The only thing that I carry is everything
Posted by Wesley on
Wearing my all-inclusive belt bag on my waist
Nearly a decade ago, you would have seen me wearing all sorts of gadgets around my waist, as evidenced by this television broadcast. The problem with this was clearly illustrated in that video - it takes a bit of time to put them all on the belt, however useful they may be.
I haven't let go of the carry-them-all attitude, but things have worked in my favour. A lot of the gadgets I had to carry separately were now integrated into a single device (smartphone). That meant less stuff to carry, and I was able to reduce the number of pouches and bags on the belt over the years. I ended up with a phone and an external battery each in a holster, and a bag that held adapters, cables, and other miscellany.
iPhone 6S Plus and external battery are easily accessible
But then large iPhones came along. When I put it on my belt, it occupied a sizable area of my waist. This got me thinking: since the phone is thin enough, maybe I could put it in a belt bag that can store other stuff with it. And this is how I now just have this one bag hanging from my waist.
As you can see here, my iPhone 6S Plus and the slim external battery fit nicely into the front pockets of the bag. They're accessible by opening up the flap usually held in place with a hook-and-loop fastener. I also have a paper clip there in case I need to change the SIM card or poke a reset button.
Of course, there's a lot more hiding behind. Let's take a look at the rear compartment.
Unzipping the rear compartment reveals the smaller stuff
Remember the bag that held miscellaneous items I mentioned earlier? This compartment does that job now. It has all the stuff I need during travel as far as tech goes. They have served me well in my recent trips to places like UK, France, and Ethiopia. Since the space is larger, I packed a lot more than I used to. Let me show you.
Compartment is almost emptied out
Many of the small items are placed inside elastic pockets so that they don't shift around or fall out easily. They also make everything fit into a tight space. There are three such pockets, and larger items are placed around them to fill all available room.
Laying out the stuff pulled out from the bag
This is how it looks like when everything (except for the phone) is taken out of the bag. Let me now empty the pockets to reveal all the smaller items packed inside them.
And here is every single piece that's stored in the bag
That's it. Quite a lot of things are packed in the bag that barely fits a large iPhone in front. Here's the list of things as seen from left to right.
Middle Row
- Binder clip (prevents the belt from slipping under the weight of the bag)
- Paper clip (used for changing SIM cards on the phone)
- Apple Watch charging cable
- Smart Geiger radiation detector (plugs into phone's earphone port)
- Compact phone stand 1
- Short-length ballpoint pen
- Bluetooth remote shutter for smartphones
- iFlashDevice HD (OTG SD/MicroSD card reader for iPhones and Android phones)
- 2-port USB charger "For LG Mobile" (2.1A maximum)
- 4GB USB drive with built-in laser pointer
- Reinforced MicroUSB data cable
Bottom Row
- Flat Lightning (Apple 8-pin) data cable (stored with the external battery)
- S.Modo MS-841B 4,000mAh external battery (8.4mm thick)
- iHustler USB charging adapter (forces any USB port to charge iOS devices)
- SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive (32GB OTG)
- Axxen 4GB USB Drive ("Nexcore" branded)
- MicroUSB-Lightning adapter
- MicroUSB-Dock Connector (Apple 30-pin) adapter
- Compact phone stand 2
- Touch screen stylus
- OTP (One-Time Password) generator for banks
- Dock Connector-Lightning adapter (Apple original, required by the external GPS)
- BadElf BE-GPS-1000 external GPS for iOS devices
If I include the phone, I'm essentially carrying 24 items on my waist every day on a single bag. Not bad for something the size of my hand.