Think Tank Urban Disguise 40 V2.0 (Features Score: 21.0; Access. Score: 7/10)

Overall:

Pros =  25.5 points; Cons =  -4.5 points; The Think Tank Urban Disguise 40 V2.0's Features Score = 21 points. (Score sheet posted below.)  Accessibility score: 7.3 out of 10. (Details in Accessibility section below)

Video:

Sturdy as they come, but a few issues.

The Good Stuff

It would be hard to imagine a bag that is made from better materials, was built better, had better hardware choices, and had more options than the Think Tank Urban Disguise 40 V2.0. For a guy who loves to organize, this bag was a dream at first glance because of the multitude of pockets, flaps, and user-definable spaces.  It also comes with a pile of dividers to break up the camera section in infinite ways.

The bag is stout and holds its shape whether loaded or not.  The nylon is stiff and there is a generous amount of foam paneling between the walls of the bag.  I feel like I could stand on the bag to reach things on the top shelf! I also love the extra D rings and the lash points covering the bag.  They give you so many options to attach stuff in different ways.  In fact, I came to find that I preferred to attach one end of the shoulder strap to a back D-ring and the other the side D-ring. I used one of the lash loops to attach my retractable key ring.  I do wish that more bags had these options.

The Think Tank Urban Disguise 40 V2.0 is also a smart design in that they did not make the flap cover the zipper to the main compartment.  It greatly improves accessibility when you do not have to hold up a flap as you dig into the bag for your camera. Since the flap provides weather protection, you can still choose to place items behind its protective wing if necessary. The flap also helps to declutter the face of the bag, enhancing its tech-professional look.  It is a low key, inconspicuous bag that looks tasteful and elegant.  It certainly lacks the flair of the Billingham Hadley Pro (here), but the UD 40 V2.0 remains a good-looking, masculine bag.

Think Tank also include a bunch of goodies that no other company has done.  They included a little digital film wallet (with a built in leash) and a rainfly (also with a built in leash).  They come attached to the bag already so you stumble across them as you start opening the bag and exploring all of its pockets!  It's like finding an unopened gift under the Christmas tree. Don't forget that they also give you more camera insert dividers than you will ever need.  Billingham and Domke give you only one! I love these Think Tank people.

The Mistake

There are a few problems, however.  One of them is not Think Tank's fault, but you will likely get fooled as I did.  Look at the dimensions carefully; the bag is MUCH smaller than it looks online.

In fact, here are three side by side by side photos of three bags to give you a sense of how compact it is.  The first bag is the Think Tank Urban Disguise 40 V2.0, the second bag is the Gura Gear Chobe, and the third bag is the Patagonia Transport 26L.

The Think Tank is small in all dimensions.  In fact, sadly enough, I think it is too small for my needs. My ideal size is the Gura Gear Chobe (19 L).  If I could fuse the best parts of all three of these bags, I would have my dream bag.  That is the subject of another article, however. Here is a photo showing the Patagonia next to the Think Tank where you can more easily see the size difference:

Think Tank does make larger versions of this bag (none are huge), so I might order an Urban Disguise 70 V2.0 which still has fairly trim dimensions (15" W x 12.5" H x 7.5 D or 23 L) despite having a separate padded laptop compartment. For comparison, the smaller Urban Disguise 40 V2.0 that I am reviewing here has dimensions of 14" L x 11" H x 5.5" D or 13.8 L. For further comparison, the Patagonia shown in the photo above (which is really too big from my perspective) has dimensions of 20" L x 13" H x 6" D or 25.6 L.

The Not So Good Stuff

The UD 40 V2.0 has one big problem: it has too many "tall" (top to bottom of bag) pockets on its front. This may sound crazy, given that I love the opportunity to organize all my stuff.  The problem is that all of these pockets are stacked and therefore face significant "volume competition" from each other.  See if you can follow this nutty description: within the organizer panel (on the flap), there is a large open-topped pocket that sits immediately behind a large zippered pocket covering the same area (see first two photos below).  If you use both of these pockets, the items will fall to the bottom of these pockets.  This causes the flap to noticably bulge out of the bottom on the front and back of the flap.  In itself, that is not a big deal.  However, this "filled up flap" will then push against the gusseted pocket that spans the height and width of the bag (third photo).  If you add items to this gusseted pocket, they, too, will fall to the bottom of the pocket and bump up against the bulge coming from the "filled flap."  We aren't done!  Just behind this gusseted pocket is a flat zippered pocket that also spans the whole width and  height of the bag (fourth photo).  Add items to that pocket and voila! your bag looks a chicken with a broken wing.  Had Think Tank simply put smaller pockets spread around different areas of this front panel, then this volume competition could have been eliminated.

So why not just ignore all those pockets under the flap?  I would if I could, but I can't.  There really isn't enough room or spaces in the existing organizer panel for all the little stuff (cords, dongles, batteries, sunglasses).  Also, the other zippered pocket on the back of the bag needs to contain flat items because you will feel non-flat items against your back when wearing the bag. I think that Think Tank out-thought themselves!  I would have preferred a single, higher volume organizer panel over their complex multiple layers of pockets. For example:

Note that the mesh pockets, the pen pockets, the cell phone pocket and the open pocket behind the cell phone pocket all stop 3.5 inches from the bottom of the bag.  The three large pockets along the back wall extend all the way to the bottom of the bag.  As a result, the items in all of these pockets will fall to different levels thereby more efficiently using the entire volume, top to bottom, of this organizer panel.

The other issue is the stiffness of the bag.  I love a bag that can keep its shape and stand on its own.  It is one of the major features I look for.  However, stiffness can lead to two issues:

1.  It cannot conform to your body when you wear it.

2.  Difficulty accessing compartments

When a bag cannot conform to your back or side, then the weight of the bag is felt along the single point or line of the bag that comes in contact with your body.  This leads to the bag feeling heavier as the bag's weight is concentrated on a smaller section of your body.  It also makes the bag feel less stable when moving so you are constantly fighting the bag's inertia.  A bag that conforms to you feels more like you are wearing the bag as opposed to the bag riding on you. This is not too big a deal by itself, but together with #2, it becomes harder to overlook.

In the UD40, you access the main compartment through a zippered slot that spans the top and part of the sides of the bag.  Once open, the stiffness of the bag conspires to make it difficult to pull out and replace items from this compartment.  The opening passively closes itself.  If you had everything centered in a  3 inch x 6 inch column below the opening of this compartment, this would be a non-issue.  Of course, you don't, so this IS an issue.

Further adding to the frustration is the padded pocket in this main compartment.  It is located against the front wall and is designed to hold a tablet or small computer.  Unfortunately, its location relative to the zippered opening, together with the bag's stiffness, makes this pocket largely inaccessible.  As soon as you push the opening back to grab the device, the sides move over the corners of the device preventing you from lifting out the laptop (see first photo below).  Sure you can wiggle it free with two hands, but that can get tiresome quickly.  In the end, I opted to simply put my iPad in the unpadded back zippered compartment (see second photo below).

This bag has a lot of potential (as one can see with it's high "Overall Score" which indicates the a deep feature set). Unfortunately, it comes up a bit short on the "Accessibility Score" that reveals problems with it real world usability.  However, I have to underscore that my index of usability is based on my using this bag as a Crossover Commuter Bag - not just a camera bag. Perhaps camera bags and their associated stiffness are not a good genre of bag for me to be searching within.

Accessibility:

A bag's accessibility is rated on a 1 - 10 scale (10 = most).  Three major compartments are judged.  The accessibility scores for this bag:

Organizer pocket = 7. I do wish that it unzipped more fully as it is hard to access the organizer panel on the left side.  Two zipper pulls would have been ideal.  There are organizer pockets in other places in the bag which are not too accessible, but I confine this rating to the main organizer panel.  Had I included these other pockets, the score would have been lower.

Main compartment = 7. This is a small bag made with stout materials and as a result, you fight the structure (stiffness) of the bag when you are accessing the main compartment.  This is not helped by the fact that the zipper opening is too small. The very center of the compartment is a 10, but the edges are a 4.  Average = 7.

Laptop/tablet compartment = 7. This depends a bit on what you consider to be the tablet compartment.  Clearly, the padded slot in the main compartment is the place that is designed for a tablet or an 11 inch MacBook Air.  However, that slot is difficult to access (see above).  Therefore, I chose to use the rear zippered pocket (not padded or fleece-lined).  It is highly accessible for an iPad. Similar to above, I rate the rear zippered pocket a 10 but the dedicated tablet pocket inside the main compartment a 4.  The average is 7.

Accessibility Score: 7 out of 10.

Other Photos

Score Sheet:

Item	Points +	This Bag	Notes
Made with Cordura or similar nylon material	2	2
Straight stitching, doubled in high stress zones, taped seams - well put together	1	1
Made with soft polyester making it flexible, quiet, gentle on clothing	2
Stout zippers, large pulls, and hardware	1	1
Reinforced bottom for durability and/or weather resistance	1		may not need
Compression straps to slim bag	0.5
Large external water bottle pockets	2	2
Separate, external access to laptop/tablet compartment	3	1	not dedicated
Separate iPad pocket	3	3	inside main
Fleece-lined external pocket for eyeglasses or phone	3
External pocket for eyeglasses or phone	2	1	not dedicated
Large rounded or paddded handle	1	1
Handle centrally placed (front to back)	0.5	0.5
Multitude of pockets for organization	2	2
Open slide in pocket for file folders (internal)	2	2
Open slide in pocket for file folders (external)	2
Ability to slide over handle of rolling luggage	1	1
Laptop section that is TSA friendly (opens up without laptop removal)	1
Flat bottom and perpendicular sides allow bag to stand on own	2	2
Organizer panel within an outer pocket to allow to easy access	1	1
A dedicated cell-phone pocket	1
A dedicated cell-phone pocket that is large enough to fit an iPhone 6	0.5
Large padded shoulder pad with stick coating	1	1
No Velcro used to keep flap closed (quiet and professional)	2
Xtra bright inner lining allowing you to see items easily	2
Light inner lining allowing you to see items easily	1	1
Stiff build that maintains the pack's structure when loading/placing	2	2
Outer lashing points for attaching accessories	1	1
	Total	25.5
Item	Points -	This Bag	Notes
Soft material that will not wear as well as nylon	-1
Simple handle that digs into hand	-0.5
Cannot stay upright due to design	-3
Tips forward when sitting - unstable	-1
No fleece lining in outside pocket for glasses	-1	-1
No fleece lining in the laptop or tablet pockets	-0.5	-0.5
No pass through for attaching to rolling luggage	-1
No dedicated tablet pocket	-2
No external pocket for glasses, phone	-1
No flap for weatherproofing	-1
No external pocket for holding a water bottle	-1
No lash points	-0.5
Handle in middle prevents easily hanging bag on hook	-0.5
Poor hardware choice or design (small zippers, placement of compression straps, etc.)	-1
Lack of reinforced bottom allow for excess wear and poor weatherproofing	-1		won't take off
Black interior making it hard to see item in the bottom of bag	-1
No open file folder pocket	-2
Velcro closure for main flap (loud and unnecessary)	-2	-2
No strap or buckle to hold laptop in pocket if in main compartment	-1	-1
The dedicated cell phone pocket will only fit a small phone	-0.5
Thin or nonexistent shoulder pad	-1
Handle is located in such a way that picking up the bag kicks it into your knee	-0.5
Deep zipper covers that impede opening	-2
	Total	-4.5