Pilot

A great middle ground EDC

I got my Pilot because I needed a "middle ground" EDC bag between my DLBC (too small) and S30 (too big, and more "travel" than "office" vibes). The Pilot fits that bill very well: it's plenty big to carry my EDC load (a 15" MacBook Air, odds and ends in an HLT2 that fits perfectly in one of the side pockets, and a Larq water bottle) with enough-but-not-too-much room to spare for extras like the occasional book between the main compartment and side compartment that's not carrying the HLT2. And, as a bonus, I love the bottom-zippable design of the luggage passthrough, which makes a great spot to stash small items like papers that I need to quickly stow. The only reason I'm dinging it a star is that a Cache is more or less essential with no built-in laptop compartment (or even a compartment outside of the roomy main compartment that even could work), and said Cache eats up a lot of the usable space in the main compartment. In my perfect world the main compartment would include at least an unpadded laptop-sized compartment since that's realistically fine for moving from home to car to office, so hopefully that's a consideration the TB crew can look at for the future.

Highly functional, tasteful bag

This bag is exactly what I was looking for, being durable but also looking classy enough for office settings and not too bulky. I don’t care about the water bottle compartment at first, but having flown with it, I absolutely loved it. The bag is well structured and you can fit a lot in it. Two things I would point out are that the padding where the laptop goes is minimal and that the straps do squeak after carrying it around. I suggest a laptop sleeve or simply a notebook or folder in there to support the laptop for the first one, and for the second one some sort of lubricant will get rid of the squeaks. Those are minor complaints for a bag that I expect to use for a lifetime.

Pilot bag

I'm a frequent traveler cross country as well as Europe. I usually travel with a smallish backpack and carry-on. Pilot fits my basic needs on the plane and its pockets are great for smaller things like passports and headsets. Love love love the fact that the outside pock zips open to sling it over the carry on handle and at gate I can zip it back up and put extra goodies in it. The bag is thoughtfully designed. I'm a new Tom Bihn purchaser, so getting to know the clips and pockets and extra interior bags (like how does one clip the computer bag into the pilot)? is a bit confusing. Overall the quality of the bag (material, sewing, extra clips etc) is superior .