SLNT – For the security minded traveler
By Allan R. Smith
Turn on the news and its almost a daily report about some company getting hacked or you mobile phone getting scanned as you sit in the local coffee house while on vacation.
I know, I’ve been there and having traveled to over 80 Countries. A member of the prestigious Explorers Club and President of the Adventurer’s Club of Los Angeles, I have heard the stories from members and International Explorers. When we started looking into Faraday bags and gear, one company kept coming up in conversation and that was SLNT. So we reached out to them and we were fortunate that they offered to send us the Extended Waterproof Faraday Backpack & Backpack Insert to review and test.
*Full disclosure, we also received the “Faraday Phone Sleeve” as well, which will be a separate review in a few weeks.
The need for digital privacy is greater than ever and with our connected devices being a critical part of our everyday lives, our digital footprint is everywhere. With scammers taking advantage of the innocent to find, collect, or sell data, the experts at SLNT have put in a lot of work and research to create a product line and solution for your everyday travels.
The folks at SNLT designed their products with utility and security in mind, with a stylish, modern look that you’ll actually want to carry.
Total Mobile Privacy
The Extended Waterproof Faraday Backpack offers a combination of features and pockets to store you devises and laptop.
With the faraday technology, it kills wireless communication signals safeguarding your devices from unseen threats. The awesomeness of SLNT products is in the Silent Pocket® Faraday Cage. The main compartment of this bag is an embedded with this Faraday cage.
Opening the bag and you find a large pocket for all your items. You roll down the top closure three time to secure the bag and have an external MOLLE loop for attaching a water bottle or flashlight, etc.
With the waterproof capabilities, your contents remain dry and god forbid you dropped the bag overboard or into the pool, they say it will remain protected for up to 30 minutes in under 10 feet of water. The bag is protected with Aquaguard RFID Blocking and YKK water resistant zippered pockets. Inside the bag is a 2.5 Liter dry Faraday bag for expandable and versatile storage, as well as additional protection.
We were provided with the SNLT insert which serves as an organizational solution for the spacious Faraday cage compartment inside the expanded waterproof Faraday backpack. It allows you to neatly arrange and store your laptop and other belongings, maximizing the functionality of the backpack’s interior space.
You can of course remove the insert if you wish to free up some space in your bag and load beech towels, I Pad, etc, for a day of fun in the sun. With three compartments, open slip pockets and a velcro closure to hold everything in place, we found it to be a very well designed. The bag is sturdy and will take a travel beating we feel and is of the best quality. (See specs below)
Do you need this? Well, that’s up to you and how important your digital privacy is to your everyday life while on the road. Unless you’ve turned off very specific settings on your devices (and even then), information like your GPS location can become common knowledge, shared to numerous applications on your phone. They are constantly transmitting this data back home to their mother ship to sell your data. Ever travel to a different state, open Facebook and see ads for your current location?
I would add a phone option to go with your SLNT products would be to look into the “Up Phone” from Unplugged. With this combination of SLNT products and the Unplugged phone, you set up for safe and secure travels.
The nice thing we found about SLNT products is that they focus on intuitive, stylish and high quality design. These aren’t just mobile faraday cages, they’re products that make sense for our everyday lives, and they don’t scream expensive “steal me”.
Everything you would expect in a quality backpack is here; admin panels, tech sleeves, attaching a water bottle, etc. The handle on the side as well as the top are well placed and comfortable to grab on to – we love a side handle. And most importantly, the back straps are comfortable when loaded up with gear and the weight seemed evenly distributed.
After hiking our local mountains and traveling to the Dominican Republic with this bag, we are pleasantly surprised and we look forward to purchasing some additional SLNT products in the near future.
Is there a negative we can find? No, but do know that this is a bigger then average bag, meant for secure travel around the world, to your next rafting trip down the Grand Canyon.
EXPANDED WATERPROOF FARADAY BACKPACK
KEY FEATURES:
- Main compartment is an embedded patented Silent Pocket® Faraday cage
- Roll down and clip closure (seal, roll three times and secure)
- Adjustable ergonomic backpack straps
- RFID-blocking YKK® water resistant zippered pockets
- Waterproof RF welded construction
- Submersible for up to 30 minutes up to 10 feet
- External MOLLE loop for attaching water bottle, flashlight, etc
2.5 L DRY BAG
- Main compartment is an embedded patented Silent Pocket® Faraday cage
- Roll down and clip closure (seal, roll three times and secure)
- Adjustable and detachable strap for carrying
- Waterproof RF welded construction
- Lightweight and packable
Great for: Travel, Outdoor adventures, multiple devices
SPECIFICATIONS
BACKPACK:
Exterior: 420D Waterproof Nylon
Lining: Multishield® Faraday Shielding Material
Hardware: Duraflex® UTX buckles
External: 18 x 11.8 x 7.08 in (46 x 30 x 18 cm)
Internal Use: 17.7 x 11.8 x 6.3 in (45 x 30 x 16 cm)
Volume: 20 liters
Weight: 3.04 lbs (1.38 kgs)
2.5 LITER:
Exterior: 400D Nylon Ripstop
Lining: Multishield® Faraday Shielding Material
Hardware: Duraflex® UTX buckles
External: 9 x 4.75 x 4.75 in (23 x 12 x 12 cm)
Internal Use: 8.25 x 4.75 x 4.75 in (21 x 12 x 12 cm)
Strap Length: 55 in (139.7 cm)
Weight: .56 lbs (.25 kgs)
FARADAY TECHNOLOGY
The main compartment of these bags is a Faraday cage and is rated to the following specifications:
Silent Pocket® Faraday Technology Instantly Blocks:
- Silent Pocket® with Multishield® (Faraday Shielding Material) is MIL‐STD‐188‐125‐2 compliant, and exceeds IEEE 299-2006 (1 – 40GHz) standards. (100,000:1 reduction, see testing page here)
- Blocks 100 dB+ Cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, RFID, NFC, EMP, and EMF Radiation
- Blocks CDMA, GSM, DCS, PHS, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE
- Blocks WiFi (2.4 – 5 GHz), Bluetooth (2.4 GHz), and GPS (1-2 GHz)
- Blocks RFID and NFC @ 13.56 MHz
- Shields against EMP, HEMP, CME, Solar Flare, and static shock
- Blocks Carrier, hardware, and OS agnostics
SNLT INSERT FOR WATERPROOF FARADAY BACKPACK
KEY FEATURES
- Compatible with Faraday Waterproof Backpack, Expandable Waterproof Faraday Backpack
- Three Compartments for organization
- Open slip-in pockets (Non-signal blocking)
- Velcro closure to hold your laptop or belongings in place
SPECIFICATIONS
Materials & Trims
Exterior: Semi-rigid neoprene
Lining: Semi-rigid neoprene
Dimensions
External: 17.7 x 11.8 x 6.3 in (45 x 30 x 16 cm)
Internal Use: 16.14 x 11.4 x 5.4 in (41 x 29 x 13.7 cm
Volume: 20 liters
Weight: 1.08 lbs (.49 kgs)
For further information and to check out the SLNT product line, go to www.slnt.com
