Digital Home Thoughts: The RoadWired Pod: The Ultimate Gear-Carrying Gadget for Geeks?

So Much Gear, So Many Pouches
After being a Pocket PC geek for over three years now, I've collected a fair amount of gear. I've sold and given away a lot of it over the years (trying to spread the Pocket PC gospel so to speak), but I still have a fair amount left over. And, believe it or not, it was a struggle to find enough stuff to fill all the nooks and crannies in The Pod! There are over 20 pockets and compartments in The Pod.


Figure 4: Everything I managed to fit into The Pod – amazing!

So how much can The Pod fit? Well, here's what I managed to cram into mine:

• iPAQ 1910 in Proporta aluminum case
  
• Pharos CompactFlash 56K modem
  
• Pharos CompactFlash Ethernet card
  
• Pocket PC Thoughts Sapphire Elite Microlight
  
• CompactFlash memory cards: 1.0 GB, 256 MB
  
• MultimediaCard and Secure Digital: 32 MB SD, 64 MB SD, 256 MB SD, 28 MB MMC
  
• PCMCIA CompactFlash adaptor
  
• Pretec CompactTRIO (SD/MMC/MS to CF adaptor)
  
• Prect CompactSSFDC (SmartMedia to CF adaptor, in case I run into a retro camera that takes SmartMedia)
  
• Socket 802.11b CompactFlash card
  
• Socket Bluetooth CompactFlash card
  
• Gomadic Sync n' Charge cable
  
• Pocket PC Thoughts business card, $20 cash
  
• Canon G2 digital camera

I'm sure I could have fit a little more in there, but I ran out of gear that I'd realistically take with me when traveling.

It's All About The Pouches…
There's nothing more important on a bag than how many pouches it has, and where you can put things, so let's get right down to it. A breakdown of all the zones on The Pod, from left to right.


Figure 5: The memory card pouch

This is the memory card pouch. Tight elastic bands allow you to fit one or more memory cards per slot. I could fit one CompactFlash card, vertically, per slot. Two SD/MMC cards fit easily. I can't help but think that these slots were designed for Smartmedia cards, which is a shame – the space could be better used in other ways to fit the more common forms of CompactFlash and Secure Digital cards. There's also a pouch on the inside of the flap with a Velcro fastener.


Figure 6: Lots of space for a Pocket PC – everything from an iPAQ 1910 in a Proporta aluminum case up to a naked Dell Axim fit without trouble.


Figure 7: A close up zoom on the front pouch – lots of dead space for my needs here.

Now we come to my least favourite part of The Pod: the battery and film zone. If this was designed in 1997, I could understand the need for a design like this, but it's 2003. Realistically, if this bag is being marketed towards the uber-geeks like myself, we're using digital cameras, not 35mm cameras. And the vast majority of digital cameras on the market today (and PDAs, MP3 players, etc.) do not use standard batteries or take little rolls of plastic film. So what's with the loop battery and film holders? I spent a few minutes staring at them, thinking if there was a creative way for me to put something in them, but came up dry. I'd much rather see more memory card slots, or some larger elastic bands for spare digital camera batteries (never leave home without them!). There's a mesh pouch with a Velcro top attached to the inside of the flap here as well.