karpov's eagle creek switchback -- luggage porn

k-pi bought an eagle creek switchback in "palm" color.

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My bag arrived today. They did not send that bonus free cube accessory that they were supposed to send, unless it is coming in a separate shipment. I'll follow up with them.

I like it, and I think that it is going to be great for me on work trips. I *think* it will be large enough (though it is just a tad smaller than I was envisioning.) It has a total of three main tones, with black trim, but primarily darker and lighter Palm (kakhi-like) colors. It's probably a pretty good color to not attract too much attention, but still be easy to find.

The Palm color isn't as gross as I was expecting. It is not as 'fun' as a blue or red color, but it clearly will be easy to distinguish from all the black luggage on the carosel.

There are straps galore, including one I haven't quite figured out yet on the top of the bag.

The conversion of the full bag to a backpack (not to be confused with the removable daypack) is extremely slick. It is well padded and has a nice padded waist strap too. It feels surprisingly comfortable, though I don't have it loaded down yet.

The handle is great. It zips away in its own compartment under a tough fabric. It curves and feels very comfortable and sturdy. It clearly does take up some room in the main compartment though.The wheels are very well-protected, and appear to be high quality.

The zipoff day pack should be useful. It zips off very easily.

The 'Sole Patch' corner guards seem to be a great idea, protecting a common wear spot at the top of the bag with some weird space age material.

The fabric appears to be rugged.

Two quibbles...the clips for the backpack straps appear to be thin and of lower quality than almost everything else on the bag. Perhaps it is a material that is stronger than it looks, but they seem out of place on a bag where everything is ultra-rugged. (Same with the loops that you hook them to.) The only other one is that the handle when you carry the bag by the side is not padded or rubberized. The top handle is.

I will report once I field test it.

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front view





back view, with internals exposed. note the curving of the straps -- this is a must for bags that can bear a heavy load. i have an eagle creek bag from before this discovery, and it suffers from it. also, a nice feature here is the belt is separate from the straps -- meaning you can wear shoulder straps without wearing a belt. necessary.




top. note the hardcore handle cover. eagle creek has switched over to rubberized handles for the main weight-bearing handles, and i actually prefer their older leather-wrapped nylon ones.




"soul patches," spots reinforced with thermo plastic urethane for wear. super hardcore. it's one of the gimmicks they use to make this bag guaranteed for life "regardless." i told karpov, "you get your car stuck in the snow, you know what to throw under a wheel."




wheels, and the oh-so-hardcore kick plate. notice the recessing all the way into the bag -- this is precisely what you want on a great piece of luggage (and the wheels have treads -- oh, baby).



[this actually added on 9/23/05, but i wanted it back in sequence with the luggage articles.]