PixelatedImage Blog

I got my Think Tank StreetWalker Harddrive backpack on Friday and as promised, when I got it I randomly chose one of the readers that entered the contest, and that winner is Mike Mahaffey from Texas. Mike will have a brand new Think Tank Streetwalker Pro sent to him by the good folks at TTP HQ in California. Congrats, Mike. Feel free to send us a review, I’d be happy to post it for everyone to read.

As further promised, I also took some time to work with this bag and give you some of my thoughts. As always, this is more of a reaction than a review. Reviews, in my mind, are much more thorough and critical. What I do is a reaction. I tell you what I like, what I don’t like, and whether I’d recommend it. It’s not a field test. I’m also pretty transparent about the fact that I’m sponsored by Think Tank Photo, but insistent that I choose my sponsors and not the other way around and the minute any of my sponsors send me junk I’ll honestly tell you it’s junk. I promise.

So, here’s my thoughts on the Think Tank StreetWalker, in this case, the Harddrive, which is the largest of the three bags, and has a sleeve for up to a 15.3 inch laptop. Street price on this drug is $179.00 and at about 4lbs that makes it $2.80 an ounce. Just so you know…

Small.
My first reaction on pulling it from the box was that it’s smaller than I thought it would be, must be all the larger bags I haul around. It’s by no means too small, in fact, I love the size for hauling the basic amount of stuff about on a daily basis. But compared to my other TTP bags, it’s small. That’s a good thing.

Comfortable.
A lot of these kinds of bags seem like a camera bag with straps thrown on them, but these straps are nice, fit my body, and I love the airflow back – though it’s so cold out right now and ventilation is the least of my worries, I know that this was a sore spot on my old Lowepro Computrekker – it got awfully hot back there! The straps are contoured and have an adjustable sternum strap, as well as stretch pockets for small items like cell phones or granola bar. There are also gear loops (daisy chains) and d-rings on each.

Good Looking.
It’s a nice, trim bag without any of those “look at me!” details some bags get burdened with. I’m not sure anyone’s going to be fooled into thinking it’s not a camera bag, but that has more to do with the rigid nature of protective bags. There’s some sparse blue trim on the bag, and it’s attractive enough but I would prefer none. I’m simple that way. I like black, black, and more black. Totally unrelated to looks, the zippers are all solid, beefy YKK zippers with pulls, and the main compartment zippers are lockable.

Speed Belt Integration
The ability to put the speed pro belt on this is good, though don’t count on being able to remove it without removing the whole bag. If working with a belt AND the bag were important to me, I’d probably leave them separate most of the time so I could take the bag off more easily, but I like that I can join them if I want to.

Pockets
The external pockets are nice, with all the usual extras that TTP puts into their bags, like loops and leashes for card wallets, a business card holder, and places for the little bits and pieces you inevitably need as a photographer. I’m a particular fan of the clear plastic they use on the inside flap, makes finding things easier. In all there are two pockets in the front – perfect for batteries, pens, card wallets, grey cards, etc – two on the sides, about the right size for strobes, and slightly bellowed to allow a little more capacity, while still lying flat when empty. Each side also has a stretch pocket, perfect for water bottles, though not much else.

Inside
Think Tank bags come with lots of dividers, and while I don’t normally use them on my travel bags I might end up using them on this bag as my day-to-day working bag. There’s plenty of them. The key to accommodating the Pro-Sized SLR is a clever internal hinge that allows the deeper body into the top of the laptop sleeve, while still remaining protected. Very clever. Without this the bag would be at least an inch deeper on the outside, or wouldn’t accommodate both the dslr and laptop.

Inside you’ll also find a sealed rain cover and the straps needed to lash a tripod on. I rarely use straps like this for a tripod, but I use them all the time for lashing and clipping other things – lightdiscs, larger water bottles, spare jacket.

Overall Impressions
I like the aesthetics of Think Tank stuff and the build-quality can’t be beat. For a traveling photographer without a lot of gear, this is the ideal bag. If I were shooting with one body and a couple lenses I’d couple this with a couple skins or a Change-Up so I wasn’t always pulling it off my back to get a lens or flash, and happily shoot all day with it while traveling. It’s a little small for me for international travel, unless I’m doing a big trip in which case I could pack my non-essential photo gear into it, and put it with some other stuff into my Stormcase and pull it out and use it on location. Still, for that I’d go with the Airport International, Airport Acceleration, or my much-loved and well-beaten Airport Addicted. For local photographers who just want a day pack for their gear and a laptop, again, it’s an ideal bag.

What this bag is not is a technical bag I’d want to take on long rainy or extreme treks – I still think the best bet for adventure shooters is something with sealed zippers. Still, this isn’t a criticism, and it doesn’t at all mean these bags can’t take a beating. My Aiport Addicted has been over the world with me and in countless crappy locations and it’s taken a beating over and over again.  The tough choice for me if I were looking for a smaller pack would be between the Streetwalker Bag and the new Shapeshifter bag which also has my attention, but for sheer ease of use, the Streetwalker would be my choice.

I encourage you, if this bag interests you, to go to the site and look at the full feature list and photographs there. To date I now have 4 Think Tank bags, three belt systems, and more assorted accessories than I can count and with one small exception they’ve all performed flawlessly. I had a drawstring go on one of my Skins, but to be fair I beat the hell out of that one bag and loaded it beyond what was reasonable, day after day. And Think Tank replaced it immediately.