For the last few weeks I’ve been using a Travel Cable Organizer by EasyACC. I’ve been curious to use one of these for a while so I was pretty excited at the opportunity to test one out. Spoiler alert: I liked it.
The design of this organizer is fairly simple. There’s a flat board/panel that’s covered with what feels like a nylon or other artificial material. One one side of the panel is a cross-stitching of elastic bands, that are interwoven together. The opposing side has a plain covering that is only stitched at the periphery to form a pocket entirely out of one side; this plain side also extends beyond the length of the board and into a flap that is able to both enclose over the pocket entrance, cover over the elastic banding, and eventually wrap over the other side where in attaches via a strip of velcro onto the outside, thus enclosing everything inside. Frankly, it’s a clever design. The look of it, being all black, should work in any setting, whether formal or casual. That being said, I’d wager dirt and dust would show on it easily, and found that to be the case on one or two occasions.
Within the pocket, there’s enough space for just about any tablet or possibly a smallish laptop. It held my Nvidia Shield tablet easily, with ample room to spare. What’s nice though is the interwoven strips of elastic. If it makes any sense, picture the strips woven over and under, in irregular intervals, creating a mesh of sorts that, variously sized items can be stored underneath the strips. Some of the strips are appreciably longer than others, enabling a variety of items to be held in place. I tried out a (flat) spare battery, a bunched up USB cable, my tablet, and a collapsed Bluetooth keyboard. All of these were under bands and in various configurations. Regardless of what I placed under the bands, everything held firm. Pens and notepads would be just as snug.
On the whole, the design is simple and effective. And while clever, I do have a couple of concerns that became evident in my use, most of it being quality of material. For example, some of the seams have loose threading, some three weeks or so into use. That strikes me as a way too early into its lifespan, even though the parts I’ve seen come unthreaded don’t seem mission critical, yet. I also have concerns about the velcro, as well as the elastic bands. In my experience, extensive use of either material tends to wear out in short order. The former gets pieces of fuzz caught in on the side with hooks, or the fabric side wears out. Regarding the latter, I can easily picture the elasticity of the bands wearing out in time. So while I love the design and functionality of this organizer, I can’t help but see a short lifespan for it as well, at least based on my experience with materials that are either the same, or similar enough. And that is to say nothing of the seams coming apart.
This makes giving it a grade difficult. The idea is easily an 8, or perhaps higher. On the other hand, its design and execution are predicated on materials that tend to wear out, and I’m already seeing premature signs of wear with the threading, so buyers should unfortunately need to prepare for a shortened shelf life; unfortunately, this will impede a higher overall score. In attempting to “split the difference” between its high utilitarian value weighed against the materials, I’d have to give this a 6.5.
