Looking for feedback on my everyday carry / get-home bag set up. What would you change?
I've been carrying essentially the same backpack system for over 10 years: a 2015 Tom Bihn Synapse 25. It's served me incredibly well, but I finally decided to order an Evergoods CTB26 to see if a more modern layout (clamshell opening, better laptop compartment, external bottle pockets, and a more rectangular interior) better fits how my kit has evolved.
I'm hoping to get some feedback on the overall philosophy and see if anyone spots blind spots, unnecessary redundancy, opportunities to simplify, or better implementations.
My bag serves three primary roles:
- Everyday work bag (creative/media industry)
- Travel bag (vacations, family trips, days in NYC)
- Get-home bag
The get-home aspect is what drives a lot of the contents. I live in northern New Jersey and frequently travel into Manhattan for work, etc. The design scenario isn't one specific disaster—it's really anything that would require me to get home on foot. That could be a prolonged regional power outage, major infrastructure failure, severe weather event, or anything where trains, PATH, ferries, bridges, and cellular networks are unavailable or unreliable and I'm left walking home over the course of 24–48 hours.
It's not intended to be a dedicated bug-out bag or a pure get-home bag. It's an everyday backpack built around modular pouches that i dont dig into 90% of the time - so I can adapt it to the mission (for example, removing my tool pouch when flying carry-on). The goal is to carry a bag that's genuinely useful every day while maintaining the ability to continue making progress toward home despite uncertainty.
The biggest constraint is that I actually have to carry this thing every day. If it turns into a 30-pound dedicated get-home bag, it's failed its purpose because I'll eventually stop bringing it. I have my car kit for that.
My normal everyday carry (including my 14" MacBook Pro) weighs about 15.5 lbs. That's before adding a water bottle (I'll likely be carrying a 32 oz in the CTB26), and on vacations or family trips I'll often add a camera and a lightweight jacket, plus misc stuff.
Everything is modular. The photos show the layout, but it's basically:
- Tech pouch
- Tool pouch (Leatherman, GMRS handheld, Knipex pliers, compact pry bar, compact hacksaw, etc.)
- Medical / Dopp kit - assorted meds, electrolytes, comfort, hygene, etc.
- Snacks
- Emergency pouch (Sawyer filter, shelter items, repair supplies, , 0.5 medkit, notebook, etc.)
- Spare clothes
- Battery bank, flashlight, paper map, and other odds and ends
I've actually started weighing every pouch because I'm realizing that while I don't necessarily want the lightest bag—I want every ounce to earn its place.
For example, a few things Im debating:
- I probably have some shelter redundancy (multiple disposable ponchos and emergency blankets).
- I'm on the fence about my compact bolt cutters. Part of me thinks they're unnecessary, part of me likes knowing they're there if I ever needed to get through a locked fence or similar obstacle.
- The GMRS radio is one of the heavier items. I carry it less for talking and more because I like having another source of information if cellular networks are overloaded or unavailable.
I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has built similar systems or have evolved theirs over time.
- Looking at the layout, what immediately jumps out as redundant or missing?
- If you carry a get-home or continuity-style kit, what has actually proven valuable over the years?
- Are there lighter or better implementations of anything you see here?
- Has anyone made the jump from a Synapse 25 to a CTB26? What surprised you?
More than anything, I'm interested in challenging my own assumptions. If you carried this bag for a year, what would you remove, what would you add, and—most importantly—why?