Design Questions - Synik 26

• How does the Synik 26 differ from the Synapse 25 in size?
• Why couldn’t you make the laptop compartment of the Synik 26 even bigger so that it would fit 16”-17” laptops like the Synik 30?
• Is the size of the luggage passthrough pocket different between the Synik 22, Synik 26, and Synik 30?
• Is the size of the center water bottle pocket different between the Synik 22, Synik 26, and Synik 30?
• Did you consider changing any features about the Synik during the design process for the Synik 26?

General Questions

• Why is it called the Synik?
• What is the difference between the Synik and the Synapse?
• Can you share more about the fabric choices that the Synik is offered in?
• How much does the Synik weigh vs. the Synapse?
• What sizes of laptops fit in the Synik 22, Synik 26, and Synik 30?
• If I stuff my Synik completely full, or even overstuff it, will it be more difficult to use the built-in laptop compartment?
• Hey! I want a padded hip belt for my Synik. Is there one?
• How does the Synik perform as a travel bag? Do all three sizes fit under the seat on the airplane?
• Which airline carry-on requirements do the Synik 22, Synik 26, and Synik 30 meet?
• Will the Synik 30 look/feel too big to carry as my EDC bag at my work conference?
• Is the Synik designed to be used as an every day carry backpack?

Questions about Use

• Does the Synik work as a day-hiking pack?
• Does the back panel of the Synik reduce heat/moisture?
• Does the Synik stand up on its own?
• Will the Synik rolling luggage handle pass-through fit / work with all sizes of rolling luggage handles?
• How do I remove or insert the Synik internal frame?
• How do I adjust the curve of the aluminum stay in the internal frame?
• Can the Synik be worn high/low/inbetween and adjusted in general?
• Can I fit two laptops or a laptop and a large tablet in the Synik?

Design Questions - Synik 26

The dimensions on the Synik 26 are the biggest difference. The Synapse 25 and Synik 30 have similar dimensions with the depth being the difference between the two. We wanted the Synik 26 to be bigger than the Synik 22, but smaller than the Synik 30.

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The back panel dimensions determine how big of a laptop we can fit. To achieve our goal of making a mid-sized Synik, we needed to follow certain dimensions.

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Synik 22: 6.25”

Synik 26: 7”

Synik 30: 7.25”

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Synik 22: 10.25”
Synik 26: 10.25”
Synik 30: 10.5”

We wanted to keep the water bottle pocket height in line with the other sizes without making the “chin” pocket at the bottom of the front panel too small. The water bottle pocket on the Synik 26 is the same height as the Synik 22 and a ¼” shorter than the Synik 30.

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“I didn’t want to change the features, I wanted to ensure the features people love about the Synik worked the best they could on the new size. Through reading customer feedback on the Synik 22, the team and I identified a few features to focus on for the Synik 26: The exterior laptop zipper opening, the luggage pass through opening at the bottom of the bag and the height of the water bottle pocket. The new size allowed me to address the issues with these features and help improve the pain points our customers were running into with the Synik 22.”
- Jose, Designer

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General Questions

We came up with Synik as a play on words and a way to tease our designer, Nik, about how everything he designs is going to have his name in its name (after Nik’s Minimalist Wallets). Unfortunately for Nik, the name stuck: it’s a name that acknowledged this is mostly still a Synapse — yet, it’s updated with various new features, mostly designed/patterned/made real by Nik, with feedback and collaboration with Tom.

Add to that the fact that we’re amateur philosophers here at TOM BIHN and found ourselves delighted at the opportunity to link to capital-C Cynicism, which offers us much to contemplate as a more complete definition of our modern use of the word cynicism. Stoicism is (once again) a much-discussed philosophy for good reason: it’s a more practical and fully-formed philosophy that any of us who fully engage in the life of home, work, and family can directly apply whereas Cynicism was more the path of the ascetic. Still, Cynicism preceded Stoicism and it is fascinating to study. (As a side note, Tom claims that while he finds the philosophies of Cynicism and Stoicism appealing, it was his fate to be born a existentialist.)

Follow us down this rabbit hole from Socrates to Hipparchia to Zeno to Marcus Aurelius....

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Though the Synik and Synapse share many similarities, it's their differences that set them apart. The Synik boasts an internal frame, tie-down straps, a redesigned grab handle, a dedicated laptop compartment, clamshell zippers, and a few extra O-rings.

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All three Syniks are offered in 630d High Tenacity Ballistic Nylon, 420d Parapack, and X-Pac RX30 (though there may be times when certain options may be out of stock). The lining is either 200d Halcyon or 210d Cerylon. The fabrics differ in weight, color, feel, and overall aesthetic. To deep dive into what makes each fabric unique and special, we recommend checking out our Materials Glossary. If you’re looking for durability, please note that while some of our fabric options are more durable than others, we never choose fabrics that aren’t durable. The fabrics we choose are all — according to our internal tests, standards, and years of experience using them — probably more durable than most people will ever need.

Please refer to the specs section under each product page (Synik 22, Synik 26, Synik 30) for detailed information on the weight by the fabric type.

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In order of lightest to heaviest: Synapse 19: 2 lb 4.5 oz / 1035 grams
Synik 22: 2 lb 9.6 oz / 1180 grams
Synik 26: 2 lb 11.7oz / 1240 grams
Synapse 25: 2 lb 13.7 oz / 1295 grams
Synik 30: 3 lb 0.1 oz / 1365 grams

Note: Weights above are for the Ballistic exterior/ 200d Halcyon lining versions of the bags; weights for the Synik 22, 26, and 30 include the weight of the internal frame as well as the integrated laptop sleeve.

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Synik 22
Maximum device dimensions for both the external and internal laptop compartment access points:
12.35” x 8.65” x 0.75” / 314mm x 220mm x 19mm

Synik 26
Maximum device dimensions for both the external and internal laptop compartment access points:
14.00” x 9.50” x 0.75”/ 355mm x 241mm x 19mm

Synik 30
Maximum device dimensions for both the external and internal laptop compartment access points:
14.15” x 9.75” x 0.75” / 359mm x 248mm x 19mm

Now, here’s where it gets a little interesting…
If you’re trying to fit a laptop that’s on the larger end of what’s recommended as fitting in the Synik, you may find that — depending on the shape and proportions of the device — one access point works better for your device. For example: taller and thinner large laptops may fit better through the internal laptop compartment access point, whereas more square laptops may angle in better through the external laptop compartment access point.

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To a certain extent, yes. If your Synik is stuffed to its max with stuff, it will be more difficult to pull your laptop out. The laptop compartment works best with a reasonably packed, but not overstuffed, Synik.

The thing is — to prevent that from happening, the bag would need an effectively rigid laptop compartment that would require more bulk, weight, and build. It might even start to feel overbuilt and overly complex, and to us that just didn’t fit with the overall intent of the Synik.

Don’t worry: you can certainly pack your Synik reasonably full and still use the laptop compartment. And even if you overstuff it, you can still use the laptop compartment — it just might take a bit more of a tug to pull your laptop out or push it in.

We counsel ourselves (and also you, here and now) to avoid overpacking our bag if we want the laptop compartment to work smoothly — and, as a side effect, we find it results in an overall better packing/use experience of various features of the bag.

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Indeed there is -- see our 1" Padded Hip Belt.

And you probably already know this, but just in case you don't: the Synik comes with a 1" webbing hip belt.

You may be asking, "Why isn't the padded hip belt included?" Our answer is: Based on our experience and observation, not everyone wants to use a padded hip belt. So, we decided to make it optional.

More of our thoughts on padded hip belts:
A Brief History of Padded Hip Belts

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All three Syniks can fit under the seats of most airplanes

The 30, when fully stuffed, may not fit under seats with a more narrow opening. And it’s nice to be able to access the main compartment laptop pocket while the bag is still halfway under the airplane seat.

We also found that all three sizes maintained a low-enough profile that they could be used as daypacks around our destinations.

 

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From experience, all three Syniks should meet the carry-on requirements on major airlines, including the personal-item carry-on requirement— as long as you pay attention to how much you’re stuffing the Synik because of its extra depth.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: one of the great things about soft backpacks and luggage — as opposed to hard-sided rolling luggage — is that soft bags can compress in a luggage sizer, overhead compartment, or under the seat of a plane. The Synik is no exception here.

Here’s the confusing part: that means that, even though one of our bags may have listed dimensions that exceed a specific airlines carry-on requirements, it’ll still likely fit in that airline’s bag sizer and thus work as a carry-on.

Below is a quick guide to help you figure out which airlines will accept the Synik 22, 26, and 30. If you’re wondering about a specific or especially stringent airline, please emailus@tombihn.com

It’s really about the depth when it comes to figuring out which airlines requirements the Synik can play nice with. And when we’re talking about a “soft” bag — like the Synik, the Aeronaut, or any of our other bags as opposed to hard-sided rolling luggage — there’s a lot of room for flexibility depending on how much you pack and how much the bag can compress in a luggage sizer, overhead compartment, or under the seat of the plane (usually, it’s a surprising amount).

Synik 30

Works as:
US Main Item
US Personal Item (slightly underpacked)
European Main Item (slightly underpacked)

Remember, it’s about the depth when it comes to figuring out within which airlines requirements the Synik 30 can work. And also remember: because the Synik 30 is a soft pack and not a hard-sided roller, it will compress in the luggage sizer.

The listed depth of the Synik 30 is 10.8” — that’s a fully packed, maxed out (with non-compressing packing material) Synik 30 being measured in such a way that the bag isn’t compressed at all by external forces.

A fully packed Synik 30 with typical items (clothes, toiletries, smaller items in the front pockets, etc.) measures about 8-9” in depth when slightly compressed by our measuring calipers.

A moderately packed Synik 30 measures about 7-8” in depth when slightly compressed by our measuring calipers.

The hard and fast, black and white answer? The Synik 30 is a bag that gives you a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to packing and meeting airline requirements. If you need to carry a ton of stuff and you don’t need to worry about those requirements, go for it. If you’re going to be flying on an international airline that has more strict sizing requirements, don’t overly pack your bag.

Synik 22

Overall, the Synik 22 is a smaller pack; you’re going to be able to take it on more airlines as a personal item.

Unless grossly overstuffed to an extent we haven’t seen, works as:
US Personal Item
European Personal Item

(Of course, it will also qualify as a US/European Main Item as well.)

The listed depth of the Synik 22 is 9.4” — that’s a fully packed, maxed out (with non-compressing packing material) Synik 22 being measured in such a way that the bag isn’t compressed at all by external forces.

A fully packed Synik 22 with typical items (clothes, toiletries, smaller items in the front pockets, etc.) measures about 7-8” in depth when slightly compressed by our measuring calipers.

A moderately packed Synik 22 measures about 6-7” in depth when slightly compressed by our measuring calipers.

Perhaps worth noting: in our experience, gate agents will not likely be examining all bags, but will rather be on the lookout for items that grossly exceed the dimensions, are hard-sided, or gigantic and crazy overstuffed. Like all the rest of us humans, gate agents probably don’t have super-human abilities to, within their vision, overlay a square of set dimensions as they look at your bag— and thus aren’t going to be paying attention to or really even caring about a 1/2” difference in a bag that can squish down.

The Synik 26, if you’re wondering, is right in the middle of these two.

Oh yeah: here's two photos of the Synik 30 in our in-house sizers.

 

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Synik 30 about half-packed
Ah, looks like we kinda answered that one above. It of course depends on your perception of what looking or feeling “too big” is, but we’d be fine carrying our Synik 30s around a work conference or trade show. We’d unpack the bag a bit and leave some of our clothes and stuff in the hotel room.

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You bet! One of the great things about the Synik (and the original Synapse) is that it’s a design that performs well for every day, travel, and hiking — without (in our estimation) sacrificing functionality in one application for another.

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Questions about Use

Sure. We actually carried the Synik on many day hikes (long and short, ranging from 2 miles to 12 miles) to test out the Edgeless shoulder straps and its waist belt/optional padded hip belt attachment points (we eventually lowered them).

We generally prefer using packs without a full clamshell opening for hiking because it’s not unusual for us to find ourselves stopped on a narrow part of a trail to open our packs — and we don’t want all of our stuff falling out of a clamshell opening.

That said, because the Synik has Aquaguard zippers, its clamshell won’t, in our experience, fully open by itself — so, we can unzip its main compartment half way and it’ll stay that way.

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The Synik’s back panel has a few stitched channels for air movement. The perception of how much of a material impact this has varies; some feel like it makes a difference while others don’t. It may totally be one of those placebo type things, so we’ll say this: Our revolutionary Air Propel Moisture Destroyer™ air channels significantly reduce heat against your back using the technology of science related concepts.

Seriously — to test our own perceptions (which are that the Spacer Mesh is less hot/more comfortable than simply a fabric back panel), Tom’s longtime friend Robert (sculptor, helicopter pilot, product designer, big wall climber, machinist, and bag fabric test deviser) came up with a device that’d allow us to scientifically evaluate the effectiveness of Spacer Mesh. Tom and Robert modified a Synapse and equipped it with Robert’s mobile heat sensors and data recording device, which we named The Swarner 5000 Datalogger. The Synapse had a back panel split down the center vertically: one half was spacer mesh and the other half was 1050 Ballistic (both sides were padded with closed-cell foam).

The results? The Spacer Mesh would start off early in the hike about one degree Celsius warmer than the ballistic. Once we started sweating though (which we seemed to do with or without the mesh), the wicking action of the mesh kicked in and it started cooling us. So, for the remainder of our hikes, our backs were ~2 degrees Celsius cooler on the spacer mesh side. And we found, as we always had, that our shirts were less damp on the Spacer Mesh side because it wicked the moisture away. Not a hugely measurable difference, but one that seems to make a difference to us in field use.

You may be asking — what about packs designed for outdoor use that add some structured material to the back panel that actually keeps the back panel of the pack away from your back? We don’t plan to add structure like that to our bags mostly because it adds bulk that would make it more difficult to stow a pack under the seat or in the overhead compartment of a plane. It can also increase the side profile of a bag and overall can make it feel like there's a lot more going on than some folks might want.

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We’d say no, but YMMV; if your Synik has its internal frame, and you pack it right — so that there’s more weight in the main compartment against the back of the bag as opposed to more weight in the front of the bag — it may stand up on its own. The padded bottom of the Synik helps a little bit with this, but not a whole lot.

To make the Synik really stand up on its own, we’d have to make the bottom of the bag flat and rigid and quite square-ish; we don’t think it would look or feel like a Synik anymore if we did that.

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Rolling luggage comes in various sizes, and the handles extend to various lengths and are of various widths, thicknesses, and contours.

The Synik 22 can fit rolling luggage handles through its pass-through slot that are up to about 6.25" / 160mm in width; the handle needs to be at least 16-1/2” / 419mm tall.

The Synik 26 can fit rolling luggage handles through its pass-through slot that are up to about 7.0”/ 180mm in width, the handle needs to be at least 17.75”/ 451 mm tall.

The Synik 30 can fit rolling luggage handles through its pass-through slot that are up to about 7.25" / 185mm in width; the handle needs to be at least 20” / 510mm tall.

What’s really great about the Synik rolling luggage handle pass-through is that, when using it, your bag is really *on* your rolling luggage: it won’t go spinning around the handle and/or falling off (as we’ve seen happen when people use packs with an elastic band sewn into the back panel that fits over the rolling luggage handle.) But that also means that not *all* luggage handles will fit through the Synik’s pass-through.

Note: you want to insert the handle of your rolling luggage so that the internal frame is in front of the handle/the frame is basically between the handle and the laptop compartment of the Synik.

So, what’s the solution then if you have rolling luggage with a very thick, wide handle that can't fit through the Synik's pass-through? There’s two we can offer:

A. This is admittedly a bit of a hack, but you’ve got what you need for it and it’s free. Okay, here goes:

1. Remove the Gatekeeper Webbing Hip Belt that's included with the Synik. Connect the two Gatekeeper clips together: now you’ve got a long strap with a buckle closure.
2. Use that strap and wrap it around the middle of your Synik as it’s on top of the rolling luggage with its back against the handle of the luggage
3. Clip the buckle around the rolling luggage pole and cinch the strap down.

Video demo of the two methods:

We made a purposeful version of this same strap: the Simple Rolling Luggage Lash Strap. You might want to buy this strap if you’d rather not remove the webbing waist belt or want a more elegant/less hack solution.

What we like about this strap-around-the-bag solution:

• It's simple and easy to use. And let us be clear: this is not some smart or revolutionary invention. It’s a pretty obvious, low-tech solution. If and until we invent something more clever, this is it. It's possible that you've already discovered this solution on your own, and if that's the case, kudos. In our experience, the bag — Synik, Pop Tote, Tri-Star, Synapse, whatever pack we offer, or even possibly a pack from a different brand — is effectively secured to the rolling luggage in such a way that it won’t spin around or slide off. It feels stable.
• It feels more stable than a webbing or elastic band sewn to the back of the bag because it's holding the center of gravity of your bag and all of its stuff against the rolling luggage handle. This is also the reason that it works better than using the sternum strap and waist strap on one of our backpacks to secure the bag to the rolling luggage.
• It’s a solution that’s not built-in to the bag: you can use it when you need to use it, remove it and stow it in one of the pockets in your bag when not in use, or leave it at home when you don’t need it at all.
• It was already included free with any backpack you've bought from us in recent years, even before we came up with the idea. How cool is that?

Note: these solutions work with two-pole handle rolling luggage; they won't work that well with the less typical one-pole handle rolling luggage.

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There is a particular method to removing the Synik internal frame that makes it a whole lot easier. Please see this video:

Text instructions:

1. Place the Synik on your lap, face down.
2. With one hand, reach in through the top opening and curve the top wings of the frame with that hand.
3. With your other hand, reach in through the bottom opening and curve the bottom wings of the frame with that hand.
4. Now, pull the internal frame out through the top opening -- using the hand that’s curving the top wings to help pull and using the bottom hand that’s curving the bottom wings to push.
5. Make sure that you remove the internal frame from the top opening of the bag and not through the bottom. This is much easier, we promise.

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When designing the Synik internal frame, we polled people and asked for feedback to determine how many people actually remove the internal frame to adjust the aluminum stay. The answer? Very, very few people did this. Because of that, we’ve worked to ensure the 1/2” aluminum stay is pre-bent at a curve that will be comfortable to the vast majority of people.

If you'd like to try adjusting the curve of your aluminum stay, follow the instructions starting at 00:50 in this video we made about the Guide's Pack frame. (Starts at 00:50 because that's where advice about adjusting the lower portion of the aluminum stay begins; the half-stay in the Synik is basically just the lower portion of a full stay.)

Notes:
Don't try to remove the actual aluminum stay from your Synik frame. There's no reason to do this and it will be difficult to do so.

As highlighted in the video, you will probably find it easier to adjust the curve of the stay while the frame remains in the Synik.

Goes without saying, but just to be sure: make sure your laptop isn't in your bag when you try bending it over your knee!

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Yes! As with most backpacks, you can adjust the shoulder straps of the Synik so that the bag is worn/carried high, low, or anywhere in-between. We try to feature photos of a variety of different sized people wearing their bags in different ways. Here’s a photo of the Synik 22 being worn higher on the body:

There’s no universal right or wrong about how to wear a pack: it’s about what feels best to you. Below is some information that may help you as you experiment with wearing your pack in different ways.

Some folks like to wear their packs high as one might wear an external or internal frame hiking pack; this follows the wisdom of carrying big external frame backpacking packs, and is a variation on keeping weight close to your center of gravity. With a large (read: tall) external frame pack, packing the weight high allows you, by leaning only a small amount forward, to have that weight more or less over your center of gravity. This is helpful if you have a heavy pack and walk on level, well groomed trails. However, it’s worth noting that, in our experience, that high weight can become unwieldy/throw one off balance when bouldering or cross-country hiking.

Some prefer to wear their packs in a more casual, lower way — this is a useful way to wear your pack if you might be carrying it on one shoulder some of the time. It also just feels better to some people; for other people, this can be much less comfortable, especially when carrying a heavier load.

And, of course, there’s everyone in-between: many of us don’t wear our packs high or very low, but somewhere in-between.

With any pack, it can be helpful to make micro-adjustments to your pack straps (as well as sternum and waist or hip straps, if using those) during the day as you walk; just think of how many times we shift and move our bodies in a day and how our somatic experience can shift based on how many miles we’ve walked, how many hours we’ve sat in a chair, or how much we had for lunch! Our 7:00pm body may feel different than our 7:00am body.

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You bet. You could put one laptop or the tablet in the laptop compartment and the other laptop or tablet in a Cache or your own protective sleeve/case elsewhere in the main compartment — perhaps in the open-top pocket across from the laptop compartment.

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More questions? Feel free to ask: emailus@tombihn.com, 1-800-729-9607 or +1-206-652-4123.