In the last few months I’ve been surprised with how versatile the Daylight briefcase from Tom Bihn is.

Picture from the Tom Bihn product page

On the face of it it’s a very simple bag. It’s pretty small at just 8L but you’d be surprised just how much you can fit into those 8L. When I bought the bag I saw it as a small day bag that I could take to work for days when I don’t need much, and it does that job really well. But where I think it’s a game changer for me is an overnight bag.

I’ve been trying to pack more and more minimally for a while, I’ve done a few longer (2–3 week) trips without any checked luggage and that’s great. But for shorter trips, maybe just 1 or 2 nights I had been using my Tom Bihn synapse 25, which I love, but it’s overkill for a one night trip. The Daylight briefcase lets me take just the bare essentials:

a spare tee or shirt

spare underwear

toiletries

charging bits and pieces

a book

I like to take the smallest bag I can with me because on trains, buses, or in bars and cafes, bigger bags get in the way. Being on a busy tube in London with a backpack on will certainly get you some glares and maybe even some people tutting at you under their breath.

I’ve also found that if I am going on a longer trip say, more than 2 nights, the Daylight Briefcase works well as a packing cube inside my synapse 25. This also means that I’ve got a smaller day pack for when I get to where I’m going. I can get almost as many clothes into the briefcase as I can a large Eagle Creek packing cube.

Side by side with a large Eagle Creek packing cube

Despite its smaller size it still has the kind of organisation that people have come to expect from a Tom Bihn bag. There’s a divider in the main compartment that holds a laptop or an iPad of you’re carrying one (the briefcase comfortably fits my 12.9" iPad Pro). On the front of the bag there’s a zipped pocket that’s internally divided in two. I generally keep my charging bits (external battery, cables, plugs) in here as it’s the quickest access. There’s also an odd slash pocket on the front. It doesn’t have much dimension to it so I’ve not really found a use for it. Maybe my business papers?

To me though, the most under appreciated pocket on this bag is on the back. It’s almost as long and wide as the main compartment but lacks a bit of the depth. On overnight trips I’ve been using it to store dirty clothes. It’s separate from the main carriage so I don’t need to worry about my dirty clothes stinking up the rest of the bag. And for day to day use, it’s against my back when I’m carrying if anyone was trying to get into the bag without my noticing it’d be much harder.

No bag is perfect and the Daylight briefcase is no exception. It does have its flaws and limitations.

Firstly the handles, and this is a complaint that I have about my Synapse 25 as well, the handles feel a bit cheap. Maybe on the Daylight briefcase it’s a bit more justified as it’s a minimal bag, but they could just be nicer. They’re just webbing loops, a little bit of padding would go a long way.

Along the same lines, the plastic zipper pulls make this bag feel a bit cheaper than it should. At $80 I feel like they could have gone for slightly nicer hardware.

I got the Halcyon version of the bag as opposed to the ballistic nylon. I’ve noticed that the lighter weight halcyon doesn’t really hold much of a shape when it’s under packed and can lead to the bag sitting a bit weirdly if there’s anything particularly heavy inside. I suspect the ballistic version would be a bit better as the fabric itself is stiffer. I do kinda wish I’d gone for the burnt orange ballistic version, but that’s just because I love burtn orange.

I don’t love the strap that comes with the bag, but I do understand it. The standard strap that the bag ships with is pretty light weight and is made of a seatbelt type material. It’s not the most sturdy but for what this bag is designed to do it does make sense. If I’ve packed the bag a bit heavier I might switch it out for the Absolute Strap from Tom Bihn. But for the most part that’s overkill for a bag this small.

The Daylight briefcase has been much more useful than I had imagined it would be. It’s built to last, as you’d expect from anything Tom Bihn makes.