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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1522076
I love a good accessory organizer! Meet the Cable Kit 3, from AER’s 2024 Tech Collection of bags. This is AER’s latest iteration of the Cable Kit, designed to wrangle all your cords and plugs and doodads while you’re hauling your tech from here to there. Let’s learn more. To the review! What is it? The AER Cable Kit is an organizer for your tech accessories like plugs, adaptors, cables, and whatnot with room for the bits and baubles that might be jangling around in your bag. AER offers this bag in two material choices. I’m testing the Cordura version, but an X-Pac build is also available. Tech specs • 1680D Cordura ballistic nylon exterior • Recyced nylon interior • 840D nylon face with a durable, weather resistant coating • YKK zippers • 9.5" by 6" by 2.75" • 2.6 L capacity • 0.6 lbs total weight Design and features I’m testing several items from AER’s 2024 Tech Collection, which focuses on optimizing tech-heavy carry for creatives and professionals. The Cable Kit 3 is the smallest bag in a lineup that also includes a sling, a brief, two different backpacks, and two different material options (Cordura and X-Pac). The Tech Collection presents with a minimalist aesthetic that emphasizes simple, efficient shapes from every angle. The exaggerated rounded corners & those pronounced corner pleats are one of the signature design features of all the bags in the lineup that softens the edges a bit. The design is efficient, clean, and purposeful. Other than the white lettering in the AER logo, you won’t find any fancy design bits or whimsical elements to detract from the workmanlike vibe. This is my first experience with AER products, and the details in the build are excellent. The Cordura is rugged but has a softer, more pliant feel than many Corudra products I’ve worked with. Hardware is excellent throughout with YKK zippers and rubberized pull tabs. The construction features reinforced seams, zipper garages, and excellent finishing work inside and out. This is a deceptively tough little bag. Not only does is have a nice grab handle on the back side, but that handle is taken as seriously as the rest of the build with a bit of extra padding and reinforcement. They even designed a bit of a cavity into the back panel so that the handle sits flush against the bag when not in use. Open her up, and you’ll find the interior quality matches the exterior. A uniform light grey soft-touch material is used throughout that’s great for visibility. The brilliant bit of this design is the way that it opens. Dual zips run to the base on either side of the bag. There’s a centerline divider that is bracketed by bellowed strips of fabric connecting the centerline to the front and rear face of the bag. Put it all together and you have an organizer that opens like a clamshell, stands up on its own, and fully exposes access to all the internal pockets and pouches while keeping loose articles from falling out. There are many, many pockets and pouches in this little organizer. The front face of the bag and that internal center divider feature shallow zipped pockets for long skinny things (like pens). Their shallow depth keeps them from impeding on the other pocket spaces. Two squared pockets sit behind the front of the bag, with an additional wide drop pocket sewn into the divider on that side. I put my Macbook Pro power brick (the big