In this video, we take a closer look at the Think Tank Photo Airport Roller Derby, a versatile and durable camera bag designed for travel. Join us as we explore its features and functionality, from its replaceable wheels to its spacious interior.
When it comes to luggage, finding a durable option with replaceable wheels can be a challenge. After experiencing the destruction of checked luggage over the years, we embarked on a quest to find the perfect solution. The Think Tank Photo Airport Roller Derby caught our attention with its international carry-on compatibility and four-wheel design.
This video provides an in-depth review of the Airport Roller Derby, showcasing its key features and explaining why it stands out from other camera bags in the market. The replaceable wheels, designed by Think Tank Photo, are a game-changer, ensuring longevity and easy maintenance. We demonstrate how simple it is to replace the wheels using just an Allen key.
The bag’s design includes a top handle, a zipped handle for easy storage, and a business card holder for identification convenience. We explore the various pockets and compartments, such as the tripod leg or water bottle pocket, the passport pocket, and the security loop for additional storage.
Furthermore, the front of the bag offers a laptop sleeve, multiple pockets for pens and documents, and a tablet divider, making it an ideal choice for photographers on the go. We demonstrate the bag’s interior layout options, with dividers that can be rearranged to accommodate camera equipment or clothing.
The Think Tank Photo Airport Roller Derby offers excellent storage capacity, comparable to traditional carry-on luggage, while maintaining a slim profile. Its compression effect ensures efficient packing, and the air flowing through the bag allows for easy squishing and zipping.
Join us as we put this bag to the test during upcoming trips, both for photography equipment and clothing. We’ll provide updates on its performance and usability in real-world scenarios.
If you’re tired of the strain of pulling traditional luggage behind you, the Think Tank Photo Airport Roller Derby is a must-have travel companion. Its four-wheel design provides effortless maneuverability and removes the stress of travel. Stay tuned for more exciting reviews and travel tips on our channel!
Transcription was done by Descript‘s automated transcription services which means it’s an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar, and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.
The airport roller derby from Think Tank Photo. Years ago when my wife and I were married, we were gifted luggage. We have the large checked luggage and we have the carry on luggage. Now, like most people, the carry on [00:01:00] luggage got used way more than the checked luggage because for the most part, most people try to carry or travel with very little, right?
And so over the years, both of the checked luggages that we received were destroyed. So I went on a quest to figure out what could I do? What could I find that is durable, that is built well and in particular has replaceable wheels? Because as we all know, with rolling bags, the wheels are what get destroyed first.
You’re rolling them everywhere. The wheels sometimes also the handle, but mostly the wheels get destroyed first. So I went on a quest. I wanted a roller bag that was international carry on, compatible, and meaning it would fit in either the overhead or in one of those bins on [00:02:00] an airplane for international flights.
And of course, domestic flights. But also was a four-wheeler. Now, I really wanted a hard shell like one of those plastic hard shell cases. But I realized that a partner of mine, a company that I work with often think Tank Photo, who also makes mindshift gear they had a beg that might have been perfect for what I needed.
Not only could I use it for when I travel and just wanna take all the dividers out and use it for clothing, but it also. Works as a camera bag, the airport roller derby. Let’s take a look at this guy. So I figured we’d get down low because this is a rolling bag, and why not just get on the floor? I have not taken any of the tags off or anything yet.
It literally just arrived. And I know the first question everybody has because I literally asked the community of, what are the [00:03:00] questions you have about this bag? The number one question is about the wheels. Okay, so what makes this bag so different from other brands? In the rolling bag, you, I’m gonna call it luggage, but it’s also just a camera bag.
Of course, it’s a camera bag first, but it’s luggage, right? This is designed to go on an airplane with you. This one, unlike others, the wheels are completely replaceable. In fact, even the full caster is completely replaceable. You would have to pop this piece off here and then get to the screws in order to undo that and replace the whole caster, but, Each wheel, right?
So there’s four wheels and there’s different sizes. The two on the backside of the bag are larger than the two on the front side of the bag. That offers some interesting maneuver maneuverability but they are all replaceable just with [00:04:00] an Allen key, with a hex key that is number one.
But what makes it even better is that these are basically. Roller blade wheels that are designed by think tank photo. Now, if you have another think tank photo bag that is one of their airport bags, you would know that the thickness of the wheel of the rubber is much larger, also replaceable, but the thickness is much larger.
Because this is a four wheeler, they had to go with smaller wheels. But there are basically, there’s eight wheels here cuz there’s, four but there’s two on each and they are rubber. There is a good amount of rubber cushion here. And then they have the nice bearings, these spin beautifully.
So if I was to turn it over and just spin, it’ll just go for a while, right? If I push it across the room, it’s gonna go for a while. This is a beautiful, it just light. It is si. It’s very quiet. My floor is textured, so that’s why I’m hearing like a [00:05:00] little bit of a rumble. But you can replace the wheels you have to get them from think tank photo.
I believe they’re also sold on Amazon the replacement wheel set. But you can replace the wheels yourself without anybody else being involved. Just with a little heck screw. Beautiful. Okay, so that is the most popular question about this bag that I got out of the way. Let’s move into the rest.
Of course, you’ve got this zipped in here. There’s a zipped handle.
So the handle goes up pretty far. It’s very sturdy, like every other thing, tank handle. And it just goes in there. And if you don’t need the handle exposed, you can just zip to close it and get it out of the way. Very simple. I often travel with a backpack that has a a handle pass through, so I would leave the other bag right sitting on top.
Right here, you right now there is a very thick handle up here, [00:06:00] up top that w lasts a very long time. I have my original airport security 2.0 where it’s now starting to get a little roughed up, but it’s still works perfectly fine. And so I have all faith. This will last me a long time. And then of course in here is also like a business card holder.
So you can put a bunch of business cards and Id, so that way you, if you need to if you have to check your bag last minute you can lock it up and then you’ve got your ID on there as well. All right. So that’s the top part of this pre pretty straightforward, very typical of think tank photo.
If we go to this side right now, you’ll see that we’ve got a couple inches here. So there’s a couple loops. This is like a little handle. You’ve got a pocket here for a tripod leg or a water bottle. And then you’ve got a Velcro loop as well. The inside the bag, which I haven’t even gotten to yet, there is actually a strap that you can actually put on here.
So if I do need to attach a tripod, it’ll hold it up top and [00:07:00] the leg will sit on the bottom again, like every other thing. Tank roller bag. On this side, we have another thick handle, so if you’re gonna carry it sideways on the plane or whatever you’ve got that there. You’ve got a nice big pocket. If you need to slide in a passport or whatever it is, you’ve got another pocket here, you’re.
Tickets, whatever it is. And up top, you’ve got your security loop with additional little bit of storage up here too. So if I needed to throw a battery backup for my phone or something like that, I can pop that in there. This is actually a very heavy duty lock with a tsa, combination lock on here too.
But it’s a very heavy duty wire to if you need to strap your bag to a table or something like that, you can do that. The airport security. Have those as well. Built in the bottom, I think before I get to the front, the bottom has an extra handle on the bottom as well. By the way so my airport security two, and I think [00:08:00] even the another, I have another roller over there that’s this, that’s compact.
They’ve got like plastic on the back. This is more like a leather type of material on the back. So I have a feeling this might get worn out faster than the other bags that I have, but, I understand the reasoning for this makes it a little bit lighter, makes it small, thinner. So I get it now on the wayfront, you’ve got this pocket here where you’ve got a laptop sleeve.
It goes pretty far down where the laptop sleeve with additional storage, additional pockets for pens, for whatever. You’ve got another thing here for keys, and then you have a tablet divider as well. So you can put in laptop, you can put in extra documents. Papers, you can slip in. There’s a whole bunch of stuff you can fit in here.
I’m definitely gonna be taking advantage of that. I won’t be putting my laptop here, but I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that storage capability now as we get into the bag itself. It opens up like this, [00:09:00] like a little book, and you can see they show you exactly how you can set that up. Now you’ve got two big zip pockets here, so if I wanted to, I can put some things there.
And then you’ve got your rain cover. If you need the rain cover, there’s some anti mold things in here. And then you also have your straps for attaching your tripod. So we got all the dividers here that you can. Re reorder how you need for your cameras or whatever. Or you can take ’em all out if you’re gonna use ’em for close.
So I can’t wait to pack this up for the next trip and get it all organized for both camera, equipment and close, or both. You could do both. Whatever you need. There is a lot of storage here. It goes about as deep as any other carry-on would go. The only difference is that you have basically this much thickness with a little bit of padding in the middle, in the back [00:10:00] because that’s inside the case.
Whereas some bags, it’s on the outside of the case, so that does take up a little bit. It means that in the middle, basically going straight down, you have a little bit less room to work with, but. I’ve been traveling with think tank bags since my regular Samsonite carry-ons failed. A few months back I’ve been traveling with think tank bags for just even clothes and it’s been working perfect.
No problem. It’s get that compression effect when you when you pack this with clothes because, it’s got that air flowing through it so when you go to zip it, you can squish it and. You got that compression effect. So it’s a beautiful bag. I can’t wait to try this out with clothes, with travel.
I will be using it for some photography equipment in the next couple weeks and I will also see how that goes. So I used the think tank airport [00:11:00] roller Derby two bodies. Two lenses actually my monopod broken into pieces and a tripod smooth. It glides it holds a lot. I still have to use it for clothing, but I don’t have a trip coming up that soon to see how much clothing can fit compared to a typical clothing luggage carry on.
But this bag is amazing. It completely reduces all the strain of pulling luggage behind you. Even the other, my think tank airport security and and I’ve got a couple airport bags, and this one completely removes any strain because of the four wheels. So it’s a very nice thing.
