So, after evaluating the bag, we absolutely destroyed it, took it apart piece by piece
in order to evaluate it in comparison to a brand new bag that was never been touched.
So we looked at every single part, looked at every single pocket, evaluated the fabrics,
the foams, the webbing, carabiners, the zippers, and everything in between in order to see
what did really well and where we can improve.
So we first started looking at the fabric, which is unbelievable how much it changed.
You can see the comparison in between a brand new bag, that bright orange color, and how
it basically tarnished. And it has tons and tons of staining.
What was really interesting is that- Fresh or lemon. Did say that the zippers did a really good job of keeping out any dust and debris, and
that's basically just from his hands. So it's quite unbelievable how, especially when you're working in such a rigorous environment,
how dirty your hands can be and how much it basically covered the fabrics.
So yeah, you can see that with the ripstop, you can see that with the reprieve, and then
with the microfiber as well. Because it's near the bottom of the bag and he keeps a lot of tools in there, it is definitely
pilling and it definitely experienced color change, but there was no issues with the actual
structural integrity of the fabric, so we didn't see any holes or anything like that,
which is something that is great because then nothing could potentially get into the bag
from the inside. Another thing that was quite cool to see is all of the different layers of the foam.
So you can see with this cross section, you see that this is the miner's bag and then
this is a brand new one, and then you can kind of see the in between the layers and
how much that foam kind of stayed in place and didn't get compressed.
What was really interesting is that at the bottom of the bag, as you can see on this
one right here, is from the little rip that was noticed and mentioned on the WAN Show,
you can see a lot of the dirt that got in, and as well as the thickness.
So when measuring it, the original thickness was eight millimeters, whereas when looking
at the thickness of the miner's bag, it ended up being an average of around four millimeters.
So it was definitely compressed, especially since he was suspending it, carrying around
like eight pounds of tools, it definitely got compressed over time and that's something
that we will be looking at and potentially evaluating, maybe we were choosing a different
type of foam. The current foam that we're using is a PE, which is a polyethylene foam, and we may be
looking at something like an EVA foam in the future. Like for example, when looking at our backpack straps, you can see these molded foam is an
EVA foam, and I mean, there was very little compressional change.
It probably was around two millimeters, which is very, very good considering the rigorous
conditions that it was in. The other thing that was really interesting is the fact that, and a huge selling point,
was the top handle. So you can see that there's, besides the change in color, there really was no wear and tear
to the handle, especially since he did mention the fact that he hangs it from this handle.
Therefore, it did an unbelievable job with the riveting that's on the sides.
And looking to it, even like the mesh, you can see with the differences in the mesh that
basically from his hands that it is a whole new color.
Follow-up on that is evaluating the foam. So this is the back foam that's mainly used for ventilation, and it has a little bit of
padding itself. You can see that with the mesh that there's definitely a massive color change.
But what was interesting is that when you look at the foam itself, and especially in
the cross-section, you can see that it was from more of a triangular shape to more of
an oval shape, just due to the wear and tear of the bag.
And that's something that, again, potentially with a difference of foam after evaluation,
we may switch to something that is a molded foam that will retain its shape.
So there are plans on changing the backpack at some point?
There is potential change in the materials and the evaluation.
We always want to strive for having the best of the best materials that will stand throughout
the test of time. And while it may not be in the immediate future, we always want to see in what ways we can
improve. So that's something that after this evaluation, we kind of honed in on how there was definitely
a lot of compression in the foam, and that's something that we want to look into further,
especially when you're putting a lot of your electronics in your bags. The last thing you want is for that foam to be compressed even more, so just something
that we want to look into and to create maybe a V2 and beyond.