I admit it. This bag surprised me. I expected a perfectly normal average duffel – yes, it’s true, sometimes I can be a tad cynical – but I have been humbled.

Call me jaded, but I sometimes think I’ve seen one bag, I’ve seen them all. How different can a duffel be? Honestly, really, not THAT different, but in the case of the Sundown, just different enough. I took it on an overnight jaunt to see a friend in another town, and needed to pack for an urban adventure day, a fancy dinner, and a business meeting the following morning. I admittedly didn’t cram my business suit into the bag – I hung it up in my car like a civilized person – but everything else went into the Sundown. And you know how you always pack just a little bit heavier when you are traveling by car? I didn’t pack the kitchen sink or anything, but I saw no reason to skimp on the essentials; I had an entire station wagon at my disposal. Still, you know what? Everything fit in the bag. I didn’t have to throw things into the backseat willy-nilly; for once I traveled with everything ensconced in a single bag. I arrived with one bag in hand, looking all cool and collected and organized. And then I come onto the site and admit that it was all just an illusion…I sacrifice for my art, what can I say?

The Sundown has a nice roomy main compartment, but the real highlight are the side pockets. There are two outside and three inside, and they fit TONS of stuff. They’re like black holes; you can just keep putting stuff in there and it all somehow fits. And no matter how much you jam into the pockets, the rest of the bag doesn’t bulge out of shape at all. It’s got the now-ubiquitous vented shoe pocket to keep your footwear away from your clothes, and it’s easy to carry thanks to the integrated handle. This, to me, is the best feature. Most duffel bags have a shoulder strap and two handle straps that always manage to be difficult to use – and that velcro wrap-thing that can be used to tie the two handles together? Ugh. The Sundown is different; the handle is built into the bag so that as soon as you zip it closed, you’ve got a handle. No more dangling your bag awkwardly from one strap. Cleverly, the handle also serves as a vent so your stinky clothes have a chance to air out. This does leave basically a hole, but unless you’re leaving your bag out in the rain or setting it on an anthill, it will be OK.

The Sundown is a great overnight bag but could easily serve as a gym bag, though I find it a tad big for that. It’s really more than just an ordinary bag, and it takes a lot to get that statement from me, as you know if you’ve been a longtime reader. I didn’t think a bag could surprise me – but luckily, life is full of surprises!

Many years ago I bought my dog a dog bed from Costco. It is this big round bed with a supporting bolster that goes halfway around. It looks like a doggie couch. It is made of this material that looks like leather and feels like leather, but isn’t. My dog LOVES this bed and uses it all the time. I even shipped it from Alaska to Vancouver BC so that my dog could have his bed while we were in Canada; he loves this bed that much. When he is tired, he climbs into the bed and scratches it like crazy, like he wants to dig through it. So he’s had this bed for about four years. Yet it still looks brand new. You would think I bought it yesterday. There are no scratch marks, no wear, no worn spots, nothing. This dog bed will live for eternity.

So it kind of blew my mind when I got these Haiku sample bags. I’ve seen them around and they are really swank looking. They looked like leather but I know they’re not, so I wasn’t sure what they were. On close inspection I found – they are made of the same fabric as my dog’s favorite bed!

Now, I have kept this revelation to myself until now. Even yesterday, when my fabulous hairdresser and even MORE fabulous eyebrow waxer were looking at the Zip Wallet Haiku sent, they were convinced it was leather. They loved the feel of the soft faux leather stuff. I did not tell them that it was the same stuff my dog’s bed is made out of. It would break their hearts, like it breaks people’s hearts when I tell them I use Pureology Nanoworks shampoo on my dog. What can I say, my dog deserves the best in life.

And so do I, which is why I’m stoked that I get to use these bags. They are sweet! I have the Zip Wallet and the To-Go bag. I am not a purse/handbag kind of girl so I was skeptical about both items, but the folks at Verde PR, who handle Haiku, convinced me to try the Zip Wallet instead of my usual credit-card-size billfold. I was skeptical because I like a lighter load, but I stand before you humbled, ready to admit that I was wrong. The Zip Wallet holds EVERYTHING, keeps it organized, and is easy to carry and stow. The zipper keeps things nice and safe and nothing ever falls out. I use it all the time now and I don’t even remotely miss my little billfold.

The To-Go Bag is a tad more for the heavier traveler. It’s the one I see all over the place, the one that carries your wallet, water bottle, cell phone – you name it, the To-Go Bag carries it. For a light mover like me, the To-Go Bag is adequate even for a full-day urban adventure, carrying a quick change of outfit (hey, some of today’s dresses are really compact!), my cell, Blackberry (shudder), a few snacks, and various other things I might need ahemlipglosscoughcough. For the girl not used to carrying a bag, this one is a pretty good introduction to handbag culture. It’s hip, gorgeous, useful, and best of all, tough. Believe me! Even the most rough and tumble outdoors type can’t mangle this bag. This is the one and only human product that has been dog tested here at Geargals – and it has SURVIVED. Not only survived, but thrived! OK, so I didn’t let Geardog sleep on my Haiku bags. But he has been sleeping on the Haiku bag material for years via his dog bed, and it’s completely unmarked. It never holds smells (once the cat even peed on the dog bed, but no stain and the smell washed right out), and it’s survived much more, and much worse, than I can ever put an actual Haiku bag through.

So if you live an active lifestyle but still like to carry stuff, look stylish, and carry a unique “it” bag without spending more than your skis are worth, have a gander at Haiku and shop to your heart’s content. But I’ve got my eye on that Courier Bag, so hands off, now!

I’m not at all sure what’s going on with the formatting of this post, but I think I’ll keep it for the dramatic effect and the nice juxtaposition between the “Haiku” bag name and the evocative-of-poetry first line of this review. -Ed.

All ladies appreciate a good bag, right? Well, I was recently reminded of how much I appreciate this tough, water resistant, roomy bag that was part of my OR09 swag (thanks, MHW!) and which recently accompanied me and all my stuff out into the field for a week. You know how when you go on a trip, your stuff seems to expand and multiply even though it’s the same stuff you left with? Why a crumpled dirty sock takes up more room than a clean crumpled sock is a total mystery to me. Hmm, must be all that dirt taking up more space.

Anyway, as my trip progressed, I kept having to stuff what seemed like more and more things into the Expedition Duffle. While other bags that were along for the ride gave up the ghost, busting zippers and rendering themselves useless, the Expedition Duffle gamely accepted the overflow, which let me tell you was an incredible relief. Not only did the bag end up carrying all of its original contents, it also gathered up the contents of the broken-zipper bag (which I left behind in disgust) with a minimum of complaint. It turns out that no matter what, you can usually find another nook or cranny in this bag, and the clever design of the lid means you can always close the zipper, regardless of how full you stuff the bag. And the zipper is heavy duty, a big relief after having two zipper failures from other bags on the same trip.

An added bonus was the waterproof fabric. On the last day of the trip, we awoke to 6 inches of snow, and had several hours of work to do, meaning that our stuff was going to sit around and get wet. But not my stuff, since it was in the Expedition Duffle. All I had to do was brush off the snow. The zipper itself is not waterproof, so don’t go throwing your stuff into a river thinking it will stay dry, but the lid covers up the zipper well enough so that water and snow just roll off the top.

The Duffle comes in several sizes, and I’m not sure which one I have since I was so keen to use it I just ripped off the tags and sallied forth. I’m pretty sure it’s the small size, and to put that in perspective I packed for a week’s trip and then some and it all fit into the bag. I’ve seen the large size and I could pack for a month trip PLUS fit my own self into that bag, so choose your size accordingly. I also recommend the wheeled version for you heavy packers, especially if you’re going by regular airplane. And with that, I can finally get to the real reason for this review: it was all just a setup so that I can brag that I traveled by private helicopter so I didn’t have to worry about airline security, schlepping through the terminal, and all that tedious non-private-helicopter stuff.

This bag quickly became one of my favorites. I tried to use it as a gym bag, as it’s perfect for a pair of shoes, a change of clothes, an iPod, and a few other gym necessities; but as it turns out there’s a reason that gym bags are made with mesh. Stinkapalooza!

Bag safely aired out, I switched it over to use as a laptop bag. I dislike traditionally styled laptop bags, so I’m always on the lookout for new styles. This one is great because the top opens up nice and wide for even the most substantial computers, and it has just enough little pockets for various things like pens and notebooks. Not too much room, now – you can’t overload this thing, simply because it won’t let you.

It has two side pockets for water bottles, which generate my one complaint – they are not quite big enough for a Nalgene. Now that would be perfect.

One of the more unique features of the bag is the stretchy, expandable shoulder strap. Spreading out the material helps distribute the weight, and the bouncy fabric reduces impact. The main body of the bag is tough, durable, and stiff, and is slender enough to easily be tucked away in a nook to protect your laptop. It’s perfect for medium-length plane trips and general schlepping around town. I would love to see bigger bottle pockets or have them have expandable stretchy panels to accommodate bigger bottles; and maybe a version with a mesh lid for gym use? Trust me – you don’t want sweaty clothes confined in this gem of a bag for too long! Save it for your laptop, and wait for the mesh version.

Sometimes I don’t have to put something through exhaustive testing, weighing its pros and cons, getting its weight and measure with a jaundiced eye. Sometimes I see a piece of gear and just think “oooh, WANT.” Just like with new relationships, you just KNOW, you know? Of course, months later when it all falls to pieces you’re left with a cynical outlook on the whole thing, and when people coo “when we met, we just KNEW” you think “Yeah, and you thought that about every single relationship you ever had, so you were bound to be right one time, and even a stopped watch is right twice a day, blah blah.”

Good thing Osprey is more reliable than most relationships, because I’ve no fears that the Flap Jill will disintegrate like so many infatuations that came before. Osprey’s quality is consistently top notch and I expect years and years of happiness with my new partner in…carrying stuff. But seriously, I loved the look of the Flap Jill and fell immediately in love with it at OR, and after trying it out in real life my admiration is undiminished. It carries any size laptop easily and securely, and has just the right number of additional pockets and stash places. The main access is nice and big and flops out of the way easily so you can get to all your stuff, but it also straps back down via Velcro AND clips for extra security. I find the Velcro superfluous, but then again I usually do. Speaking of superfluous, there were two extra straps in one of the compartments and I don’t know what they are for. So I dutifully carry them around in case I randomly figure out what they are for. Actually I’m really hoping a reader will just write in and tell me so that I don’t have to strain myself doing my job here.

The Flap Jill makes me almost look forward to going to work. Almost. At least I look forward to packing for work, and that’s a start. The look is cute, it carries lots of stuff, it’s made by Osprey, and it’s named after me. How can you not love it? By the way, you can’t buy it yet, so I can’t link you to a dealer. Aren’t I sweet? Creating a demand for something and then not letting you have it. When I’ve got you whipped into a demand frenzy good and proper, I’ll come back and give you a link. Now slaver away.

How much do I love my Mountainsmith system? So much that I designed the gear racks for my car around the Mountainsmith bag. I never go anywhere without it. I like to keep my stuff organized and this is a CDOers dream. CDO is much like OCD except that all the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. But anyway, back to the Hauler. It’s basically a big bag with three smaller bags inside it, but it’s so much more than that. The three smaller bags are different colors so you can easily access whatever gear you want, and it still stays organized easily. You’d think it would get too heavy when full, but it never does. Those zippers hide portals to another dimension, I swear. It’s easily hoisted out of the car and back again, and since everything has its place, it’s a one-step operation.

The big bag has a rubber-reinforced bottom so it can be set on rocks, dirt, what have you. Why you would want to do that if you’re going to put it back in your hyper-clean car is beyond me, but maybe others aren’t quite as worried about their perfectly clean carpet. Each smaller bag has its own haul straps if you need to grab just one, and they’re all made with great construction and padded sides to protect your stuff. The big bag zippers shut over the smaller bags, giving others the illusion of organization even if you are secretly a cube slob. Whether you’re folding carefully or wantonly stuffing, the Modular Hauler has a place for everything.

One of my favorite features is the interchangeability of components. I took out one of the regular inner bags and substituted the K-9 Cube to make sure my dog not only had all his gear but that it was organized as well. It fit just perfectly, and since there are lots of specialty cubes to be had, you can customize the hauler to carry whatever you want! If I were to design the perfect cube combination, I’d take the K-9 Cube, the Bike Cube, and the Boot Cube. Oh, and the Cooler Cube and a Basic Cube for good measure. Hmm, guess I need a bigger hauler.

Everyone who knows me (or reads this site) knows that I am pretty merciless when it comes to making fun of stuff. Bloggers are currently in my crosshairs, especially outdoor/adventure/sports bloggers.

Since the Geargals site has become more popular, I’ve been pinged by a few outdoorish blogs so I got curious and did some reading. My conclusion: blogs written by outdoorish people are bad. Hilariously bad. As an outdoorish person with a web site, I really don’t know what to think about my conclusion, but my opinion stands. I’ve read five accounts of the same endurance race, written by five different participants – each covers not only their story but everyone else’s story, and each of them are remarkably the same: “It was far, really far. And very cold, and really snowy. I got really cold. I had to ski and ski and ski and ski and then I slept. And then I ate a bunch, and then slept, and I was cold so I skied to get warm. Then I ate. [Insert name of other participant] was struggling, because it was very cold and the race was very long, and very snowy.” The tendency to mention other bloggers is my favorite part. You get these people together and they ALL have to blog about each other, and make ego-massaging comments about how badass and hardcore the other bloggers are.

And the pictures! The pictures. Oh, my. How many billions of pictures do they need to post? “Here is the view from the start. Here is the view 20 minutes later. Here is the view from my lunch spot. Here is a picture of my muddy boot. Wow, that mud hole sure was muddy! Here is a picture of my skis. Here is a picture of my totally disgusting sweaty, blistered, shriveled feet. Here is a picture of my car at the end of my hike.” God! Give me a break. Stop. Please stop. No one wants to see the 11th picture in a row of the same micro-dot on a hillside a quarter mile away that you claim is a mountain goat.

I also can’t get over the number of people who go on a trip and then scamper home to their computers to post the (usually rather mundane) photos all. over. the. Internet. In the course of my research for this article I found a few local folks who post the same trip reports over and over again, on over a DOZEN message boards. They use the same username on all of them. And post the same stuff. Hee! It’s too good. How much of a badass hardcore skier/biker/climber/whatever are you if 90% of your day is spent posting on the Internet – and not even hiding it? And I know I post on the Internet via this site all the time, but that’s different! It’s my actual JOB. It’s not the same. Shut up.

Hypocritical, you say? Hear me out – this blog is about gear. Lots of different kinds of gear, how it performs, and what it’s like. Most outdoor blogs are about….the blogger. One person who is convinced that the interwebs need to know their every move and thought. Hardly any actual, useful, interesting information is posted on these blogs because they are too focused on being soooooo self-contratulatory.

It’s painfully transparent that each and every one of these people is seeking attention, sponsorships, and/or jobs, but since very few of them can come up with anything other than the I’m-so-badass-and-committed-yet-amusingly-self-depracating schtick, none of them stand out. And because these blogs and message boards are just too good to be true and too funny not to be completely in-your-face serious, we’re honoring the outdoor blogger by featuring this MHW laptop bag. Of course, this is a women’s laptop bag, and my few hours of outdoor blogger research revealed the unconfirmed theory that most outdoor bloggers are dudes, so this might not be of help to actual bloggers. Which is OK, since they don’t seem to ever put their laptops away, so they probably don’t need a bag anyway.

First, though, we’ve got to make fun of some folks. For your entertainment, I’ve collected The Very Best of Outdoor Blogs and Message Boards (at least the ones that my one day of research uncovered), in all their hysterically self-important glory. I’m not sure what to do about giving credit where credit is due, but I’m also not sure anyone wants to actually claim any of these quotes. So I’ll post them without sources for now, unless anyone spazzes.

• ” I have got to say that I’m EXTREMELY impressed with myself.”
• “What I have not revealed up to this point is that I loaned [her} my bike, which she knows is a crazily exotic bike, thereby causing her untold intrepidation. Nobody drives so slowly and overcautiously as in a borrowed Ferrari." OK, OK, we get it, your bike is nice and you liken it to a Ferrari. I'm also pretty sure that "intrepidation" is not, you know, a word. Try "trepidation". Now, if any bloggers find this post, I'll be deluged with heaps of criticism about my own grammar and spelling, mark my words.
• "But the blood and humiliation was all worth it to have a chance to meet the master." Note: "the master" is....another blogger. We're not talking meeting Ed Viesturs, here.
• "Sitting at the kitchen table one day later raw is how I feel, like I rubbed my whole being hard up against the earth, scraping away layers, physical and deeper." Now, this person is talking about a ONE DAY ski trip in great weather with good conditions. Drama much?
• "I rode X miles up X feet in elevation in X amount of time in [insert dramatically inclement weather here].” OK, that’s not a direct quote, but it sums up the content of 99% of outdoor blog posts. Trust me, I just saved you a bunch of time.
• “the doc also issued a stern warning that he meant ‘normal for normal people, not normal for [me].’” Oooh, you’re so abnormal. We get it. Eyeroll.
• “I weighed myself about 36 hours after I finished, and I had lost 4 pounds. At that point, I had already eaten about six big post-race meals, and my feet and ankles were still very swollen. At the finish, I was probably 6-8 ponds lighter than normal. For the first week afterwards, I was consistently eating 5-6 full meals a day. I weighed myself again a week later, and I was back to my normal weight. All in all, not a lot of fluxuation.” The fussy hyper detail just to let us know that his weight didn’t change is what got this one into the Best List.

Two words sum up these blogs: WHO CARES? Trust me, bloggers; no one besides your spouse and your mom care about the mundane details of every little trip outside your front door. Give it a rest, already. But for those of you who set their best PRs sprinting for their keyboards to make a post after every hike you go on, take a gander at this MHW laptop bag. It’s spiffy! It’s got bold black and white styling; you won’t look boring and corporate. It’s MHW so everyone will know you’re outdoorsy, even though you’re sitting at the local Starbucks, typing and posting pictures for three and a half hours. The handy outside zippered pocket holds your thumb drives, cell phone, and whatever you can think of to clip to that little spiral telephone-cord looking thing inside the pocket.

For some reason, the zippered opening is not as big as the actual bag itself, so laptop size is limited. My 15″ MacBook fits in the bag with a bit of maneuvering, but those of you with those desk-sized machines are out of luck.  There’s not a ton of extra space for much else, so if you travel with a (small) laptop, a normal-sized notebook, and a few other knickknacks, this will be perfectly sized for you. Have fun typing away!

P.S. I totally have a bet going as to how much hate mail and accusations of hypocrisy I’m going to get over this post, so let ‘em rip. At least I know you can’t get me on the pictures, I just post gear pictures, so there

OK, confession time. I am not a photographer. The complexities of creating the beautiful images that grace web pages and walls everywhere are lost on me. At best I’m a picture-taker, so I would never call myself a photographer. I am, however, the esteemed picture-taker who has captured the images displayed on the Geargals site header, so I’ll just go with that as my qualifications for reviewing this photo bag from Crumpler. And an arduous task this is, too, because it’s going to be tough to convey how cool this bag is. In the picture above it just looks like a backpack, eh? Well, it’s a backpack all right, but it has every single photography-oriented feature that a picture-taker could think of. It has a special, shaped, padded pocket for your 35mm or your SLR (which I do have, by the way, so I know), little places for something called “film” (which I understand they used to use in the seventies, or something), and even a laptop sleeve and various other stashing-places for other stuff.

Like I said, I’m not a photographer, so I tried like hell to find another use for this bag. It fits a smaller frame well, is impossibly sturdy, and since I like bags with lots of compartments, I was determined to be able to use it for something other than lugging cameras, which I don’t do, well, ever. Alas, it’s pretty specialized and really is best as a photo bag. I can contend that it is a darn good photo bag, though, and Crumpler uses material that is practically bulletproof. Any field photographer would adore this bag and I don’t think it will ever wear out. It’s not light, but we’ve had that discussion, folks – it can be tough and not light, or light and not tough. If I were interested in protecting delicate photo equipment, I’d go with “tough”, but that’s just me. And I don’t think you’ll find much tougher than Crumpler (despite the name, “crumple” is something this bag absolutely won’t do). Crumpler makes a lot of messenger bags, photo bags, and various other types of stuff for haulin’ other stuff, and all of it is made with tough fabrics, sturdy construction, an eye for detail, and a weird name. Seriously. I’m not sure why they named this the “Sinking Barge” as that’s not really the image that I want to evoke in a bag that’s got all my cameras in it, but hey. I’m a reviewer, not a marketer….