THE (best) CABLE GUY

Storing your small tech in this electronics bag makes life on the road far simpler, says Gear Editor MATTHEW STERNE

Travellers are pretty resourceful, so it didn’t surprise me when I discovered our deputy editor uses a toiletry bag for his electronics and our editor uses a pencil case. They both kind of work, but not really… It would seem my superiors are yet to master Zen and the Art of Cable Maintenance. But the Thule Subterra PowerShuttle addresses this. ‘Bring your life’ is its motto, and for travellers that’s exactly what this electronics holder does. The size of an A5 diary, it has a firm 800D nylon-padded casing, inside compartments, zippered pockets and elasticated loops, and is designed to store your charger, cords, hard drive, SD cards, earphones, a small notebook and a pen (even in the Digital Age a pen always comes in handy). A brilliant feature is that there’s a hole designed for the charger cable, so there’s no need to remove the whole charger from the bag, and the cable can be conveniently tucked into an exterior slip pocket after it’s done the job. The outside zips have hard plastic toggles for durability and there’s also a handle for easy carrying. Items are protected from scratches, dust, tangles (there’s no rage like tangled-earphone rage) and damage, and there’s little chance of leaving your stuff behind. I can’t count how many phone chargers I’ve forgotten in overnight rooms – probably as many as I’ve stayed in. For some reason, I think this handy bag would remedy that. But primarily, it promises to keep the small stuff in one place, saving you time and frustration. R399, thule.com (PS: After this test, both the ed and deputy bought this bag.) Want to keep earphones tangle-free? Use a clothes peg to grip the buds and then wind the cable around the prongs.