Month: July 2023

I recently wrote about the Laulima Malihini Slim I picked up and how amazing it is. The Ion Slim is from another line utilizing the same internals with a different body design. I picked this up in tumbled Aluminum, and it might be the best all-around light I have used.

I’ll tell you why.

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The first time I saw the Rolling Square InCharge cables, I thought they were neat, and perhaps I would buy one at some point — but I was quite happy with the cables I had. And then, I needed to pack for a long international trip, and I was trying to minimize my gear without losing utility. The value of these seemed readily apparent, so I went all in on them and packed three in differing lengths for the trip.

After traveling with these, I’ve found them to be imperfect but good enough to recommend.

Features & Stuffs

These are multi-purpose cables, which (in the latest variants) support up to 100w charging — they are plenty fast. On one end, you have a USB-A port, which pulls off, stays attached, and mostly swings out of the way to reveal a USB-C. On the other end is a Lightning plug, which pulls off in the same way as the USB-A to reveal yet another USB-C. In other words, the configurations you can have here are:

1. USB-A to Lightning
2. USB-C to Lightning
3. USB-A to USB-C
4. USB-C to USB-C
5. USB-A to Micro USB
6. USB-C to Micro USB

The lightning bit doubled as micro-USB in a very precarious way. The cables also worked just fine with my portable SSD, which is USB-C, though Rolling Square does note that the cables don’t support bidirectional data transfer between devices.

The cables are relatively thick, flat, and wide and have a bit of stiffness. They are covered with braided nylon, which feels very nice. They come in three lengths: absurdly short (a few inches), annoyingly short (1 foot), supremely long (6.6 feet), and stupendously long (10 feet). I have one of each of the first three sizes. None are the ‘correct’ size for what I would ideally want (1.5 feet is ideal).

In Use

The first thing to know about these is that they are well done. Every part feels nice. It doesn’t feel like corners have been cut anywhere. But they are bulky. The advantage here is that they take the place of many cables or could potentially be your only cable, not that they are smaller than a dedicated cable.

The big question is whether an InCharge could replace USB-C and Lightning cables when traveling. Yes and no. It can replace them, only if you do not need to use them both at once.

When I laid out my packing list for my trip, I also labeled what devices would need what charger. And I then marked which devices I would need to charge simultaneously. When using this cable type, you must think about how you will likely need to charge.

I sorted out the following:
– I would need to charge an iPad (USB-C) and iPhone (Lightning) each night.
– I would need to charge two white noise machines (micro-USB) during the day and have one cable in my bag.

Once I did that, I realized I needed a set of three cables. But then I needed something longer for the flight, in the case of the charging port not being nearby (as is often the case on the broke-ass planes they charge us thousands of dollars to suffer on). I got the 6.6ft cable — wishing they had a 3ft.

With all that done, I packed all three cables (usually, the two shorter ones are in my office bags). It seemed very clear I needed all three, and I was a tad nervous I was packing light (which means I was doing it right).

Here are my notes on these after using only them on a two-week trip:

• The design is top-notch and hard to argue with.
• The micro USB port bothers me. It doesn’t sit snuggly in the port, and I worry about it breaking the device port. It does work, to be clear, and I had no issues. But it feels precarious in a way that I don’t like.
• These cables don’t tangle, which is nice.
• They feel very bulky when plugged into the device, as they stick out quite far, and the adapter ends are heavy and thick and don’t fully fold out of the way. This was never an outright issue, but it’s likely to bother you if you use your device with the cable plugged in.
• Overall, these pack larger than an equivalent length single cable. So they are only worth it if you replace 2-3 cables with one.
• They can be finicky to plug into specific chargers/devices. And they are sometimes a bit fussy about putting the adapters back over the USB-C ports.
• They did work and didn’t fail me in any way.

I wish I had brought a long dedicated USB-C to Lightning cable in place of one of these, as that would have made things easier overall when I needed to stuff a cable in my day bag and go. While I did carry one of these with me, it was always a little too short for what I ideally wanted, though I did make it work each time.

I packed three of these cables in three lengths. I think it is worth looking at what I would have packed if I didn’t pack these cables.

• USB-C to Lightning 3ft.
• USB-C to USB-C 3ft.
• 2x Micro USB 3”.

That setup would have been lighter and less bulky to carry while performing the same. But it wouldn’t have worked as well. The reason is I ended up needing an extra USB-C one day. The 6ft cord several times for the length. And I loaned the longer cord to my wife as she needed a longer cord to charge her phone and read in bed.

In addition, I could charge three USB-C devices at once the day before travel so that two headphones and my iPad were ready. Something I would not have been able to do with dedicated cables as I would have been short on USB-C cables. That’s the key here: there’s no way to get this level of versatility with dedicated cables for this compact kit.

Overall

But, these are (likely) of declining utility if you are all USB-C on your devices, especially if Apple releases the next iPhone as USB-C. But if you still have a mix of charging ports or want an excellent backup for your family, these are an excellent option.

Where the value ups the ante a little more for me is on the USB-A/USB-C end of the cable. Being able to swap between either end type for different chargers is fantastic. For example, my international 100w Charger from Hyper has a built-in EU plug, two USB-C, and two USB-A charging ports. This meant I could use any/all of the ports when I wanted without needing dedicated USB-A and USB-C cables. That type of charger is great because I can help anyone charge anything, even if the cable is something I don’t have, but the InCharge cables also meant I wasn’t limited on my charging ports available.

And the international travel adapters I bought had a single USB-C port and four USB-A ports — meaning these three cables meant that I would never be without a charger, I could use. That’s a lot of peace of mind when you are traveling in a lot of unknown situations. Redundant? Yes. But I would have packed those items anyways, so the InCharge meant I could ensure I always had the total capacity to use the cables on hand.

I will keep using these cables, especially in my office bags. For travel, I don’t know what I’ll do next time. I never had issues during the trip, but I was never super happy when I needed to use these as they were bulky. Then again, I never had an issue, so that’s a win.

Hard to complain, especially given that these are under $40 each. Recommended, with caveats above.

Buy here.

The final part in my ‘Three XYZ Collection: Budget to Luxury’ series brings us watches. This is actually the collection/post which spurred the idea, since there’s a long held lust among watch enthusiasts to craft the perfect watch collection — consisting of only three. Here’s my take on this classic, without the baggage of my past decisions and life, and of course it is three collections across three budgets.

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I used to be one of those with a desktop and a laptop. That was back in the days before iPads and iPhones. The powerful machine (Mac mini or Mac Pro, aka Desktop) was there to house all the things, with a large monitor and limitless power and storage expansion. The small machine was there to allow me to be portable and to do simple tasks, and it always had limited power and limited connectivity.

Anyone who ran a setup like that remembers how difficult it was to keep things in sync. There was iSync. There was iDisk. There were countless online storage solutions we all used. And, of course, there were thumb drives and floppy disks before them. It was a royal pain in the ass, so if you ever wonder why Dropbox took off so quickly, that’s why.

When the iPad came around, online storage was a little better, and slowly, the laptop became the big machine; the iPad was the portable one. It was for me and many as laptops became powerful enough.

But in December 2015, I leaped to the 12.9” iPad Pro full-time — no more desktop or laptop. And at that point, it no longer made sense to have a smaller device that wasn’t my iPhone. Because, as in the decades before, it was hard to have things magically synced between two iPads. It was mostly there, but not quite. A Mac and an iPad — yeah, you could sync those up enough, as that was mostly syncing files and not settings. But two iPads? Not so much.

So I’ve mostly stuck with a 12.9” iPad Pro since then and used my iPhone when I needed to be more portable. But there’s an issue with that setup: the iPhone isn’t comfortable holding and reading on for long periods. And it’s even worse to connect a keyboard to and write with. It’s not as good as a portable workstation—unlike the iPad or the laptop before.

The 12.9” iPad Pro is incredibly powerful and spacious. But it’s a large footprint and a good amount of weight (especially with a keyboard cover) to take around. If all you do is go from home to the office, it’s not so bad. But when I travel, I notice the weight, the bulk, and it’s frustrating.

So for a big trip, I took with my family to Italy, I knew I wanted to sort something out so I could slim down. I bought a secondhand, base model iPad Mini 6 (64GB, WI-FI only) and took that with me. I knew I wanted the Mini screen size for videos on the plane and writing when I had the time — so I wanted something more than my iPhone.

What I didn’t expect is that all those woes of decades past are truly a thing of the past. And I forgot how freeing a device the size of the iPad Mini is.

I love this little thing.

Size, Form, Specs, and Such

This is an iPad Mini 6 with WIFI only and 64GB of storage. There’s not a lot more to talk about which cannot be said with these images:

In Use

I’ve been putting this through the test. I used it for days instead of my iPad Pro. I only took it on a 12-day trip and used it for 13+ hours of travel (each way) to backup/edit photos and everything else. I’ve written countless articles on it too. It’s been tested.

And it’s good.

It’s not great, the iPad Pro is great, but it is good. The screen isn’t as good, and the speed can lag when you push it. But, the weird thing I found about the Mini — the part I wasn’t really prepared for — was how much I prefer using it over my iPad Pro.

iPad Mini 6

iPad Pro 12.9

You get that impossible feeling when you pick the Mini up in your hand. The how can this thing do that — feeling. I got that with my first iPhone. I got that with the first iPad too. Sometimes I feel that with random other devices — they seem impossible that they can be so good, powerful, and small. The iPad Mini is all that and then some.

It fits perfectly in my hand. If I need to hold an iPad for anything, I want it to be the Mini. Same with carrying it around — even with the bulkier external keyboard I have for it — it’s my preferred device to carry. When I carry the iPad Pro, I know I am carrying the iPad Pro. So my carry of it is intentional: only when I know, I will use it.

The iPad Mini is a device you can toss in ‘just in case.’ It takes up very little room and is very competent as well. It’s good.

Where it’s not good is when it comes to onscreen typing. The landscape keyboard is cramped, and the portrait is too large. So you need an external keyboard if you want to type, and it’s all good. There are countless videos on YouTube of people expressing love for this device, and I get it now.

The iPad Mini quickly became the device I prefer to use for anything but writing. Except mine doesn’t have cellular, so that preference is limited to my house, where the wifi is plentiful and fast. Tethering, sadly, is still as shitty as you assume it is.

Mini v. Pro

I started at the top, talking about desktops and laptops. I brought that up for a reason. The main drawback for a long time was no background sync. So you couldn’t seamlessly move from one device to another and keep going. But with the current iPadOS and if you fully buy into iCloud — you can easily do this. I do it all the time.

I kill my iPad Pro/Mini battery at least once a day. I used to grab a charger to keep going. Now I switch iPads and keep going. It’s seamless. While Settings are not syncing, almost everything else is — you’ve likely experienced this with your iPhone already; it carries over when using two iPads.

But the Mini feels like the older Apple laptops, where they had limited power compared to their desktop counterparts. The iPad Pro has more power than you can harness with the OS/Software. The Mini, you can top out if you try. Toss a dozen 48MP raw files on it, and start processing, and things will jitter occasionally. Not so with the iPad Pro.

Is that an issue? Probably not, because you are editing a 48MP Raw file in Lightroom on an absurdly small device and using an Apple Pencil. What a world we live in.

What the Mini can’t do is replace your Mac. You’ll struggle. The iPad Pro absolutely can, but the Mini can’t. It lacks stage manager and a better screen, and the screen is tiny. Theoretically, it could, as it’s certainly more capable than that 2015 iPad Pro I moved to full-time, but in some ways, the landscape has changed, and we demand more from these tiny computers. I think you’ll struggle to have this be your only computer — I know I have. But as a supplement? Yes, please.

My iPadOS Complaint

This is a section made so I can say: Apple, if you insist on 64GB being the base iPad storage, then at least respect users enough to make iPadOS much better at seamlessly handling offloading to make room locally. Right now, iPadOS sucks at this. Right now, it purges things in apps using iCloud for storage instead of being more aggressive with Music or Photos. There’s very little user control and yet very little action on the OS part. It’s slow to react and slow to recover.

I had 14GB free on the device for over five days, and for all five days, the iPad Mini said it couldn’t sync UP my photos in Photos because the device storage was full. But the device had plenty of space. Try harder, Apple.

Overall

The iPad Mini 6 is the perfect device for someone who still insists they need a Mac for everything. Or for someone who likes to spend money and has a larger iPad Pro — and wants something extraordinary for reading and consuming content.

When/if Apple tosses an M1/M2 into the iPad Mini, I’ll buy another. This time with Cellular and more storage, though. I don’t need a new iPad Pro, but I am keenly watching/waiting for a new iPad Mini.

Buy here.

Note: this item was provided by Mystery Ranch for review.

I’ve long recommended the Mystery Ranch Urban Assault to anyone asking me for a good backpack. It’s the backpack I recommend the most, because it’s versatile, comfortable, easy to use, and the price is competitive. But there’s odd things about it, and so when I heard Mystery Ranch was working on a bag based on the Urban Asssault, but updated to be more EDC friendly, I requested an early sample of the bag.

The new line is called Catalyst. It comes in 18, 22, and 26 liter variants. I have the Catalyst 26 in Shadow, and I’ve been testing it for some time now. It’s almost a straight upgrade from the Urban Assault line. So let’s dive in.

Specs & Dimensions

As mentioned, the bag is 26L, and it’s on a similar footprint to the Urban Assault 24. However, it’s designed in a more integrated fashion, so while I always loathed the looks of the Urban Assault 24, the Catalyst 26 looks quite nice. In a lot of ways, I mistake the Catalyst 26L for the 22L variant since it looks very similar.

It’s made from recycled CORDURA Nylon, something Mystery Ranch has been using a lot. It feels really nice. Perhaps the biggest addition here is the two external water bottle pockets on each side of the bag. I know there are a lot of people who wanted this with the Urban Assault — the Catalyst has it. And those two pockets aren’t baggy looking, they sit cleanly and smoothly against the bag, while still allowing full sized water bottles to ride securely in them. I’m a big fan.

In Use

When I first cracked the bag open, I was excited. It was exactly what I was hoping for: a larger Urban Assault, with a dedicated laptop sleeve and external water bottle pockets, without sacrificing looks. Boom, I had it.

What I didn’t expect was all the small little upgrades throughout the bag which make it a gem to use. The quality is tried and true Mystery Ranch quality. The Nylon feels really robust to the hand, without there being rough nylon sitting on your clothing. This particular CORDURA feels like something between a 500D and 1000D. A little thicker and rougher than 500D, but not all the way to 1000D, it’s a very nice material.

The harness is simple, subtle, and comfortable. It’s not fussy, and its something almost anyone will instantly find useable and comfortable.

Walking through the bag, you get:

• External laptop pocket. This has a divider in it, where you can keep a decent amount of gear. I can carry my two iPad Pros and a notebook. You could mix in a MacBook too if you wanted. Access is via two zippers from the top. Simple, easy, perfect.
• 3-Zip design is still on this bag, but I suspect the zipper has been redesigned here as it moves better than any other 3-zip I have had from Mystery Ranch. There’s no binding on the zippers as you pull the main zipper up or down. It’s really top notch.
• The top pocket of the lid is identical to most of the Mystery Ranch bags, and is cavernous.
• The two external water bottle pockets stretch slightly out, and mostly inward. They have a lightweight elastic at the top. If the bottle doesn’t ride low enough in the pocket, there’s not enough friction to keep it from falling out if the bag finds itself in an awkward position. A 32oz Nalgene is on the cusp here as far as securely staying in the pocket when pushing the bag flat under an airplane seat in front of you.
• Inside the bag is a plethora of new organization options. Three zippered mesh pockets, a handful of open top pockets, and a couple of elastic loops. They are going to be hit and miss for people, but there’s little downside to ignoring them completely.

This bring us to the first miss on this bag: pen slots. There are none. There are elastic loops you can use, but none of them hold a pen very well. The top mesh pocket seems made for pens, which isn’t how I prefer to carry my pens. I wish the bag had even one slot to store a standard pen. As it is, the loops are too large, and either too deep or too shallow to securely hold a pen. I use the top mesh pocket on the back panel of the bag.

There is only a few other downsides:

• The load lifters add clutter to the bag, without adding a ton of value. I’d prefer to see them removed all together.
• For me the straps would be better if they were a half inch wider at the widest points on them. They aren’t uncomfortable, but I do wish they were a touch wider. That said, for people with a smaller frame, these straps are going to work really well for them. It’s always a tricky balance to make a strap which works well across many body types and shapes, and I think the balance is struck well here.
• The sternum strap is what I’ll call the ‘lightweight’ variant, where it hooks onto a thin/small daisy chain. It’s not bad, and it is very easy to clip off, but it’s not particularly robust if this is something you rely heavily on.
• The org inside the bag can be a little fussy to use as it goes decently low into the bag, but not all the way down. Leaving a bit of a void of space at the bottom of the bag, thus dragging something out from that section may interfere with items you have stored in the org. Not always, but sometimes.

However, let’s talk about the positives of this bag, because there are a ton, so these are just a few:

• There’s no zipper stick as the vertical zipper moves down the center of the bag. I mentioned this above, but it’s worth mentioning again, as this is the top complaint I get about the Urban Assault from my kids.
• The internal organization take ups zero space if you decide you don’t want to use it.
• You’ll not notice the laptop sleeve at all, but you’ll appreciate the heck out of it.
• It holds a ton of gear, while being a lightweight bag to carry. It holds more than I need for the office.

The thing about this bag: it could be the only backpack you need. I don’t see a downside to hiking with it. It seems perfect for travel. It is fantastic in the office. It is comfortable to wear, without being fussy to wear.

When I started using this bag, it took absolutely no time at all to get used to it. I tossed my office gear in it, and off I went. Then I put it away for more than a month, as I was waiting for the release date to come up. And when I pulled the bag back out, again it took no time to get used to the bag, and to appreciate the smart design. In use, back and forth from the office, this backpack is a gem.

One big improvement: the top handle, it is awesome. A really nice add, and something Mystery Ranch generally doesn’t have on many of its backpacks. The Catalyst also has enough depth it can somewhat sit up when it has some weight in the bag. While still not looking big, and carrying a ton.

So yeah, it’s quite good.

Compared to Urban Assault

The big question is how it compares to the Urban Assault. At first I thought the comparison was that this was an Urban Assault, but for the office. That’s true, but the Catalyst is more than that. The Catalyst has almost no downsides when compared to the Urban Assault line.

Technically, you could argue the Urban Assault has better materials with 500D. But I am not sure how much any of that matters. And even then, the top handle on the Catalyst is light years better than the Urban Assault.

The true distinction is that the Urban Assault is a stripped down bag when compared to the Catalyst. The UA is a blank canvas for the user, where the Catalyst is trying to nudge you to being organized.

If I were buying a bag to use in the outdoors/woods: Urban Assault. But for actual urban use? For the office, for travel, for school? Catalyst is the better bag.

Overall

I love this bag. It’s fantastic. It does come at a steeper price, with the MSRP on the Catalyst 26 coming in at $179. It’s not the bargain that the Urban Assault is out of the gate, but it is certainly the better bag of the two.

Highly recommended. This is now the bag I will recommend to people who don’t want to think about bags, but want something great.

Buy here, $179. (18L and 22L variants.)