CAP0.5, two days
Like its two siblings, CAP0.5 is distinctive, retaining character in name only. Like the best families, each one has a personality, an approach, and only together do they seem to make any sense.
As an engineering achievement, CAP0.5 ranks at the top of the three. As a carry object, it’s in second place. It lays flat when open; it’s 4-sided, preventing rolling; it can be inverted into a tray. Two interior pockets contain zippers that open in opposite directions, reducing the probability of error in leaving one open. Its padding is between CAP1 & CAP2 as well, and it feels like the sweet spot, preventing crushing (glasses case!) while minimizing bulk. The 4-sided-ness means it defaults to resting at a 45º angle when closed, but flat when open.
If the geometry of CAP0.5 feels so intuitive, then why hasn’t anyone else done it?
The loadouts are useful. One needs their hand held when faced with newness. It’s a pencil case with structure. It’s the smallest tech kit or the largest accessory pouch. It’s the best EDC toolkit a person could conceive. It could be a dopp kit, I guess, in the negaverse where all you needed on trip was a bar of soap and toothbrush, but we’ll try not to think about that.
What CAP0.5 does is hide. It hides the amount of acrobatics necessary to make the thing lay flat. It hides the variant materials necessary to make everything perform like it’s supposed to. It hides the years of engineering work on other backpacks & access pouches that led them to this point. Smallness is easy; engineered, structured smallness is not. And just think: this is done at scale.