me where to get one.
Until recently I had to say "yeah, they don't make this any more." Now it's back in the form of the JanSport Euro Sak. The main differences are minor and seem to be mostly cosmetic and if it's anything like its dead older brother it should be a great piece of luggage. I'm going to check it out the next time I'm in REI.
