Most bags are the wrong shape and orientation . They fall over , often as no !

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Here is a picture of 3 fairly expensive carrying bags . Put them down for a moment , THEY FALL OVER . And to improve things nicely , they are often BLACK inside , so you can't find anything , that is now jumbled up !

 

 

Remedy , they should ALL. Be redesigned , orientated through 90 degrees , and have an illuminated inside.

 

Mike

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Here is a picture of 3 fairly expensive carrying bags . Put them down for a moment , THEY FALL OVER . And to improve things nicely , they are often BLACK inside , so you can't find anything , that is now jumbled up !

image.jpeg

Remedy , they should ALL. Be redesigned , orientated through 90 degrees , and have an illuminated inside.

Mike

.

 

A device , as important to our daily life , as a carrying device , something to store reference material, and useful for all manner of necessary ' things for daily use' . This contraption is in need of a serious review. If only to solve the two problems mentioned in the opening post namely stay the right way up or orientated when put down , and for contents to be seen , when you look into the blackness in your bag.

 

We do not see many animals , going about their daily life , with shoulder bags, hand bags , carrier bags etc . Although ' bum bags ' had or have a valuable use , there is room for improvement there too.

 

Perhaps we could get some solutions by looking at the natural world from microbe to Galaxy , to see how the rest of the universe , other than Mankind , copes with the requirements , that make us surround ourselves with ' Bags ' that are not very practical ( fall over , and dark as night ,when you look for something inside the bag ) .

 

Perhaps if we look at how birds , plants and animals cope with this problem. Then we could look at atoms , how do they keep everything together, on hand and useful . How does things like planets , stars keep things going .

 

The animals have some useful examples. As does the atomic structure with electrical and magnetic forces. And of course when we look at planets we cannot ignor gravity. However perhaps we are going too large there. But certainly magnetism and electrical charge might have some merit.

 

Mike

Edited June 13, 2017 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[KipIngram]

You know, a briefcase with a light that comes on when you open it is a pretty clever idea. Neat.

[Phi for All]

If you carry it, it can't increase your "cutout" too much (imagine the cartoon guy who goes through a wall so fast it leaves a cutout of his shape). Soft bags do this pretty well, and let you adjust for balance easier, where rigid ones don't. Rigid bags stick out oddly and aren't as adaptive in close settings. But a rigid bag would stand up better if you set it down. They're much easier to find things in, and you could easily rig it with a battery LED light.

 

Bags have always been a trade-off between these two things. The empty space to fill with stuff is the utilitarian part, and you have to decide if portability or ease of access is next most important. If it's more important to find your stuff, perhaps you should look at a wheeled rigid bag with lots of interior and exterior pockets.

[Acme]

Here is a picture of 3 fairly expensive carrying bags . Put them down for a moment , THEY FALL OVER . And to improve things nicely , they are often BLACK inside , so you can't find anything , that is now jumbled up !

 

Remedy , they should ALL. Be redesigned , orientated through 90 degrees , and have an illuminated inside.

 

Mike

Remedy is to think outside the bag. To whit, I was using a bag similar to those pictured on my field tramps and while I liked the close contour as alluded to by Phi, I disliked the falling over as you mention. Not only would the fall let things out, it put the bag in the dirt and often wet ground and foliage. Not what I want for camera gear and notebooks. Anyway, I stumbled on what I need at the hardware store in the fishing section. A fishing gear bag! Stays upright, waterproof bottom, and bright yellow interior. Also, a molded shoulder strap that cut the bite of a straight strap. I get around the cut-out problem Phi mentions by swinging the bag to my back and have no problem negotiating snagging brush and limbs.

 

Mine was by a company called Allen, but this particular model appears to be no longer available. Here's a photo though. (Mine lacks the orange highlights on exterior.)

 

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Remedy is to think outside the bag. To whit, I was using a bag similar to those pictured on my field tramps and while I liked the close contour as alluded to by Phi, I disliked the falling over as you mention. Not only would the fall let things out, it put the bag in the dirt and often wet ground and foliage. Not what I want for camera gear and notebooks. Anyway, I stumbled on what I need at the hardware store in the fishing section. A fishing gear bag! Stays upright, waterproof bottom, and bright yellow interior. Also, a molded shoulder strap that cut the bite of a straight strap. I get around the cut-out problem Phi mentions by swinging the bag to my back and have no problem negotiating snagging brush and limbs.Mine was by a company called Allen, but this particular model appears to be no longer available. Here's a photo though. (Mine lacks the orange highlights on exterior.)

That is a really good Bag . If I saw one of those in a shop for a reasonable price I would buy it.

Will not fall over easily , plenty of different sections . Really good .

 

I can move on to another complaint I have with current bag design. Because I usually have a few kg a of stuff to cart around , what with I pad , drawing and painting sketch pads, paints and a plethora of bits and pieces , the bag gets heavyish , so I want to take the load off my hands , so need some form of bodily fixing ( say a shoulder or back.

 

The shoulder straps always slip off after a few paces. If I want to secure it by putting the strap over my head , this is ab awkward manuver . Worse, when I then want to reach into my bag or look at something , it becomes an impossible situation and contortions provoke, removing over the head and back again . A new design is long over dew for fixing a bag to the body . .

 

I have just overcome the seeing inside the bag by buying a led light for 90 p. But this is very crude , and currently loose the miniature light in the bag and need another light to find that light . Again a new design is possible but required

 

Mike.

[DrKrettin]

I have a kind of handbag/shoulderbag for all my crap, and it has an extremely irritating property. I arrive home, weary, dump my bag on a flat surface, and it immediately falls over. If the surface is a chair, the contents usually scatter on the floor. The odd thing is that it never falls towards the back of the chair, which would not matter. No matter how I place the bag, it always falls forwards, even when the surface is exactly level. A clear demonstration of Sod's Law.

 

And yes, the inside is always black, the car key fob, the last thing I put in it, is also black, and always the last object I can retrieve, and the black memory stick which I know with total certainty is in there, stubbornly refuses to emerge even when I empty everything else out in a heap.

[zapatos]

I can move on to another complaint I have with current bag design. Because I usually have a few kg a of stuff to cart around , what with I pad , drawing and painting sketch pads, paints and a plethora of bits and pieces , the bag gets heavyish , so I want to take the load off my hands , so need some form of bodily fixing ( say a shoulder or back.

 

The shoulder straps always slip off after a few paces. If I want to secure it by putting the strap over my head , this is ab awkward manuver . Worse, when I then want to reach into my bag or look at something , it becomes an impossible situation and contortions provoke, removing over the head and back again . A new design is long over dew for fixing a bag to the body . .

 

 

Mike.

Try looking into sling packs. The strap goes over your head but you can easily move the storage compartment from the back of your body, where carrying is easy, to the front of your body, where access is easy.

[Endy0816]

Adding chest straps and a hip belt might work for modifying an existing pack. Have to say a Sling pack does look like it'd be easier for daily use.

 

Got me wondering if you could create a self balancing pack or maybe one that can assume a rigid shape.

[Acme]

That is a really good Bag . If I saw one of those in a shop for a reasonable price I would buy it.

Will not fall over easily , plenty of different sections . Really good .

I paid $30US.

 

I can move on to another complaint I have with current bag design. Because I usually have a few kg a of stuff to cart around , what with I pad , drawing and painting sketch pads, paints and a plethora of bits and pieces , the bag gets heavyish , so I want to take the load off my hands , so need some form of bodily fixing ( say a shoulder or back.

The shoulder straps always slip off after a few paces.

The 'molded shoulder strap' I referred to with my bag is padded & wider than the rest of the strap and spreads the load nicely. It also alleviates the 'slip off' by virtue of its curve.

 

If I want to secure it by putting the strap over my head , this is ab awkward manuver . Worse, when I then want to reach into my bag or look at something , it becomes an impossible situation and contortions provoke, removing over the head and back again . A new design is long over dew for fixing a bag to the body .

My bag easily swings from my back to my side or front with ease and I can access all compartments without taking it off my shoulder.

 

I have just overcome the seeing inside the bag by buying a led light for 90 p. But this is very crude , and currently loose the miniature light in the bag and need another light to find that light . Again a new design is possible but required

 

Mike.

The many pockets on my bag let me sort into categories and sizes which is great for not loosing track of things. Since I know what I have along and where I put it, I can usually find what I am after by feel/touch alone. Besides the extra pockets visible in the pic I put up, there is a zippered pocket under the flap, zippered mesh pockets at either end of the main interior, and it came with a velcroed interior divider that I can custom position for my load. Also, under the top flap there is a zippered fly that entirely closes the interior.

 

While the company apparently isn't making this model anymore, it is available on E-bay for $40US. >> Allen fishing gear bag

 

PS Besides carrying the bag, I wear a lightweight fisher/sports vest in which I carry smaller items such as a field notebook, pencil, eyeglasses, plastic collection bags, compass, matches, lighter, loupe, TP, bandaids, flagging tape, and 7X35 binoculars. Ohhh I cut a handsome figure!

Edited June 14, 2017 by Acme

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

I paid $30US. The 'molded shoulder strap' I referred to with my bag is padded & wider than the rest of the strap and spreads the load nicely. It also alleviates the 'slip off' by virtue of its curve. My bag easily swings from my back to my side or front with ease and I can access all compartments without taking it off my shoulder. The many pockets on my bag let me sort into categories and sizes which is great for not loosing track of things. Since I know what I have along and where I put it, I can usually find what I am after by feel/touch alone. Besides the extra pockets visible in the pic I put up, there is a zippered pocket under the flap, zippered mesh pockets at either end of the main interior, and it came with a velcroed interior divider that I can custom position for my load. Also, under the top flap there is a zippered fly that entirely closes the interior.While the company apparently isn't making this model anymore, it is available on E-bay for $40US. >> Allen fishing gear bagPS Besides carrying the bag, I wear a lightweight fisher/sports vest in which I carry smaller items such as a field notebook, pencil, eyeglasses, plastic collection bags, compass, matches, lighter, loupe, TP, bandaids, flagging tape, and 7X35 binoculars. Ohhh I cut a handsome figure!

Sold to the man with the Jack Russel ............who supplies me with good companionship on a walk every day, peppered with a little ' grief' each time , like sight of a , Cat, Postman, wild rabbit , or other moving ' things'

 

Well I will try and track one down . Thanks for the tips .

 

Mike

Edited June 15, 2017 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[John Cuthber]

If you make a bag that's narrower than its height it will fall over easily.
If you make one that's wider then its height it will be stable.

However, imagine making a bag by fixing a handle to the middle of the top of a pizza box.

 

If you think it's a workable idea- try it.

 

Then get some sort of rucksack.

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

If you make a bag that's narrower than its height it will fall over easily.

If you make one that's wider then its height it will be stable.

However, imagine making a bag by fixing a handle to the middle of the top of a pizza box.

 

If you think it's a workable idea- try it.

 

Then get some sort of rucksack.

.

 

Yes, the handle in the middle of the bag's top flap, does have a serious set of consequences as described by Dr Crettin above. Once the flap is open , the bag becomes grossly off centre, tips over to one side, some contents easily fall out , which makes it often more off centre, more contents fall out . Then the bag and its content occupy a disproportionate area of the floor space than was ever intended. Then one throws the bag down in despair , and one goes muttering off into the distance saying

 

" why does not somebody invent a sensible bag ,that doesn't become annoying once you put it down ? Once you put it on , once you try and look in it when you are wearing it , and once you try and get it off "

 

Ps

 

The rucksack idea is ok ,if you are going hiking or can afford the time and agony of going through bodily contortions for 5 minutes , ( every time you put the bag on or off.)

 

But if you just want to grab your bag , go to the car , throw it on the back seat without its contents going to the four winds , and from then on, you spend 10 minutes looking for your :-

 

' I phone' ,that has slipped out under the car seat that is unbelievably aukward to see underneath. By this time you have gone past the point of no return , and think about joining a monastery and giving up all worldly goods !

 

Mike

 

Ps 10 minutes ago my wife said to me " look under that kitchen table " at my art bags and shoulder day bag . " You need to do something about that , that is quite rediculous " to which I replied " quite so " !

 

Edited June 15, 2017 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Here is a real life experience with the " Bag Nightmare /frustration " .

 

I just said to my wife , I was off to Exeter to see the W.H. Smith store , to see if they could locate a very recent copy of New Scientist . of the article on

 

THE HIGGS BANG . Sounded interesting when I read the future coming article . However I think I have missed the issue of " the new scientist " that was to have it in. However my wife interjected , as I was putting on my black sholder bag , " what about the morning walk for the dog " Ah yes , well ok, I will take her down the park ( dog , not wife ) . 1 hour later I return in my little smart car , parked outside the house , reached to the passenger seat for my shoulder bag that I had thrown onto the seat . I had already removed my ignition key ( part of a bundle of keys ) .

 

The bag would not come up . I looked down and the strap had become intertwined with the hand brake . I put my right hand down ( which had my cluster of keys in ) and as I fought to untangle the strap of my bag from the hand brake , the keys made that distinctive sound of falling metalwork as they decended into that dreaded cavern between the front seats , handbrake and central carpeted drive shaft . By this time I was trying to get the dog out of the car , avoid passing cars , kneel down to try and grope my way blind under the front seat. All because my sholder bag has a continuous sholder strap , now caught up , immovable in a mixture of keys , handbrake , metal seat runners , and the odd sweet paper, dog, keys, bag , ............I give up .....

 

 

All I wanted

 

was to sit in the beautiful flower garden , beneath blue skys , and read about " The Higgs Bang "

 

Mike

Edited June 15, 2017 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[Endy0816]

There's between the seat pockets you can buy or easily diy. Foam with a slit works pretty well.

[Phi for All]

Retrofit DIY idea for any bag: a small LED puck light (battery operated, push the center to turn it on), slipped inside a clear packing list envelope to hold it in place, stuck to the interior of your deep bag. Run your hand around the edges to find it, then push to light it up.

[swansont]

Remedy is to think outside the bag. To whit, I was using a bag similar to those pictured on my field tramps and while I liked the close contour as alluded to by Phi, I disliked the falling over as you mention. Not only would the fall let things out, it put the bag in the dirt and often wet ground and foliage. Not what I want for camera gear and notebooks. Anyway, I stumbled on what I need at the hardware store in the fishing section. A fishing gear bag! Stays upright, waterproof bottom, and bright yellow interior. Also, a molded shoulder strap that cut the bite of a straight strap. I get around the cut-out problem Phi mentions by swinging the bag to my back and have no problem negotiating snagging brush and limbs.

 

Mine was by a company called Allen, but this particular model appears to be no longer available. Here's a photo though. (Mine lacks the orange highlights on exterior.)

 

 

 

A camera bag might also fit this description (and you even mention a camera), though they tend to a little less body-conforming and more rigid, to protect the gear.

Retrofit DIY idea for any bag: a small LED puck light (battery operated, push the center to turn it on), slipped inside a clear packing list envelope to hold it in place, stuck to the interior of your deep bag. Run your hand around the edges to find it, then push to light it up.

 

I have a Lil' Larry utility flashlight in my bag that could be used for this. It has a clip so it can hang from a pocket. But just having a flashlight is handy enough, because my bag has separate compartments and I'm not going to put a light into each of them.

[CharonY]

I had a solar bag with some integrated LEDs in the main compartment at one point, but it was rather cheaply made. But aside from camera bags I have seen quite a few free-standing messenger bags (often sold as tech messenger bags) that could fit the bill. I like them a bit squishy so that I can put them under the seat in planes more easily.

[Phi for All]

I have a Lil' Larry utility flashlight in my bag that could be used for this. It has a clip so it can hang from a pocket. But just having a flashlight is handy enough, because my bag has separate compartments and I'm not going to put a light into each of them.

 

I do it this way too, with a Vizeri mini in a holster clipped to a pocket. I'm a feel & grab guy myself, with lots of pockets inside, and very little rolling around loose. But it sounded like folks wanted a lit-up bag and didn't have a flashlight (gasp!) as part of their walk-around gear. I suspect such folks don't have a tape measure or bandaids on them at all times either.

[swansont]

 

I do it this way too, with a Vizeri mini in a holster clipped to a pocket. I'm a feel & grab guy myself, with lots of pockets inside, and very little rolling around loose. But it sounded like folks wanted a lit-up bag and didn't have a flashlight (gasp!) as part of their walk-around gear. I suspect such folks don't have a tape measure or bandaids on them at all times either.

 

 

Until recent LEDs came around, a flashlight literally and figuratively wasn't in the bag. But now they're bright and don't take much juice. There are LED strips one could mount, too. But you would have to recharge the bag every now and then. If someone is going to do that, I'd want a USB port on the battery to be able to recharge my phone, or run the lights off of a phone recharger.

[StringJunky]

 

 

Until recent LEDs came around, a flashlight literally and figuratively wasn't in the bag. But now they're bright and don't take much juice. There are LED strips one could mount, too. But you would have to recharge the bag every now and then. If someone is going to do that, I'd want a USB port on the battery to be able to recharge my phone, or run the lights off of a phone recharger.

You could have solar panel patch sewn on the outside of the bag to charge the battery that powers the LED strip

[DrKrettin]

Actually, I have found the solution. You have an enormous number of small coins in the bottom of the bag: members of the eurozone will know that 1 and 2 cent qualify because they are totally useless and accumulate remorselessly. You can't get rid of them because the banks never have the blisters in stock for you to hand them in. Keep them in the bag, and the centre of gravity of the bag is so low it will never topple over. It's also too heavy to move, but you can't have everything.

[Phi for All]

Smartphones help so much with carrying less these days, but I rarely put mine in my bag. That's tempting fate too much, and reminds me of losing Daytimers back in the day.

 

I wonder if there are some universal items we all tend to carry in our bags besides pens? I like having a flashlight when I'm out for the day (because dark happens a lot during daylight), and I usually have some kind of small multi-tool in my bag (blade/plier/clipper/stripper/screwdrivers). 12' tape measure. Always a legal pad. A couple of carabiners, rubber bands, clips, twist ties (I'm fastenated). Breath mints.

 

The rest of the bag varies depending if I'm in the city (laptop) or the country (usually lunch). I do carry bandaids, but in my wallet (old dad habit).

It's also too heavy to move, but you can't have everything.

 

Funny because it's true.

[swansont]

You could have solar panel patch sewn on the outside of the bag to charge the battery that powers the LED strip

 

 

Not sure that has enough "oomph" to pull the double-duty I had in mind. I have a solar-recharged battery pack and it took a few afternoons of sunny days to recharge after it's charged up my phone. How much time would a bag like that be outdoors?

Smartphones help so much with carrying less these days, but I rarely put mine in my bag. That's tempting fate too much, and reminds me of losing Daytimers back in the day.

 

I wonder if there are some universal items we all tend to carry in our bags besides pens? I like having a flashlight when I'm out for the day (because dark happens a lot during daylight), and I usually have some kind of small multi-tool in my bag (blade/plier/clipper/stripper/screwdrivers). 12' tape measure. Always a legal pad. A couple of carabiners, rubber bands, clips, twist ties (I'm fastenated). Breath mints.

 

I carry my meds (prescription and OTC) in mine, along with various cables and spare batteries. Sometimes my iPad and/or laptop. Rarely anything that wouldn't make it through a TSA checkpoint.

[MigL]

What're you guys, going camping ?

Why do you need so much gear when you leave the house ?

( I've heard about you Europeans and your man-purses )