What's a TechSling?

[drfish]

I couldn't live with myself if we were trying to profit off of our early adopters.

Keep in mind how important it is to have the weight balanced from left to right and the harness adjusted just right. Those two things really make all the difference. Finding the collection of things to carry in the right side that you possibly wouldn't have on you otherwise is fun though.

[druidcent]

Any suggestions for balancing the load? Or do you just weigh the contents of one side and the contents of the other?

[Forge]

Any suggestions for balancing the load? Or do you just weigh the contents of one side and the contents of the other?

Coat hanger. Hook one side to each end.

[drfish]

Great idea! If you are having trouble coming up with enough weight to counter the tablet side you could try some electrical plate covers wrapped in duct tape. That's what I did until I settled on a load out. If you want something non-metallic try a bean bag. My guess is that it won't take long to sort out the useful items that you want to carry in their place though.

[shaq_mobile]

Definitely the best birth control device ever invented.

Well put. I'm not fashionable at all, but I have a tough time justifying this in my wardrobe. It reminds me of the rolling baggage people use instead of backpacks. Then again I'm not a big tablet fan, who appear to be the main target.

[Dposcorp]

My brother and I got ours today, thanks for the fast shipping........drfish, are we allowed to post pics wearing them?
And can we post tips, comments, and suggestions in the thread, or via PM?

[Yeats]

I just don't understand the appeal of such an item. A holster for all of your tech equipment? Why? How is this better or easier than putting your cellphone in your pocket and grabbing your tablet with your hands or tossing it in a bag/briefcase? Why or where would you ever wear this thing? In an office when you have to go to a meeting or somewhere else? Doesn't seem practical or secure for that matter. Sitting down at a desk with this holster on has got to be uncomfortable too. Wouldn't your tablet or whatever pinch you as you move around?

I am not trying to be mean at all, I really just don't understand the concept I guess. Is this for bike riding or something like hiking? Or is this for everyday around the house or office use? I don't see why I would want to conceal all of my tech equipment in such a fashion. Either I need access to my tablet or phone and i am actively using them in my hands, or I don't and they stay on my desk or on a charger. If i need to take my tablet or laptop somewhere it goes into my messenger bag/briefcase thingy. I don't understand why I would want to layer them around my torso...am I trying to sneak items into somewhere like a criminal? Movie theater recordings perhaps? Maybe i could just stuff the pouches full of candy--no more paying full retail for movie snacks!

On the other hand, if I feel like I am in a place where my personal possessions or safety are in jeopardy maybe this holster would help to hide any valuables as long as I leave them tucked away under a jacket or something--like on the subway or other public transportation. So if all you want to do is conceal your tech gear while traveling through undesirable neighborhoods I can maybe see the point. But for ease of access it doesn't really resonate with me...I see no reason to strap tech to my body.

Hospital & nursing home staff would find this device very useful, I think. Having free hands is a huge plus.

Drfish, how expandable is the techsling? IOW, how portly of a person can this thing fit?

[Captain Ned]

Drfish, how expandable is the techsling? IOW, how portly of a person can this thing fit?

How much webbing you got?

In the same boat.

[drfish]

My brother and I got ours today, thanks for the fast shipping........drfish, are we allowed to post pics wearing them?
And can we post tips, comments, and suggestions in the thread, or via PM?

Got nuts, this is the place, good or bad we want to know (so we can make it better!).

Yeats,
Right now we just have one [adjustable] size harness but its a simple matter to make it larger. As Ned says we just need more webbing. Right now each side is 40" of webbing with the front 2.5" longer than that back. The different sizes are something we need to settle on, we're thinking 36", 40", and 44" but maybe we need to go higher or lower...? We'll see!

Again, PM me with your address if you want to try one yourself.

[druidcent]

Just got it today.. I was pretty impressed to get it so fast

I've got my tablet and phone setup.. now I just need to figure out what else to put in

I'm probably going to look at putting velcro strip inside the zipper pocket to break it up into 2 compartments.. I'm afraid of stuffing things in there and everything clumping at the bottom..

[Dposcorp]

I'm probably going to look at putting velcro strip inside the zipper pocket to break it up into 2 compartments.. I'm afraid of stuffing things in there and everything clumping at the bottom..

That was gonna be my first tip; velcro instead of or in addition to the zipper. Nothing you carry should move around so much that velcro wont contain it.

[druidcent]

I like the zipper (it makes me feel secure about my wallet). My strip will be perpendicular to the zipper, and I won't have to worry about a million things coming out when I pull one thing.

[drfish]

Thanks for the thoughts so far. We stayed away from hook and loop (Velcro) primarily due to noise. If you are wearing this under a nice suit jacket you don't want to tell the whole conference room you're taking something out of it with that distinctive sound, it could work nicely as a temporary divider but you would have to fight to keep it open if you didn't want it. I'll keep thinking of options, compartmentalizing that space seems to be a common concern.

[Forge]

Thanks for the thoughts so far. We stayed away from hook and loop (Velcro) primarily due to noise. If you are wearing this under a nice suit jacket you don't want to tell the whole conference room you're taking something out of it with that distinctive sound, it could work nicely as a temporary divider but you would have to fight to keep it open if you didn't want it. I'll keep thinking of options, compartmentalizing that space seems to be a common concern.

Magnets. A small grid of low-power magnets.

Alternately, a small number of higher-power magnets for the main open/close. This is increasingly popular in laptop bags. It's also not a major concern unless you're transporting floppy disks. You can also make the compartment less of an enclosure, and more of a vestibule. Something like this, maybe:

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public ... dqwKuNRuKQ

Have a large elasticized web pocket towards the bottom, some pen slots, something more or less wallet and/or phone shaped, with a closed top, bottom, and back edge, gussets top and bottom, and magnetized closures at the front. Pull it open, it opens book-style, with the rear edge being the 'spine', with a few different compartments for phone, wallet, spare change, whatever. When done, bash everything back more-or-less in place, let magnets pull front edge closed and semi-flush.


I think I must prototype this.

[Dposcorp]

I understand about the noise; makes sense.

On the tablet side, my 7" tablet seems to move too freely inside the pouch, and the one closing strap has too much slack.

Can we have a adjustable strap and dual straps, instead of just one in the middle?

Also, how about a heavily padded inner sleeve in case I drop my tablet on the conference table or floor while taking it out? It would also help keep the tablet from moving around when inside the pouch.
Heck, could even have a 10" sized pouch with multiple sized padded sleeves, so that a lot more padding would be on a 7" Tablet Sleeve when needed to be secure in the pouch, but less padding for a sleeve for a 10" tablet.

Keep in mind, I am just tossing out ideas as they come to me, so some may be stupid or not feasible.

[Forge]

On the tablet side, my 7" tablet seems to move too freely inside the pouch, and the one closing strap has too much slack.

I'm thinking a grid of small magnets sewn into the lining could fix this, too. Think of about a 1" grid. Anywhere the tablet is in the way, the magnets are too far apart to exert much force. As soon as the tablet isn't in the way, the small magnets snap together. This would kill 'loose' space very easily, and by fine-tuning the magnet strength, this can be either a supplemental closure, or just a way to minimize device movement. You could also make a flap for the leading edge, with 1, 2, or 3 larger magnetic closures, though this might be more device security than 99% of users would want.

Also, how about a heavily padded inner sleeve in case I drop my tablet on the conference table or floor while taking it out? It would also help keep the tablet from moving around when inside the pouch.
Heck, could even have a 10" sized pouch with multiple sized padded sleeves, so that a lot more padding would be on a 7" Tablet Sleeve when needed to be secure in the pouch, but less padding for a sleeve for a 10" tablet.

I can see the appeal of having a single standard for outer dimensions, but wouldn't device-specific sleeves be something better fulfilled by the market than the Sling vendor? It would put a lot of R&D on them, to get accurate dimensions of each and every tablet, and then make up sleeves that possibly few to no people would actually want. I'm thinking something more generic and adaptable might be the best solution.

[Yeats]

My brother and I got ours today, thanks for the fast shipping........drfish, are we allowed to post pics wearing them?
And can we post tips, comments, and suggestions in the thread, or via PM?

Got nuts, this is the place, good or bad we want to know (so we can make it better!).

Yeats,
Right now we just have one [adjustable] size harness but its a simple matter to make it larger. As Ned says we just need more webbing. Right now each side is 40" of webbing with the front 2.5" longer than that back. The different sizes are something we need to settle on, we're thinking 36", 40", and 44" but maybe we need to go higher or lower...? We'll see!

Again, PM me with your address if you want to try one yourself.

Hmm, not thinking of this for me, but I'd like to show this to a good friend of mine who is a nurse. I'll send a PM.

[Dposcorp]

Forge, I was thinking more of compressible foam padding in the sleeve it self.
The exterior of the sleeve would remain constant, to fit inside of the sling. The interior of the sleeve should be able to give a inch or maybe two, based on the type of padding used.
Think of one sleeve for 7"-8" netbooks or tablets, and one for 9"-10" models.

Think of cell phone pouches or general netbook & laptop sleeves and bags; these can fit a variety of devices since there is always some wiggle room and a little give.

These two items below use the terms "fits most phones" or fits 7"-10".

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6875997727

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834990204

[drfish]

I have some sew-able magnets I can try to get to stay in place for this purpose. I'll try a prototype. I understand about magnets and electronics but even with that considered we were still trying to avoid them.

Forge,
"Vestibule" - nice, I like that idea... I'll have to play with that too. But I can safely say its not something we'll jump on right away for production, the design needs to stay as simple as possible for now.

Dp,
The ones I sent are all sized for 10" tablets. The 7" ones aren't something I can share just yet. However, what I did was take a paper clip and put it in the folded over part of the webbing tablet with the male snap. The other side of the paperclips holds the longer strap to it. No metal is exposed to the tablet that way and it should hold just about perfect. I would like to find a nice plastic clip to perform that same roll but haven't yet.



Also, Forge is right where we are regarding the sleeves, there should be plenty of room inside the pouch for a wide variety of 3rd party covers to remain on your tablet when it is in the pouch. The same goes for the phone side. We don't have plans for matching cases to go with the TechSlings.

Pre-post Edit: Just saw your last comment DP, we really want to keep the TechSling as slim as possible. I could certainly add more bulk to it but it would make it more noticeable to the person wearing it... I do have one trick for getting a little more "grab" on the tablet but generally we've gone in the direction of reducing resistance to putting it back in the pouch (since there is nothing to push back against). Its a good perspective though.

[ludi]

For what it's worth, I emailed a link to this thread over to a friend who does roaming IT for a community college, typically carries about seventeen things in his pockets, and is eagerly waiting for the first round of Win8 tablets to hit the market. His exact words: "That thing is made of pure awesome."

So, it looks like at least one of your target markets is polling well enough.

[Forge]

Just trying to earn my keep, drfish. I'll be prototyping with magnetic closures of different types as soon as I have the Sling to test/fit against. I think it'll make more sense then, too, since I'll be able to see what I'm working with.

I'll probably cannibalize an older laptop for bitz and try to run up a vestibule, too.

[druidcent]

Well, I've been test driving it at work today... general reaction was either bewildered amusement or straight up mocking (but to be fair I expected that from the guy). Best reaction was "Is that a tablet holster... definitely worth 30-40 geek cred points" ... It went well with some of the marketing swag I picked up today..

I'm traveling this weekend, so I'll give my full impression and thoughts next week.

[Forge]

Just got mine, wearing it already. Wife gave some funny looks at my new man purse, but didn't laugh at least. I'll pick out a proper large shirt to wear unbuttoned at work tomorrow, give it a proper run through.

I'm not going to need magnets on the main bay. It's a proper fit for my iPad already, a little snug, but it'll work looser, I imagine. More as I think of it!

[Forge]

Also, drfish is a tiny little girly man. The straps fit me fine. The 10" hangs on me to roughly the same proportions as the 7" does on Fish, though.

Edit: I think I might try to replace the snap on the main pocket with a magnetic closure. The snap requires just slightly more force than I like to drop on my iPad.

[drfish]

druidcent,
Bewildered amusement isn't exactly what we're going for but I'll take it! I got the same looks when I first started wearing one around the office/plant. On the other hand 30-40 points isn't bad. My non-endorsed personal slogan for them is, "Are you nerd enough?" Not exactly original but appropriate for our crowd. Honestly though it doesn't take long for people to understand, you'll just have to answer a lot of questions for a few days.

Forge,
Can't wait to hear how your day goes. Do you have your iPad in a case? That's the only way it should be snug. I'd be curious to know which cases any of you guys are using, I've tested some fairly bulky ones and haven't found one that doesn't play nice yet. Also, girly man? I'm 6'3" 234lbs - are you sure you're looking at the right pictures? I'm glad the harness fits though. The snaps are an "easy action" part number because our customer had the same concerns. I always face the iPad so the the screen is against my side. We'll talk about magnets again though, that seems to be a theme as well...

BTW, we made a small change to current production, the one I sent to Yeats is the first one to incorporate it. See below for some crummy pictures but basically we had been using a serger to bind the edges of the sides but we have now switched to covering the raw edges with actual binding. It takes a little more time but its a much nicer look. Left is new, right is old.

[Forge]

Forge,
Can't wait to hear how your day goes. Do you have your iPad in a case? That's the only way it should be snug. I'd be curious to know which cases any of you guys are using, I've tested some fairly bulky ones and haven't found one that doesn't play nice yet. Also, girly man? I'm 6'3" 234lbs - are you sure you're looking at the right pictures? I'm glad the harness fits though. The snaps are an "easy action" part number because our customer had the same concerns. I always face the iPad so the the screen is against my side. We'll talk about magnets again though, that seems to be a theme as well...

BTW, we made a small change to current production, the one I sent to Yeats is the first one to incorporate it. See below for some crummy pictures but basically we had been using a serger to bind the edges of the sides but we have now switched to covering the raw edges with actual binding. It takes a little more time but its a much nicer look. Left is new, right is old.

Yeah, original Apple case, with the funny rim on it. You must just have a small torso or a high waistline. Been keeping screen facing my ribs, snap has eased up already. I like the new edge, but not enough to have noticed on my own.

My Apple-nerd boss will see mine in an hour or two. I'll let you know what he says.

Edit: I just had a brainstorm, or a brainfart, not sure which yet. I was pondering what to wear over my Sling, for a less overt appearance... Maybe make a vest. Nothing too flashy, simple, one or two breast pockets, and put hooks on the inside, to attach the 'sling' parts of the TechSling to. Society seems more accepting of vests than holsters, at least IME. I'll have to sink some more time into this thought, maybe get some sketches made.

[Dposcorp]

Just trying to earn my keep, drfish.

Same here......some of the feedback I toss out is probably stuff you already thought of, but I figure as a beta tester I gotta earn my keep too.

Didnt do any testing yesterday, but I do remember the day before as I walked around that the bottom of both sides when loaded swung a bit as I walked and changed directions.

Any thoughts of adding belt loops to both sides and maybe a in case I wanted use my own belt to hold it down, or even use a nylon belt go over my regular belt?
Some like this, but just plain black with nothing but the buckle.

http://www.amazon.com/Airsoft-Tactical- ... B005DSR3RC

[Yeats]

I've been wearing mine today. More comfortable than it initially looked. I don't own a tablet, I've had a book in the left side pocket and a small writers' guide in the right.

I agree with Dposcorp about a belt-ish strap for the bottom.

Next week I'll have a friend who is a nurse try it out for a while.

[TheEmrys]

I wore it all day yesterday. I have to say, it was more comfortable than I thought. Currently I'm packing a Kindle Fire, LG dumb phone, and my wallet. Here are my thoughts.

I like it. A lot, really. I saw that someone was interested in size accomidations. I'm a pretty big guy who works out a decent amount. I'm always somewhere around a 54" chest with some pretty big shoulders. After I played with the straps a bit, it fits very well. I did not feel constrained at all. I honestly wore it around for nearly 8 hours.

The D-rings are nice, but not practical. I had initially thought that keys would be great on a caribeener, but the jingle... Lord Almighty, no. Maybe some sort of internal D-hook so they could be put on inside the large pouch? Either that or smaller pockets.. perhaps one for a USB stick and another for keys. Not sure how that would work.

I found getting my phone to be tons more practical than when I had it on a belt clip or a front pocket.

One other thought that occured to me would be an inside pocket that would be next to the wearer. Something you can slip small things in. Nothing large, but wide and deep enough for a folded piece of paper, envelope, something like that.

Overall, I'm pretty thrilled with it. Will report back after my bike ride tomorrow.

[StrangeDay]

I've been looking for something like this to carry to the gym, and on bike rides. That way I don't have to fiddle with the tiny fitness apps on my phone, and I can carry heaping mounds of music for my workout.

Plus, this thing looks all kinds of cool to me.