Ondrej Holzman When I'm in September tried travel bag from Unit Portables, I liked the concept of the Swedish company so much that I wanted to try other products from the same workshop. Now I got my hands on a laptop bag referred to as Unit 01/02/03 because it consists of three parts. I then added a fourth part to them, the case for the Unit 04 tablet...
Together, these four parts give a relatively compact system, which, however, can be freely modified according to current needs. The basic space that the Unit 01 – that is, the shoulder bag itself – provides is one giant pocket, in which a zippered laptop pocket is firmly inserted. Unit Portables offers two variants, for 13- and 15-inch notebooks, but the external dimensions are nevertheless preserved even with the smaller pocket size.
The laptop pocket is located in the middle of the large storage area, so you can put items on either side. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, it depends on the shape of the objects you need to put in the bag. However, if it is mainly a laptop, books, sheets of paper, etc., you will not have any problem with the storage space of the Unit 01.
For Unit 01, it is important to mention the external dimensions, they are 58 x 36 centimeters, and when I first got the bag in my hand, I was very surprised at how big it was. From the product images, I was expecting a "traditional" sized laptop bag, but Unit Portables have gone much larger here.
One of the reasons is the very unconventional way of closing the entire bag. The last fifteen centimeters or so of polyester, from which the bag is made, bends down in the upper part. Two studs are clicked to "lock" access to the contents, and the upper part is folded, which both reduces the dimensions of the bag and, on the other hand, secures its contents even more.
However, the bag from the Swedish manufacturer does not necessarily have to be worn over the shoulder. If you don't fold the top part, you can carry it like a regular bag in your hand. A so-called ear in the upper part of the bag is prepared for such a case. At that point, you also get potentially more space for your items, although you won't be able to store much in the very top of the bag.
You won't find any pockets inside the Unit 01 bag. Only here for a laptop, there is no place to store stationery or other small things that you would not like to put in a uniform and large space. That's when Unit 02 and Unit 03 come in. These are two pockets measuring 15 x 20 and 15 x 15 centimeters that can be zipped and easily attached to the outside of the Unit 01 bag.
Unit Portables have once again used their ingenious system for attaching additional bags, where you have four rows of attachments where you can attach the selected bag with a stud. The inner laptop sleeve also has grips on it, which means that these small bags can be attached to it as well, creating an improvised pocket inside the Unit 01. Also, the additional pockets only offer a single, undivided storage space, and this may not suit everyone.
I have no problem with connecting these additional spaces inside the bag, moreover, it is definitely not necessary to connect them with studs, just insert them freely into the inside. However, I didn't really like the snapping of small bags from the outside. If I take into account that the studs and the fastening method are made in such a way that it is really not easy to remove the bags from the big bag (and that sometimes it is really laborious to unclip the studs), I don't really like that access to them is not secured in any other way.
If your bags are attached in the uppermost position and at the same time you fold the top flap of the bag when carrying it, it will cover the zippers of small bags. But if I wanted to pin the additional bags somewhere lower, suddenly anyone else can get to their contents within a few seconds, and that is not ideal at all from a security point of view. Personally, I would then have to consider very carefully what items I put in these pockets.
The advantage of these additional pockets is that you can unfasten and fasten them at will, depending on what you need. Although the studded solution may seem rather elegant, I'm not sure if it's that comfortable. Changing and relocating the attached panniers is not a very convenient or quick operation, so I can rather imagine that I will have to get used to some settings that I will later use in the vast majority of cases.
Along with Unit 01/02/03, you can also purchase Unit 04, another additional bag, this time specially designed for the iPad. However, with dimensions of 33 x 21 centimeters, the large case is not very suitable for only the large iPad and the iPad mini. The Unit 04 also has studs for attachment, but I can only imagine their use inside the bag, where you attach the case with the iPad to the laptop case. I would not dare to carry an iPad practically unprotected from the outside.
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While I tried my best to like the Unit Portables laptop bag as much as possible during testing, there were still a few points that spoke against it. Although additional pockets are an interesting alternative, I still lack a place inside the bag for writing utensils, or a place for more sensitive things like keys or a wallet, which are usually objects that you don't want to throw "in the same bag" with other items. It is possible to use one of the additional pockets for these purposes, but they mostly did not suit me so much either in terms of size, their solution or the way they are attached inside the bag.
In short, those who like many pockets and divided storage space will not go far with Unit Portables. I would also like to mention the single separate pocket on the back of the bag, but it is really only possible to put a few papers or a thin book there, because it is a very narrow pocket and, moreover, it is not closed or protected in any way.
As I already announced in the introduction, I was very surprised by the size of the whole bag, so I recommend that you see it with your own eyes and try it on before buying. If you are looking for a laptop bag in which you do not plan to carry a cable, a few sheets of paper and other small things, the Unit 01 with its accessories may be unnecessarily large for you. However, it should be noted that even if you fill the bag from Unit Portables decently, it will not look particularly bloated and bulky, which is a positive.
However, those who, on the other hand, are looking for more than just a bag in which to store their laptop can be satisfied with Unit 01/02/03 and, by extension, Unit 04. For 1 crowns, you get not only a relatively functional, but also an elegant solution that stands out from the competition with its style. In addition, you can choose to buy bags in up to 975 different colors, while the color of the large bag and the additional bags can be different.
We thank the official e-shop for lending the product UnitPortables.cz. In cooperation with him, we prepared the possibility for Jablíčkář readers to get a 10% discount on the value of the order. Just add the code "jablickar" to the note in the order and the discount will be deducted additionally. The event is valid until 15.01.2014.
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I agree with janmisar and I would like to ask if you also got your hands on Unit 07 and 08, I am thinking about buying them. And I would also like to ask what material the bags are made of. Thank you very much
They are made of polyester, as I write in the article. I didn't have Unit 07 in my hands, but I expect it to be as well made as the iPad case. I have already tried Unit 08 and there is no problem there.
carry over(d) shoulder
So I really like this from Bree:
http://bree.com/de/Herren/Punch-93.html
It's very similar to UNIT, but it's a rubberized pad on both shoulders.
I just couldn't find anyone closer to Brno than in Austria who would sell it.
Thomas b.