Michael Livingston's Blog, page 2

Origins of the Wheel of Time – Out now!

I truly never thought I’d have written a book connected to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. And yet, as many of you know, magic is most definitely real. I’ve written it, and it’s now out and available wherever books are sold. If you’re into WoT, as we say, you might want to pick up a copy.

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For posterity, here’s a few articles I wrote about various things related to the book:

Announcing Origins of The Wheel of TimeA New Map for The Wheel of TimeWorking with Robert Jordan’s PapersPromises and The Wheel of TimeOn Finishing Origins of the The Wheel of Time

Since there wasn’t a chance to do a book-tour, I’ve been trying to make as many appearances as I can on fan podcasts and such. I’ve no doubt forgotten some — things have been a little crazy over the past 10 days — but here’s a list of related appearances so far (in no particular order):

KritterXD: Origins Lecture at The CitadelMalkier Talks: Origins Booksigning TalkMalkier Talks: Origins Booksigning InterviewBarside Chats: InterviewLegendarium: InterviewUnraveling the Pattern: InterviewWoT Up! InterviewDragonmount: InterviewLorehound: InterviewThree Fold Talk: InterviewDusty Wheel: Interview

A huge thank you to all of these great interviewers! Everyone has been amazing!

2022 One-Bag Gear Packing Post

I’m a firm believer in One Bag Travel. No matter where I’m traveling — or how long I’ll be there — I take just one bag. And it’s a carry-on. 

Crazy? Maybe.

Cheaper and easier and less stressful? You bet. 

In answer to the inevitable questions about how I manage to pull this off, I occasionally make a list of what I carry and why. (You can compare this list to my 2019, 2017, and 2015 kits, if you like.) 

Since I’m currently packing for a month in Europe, I figured it was a good time to do an update. 

First, some basic pointers:

Don’t over-pack . This is obvious, so perhaps a more productive way of putting it is this: don’t pack for just-in-case. That worst-case scenario of a blizzard in June isn’t likely to happen. Neither will that ideal-case scenario where you unexpectedly have to meet the queen. So don’t bring things for either occasion.  Use a travel backpack . We are living in the golden age of great backpacks that are sized Just Right to fit the stringent restrictions of airlines. You want one of these. I give my recommendations below. Nothing does one thing . Ok, this won’t be true. Your toothbrush should probably be used just for your teeth. But do think about ways to crunch down your kit by finding one item to do the work of two, three, maybe even more items.  Watch for sales . You’re going to save money not checking bags, but there’s no mistake that some of the gear I’m recommending is expensive. I’m just a firm believer in getting the single right thing that lasts rather than cycling through multiple cheap wrong things. But, even so, I watch certain manufacturers like a hawk, ready to pounce on a sale.

Seriously, don’t over-pack. 

You’ll see I’ve added purchasing links where applicable. If you use the Amazon ones to make a purchase, you’ll help support me and this site. 

I should also note that a handful of the items featured here were sent to me by manufacturers who wanted me to review their goods, but I have only agreed to receive such things if there are no strings attached. In other words, how I got an item is entirely irrelevant when it comes to this post. This is simply and truthfully what I am taking with me to Europe.

Travel Kit 2022The Travel Backpack

I love a good travel bag, and I’ve used and tested quite a few. At present, I use either a new Knack Series 2 Medium (reviewed here) or, when I need more room a tried-and-true Minaal Carry-on 1.0 (bought in 2014 and still kicking!). If I was buying a new bag right now? I need to test them to know which, but odds are I’d go with one of these options:

Knack Series 2 Large . Minaal Carry-on 3.0 . Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L .

I know. They’re all hovering around $300. But for me I’m looking for a bag that fits carry-on restrictions, works comfortably as a backpack, helps me organize, lasts through years of international travel abuse, and doesn’t make me look like a hiker.

On that last note, I’ll just say that more than once I’ve had to take my bag with me to a professional suit-and-tie setting, and being able to stow those straps away and carry a sleek bag briefcase style is where it’s at.

Packing Cubes

Packing cubes mean more organization, which equates to less stress during travel. They also make it easier to fit more stuff in your bag. And while I know you’re not going to overpack, you’ll still need to be optimizing all the space you’ve got. In fact, I highly recommend getting packing cubes that have a compression feature. 

Most travel bag makers have packing cubes to perfectly match their bags, which is super nice. When Knack sent me their bag to review they sent along a set of their compression cubes, and I found them to be awesome. If I pick up that Peak Design bag I mentioned above, odds are good that I’ll grab their compression cubes to compare them.

That said, packing cubes aren’t exactly high-technology. It’s not at all necessary to match to your bag. If you can find a deal on knock-off or close-out cubes, odds are you’ll be just fine. (Again, though, try to find compression ones.)

Clothing 

Clothes is where most folks over-pack. My clothes are all travel-friendly, ready to be layered to match temperatures, and colored to mix and match in whatever fashion. Here’s a fairly standard load-out:

Underwear: 6 pairs. Socks: 6 pairsShirts: 3, at least one of which is a long-sleeved button-up.Shorts: 1 pair, which is quick-dry, swim-ready material. Pants: 2 pair, one of which is jeans, worn on the plane.

Conditions and destination will obviously shift things around. If I need a suit, I pack a Bluffworks Presidio Travel Blazer, which doesn’t look at all like it’s travel-friendly but very definitely is. If I’m going to the tropics, I’m ditching those jeans in favor of some linen pants. If I’m going some place cold, I swap out the shorts for thermal base layers (though I’ll check to make sure there’s not a chance of hot-tubbing first!).

What do I mean by “travel-friendly” clothing? Wrinkle-resistant. Breathable. Quick-dry. Machine washable. These days a lot of manufacturers make this kind of clothing, but you’ll definitely see a lot of Columbia, Eddie Bauer, and Orvis among my shirts and pants. I love bamboo (Ecosox) or merino (Smartwool) socks.

As you might expect from those brand names, you may have to poke around a bit to find the shirt that doesn’t look like you’re headed for the woods: there’s a sizable overlap between travel-friendly gear and outdoor-friendly gear. The way I think about it, I’m picking clothes that, yeah, I could go hiking and fly-fishing in, but I’m aiming for the stuff that looks just as at home under my blazer in an office. I’d rather look a bit over-dressed for a hike than under-dressed for a meeting!

Now, obviously, if I’m packing this light I must do laundry on the road. Sometimes that means a laundromat (or, maybe, a washing machine at an AirBnB), but a lot of times it means doing laundry in my hotel room. For that we’ll need:

Drain stopper. A simple drain stopper takes up no room, weighs nothing, but is needed more often than you think because the place you’re staying is missing theirs. Laundry soap. Either get travel packets or fill up a travel tube with your soap of choice. Clothesline. Whether you do laundry in your room or just get soaked in the rain, it’s nice to be able to hang things up to dry. Enter a clothesline that’s small and packable. Wash Bag. For years I did all my travel laundry by hand in a sink, but having used a Scrubba Wash Bag I don’t think I’ll ever go back. It doesn’t take up a lot of room and makes laundry much faster and easier. Shoes

Lots of one-baggers travel with only one pair of shoes, but I personally like having a change of pace available.

Here’s what I’m looking for in a basic travel shoe: waterproof, breathable, comfortable, dependable, short-hike-ready, and looks good with a suit. I want to wear the same shoes whether I’m walking in the rain through fields in search of battlefields or lecturing in front of an audience about what I’ve found.

There aren’t a lot of shoes that fit this bill. Shoes are very definitely the Number One thing that I’m always looking to improve upon, as I haven’t found the perfect ideal yet.

My most frequent main pair are Thursday Boots Captains, which I’ve treated for water-resistance. But shoes are very much destination-dependent. On a recent trip I was hiking the rough mountains of Greece, so I opted for an actual hiking boot: Salomon Quest 4D GTX Forces 2, which are really amazing right out of the box. If I’m paddling the length of the Grand Canyon, I’m doing it in Bedrock Cairn 3D Pro II sandals, which are comfortable beasts.

My secondary pair vacillates depending on my destination, but it’s very often some “barefoot” sandals or shoes from Xeroshoes or Vivobarefoot — something that packs so flat you can forget it’s there.

Jackets

A good jacket can be worth its weight in gold: like with shoes, you want something multi-functional that can flex to fit the weather and plans.

In the past I’ve run with either an Eddie Bauer convertible blazer or a much-loved SCOTTeVEST fleece that’s no longer made. For the present trip I’m testing out a brand-new SCOTTeVEST Tropiformer 3D, which looks terrific: clean and professional, with lots of pockets, great breathability, the ability to convert to a vest, and some basic water-resistance.

Note, though, that water-resistant isn’t water-proof. If you know you’re headed into some serious weather, you’ll want a packable water-proof rain jacket, like the Eddie Bauer Rainfoil.

If it’s going to be cold where I’m going, I’ll also toss in a packable puffy — like the Uniqlo Ultralight Down Parka — to layer underneath my outer shell.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that the perfect travel jacket exists yet. But companies like SCOTTeVEST are definitely getting close! (And, hey, I have very clear design ideas it anyone wants them!)

Hat

You’ll want a trusty hat. Something that’s comfy but packs light and small. Your hat should be something you can pull out of your pack, not something big you have to pack, if you know what I mean.

I have a few options, and it can be a last-minute decision which I’ll take on a trip: a “cabbie” cap that I picked up at a market in England, a wool beanie, a beloved Tilley TMH55, or a Gadiemkensd packable baseball cap, which is what I’m taking this trip.

Toiletries 

Here again, folks will over-pack with the kitchen sink. But remember our rule of One Bag Travel to avoid “just in case.” What we need is “just enough.”

As an example: you don’t need a week’s worth of medications “just in case” you get sick. What you need is “just enough” medications to go get the medications you need if you get sick. What constitutes “just enough” depends on your destination, but odds are good that 99% of the traveling you’ve ever done was within 1 hour of a pharmacy. So stop carrying a pharmacy with you! 

What you need will depend on you, but a couple useful things I’ve found over the years are travel toothbrushes, Ecodent powdered toothpaste, and compact nail clippers, which were a gift.

Tech and Gadgets 

Phone/Tablet. I haven’t carried a laptop in years. I use an iPhone 12 Pro and an iPad Pro 11 with a Magic Keyboard. To make the iPhone even more flexible, I use a Moment Phone Case, which allows me to mount Moment M-Series Lenses, which are small but awesome. I have an 18mm wide lens and a 58mm tele lens. For what it’s worth, I use T-Mobile, which is fantastic for traveling.

Headphones. I carry two sets. One are my AirPods Pro. I love them for their noise-reduction capabilities, and I’ve upgraded them with skins and memory foam tips to make them more comfy and secure. But I also carry old-fashioned wired earbuds as a back-up in case the AirPods run out of juice. (This does break my “just in case” rule, but they’re super small.)

Plug Adapter. There are many adapters on the market, and most are those clunky “brick” things that adapt to international outlets but also convert the stronger 220/240 voltage overseas to the 110 voltage we’re used to in the USA. Thing is, most modern devices are built to handle dual voltage out of the box, rendering that conversion unnecessary (obviously check these things on your devices, folks!). If that’s the case, all you need is the plug adapter, not the big brick. This is why I use a super-flat one, which is ridiculously small and brilliant. 

Charger. Because I have only one plug adapter, I use a dual-voltage, dual-port USB charging block to split my one outlet into two lines. One line goes to a durable lightning cable for my iPad (or for anything else I need to charge on the go). The other line goes to a travel Qi charging pad that can charge my iPhone, AirPods Pro, and Apple Watch. I carry a small set of adapters for headphone jacks and USB plugs.

Spare Battery. Modern smartphones have amazing battery life. But, hey, sometimes you burn through it. I carry an Anker extra battery.

Headlamp. I know your phone can serve as a flashlight. But it also goes dead quick and needs a hand to use. A wee LED headlamp has neither of these problems. I carry a Petzl e+lite.

Carabiner. I’ve long carried an extra carabiner with me, and it’s saved my butt on a number of occasions: from hanging my bag to hanging laundry. These days, I’ve leveled up to the Heroclip, which is a compact carabiner and awesome hanger all in one. 

Spork. If you grab something to eat but didn’t get the accompanying eating utensils … a simple spork saves you from looking too much like a savage. 

Water bottle. Stay hydrated and save the environment by using a refillable bottle. If I think the water will be sketchy, I’ll take a Grayl UltraPress. 

Whistle. Always carry an emergency whistle. It takes no space but could save your life.

Crécy: Battle of Five Kings

My latest book, Crécy: Battle of Five Kings, is now available wherever fine books are sold.

[image error]Available now!

When I first visited the supposed site of the Battle of Crécy in the summer of 2013, I had no way of knowing how much of the subsequent decade would be spent researching, writing, and talking about the event. While it was hardly the only project I was engaged in throughout these years — there were books on Brunanburh and Hastings and much else, besides — there’s no question that Edward III’s extraordinary victory was the event that drew me back again and again.

All that time, all that effort, culminates in this new book.

I’m very proud of it, and I hope others enjoy reading it as much as I have loved writing it.

Pre-Order: Origins of The Wheel of Time

I’ve been even busier than usual lately. Today, I can finally say why:

[image error] Pre-order me!

In one sense, I’ve been engaged with various parts of this work since the first book came out. I’m certainly not alone in wondering how Robert Jordan was building his world, after all. But it’s undeniable that the more I learned about history and mythology the deeper I could see into The Wheel of Time.

I didn’t ever think it would lead to this, though: full access to the treasure trove of materials Jordan left behind, resulting in an authorized companion to the internationally best-selling series, with a forward by the legendary Harriet McDougal herself.

It’s unreal. It’s … well, as I say in the letter below, which was shared with the book announcement, it’s magical.

A Letter to Readers from the Author, Michael Livingston

I’m a scholar, an investigator, a historian. I’m a man who weighs facts, examines evidence, and uncovers truth. I’m sensible. I’m responsible.

And I’m here to tell you that magic is real.

Let me prove it to you.

I was fifteen when I pedaled my bike—a black huffy with dirt tires—across a dusty Albuquerque prairie to reach my local bookshop. I had allowance and birthday money to spend, and a thirst that could only be quenched with a new book. I parked the bike, locked it up, and then perused the shelves for what seemed like hours. The store had these big comfy chairs, I remember—blue and welcoming—and whenever I found a potential new book I’d sit down with it and take the first chapter or two for a quick spin.

I was into fantasy back then—the kind of magic that a fifteen-year-old on a beaten-up bike wanted to believe in as he pedaled his way here and there under the hot sun, ever watchful for scorpions and snakes. The kind of magic that isn’t real, of course.

I found such a fantasy on the new release shelves. A big and fat one. The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan. I picked it up. I liked the nifty cover it had on the outside and the cool map it had on the inside. I thought it had the hum of Tolkien.

So I sat down in one of those stuffed blue chairs and started to read.

In pages I was hooked. I spent every dime of the little coin I had and claimed my prize as my own. I tucked it into my backpack and pedaled home faster than I’d ever done before.

Not because of the snakes or the scorpions. Because of the magic.

That magic stayed with me long after I devoured that first book. Every year I saved up to buy the latest volume in The Wheel of Time as soon as I could. I became—I am—one of its many millions of fans.

I read the books on the bus to high school. I read them in college and in graduate school, where I earned a PhD and became a specialist on the Middle Ages.

I became—I am—a serious academic. If I should read the chronicler Adam of Usk claiming there was a dragon haunting northern England 600 years ago, I will find a natural phenomenon to explain it. Because despite my love of fantasy literature—from Homer to Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, from Tolkien to Jordan and Nemisin—I know magic isn’t real.

And yet…

After I graduated, I was asked to interview for a professorship at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. The only thing I really knew about the place came from a single notice on the back of every book of The Wheel of Time in my library: Robert Jordan was a graduate of The Citadel.

I interviewed. I got the job. I moved to Charleston, and every day I walked past the iconic white tower on our campus. Every day, more and more, I wondered if that meant something.

A coincidence, of course. Magic isn’t real.

And yet…

In the fall of 2006, I was talking to The Citadel’s other Big Name literary alumnus, Pat Conroy, about starting student writing awards to honor him and James O. Rigney, Jr—the man the world knew as Robert Jordan. Pat suggested he could write Jim to help introduce me. Before I knew it I was exchanging emails with the man who’d given me The Wheel of Time.

I mentioned to Jim I was a fan. I told him at one point that I hoped to publish fiction myself one day, and that I planned to do it with Tor for no other reason than the fact that they’d given people like me his Wheel of Time. He said he looked forward to my success: “You have my best wishes on your rise (soon) to bestsellerdom,” he wrote me in early January 2007.

A few months later, he came to the first ceremony to bestow the student award named in his honor. He was already very ill, but he nevertheless cut a dashing figure with his lovely wife and legendary editor Harriet by his side. My script had me call out thanks to the English Department for their support. From the first row, Jim grumbled that he’d been an engineering graduate. It was awesome.

We shook hands. I thanked him for helping change my life. He was charming and kind and unforgettable.

The summer passed.

On September 16, I was making photocopies for my class on Norse mythology when I heard that he’d died.

For a moment it felt as if the magic in the world had died, too.

And yet…

Not long afterwards, the chair of my department called me into his office and told me that Jim had been elected into the South Carolina Academy of Authors. I was asked to give a speech at the ceremony, which would be held at The Citadel.

The event came in March. Harriet was in the front row and I couldn’t look at her as I talked. I was too afraid to cry.

But I got through. I sat down. A bit later, Harriet stood up to accept the award for her beloved Jim. She was gracious—by the Light, far more gracious than I could ever be—and then she publicly asked me if I’d come take part in a panel with her and Brandon Sanderson, who’d just been tapped to finish The Wheel of Time.

It might’ve felt like magic—in that moment I thought I could fly—but magic isn’t real.

Later, after that panel, I went to dinner with Harriet and Brandon and Team Jordan. They asked me if I wanted to come and tour Jim’s office sometime.

His writing desk was there when I visited: a beautiful old roll-top, where he’d spent countless hours building a world. So was his library and his armory and so much else that he used in the effort. At one point I looked up to see a saber-toothed tiger skull staring down at me and realized I was literally standing in the middle of the Tanchico Museum.

But, I forcibly reminded myself, magic isn’t real.

Not long after that I was invited down again. The Estate was going to auction off many of the weapons in his armory to raise money for medical research. They wanted me to pick one first, and they left me alone in his office to decide.

I remember staring at his desk, wanting to sit down but too afraid to do so. I felt a sudden impulse to turn around, and when I did I found my hands reaching past far nicer looking pieces to pick up an otherwise unremarkable katana leaning against the wall. I don’t know why. When I unsheathed it, I saw that it had a dragon etched into its sweeping blade.

I keep the sword in my campus office, and it was there, in later years, that one of my veteran students saw it. Turns out, he’d been deployed in Iraq when his father-in-law, an antiques dealer, had sold that very blade to Jim. He had pictures of the event.

Magic isn’t—

I wrote The Shards of Heaven, a trilogy of historical fantasy novels, and achieved that life-long dream when Tor published them. And though they hardly achieved bestsellerdom, just seeing the books come out was more than I ever thought possible. It felt like a promise fulfilled, like the result of some secret wind pushing at my back.

I continued to give talks on Jim’s literary impact over the years. Out of love. Out of a feeling of gratitude. Not long ago, I was invited to a get-together with Team Jordan, and out of the blue Harriet stunned me by gifting me that saber-toothed tiger skull I’d seen in Jim’s office on that first visit.

Magic is—

Over this past summer, the administration here at The Citadel wrote me with the news that Harriet had donated Jim’s roll-top desk to the school. She’d asked only that it be used and not simply set in a corner.

Days after my eager agreement to have that desk moved into my office—the one where he wrote those books, the one I’d been too afraid to sit at before—Tor offered me a contract to write a book about the real world in the Wheel of Time.

Somehow, that kid who pedaled home through the New Mexican dirt with The Eye of the World in his backpack would write his own book about The Wheel of Time… at Jim’s own desk, beneath his dragon-marked sword and his tiger skull, looking out at a white tower amid peaceful trees in a city between two rivers.

Magic—

Is real.

It might’ve taken a bit for me to get the hint, Jim, but I don’t think I can deny it any longer. So thank you. For this. For everything. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make Origins of The Wheel of Time worthy of the Light of your memory.

The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.

I pray it weaves through me.

–Michael Livingston
The Citadel

Pre-Order: Crécy: Battle of Five Kings

I am thrilled to welcome pre-orders for Crécy: Battle of Five Kings!

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For years I’ve been thinking about this massive and important battle, trying to determine what happened on the fields of northern France in 1346 … and where those fields even were! Working on such questions, Kelly DeVries and I co-edited The Battle of Crécy: A Casebook, which won a Distinguished Book Award from the Society for Military History in 2017. I’m tremendously proud of what we managed to accomplish.

But that doesn’t mean our work of understanding Crécy ever ended.

History is a pursuit, not a prize.

Today, in 2022, I understand far more about 1346 than I did five years ago, and Crécy: Battle of Five Kings is the result: a compelling narrative, backed by cutting-edge scholarship, revealing what we know and how we know it.

It’s really awesome and it’s coming this summer.

Here’s the word on the street:

A remarkable piece of detective work … like Crécy itself, this book is a triumph, and the tale it tells gives an old story new life.

Bernard Cornwell, Bestselling author of The Last Kingdom

Original, insightful and revelatory — Michael Livingston has once again transformed the way we think about one of the great battles of the Middle Ages. An indispensable guide for anyone interested in Crécy and the Hundred Years War.

Dan Jones, Bestselling author of The Plantagenets and Powers & Thrones

There are master conflict analysts. There are master storytellers. There are master historians. Only once in a lifetime do you find all three skills at the highest level in a single person. Crécy: Battle of Five Kings is what you get when that person writes a book.

Myke Cole, author of Legion Versus Phalanx and The Bronze Lie

Seriously, if you love history — especially if you love the kind of history I wrote in Never Greater Slaughter — I’m pretty sure you’re going to love this book.

Available for pre-order now, wherever fine books are sold!

Project Updates: September 21

I haven’t done that much blogging on the blog here. You can blame Twitter, which allows me to pump my news in bite-sized candies rather than full-sized bars. You can also blame the fact that I’ve been pretty busy.

How busy?

Well, in an effort to try to keep things up-to-date hereabouts, at least in terms of books, I give you the Ghosts of my Projects Past, Present, and Future!

Projects Past

I’ve had three books come out this year, with a fourth about to drop:

Iceborn (Audible), the sequel to my fantasy Seaborn , arrives on 30 September.

As for Seaborn itself, fans will be pleased to hear it’s being prepped for an ebook release, as well as a print-on-demand version. So happy to see this happening!

The other three books that have already hit the shelves are:

1066: A Guide to the Battles and the Campaigns (with Kelly DeVries) (Pen and Sword). Never Greater Slaughter: Brunanburh and the Birth of England (Osprey). Of Knyghthode and Bataile (co-edited with Trevor Russell Smith) (Medieval Institute Publications).Projects Present

What comes next? Well, at the moment I’m working on three books more or less simultaneously:

Crécy: The Battle of Five Kings (Osprey): a follow-up to this year’s best-selling popular history book, Never Greater Slaughter. Stormborn (Audible): Book 3 of the Seaborn Cycle. Like the others in this fantasy series, Stormborn will be initially exclusive to Audible.Codename: “Fantasy History Project”: an unannounced book about which I cannot speak but I. Can’t. Believe. It’s. Happening.Projects FutureCodename: “Crécy Sequel History Project”: a follow-up to Crécy that just went under contract. Should be announced soon.Codename: “Time Novel Project”: a genre-bending alternate history novel that I adore.Codename: “Greece History Project”: an amazing popular history book I’m writing with a friend and colleague.

And as always there are lots of articles (mostly academic), talks (also mostly academic), and the ongoing adventures of being the best father and husband I can be.

Speaking of which, back to work so I can get home soon!

Knack Pack Series 2 Medium Bag

The Knack Pack Series 2 is a magnificent, convertible, multi-sized, professional travel pack for One Bag Life. Picture the nicest Swiss-army knife you can imagine: flexible, practical, but damn good looking. This is the luggage version of that knife. It’s the best travel pack I’ve ever enjoyed.

[image error]The Series 2 Medium Knack Pack in repose.

Quick Pros:

Convertible designGreat materialsSleek aestheticTerrific layoutFlexible usageReally, just read on

Quick Cons:

Back-side hanger would be nice.Ummmm… it doesn’t make a good latte?Seriously, I got nothing. This is a damn good bag.

WHY THIS REVIEW

At its core, One Bag Life — the ability to travel pretty much anywhere for pretty much anything with just a single, carry-on bag — requires getting maximal benefit out of minimal goods. Quality multi-purpose tools are the name of the game, and the bag that holds those tools should be viewed as one itself: a One Bag bag needs to be flexible and sensible. 

Last March, I reviewed a travel bag that aims for just that: the Large-size Series 1 Knack Pack (v2) from Knack Bags. Though I loved many of its features — enough to consider it the best thing I’d yet encountered for my One Bag Life — I still had issues with a few aspects of its design. 

Lo and behold, Knack recently released a new version of their Medium-size bag: Knack Pack Series 2. They sent me one to give it a look-see (per my standing policy: no strings attached), and I honestly couldn’t be more pleased. It fixes almost every issue I had with the previous generation’s design. It’s just stunning.

Knack’s Series 2 is a staggering leap forward for One Baggers. 

How staggered am I? I made my first video review comparing to give you a run through of the bag’s features while comparing it to my Series 1.

WHAT IT IS

This is a bag that converts between briefcase and backpack carry modes while also converting between long-haul and short-haul sizes — and looking professional no matter what.

Let me start with some specs and such, comparing this new Medium bag to the old Large one I’ve been using for the past year:

DIMENSIONS

Series 2 Medium:

Size: 19 x 12 x 4.5 / 9”Volume: 24 / 35LWeight: 3lb

Series 1 Large:

Size: 21.5 x 14 x 4.5 / 9.5”Volume: 30 / 46LWeight: 3lb 4oz

I should say that these numbers are a bit deceptive in that the Series 2 design — at least for the way I pack and travel — provides a greater percentage of its volume as usable space. In fact, I’ve been testing whether this Medium pack could replace the Large pack as my go-to One Bag for travel. More on that good news below. 

Materials and Make

Knack’s bags aren’t cheap, because nothing they use is cheap. In a world of shoddy, throw-away workmanship that lasts a trip or two before breaking, Knack is attempting to build products for years of use. I’ve been highly impressed with the build quality on my Series 1 pack, and this Series 2 pack looks even better. When you factor “length of use” into these kinds of buying decisions you quickly find that durable products might be more expensive up front — but over the long haul they’ll almost always be less expensive than multiple cheap replacements. It’s also a huge relief to feel confident that the One Bag you’ve got isn’t going to break mid-trip.

[image error]Even the box it comes in is well built. And as an added bonus it comes packed in a travel laundry bag!

The nylon parts of this new bag are 420 denier (the “Storm Gray” color takes this up to 600 denier), with PU coating for water-resistance. So it’s solid, durable, and weather-ready without weighing a ton. The bottom part of the bag is a thick pleather that looks refined and adds to long-term life, while the handles are foam-padded mesh topped with full-grain napa leather that feels really great in the hand. 

The liner inside is 150 denier, anti-microbial, and stain-resistant: winner, winner, winner. Knack has consistently used a light-colored liner in their packs, which is exactly the right thing to do: traditional black linings make it harder to find things inside a bag. On the Series 1 pack, this liner was a bright white-and-orange. It made me smile every time I opened it, though I admit it might have been a little too much sunshine for some folks. The Series 2 pack has a slightly more subdued white-and-gray that strikes a really terrific balance between professionalism and practicality. Just A+ work.

Hardware is more of the good stuff. Buckles and sliders are Duraflex. Zippers are YKK, water-resistant, reverse coil, and lockable. Because of design changes I’ll get into below, the lockable zippers on the Series 2 make this a far more secure bag than the previous generation, which is a huge improvement to me.

I should note, regarding the locking zippers, that while the bag is designed to take standard TSA-approved travel locks, Knack makes their own such locks. I can’t say for sure — since I don’t have any — but my assumption is they’re great. That’s been my track record from Knack so far, for sure.

On the Outside

SHOULDER STRAPS. Aside from adding a classy touch of leather across the top of the shoulder, there’s not a lot of difference between the new Series 2 straps and the Series 1 straps — and that’s fine. They already had the basics right, after all: ergonomic shape, good foam padding with comfortable mesh backing. I felt that the Large size pack could use load lifters at the shoulder, but the Medium size feels fine without them. 

As on the Series 1, the Series 2 design allows the shoulder straps to be quick released and tucked away for safe-keeping. This is essential on a good travel bag. If you are forced to check your bag — heavens forbid! — you don’t want those straps flopping around into conveyer belts and the like. Two really great changes here, though. 

One, the strap slot can be zippered shut! The Series 1 had a flap that was inexplicably open to the elements. This is so much better now. 

Two, unlike the Series 1, the Series 2 bag has a side handle: so you can also use it in “briefcase mode” once the straps are tucked away. This makes a professional-styled bag more useful for the traveling professional. No more walking into meetings looking like a backpacking nomad … even if you are one!

The only complaint I can manage here is that the bottom corner attachment points for these straps, as they did on the Series 1 bags, detract a bit from the bag’s sleek design when you go into briefcase mode. It’s not a big deal, though. It may be something that no one will notice but me. 

STERNUM STRAP. The Sternum Strap works basically like it did on the Series 1 bags — it’s adjustable and easily removable — but Knack has added a quick-release buckle in the middle of it that makes the whole apparatus less floppy if you have it attached but not in use. I still prefer a strap that clips away like my very first (and very old) Minaal bag has, but this is still a big improvement over Knack’s previous offering.

HIP BELT. There isn’t one here, but I don’t feel its loss on this Medium bag like I did with the Large bag. No big deal. Carry on. (rimshot)

BACK PAD. Knack does a good job here. The back padding is a comfortable EVA memory foam: not too thick and not too thin. The material chosen has a low R-factor — meaning it doesn’t trap heat against your back — and this Medium one even has one more airflow channel than my old Large one. There’s a slot for a trolley handle behind the pad, which is great, and the Series 2 design actually hides a full-width secret zippered pocket inside of that. Winner winner!

HANDLE. Leather up top, mesh underneath, framing just enough firm-but-squishy foam to make the handle grip nicely in the hand without making it stick out and ruin the aesthetic. And, again, there are two of them. Another huge improvement.

The only complaint I can have here — and it was a problem on the Series 1 bags, too — is that the position of the handle on the front is not ideal. For one thing, it means that the weight of the bag isn’t evenly set in the hand, especially if it’s loaded full. Worse, it means that the bag can only be hung up with its face against the wall or door: if you’re wanting to hang the bag to access things you’ll be doing it all blind and backwards. 

The way I think of it is this: picture yourself needing to make a quick-change in a public bathroom. You’ll want to hang your bag up — setting it down in the floor soup is no good — but hanging it by the front-mounted handle means you can’t access the front compartment at all, and to get to the other two main compartments you’ll be reaching around the stiff back of the bag. This makes it harder to get to things, harder to find things, and more likely to drop things in the aforementioned floor soup. Is this a worst-case scenario? Sure. But I’ve been there. Multiple times.

The most elegant solution is to move the handle towards the back of the bag, though it looks to me like that’s not possible given Knack’s wonderful expansion compartment (more on that in a moment). As an alternative, I’d suggest incorporating a simple, unobtrusive hanging loop on the back of the bag. Nothing fancy. Nothing large. Just enough to hang the bag face-out when needed. I’m hoping this is something Knack will incorporate on a Series 2 Large bag down the line (please oh please make one!).

On the Inside

FRONT COMPARTMENT. When I reviewed Knack’s Series 1 Large back, I thought that its biggest weaknesses — outside of the missing side handle — were its front-facing triangle pocket and its bottom compartment. I thought these were ill-designed and inflexible, which are big no-nos to One Bag Life. I am elated, therefore, to say that Knack completely eliminated the bottom compartment for the Series 2 Medium bag, and totally redesigned its former triangle pocket into a sensible front pocket. So much winning.

The Series 2 front compartment now features both a U-zip configuration and a “mobile office” layout that’s flexible and modern. Pens and pencils, chargers and adapters … everything finds a ready home in the various pockets — including a nicely sized monofilament mesh pocket up front. There’s also a fleece-lined pocket for sunglasses and a detachable key leash in here. It’s just great. Plus, the zippers on this compartment are lockable, and Knack’s lining blocks RFID scanners, which means this is a perfectly secure place to carry your passport. Terrific improvements over the Series 1 design.

SIDE (BOTTLE) COMPARTMENT. Knack says this is sized for the popular 17 oz S’well or 24 oz Hydro Flask bottles, as well as their own 20 oz insulated bottle (I don’t own one, but like their locks I assume it’s great given Knack’s quality builds). I’ve tested the pocked with my current go-to bottles: the 24 oz Coleman Autoseal and the Grayl Ultralight Purifier. Both are very tight fits, which makes me wish the compartment had maybe a quarter inch more depth. Maybe I just need to check out Knack’s bottle and see if they can convert me to it.

Anyway, at a design level I really like the way this pocket allows my bottle to be open and ready when I’m hiking … or zipped out of view when I don’t want to look like a hiker. It’s clever, practical, and professional. Just like everything else on this bag!

MAIN COMPARTMENT. In here you’ve got two generously sized monofilament mesh pockets (one zippered, one quick-access), another zippered pocket, and a fleece-lined tablet pocket. And between them all is an open compartment for books, jackets, or whatever you want that isn’t reduced by the bottom compartment that was part of the Series 1 design. And (and!) the U-zip access isn’t hampered by the gussets that were on the older bag. In sum, the Series 2 is flexible and sensible. Sense a theme? 

If you’re planning to go the One Bag Travel route, I’d highly recommend picking up Knack’s Shoe Compression Bag, which allows you to pack an extra pair of shoes into this space along with your toiletries. I’ll go into this more when I do my latest One Bag Gear post. 

LAPTOP COMPARTMENT. This compartment is sized for a 15” (diagonal) laptop to slip in from the side. I don’t carry a laptop, so this is where my iPad lives. The only tweak I’d suggest here (if it’s possible) is the same thing I said about the same compartment on the Series 1: an L-zip or U-zip compartment (rather than a slot-zip) would increase access to this space, which would also increase its flexibility. 

LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT. The best for last! Like the Series 1 bag, the Series 2 bag has a hidden zipper that, once undone, expands its volume with another packing compartment: in this case, it’s 11 liters of clamshell packing fun! This feature, more than any other, is the reason Knack is my go-to bag right now. 

[image error]The pack fully loaded for travel in its expanded form with Knack’s Packing Insert inside.

In the past, despite my dedication to One Bag travel, I’ve had to carry a second bag with me for daily excursions. Hauling a big and bulky bag around the city or countryside isn’t ideal when all you really need it for is a few things that day. But with Knack, the luggage compartment can be zipped away when you don’t need it. This means I can get to my lodgings, empty this luggage compartment, and then convert the bag from a long-haul size to a short-haul size. No longer do I need a second bag!

Even better, Knack has incorporated a compressing panel on one side of this compartment — compression panels are superior than criss-crossing straps — along with a monofilament mesh pocket on the other side. And unlike the Series 1 design, this Series 2 pocket has actual depth, making it far more usable for packing. Combined, these features mean you can pack quite a lot in here even without packing cubes, which is good.

That said, though, I still recommend using packing cubes for their flexibility and their compression capabilities. This is especially the case if you use Knack’s available packing cubes or Knack’s Packing Insert, which is perfectly sized to fill this compartment (and is what I’m using). I’ve tested all these and they’re great quality. More than that, they all incorporate the same zippered expansion/contraction feature that hides away this luggage compartment. Open the cubes up all the way while you back, then zip them down to compress your clothes to fit more in the bag. Choosing the packing insert or cubes is just a question of whether you want your clothes in one bundle or a few.

[image error]Knack’s Packing Insert removed, the bag quickly compresses back to a smaller pack ready for day-use.

CONCLUSIONS

If you can’t tell, I really love this bag. It’s just fantastic. 

I truly hope Knack produces a Series 2 Large version of this bag — one that hopefully can tweak away my handful of minor complaints above (especially that hanging loop!). I’m managing to make the Series 2 Medium work for my One Bag packing, but it’s tight even with my carefully refined kit (again, I’ll go into this more in a post about my Travel Kit). Most folks, I think, would need the extra space of the larger size. As of this writing, Knack says they’re considering this.

I also hope they’ll produce a full-leather version of this excellent Series 2 bag. They have a black leather version of the Series 1, which would surely be great in the new design, but far better, I think, would be something like the Brandy full-grain leather in my trusty Thursday boots. If it sounds like I’m advising an heirloom quality travel pack, it’s because I am: the Series 2 bag is so damn good I’ll want to hand one down to the next generation of travelers, and nothing fits that concept better than rich and durable full-grain leather. 

Keep up the great work, Knack!

Rosie Cotton (??-2020)

Rosie Cotton came into our lives broken, the victim of some unknown puppy mill. She’d spent most of her life in a concrete cell — somewhere in North Carolina, we think — churning out Frenchie puppies. When her little body couldn’t handle it any longer, she was discarded.

[image error]

Her back was deeply swayed by then. Her back legs hardly functional. One ear was badly mauled. One eye no longer produced tears, and it was hard not to think, knowing what she’d been through, that she’d simply cried out all the tears she ever could.

She couldn’t walk more than a few feet at a time at that point. The threshold between the porch and the inside of my house — a rise of two inches — was a hill too high to climb. 

On her first visit to the vet, the doctor said she was too abused to know how old she was. He also said not to get too attached. She might only make it a couple more weeks. I told him my family would make it the best few weeks of her life. 

That was five years ago. 

We’d laugh about it sometimes, how we spoiled her for those first weeks and then couldn’t ever bring ourselves to dial back the level of love as weeks turned into months turned into years. 

Laugh about it, but not regret it for an instant. Wouldn’t change a damn thing.

She learned to walk. I’d love to say we taught her, but all we really did was hitch her bottom up on those unsteady legs, back away a foot or two, and then pick her up and love on her after she managed to reach us. Training with affection, I guess. It’s all she ever wanted. To be loved. Fear, stress, pain … it flipped off like a switch the moment she was in our arms. 

We often said she only had one marble rolling around in her head, but it was on a roulette wheel with only one slot: cuddles. 

I remember our joy when she first managed to climb the threshold from the patio to the living room, then our astonishment when she managed to climb the four steps — full steps! — up to the patio from the yard. All of it, she did for the cuddles. And she got them. 

I remember, too, when she found her voice. For the first months the only sounds she made were snorks when she slept and the tiniest of shaking whimpers when she was uncomfortable. And then one night we’d not been quick enough to let her majesty up onto the couch and she yipped. A bitch move, I suppose, but we loved her for it. For years in that cell she’d suffered in silence, the neglect stealing her voice. But she had it back now: these people would answer her cries, by god. 

Eventually, she got strong enough that she’d occasionally try to be playfully feisty, slapping at our hands for a few minutes until she tired out and went into snorking sleep mode … smiling and cuddled by those hands, of course. 

That smile is what I’ll remember most. An unbelievable smile. A few hours ago, moments before we rushed her to the vet, as she was wracked with fever and pain, I picked her up and she gave it to me again. That’s the picture you see above.

The end, when it came, was quick. Doesn’t make the loss easier — nothing really does — but it’s a small mercy. 

That’s what we look for first in loss, I guess. The small mercies. And then, hopefully, we turn to the big mercies: the blessing of sharing our lives with someone, and the memories that make us smile and tell us that no matter that it ended it was time well spent. 

So raise a glass to Rosie Cotton, friends. 

And fuck puppy mills. Fuck them to fucking hell. 

Saltwater Pool on the Cheap

Our daughter is, we think, part-fish, so with public pools closing or otherwise a source of concern in the pandemic, we decided to buy an above-ground pool from Wal-mart. 

We’ve actually had one of these before, and you should know that out of the box they’re a complete pain. Between weak pumps and crappy filter cartridges, the water goes green quick. Maintenance and cleaning is intense and, in the long-term, pretty expensive between the chemical dances and constant cartridge switching: “Sorry, kids, we can’t swim for a day because the water is literally poison right now.”

So if a pandemic meant I was going to do a pool again, I was determined to upgrade it to something that would work better: saltwater chlorination and a better pump with sand filtration. 

And because times are what they are, I was going to do this as cheaply as I could, starting with a $225 pool from Wal-mart.

Adding in the additional filter and salt and sand and taxes, the total cost to floating around was a day of my labor and about $631:

Summer Waves Elite 14-foot pool … $228Intex 26679EG Krystal Clear 2150 GPH Pump & Saltwater Sand Filter Saltwater System … $308Intex 1.25″ to 1.5″ Type B Hose Adapters for Pumps & Saltwater System; Set of 2 … $10Clorox Pool Salt $15×3 … $45H2H Sand $10×4 … $40Zip-ties … $.01

(See below for further bells and whistles, including a pool shelf I made.)

[image error]

Over 90 days of quarantined summer, that figures to about $7/day … though much of that cost was in a fancy pump/filtration system that can be used year after year. (And with the better filtration I suspect the same can be said of the pool itself, too.) In addition, there should be a lot less money spent over time on throw-away filter cartridges, electricity running the pump (new one runs like an hour a day instead of 24 hours a day), and time fighting the pool instead of enjoying it. 

Before I get into the details, I want to say that I very much realize that there are far too many folks for whom $631 could pay a month’s rent in a time when that may be difficult. In light of all that’s happening, this post may seem self-involved and frivolous. At the same time, I built a great saltwater pool for a lot less money than you’d expect, and if it helps others manage to make this crappy summer more bearable for some kids, I wanted to share how I did it.

The biggest problem is that the cheapest pool I could find (Summer Waves) does not use the same hose sizing as the ideal pump/filtration system I could find (Intex). 

True, Intex makes their own pools, and if you can afford one you’ll be saved the hassle of splicing the two systems. That would be nice. At the time I bought my $228 pool that comes with a skimmer, though, the Intex equivalent was running over $1000 for the pool alone (plus more to add a skimmer and all the other business) … so my notion was that if I could use the cheaper pool I’d come out way ahead.

Which I did.

I’m not going to go through all the stuff that’s in the directions, like how you need to level the yard and how to build the friggin’ pool. Obviously, having good help is essential there:

[image error]

Anyway, all that is pretty straight-forward. Splicing the systems isn’t, though. So…

The key piece you need is the hose adapter listed above. Intex makes a few different kinds of these, but you need the one with the rubber sleeve. 

Here’s the money shot:

[image error]

To the left are the Intex hoses that came with their pump. To the right is the skimmer filter box that comes with the Summer Breeze pool. And between them is the Intex adapter. As you can see from a second one that I’m holding, I made modifications.

One Bag Travel: Knack Pack v2

The Knack Pack v2 is gorgeous and clever. It’s my new go-to. Despite its many very positive features, though, a couple design choices leave it frustratingly shy of the ideal One Bag travel pack that it could’ve been.

Quick Pros:

Convertible design is amazingMaterials are fantasticAesthetics are terrificLots of solid details

Quick Cons:

Triangle pocket is strangeEDC compartment is flawedLaptop slot is wasted without a laptopNo hip beltZippers catch on thingsSingle handle is one too few



[image error]One must commune with the pack to know the pack.



WHY THIS REVIEW

A pandemic might seem an odd time to review a travel backpack, but here we are: I’m writing a review of a travel bag in a time without travel.

One-Bag travel ought to be the name of the game.

Why? The world won’t be on lockdown forever. And when things do let up, my sneaking suspicion is that more folks will want to be traveling lighter than ever before. Not only will we have realized how few things we really need in traveling, we will also want fewer folks handling our luggage as we do so. One-Bag travel ought to be the name of the game.

My Background

I’m not a YouTube influencer or a professional bag-reviewer. I’ve got a few affiliate links scattered through this review, but I’m not in this to make bank. I’m a professor who happens to do a lot of traveling. I work hard to figure out the ideal kit to make that happen, and I’m happy to share what works for me, even when it means weighing my underwear.

I began my One Bag Life in 2013, using a Maxpedition Fliegerduffel Adventure Bag. It was (and is) a good starter bag for this lifestyle. Though still a carry-on size (albeit not for the strictest of carriers), it gave me a generous 42 liters of space to fill. And since I wasn’t yet sure what I really needed to have, I inevitably over-packed and needed that kind of space. The Maxpedition is also built like a damn tank.

It has huge downsides, though. It was built like a tank, but it weighed like one, too. It was also brutally uncomfortable whether worn like a backpack (bad straps, bad weight distribution, bad heat entrapment) or carried like a duffel (handle too far from the body). I also disliked the tacticool aesthetic.

Nevertheless, it helped me fall in love with the One Bag Life, so in 2014 (after much research) I stepped up to a Minaal carry-on bag (now called the 1.0).

The Minaal was a breath of fresh air, and I confess that as I traveled hither and yon I became a kind of wandering missionary for the brand. It was lighter, tighter, sleeker, and classier than anything else I saw or tried — year after year.

It still wasn’t ideal, though. All these trips, all these thousands of miles, and some problems have really stuck out. Some of these (e.g., the configuration of its compression straps) have been resolved in their updated Minaal 2.0 carry-on. But other problems remain.

First, the way it packs is less than ideal. Traditional suitcase designs are “clamshell”: fill up a tub and then close the lid on it. It’s good for filling the gaps and making the most of your volume, and it’s good for finding things when you pop open the lid. A mountaineering kind of backpack is a top-down pouch. Good for filling up, but horrible for finding a damn thing. The Minaal opens like a clamshell, which is great, but because it doesn’t have stiff sides it’s hard to utilize the space well.

Second, for me the Minaal wastes too much space with its gestures toward a “portable office”. There’s an entire slice of the bag that is an L-zip (zipper on the top and down one side) compartment for a laptop and a motley assortment of pouches for pens and business cards that are single-use specific: if you don’t carry all that stuff, there’s minimal flexibility in the use of the space, which is 100% the opposite of what you want in One Bag travel where flexibility is king. If you’re not lugging around a laptop, what’s this good for?

Third, my Minaal is a single size. Say I head out for a week in Wales to do some research. If I’m staying in the same spot for a few days I can unpack and only take the field books and weather gear I need. But if all I’ve got is my Minaal, I’ve got 35 liters of overkill on my back. As a result, I’ve learned to carry a second, smaller bag for day trips. This is not as efficient as a bag that could change sizes.

Enter Knack Bags, who wrote and asked — no strings attached — if I’d evaluate their product: a pack that could handle my One Bag Life when I travel but also be a smaller backpack when I need that, too. Like, well, two bags in one.

[image error]In a word: Professional.

Since there aren’t many backpacks like this — the Tortuga Setout Divide is one obvious competitor — I was more than happy to receive a bag and run it through the paces.

I’ve looked. I’ve used. I’ve pondered.

I have conclusions.

THE NITTY GRITTY

First, some basic specs, using my trusty old Minaal and a Tortuga Setout Divide (which I do not own) as comparisons:

Minaal 1.0:

Weight: 3lb 3oz

Volume: 35L

Dimensions (HxWxD): 21.65 x 13.77 x 7.87”

Knack Pack v2 (large):

Weight: 3lb 3oz

Volume: 22 / 37L

Dimensions: 21.5 x 14 x 4.5 / 9.5”

Tortuga Setout Divide:

Weight: 3lb 13oz

Volume: 26 / 34L

Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 6 / 8”

MATERIALS AND MAKE

Manufacture on the Knack is solid throughout. YKK zippers. Metal where it’s needed, durable plastic where it’s not. The outer material is tough and water-resistant, and it doesn’t seem to pick up as much dust and crap as my Minaal does. Something about the material of my old bag was just “grabby” for particles, I guess, so this is a really nice improvement.

[image error]Unexpanded Knack Pack (large) in Savile Gray.

In terms of aesthetics, the bag I have is Savile Gray, and I’m tremendously pleased with the look. It’s not another black bag, but it’s not bright and bold and clownish. It’s also not glaringly branded. A subdued Knack logo is on zipper pulls and center top of the bag’s front, as it is on both the Minaal and Tortuga. “Knack” is also written out at the bottom of the bag’s front, but even that is pretty subtle: I don’t feel like I’m a walking billboard, but the brand name is there if someone is intrigued with the pack but doesn’t want to chat. That’s a fair balance I can accept.

So, in sum, I’d say from the outside the Knack looks professional to me in just the same ways my old Minaal does. That’s a damn high compliment to me.

And on the inside? Well, the material here is absolutely superior to my Minaal. That old bag was dark and black inside; the Knack is lined with a white and orange patterned fabric that’s bright and airy and makes it easier to find things. Even better, this liner is anti-microbial to keep the bag and my stuff smelling clean. Love it!

The bag came well-packed and defect-free. I was even pleasantly surprised that it came inside one of Knack’s laundry bags, which is a bonus that pays big dividends in terms of customer happiness. Well done, Knack!

[image error]Knack Pack in the included laundry bag … alongside a Knack packing cube (large) and my trusty iPad.



ON THE OUTSIDE

SHOULDER STRAPS. I found these to be very well made and generally comfortable. There’s a design balance between beefy enough and too beefy, and I felt like Knack got it right here. These are sized nicely and had the right amount of cushion.

Also, I’m very happy to report that the straps tuck away quite neatly, and the hardware for clipping the straps to the bag (often a weak link in tuck-away designs) is suitably stout. Tuck-away straps are immensely useful if you have to check the bag (a sad moment for any One Bag traveler). Having them tucked away could also be useful for allowing a more professional briefcase carry if needed — except that due to a lack of a second handle (see below) that won’t be happening here, which is just hugely disappointing.

Some additional flaws here that I should note:

First, there’s a lack of load lifters, which my old Minaal had. If you’re really hoofing it through an airport or city streets these can make a world of difference in terms of settling the pack comfortably. (Tortuga Setout Divide also lacks them.)

Second, the straps tuck into a slot behind the back pad that cannot be secured. While the first version of the bag apparently had a zipper to secure this space, v2 instead relies on a flap that barely comes over the slot. This is strange, since the flap can so easily get caught on the wrong side of the slot and thereby leave an open invitation to the elements. I wondered if Knack thought to pop a couple of drains in the bottom of the slot just in case rain got in (my Maxpedition had that), but they did not. (The Tortuga Setout Divide seems to be even worse, by the way: it has neither a flap nor a drain!)

Third, something that stands out — literally — are the attachment points on the lower corners for the straps. They’re strong, which is good, but when the straps are tucked away they stick out like sore thumbs. (For a much cleaner alternative in attachment design, see the design on the Tortuga Setout Divide.)

Fourth, the straps are horizontally attached to the top of the bag. Angled attachment points that more closely distribute the weight along the curve of the shoulders would be preferred.

STERNUM STRAP. I’m a fan of chest straps, and I’ve always loved the brilliant one on my Minaal: it’s adjustable and easy to buckle, it clips neatly out of the way when not in use, and it has a bonus built-in whistle. The Knack has a strap, too, but so much about it is strange. I’m a broad-shouldered fellow, a shade over six-foot tall, and given how much extra room for adjustment I have left in the sternum strap I must assume they sized this for the Hulk. Worse, all that extra strapping just dangles around, as do the straps themselves when not in use (there’s no clip-away feature). Sure, you can remove the strap completely, but it’s hard to do that (for good reason) and then you’d need to store the strap some place and hope you don’t lose it.

HIP BELT. Haha. Just kidding. There isn’t one! Not even as an option. The first version of the pack had one, and it’s such an obvious feature for this large pack when expanded that I honestly thought there might be some mistake in the v2 bag that I received. Nope. According to Knack, 3/4 of their v1 customers reported never using the hip belt, so they cut it for 4/4 of their v2 customers. The hip belt on my old Minaal isn’t much, but it’s still better than having no hip belt at all with no option of getting one. (The hip belt on the Tortuga Setout Divide, for what it’s worth, has the opposite problem of being so big that you’re unlikely to have it with you when you need it!)

BACK PAD. Not a lot to report here. It’s a basic foam cushion with some passable air canyons. It’s comfortable. It gets the job done. And as an added bonus it has a pass-through trolley sleeve that enables you to slip the bag over the handle of wheeled luggage — a nice little touch that my Minaal lacks completely. (Word is that the Tortuga Setout Divide has superior airflow to both this and my Minaal, but I haven’t tried it.)

HANDLE. The bag handle is comfy in the hand, but it’s totally in the wrong place. They’ve put it center-bag at the top. Ideally, a handle like this should be positioned at the back of the bag so that when you hang it up the bag rests flat against the wall (this is what my old Minaal does). Having a back-mounted handle would’ve been especially good on this bag, since if you have it fully loaded in expanded mode the center-bag handle isn’t even close to center-mass. Indeed, once the bag is expanded you can forget about hanging the bag on, say, the average luggage hook in an airport bathroom stall. So onto the dirty floor it goes! Yuck. (The easy solution here is to add a simple hanging loop at the rear of the bag, as the Tortuga Setout Divide has.)

[image error]Expanded Knack Pack (large): a comfortable carry, but good luck using the handle to hang the bag anywhere!

Worse, this is the only handle. Knack didn’t put one on the side. So if you wanted to carry the bag like a briefcase in a more formal setting, you’re simply out of luck. Bags like the Minaal and the Tortuga Setout Divide have an obvious edge here, since they have a handle on the side, too. Knack tells me they didn’t think it was worth the extra weight. I disagree, but I’m also not in the bag-making business!

ON THE INSIDE

TRIANGULAR POCKET. Knack appears to have this as part of their core design aesthetic. I wish I could say otherwise for something they seem to be building their identity around, but I think it’s a design disaster. Where to start?

[image error]The open Triangle pocket, showing “organization” on the dividing panel (this is RFID-protection lined) and the gussets that keep the pocket from opening very far. This pocket extends up to the top of the bag.

First, in design terms, this pocket is only accessible from around the 2/3 height of its height. The top 1/3 is wasted space unless you maneuver something tall up into it or prove adept at stacking.

Second, there’s not a lot of organization for an area that’s clearly supposed to be the “office” part of the bag. What you’ve got is a dividing panel that has six business or credit card slots in it (something about as useful these days as those clear plastic accordions that once held pictures in your wallet). That’s it. I’m all for utilitarian openness (see my above complaint with my Minaal), but there are better solutions than this.

Third, this pocket is accessed by two zippers that open up the sides of the triangle. My suspicion is that the designers thought this would be a clever way of allowing users to swing the pack around from either shoulder and be able to access the pocket by unzipping either zipper. In practice, though, it’s such a big pocket with no organization that effective use demands getting both zippers down — thereby completely removing whatever benefit there might’ve been and just making it more of a pain. (And this swing-around capability disappears completely if the pack is expanded: the reach to the pocket is too far.)

Fourth, the two zippers zip up under a bit of flap in order to “close” the pocket. Two problems with this. First, even if you zip it up correctly, the compartment can be opened by simply slipping a finger under the flap and pulling down. That makes this area fundamentally unsecured, which is no good in a travel pack. Second, if you’re not careful zipping it up then one or both of the zippers will get stuck on the wrong side of that flap: at that point, you have an unsecured compartment that’s also open to the elements. This wrong-side flap happens more often for me than not.

[image error]Open to rain and thieves.

Fifth, it turns out that the dividing panel in this pocket is lined with RFID blocking fabric. There’s zero indication on the bag or in the documentation it came with to inform the user that there’s RFID protection in this area, but I’ve confirmed that it’s here. So, ok, cool, nice feature, as I guess you could also slip your passport into the space behind the panel … but why on earth would you put your passport in such a completely unsecured place? Honestly, this pocket is the last place on this bag that you should put something so important. The whole thing is just bizarre.

TOP COMPARTMENT. This pocket is split into two parts. One is a fuzzy-cloth pouch that’s a great place to slip glasses or a phone. The other is perfectly sized and perfectly located for a passport — which would’ve made this a far better place for the RFID fabric that was inexplicably put down in the triangle pocket.

[image error]Even without a case, the padding is enough to think my sunglasses are safe here. And the other side of the pocket is roomy enough for my passport travel wallet.

BOTTOM COMPARTMENT. Knack advertises this as a cord pocket, but it’s on the wrong end of the bag. Because of the location of the handle (and that top, passport-friendly pocket), the user will almost assuredly slip this bag under a seat or into an overhead bin with this bottom end first. As a result, if you need your cords during a flight, you’d need to pull the bag all the way out and flip it completely around.

[image error]

Regardless of what goes in here, this compartment is a frustratingly odd dimension to pack. It’s too small for shoes or dirty laundry. Nothing remotely breakable or openable or damageable can go here, since it’ll be resting on the ground/elements with the weight of the pack atop it. I’ve stuffed it with my travel clothesline, microfiber towel/rag, and some inflatable hangers.

For good and ill, I should note the pocket has no volume of its own: when you put things into it the pocket expands into the EDC compartment. The good news is that this means it’s not a total waste of space to leave it unused. The bad news is that if you do stuff it with something the expansion leaves little dark crevices at the bottom of the EDC compartment for things to get lost inside.

[image error]Looking down into the EDC Compartment (covered below), you can see how the Bottom Compartment expands into it, leaving crevices to lose things. (Also note, on the right, that the Side Compartment also expands into this space when it’s zipped shut.)

SIDE COMPARTMENT. You could put other things here, I suppose, but for all intents and purposes this is the water bottle pocket. It fit my bottles like a glorious glove, and I love the way it zips out of view — with or without the bottle — to give the bag a sleek, clean look. Very nice. Very, very well done.

[image error]Water bottle in the Side Pocket. So well designed.

EDC COMPARTMENT. So this will be the heart of the bag on most days, and the design once again strikes me as odd. I spoke above how clamshell openings are best for packing. And indeed the glorious expandable Luggage compartment of this bag has exactly that (see below). But here Knack opted for a lockable U-zip (good so far) that doesn’t get quite to the bottom of the bag (huh?). Even more annoyingly, the flap of the EDC compartment that is thereby unzipped has expanding gussets almost halfway up the sides of the bag. As a result, instead of folding completely open at 180 degrees — which would be perfect for packing! — only the top part of this compartment opens up, and it does so at something more like 45 degrees. Ugh.

[image error]See-through mesh pockets are great. Removable keychain (currently holding my AirPods Pro) is slick. But see those gussets preventing me from opening it all the way up? Not cool.

Worse (yes, it gets worse), these damnable gussets can get caught in the zippers. So not only are you often fighting them to access this space, but they’ll almost certainly get torn up with every day use. Honestly, I’ve a mind to save the hassle and just rip them out, myself.

Up top of the EDC compartment is a removable key chain clip. I doubt I’ll use it, but I like the touch.

The back of the bottom of this compartment has a fuzzy cloth pocket that ostensibly is for a tablet, but if you’ve filled up the EDC area at all you’ll need to be digging past your things to get to a device located here. Definitely less than ideal. There are also a couple mesh pockets in here: one above the tablet pocket and one on the flap. These are a nice transparent mesh so you can see what’s in them, though it should be noted that they have no depth: they’ll fit a few flat things only, which reduces their usefulness a bit.

SIDE NOTE ON PACKING CUBES: Knack makes some truly terrific packing cubes. Legitimately the best I’ve ever handled: lightweight, strong, with see-through mesh up top. Even better? They use the same wrap-around zipper that allows the Knack Pack to expand, only here it functions to compress: you load the cube up to the rim with clothes and then zip it down to compress them into a smaller space. They’re dynamite. They sell a bundle for the large Knack Pack that consists of one large cube and two medium cubes that all fit into the expanded Luggage compartment. I would suggest adding at least one additional large cube, since this slips neatly into the bottom of the EDC compartment. Doing this makes this compartment feel a lot less problematic!

[image error]I wouldn’t normally travel with two pairs of heavy jeans, but with a compressing cube like these, I can! Look at that squish down!

LAPTOP COMPARTMENT. This is located against the very back of the bag (I’ve skipped over the Luggage compartment for the moment). It’s a slot compartment with decent cushion, only accessible from the side of the bag. It does not have a lockable zipper.

I no longer lug around a big laptop, so for me this is empty space and wasted weight — it’s so big and deep that my iPad would just slide around in it! Most bags have these compartments, though, so it’s hard to fault Knack for my own laptop-free life. That said, a lot of bags (again, my old Minaal being one) have zippers on the space that can come around at least one additional side of the bag and give you more access to it: with some care, I’ve managed to use mine on the Minaal to lay flat a sport coat. A clamshell zip-around would have made this space infinitely more useable, rather than laptop or bust.

LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT. For all the things I dislike about this bag, I love love LOVE this part of the Knack design. It’s just brilliant, and I’m glad it enables me to bring this home on a happy note.

[image error]My thumb is pointing out the flap hiding the expansion zipper. Next zipper to the right is the luggage zipper. Laptop compartment is open. (And check out how sleek that zipped-away water bottle is!)

Just forward of the laptop compartment is a 3/4 zip that opens up in true clamshell style to reveal the luggage compartment. No restricting gussets! The top of this pocket (which is the back of the bag) has a single zippered mesh pocket. Can’t fit a lot here since it’s tight mesh, but it’s still a nice touch.

But oh the glories of the Luggage compartment this revealed! Instead of a criss-cross of compression straps (which often leave wrinkles), this has a sleek compression panel that’s there if you need it but easy to ignore if you don’t.

[image error]Luggage compartment in unexpanded mode: still a useful, flexible space.

You can use this compartment in unexpanded mode — it’ll fit some books, a jacket, maybe — but it’s true magnificence is revealed when you expand it. The expansion zipper is neatly tucked away behind a flap that runs around the sides of the backpack. Spin that zip around, and this Luggage compartment pops out to add 15L of open, clamshell-accessible space!

[image error]Luggage compartment expanded, with the perfect fit of their packing cube, which isn’t even compressed in this shot!

You don’t have to add a bundle of Knack’s awesome packing cubes to make use of this space, but I can tell you that combining their compression capabilities (see above) with the expansion of this compartment gives me the ability to fit far more in this flexible bag than I could dream of fitting in my Minaal. For me, this is a true 11/10 feature.

CONCLUSIONS

So all in all, the Knack Pack is a mixed bag (hehe). There’s enough positives here that I’ll be using this instead of my Minaal for the time being. The flexibility outweighs the negatives.

It shouldn’t have even been a question, though. The Knack Pack is so damn close to perfection it hurts. What would get it over the top? For me, if I were advising Knack, I’d highly recommend:

Add a handle to the sideAdd a hanging loop to the top-backMove RFID to Top pocket and highlight itEliminate the EDC compartment gussets

And more complex changes:

Rethink the sternum strapRethink the Triangle pocketRethink the Bottom compartmentRethink the strap attachmentsRethink the hip belt optionRethink the Laptop compartment as a clamshell

In the meantime, I don’t want this to end on a sour note. No bag is perfect, and this one gets so much right even for my demanding sensibilities. And remember that your experience may be different. Maybe you still lug around a big laptop and that Triangle pocket looks like heaven to you. If so, then this is the bag you want.

And even if you’re like me, there’s still enormous utility to be found here given the clever flexibility of the bag’s size, its professional look, and its excellent material make-up. Well done, Knack!