TLDR
The Addax 31 is a roll-top bag with room to spare! Two options for water-bottle carry, spacious device pockets, and a cavernous main compartment mean if you need to carry it, the Addax 31 can help you reach that mountaintop.
A few highlights of its features:
- Carries a nominal capacity of 31 liters with 3 rolls and a maximum capacity of 48 liters when fully unrolled.
- Tons of pockets and organization: 5 exterior pockets, 5 interior organizational pockets, and a total of 9 o-rings throughout
- Plenty of quality-of-life features: luggage pass-through, substantial suspended laptop pocket with zippered quick-access, exterior water bottle pocket, integrated strap keepers
- Fully lined so you can easily see the bottom
If really big is too big and you want something with the same features but a little smaller, check out the Addax 26.
Full Description
The Addax 31 is more than just your classic roll-top pack. It has the thoughtful design that you'd expect from us, so let's dig in and get into the nitty-gritty!
Roll-Top
It's what makes the bag what it is. The roll-top is secured in place by two 1" side-release buckles, a male on one side and female on the other. The idea behind this is that you can either clip them to the clips above the shoulder straps or to each other if you want easier access but a less secure attachment versus a more secure attachment but more complex access (after all, who doesn't want secure attachment?)
At 3 rolls we've measured the bag out at 31 liters -- we call it the Addax 31 because this is going to be the way most folks carry the pack day-to-day. One roll to secure the load is measured at 41 liters; no rolls right up to the stitch we measured at 48 liters.
The Front
The front pockets are a generous size to help you keep the things you need access to quickly close-at-hand. The top has two equally-sized pockets to keep the smaller bits corralled and the bottom is a nice-sized open space perfect for your headphones.
Both have two o-rings in for your organizational needs.
Right at the bottom of the front is an attachment point perfect for things like a back light for safely riding at night (the roll-top is a style beloved by bicyclists in particular, after all!) A little cheeky swatch of color lines the back of the grab point, a secret splash of color for you.
The Sides
On one side there is a gasp exterior water bottle pocket. We know that we've, to put it gently, steered-away from exterior water bottle pockets in the past but, well, folks keep asking for them! It's OK to stand on principle sometimes but easy access to water is something I think we can all agree with.
The other side is good-sized pocket for keeping items that are a bit larger or longer but still need to be handy.
The Back
Poring over the back panel of the Addax reveals a luggage passthrough for those times when your ungulate must fly. Hidden in this pocket is a seat for the optional frame sheet, little sewn corners to hold it in place should you choose to use it. The back panel has closed-cell foam under spacer mesh to keep your back cool. The bottom has some black pack-cloth to add a little extra strength at a rub-point.
The shoulder straps are our wonderful 1/2" EVAZOTE® EV50 Edgeless shoulder straps, cushy as always, with built-in strap keepers to help keep the danglies at bay. Finally, a fully-removable sternum strap and gate-keeper waist strap appoint this pack in the usual TOM BIHN style.
Device Pockets
A rather large laptop pocket (16.5" x 10") made from our spacer mesh with an exterior zip as well as interior access, much like the one in our Synik 30 but a bit larger! Inside the main pocket, sewn to the laptop pocket, there is a tablet pocket that is almost as big (12" x 9.5") for even your bigger tablets.
The Inside
So now to the inside of the pack. It's cavernous. A quick-tip for packing in and packing out is to flip the roll top over at the bottom seam for easier access to the goods inside when doing your pack and unpack. Along with the tablet pocket mentioned in the Device Pockets section, there are two webbing pockets sized the same as the pockets you'll find in the top-front zip pocket, for the little items you want packed away a little tighter.
As with all our bags, we just threw o-rings at it and saw what stuck. 4 o-rings are positioned along the front-side of the main pocket to help you pull out what you want quickly without needing to dig through your bag in its entirety.
It's what makes the bag what it is. The roll-top is secured in place by two 1" side-release buckles, a male on one side and female on the other. The idea behind this is that you can either clip them to the clips above the shoulder straps or to each other if you want easier access but a less secure attachment versus a more secure attachment but more complex access (after all, who doesn't want secure attachment?)
At 3 rolls we've measured the bag out at 31 liters -- we call it the Addax 31 because this is going to be the way most folks carry the pack day-to-day. One roll to secure the load is measured at 41 liters; no rolls right up to the stitch we measured at 48 liters.
The front pockets are a generous size to help you keep the things you need access to quickly close-at-hand. The top has two equally-sized pockets to keep the smaller bits corralled and the bottom is a nice-sized open space perfect for your headphones.
Both have two o-rings in for your organizational needs.
Right at the bottom of the front is an attachment point perfect for things like a back light for safely riding at night (the roll-top is a style beloved by bicyclists in particular, after all!) A little cheeky swatch of color lines the back of the grab point, a secret splash of color for you.
On one side there is a gasp exterior water bottle pocket. We know that we've, to put it gently, steered-away from exterior water bottle pockets in the past but, well, folks keep asking for them! It's OK to stand on principle sometimes but easy access to water is something I think we can all agree with.
The other side is good-sized pocket for keeping items that are a bit larger or longer but still need to be handy.
Poring over the back panel of the Addax reveals a luggage passthrough for those times when your ungulate must fly. Hidden in this pocket is a seat for the optional frame sheet, little sewn corners to hold it in place should you choose to use it. The back panel has closed-cell foam under spacer mesh to keep your back cool. The bottom has some black pack-cloth to add a little extra strength at a rub-point.
The shoulder straps are our wonderful 1/2" EVAZOTE® EV50 Edgeless shoulder straps, cushy as always, with built-in strap keepers to help keep the danglies at bay. Finally, a fully-removable sternum strap and gate-keeper waist strap appoint this pack in the usual TOM BIHN style.
A rather large laptop pocket (16.5" x 10") made from our spacer mesh with an exterior zip as well as interior access, much like the one in our Synik 30 but a bit larger! Inside the main pocket, sewn to the laptop pocket, there is a tablet pocket that is almost as big (12" x 9.5") for even your bigger tablets.
So now to the inside of the pack. It's cavernous. A quick-tip for packing in and packing out is to flip the roll top over at the bottom seam for easier access to the goods inside when doing your pack and unpack. Along with the tablet pocket mentioned in the Device Pockets section, there are two webbing pockets sized the same as the pockets you'll find in the top-front zip pocket, for the little items you want packed away a little tighter.
As with all our bags, we just threw o-rings at it and saw what stuck. 4 o-rings are positioned along the front-side of the main pocket to help you pull out what you want quickly without needing to dig through your bag in its entirety.
