- The CODEOFBELL cross pod,
spelled X-Pod,
is a 2.3 to 4.5 liter sling,
depending on the compressed mode that it's in.
And it has a nice, tactical look going on about it as well.
I'm Tom, the founder of Pack Hacker,
where we use our expertise and real world experience
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We cover everything you would ever want to know.
Let's jump right in to the CODEOFBELL X-Pod.
A sling bag that Mark and I have been testing
for the last month in Detroit and Chicago.
Let's jump in.
(upbeat funk music)
Kicking it off with the material and aesthetic,
there is a lot going on with this sling bag here.
With all the straps, the strap keepers,
zippers and zipper pulls going on,
definitely seems like a lot and a bit confusing at first,
but everything here has a very specific function.
And we're going to get into every last detail
in this review.
From a branding perspective there's a simple black-on-black
CODEOFBELL logo and mark going on here,
and then we have them on the buttons as well.
Also on the Hypalon pulls, the Hypalon zipper pulls,
we've got CODEOFBELL there.
On the other side we have the small logo mark as well.
So from a branding perspective, definitely like that.
Not a ton going on and overall it's pretty minimal.
Now if we open the bag up
there is just one more place for a logo here
on the interior of this front compartment.
So there you go, you've got CODEOFBELL,
designed in Los Angeles,
CODEOFBELL.com right at the bottom here.
Most of the team here at Pack Hacker
thinks the sling bag looks slick.
However, we polled our Instagram audience
to get everybody else's thoughts as well,
and here are the results.
If you want to be involved in future polls,
head over to @packhacker on Instagram,
give us a follow and participate in future polls.
Also to note on this look,
it's important to note that these compression straps
can be taken on or off.
So here we have them on.
You can easily take them off,
and when they're off,
this expansion area
that we're gonna get into in a second,
still functions with these side buckles as well.
So the compression straps on or off,
either way it doesn't matter.
The main fabric on this sling is X-Pac,
which is a waterproof fabric.
Doesn't mean that the whole sling is waterproof,
since there is some other materials and zippers going on.
So water can get in,
but it is a highly weather resistant sling
with this X-Pac material going on.
It is a strong fabric,
it is lightweight.
The only thing is that it's a little bit easier to puncture
than say something like 1680D ballistic nylon,
which is that thicker nylon
that's kind of in a square pattern.
But if a puncture or a cut does happen
there's is a diamond ripstop going on here,
as well as a square grid ripstop as well.
So any punctures or pokes that happen
will not spread due to the engineering and design
of this material.
At the time of this review,
the X-Pod is available in three different colors.
So we have the black here.
If you're new to the channel,
we usually always pick black;
that's just kinda what we do.
And then there are two other colors:
a navy blue and a deep moss as well.
So wrapping up the rest of the materials,
there is a lot going on here,
so I'm gonna try blast through this pretty quickly.
There is ballistic nylon going on up here,
so that main fabric, again, is X-Pac.
Got ballistic nylon towards the back.
And then along with that X-Pac,
there is a polyester and ripstop nylon liner
kind of sandwiched together along with the X-Pac fabric.
We have grippy Hypalon grab points here at the bottom,
these two little lash loops going on,
as well as the zipper pull.
So that's gonna give you a really nice,
grippy rubbery feel on the places that you need it the most.
Then we have ITW buckles going on up here
at the front of the compression straps.
Kinda like the funky look of these ones going on.
I think it just adds to the overall aesthetic of the pack.
Nice that it's kinda got this hole in there.
They look pretty minimal
and almost like, kinda sci-fi-ish.
And then on the sides here we have YKK buckles.
Wrapping it all up,
we have YKK Aquaguard zippers,
which pair really nicely with that X-Pac material
for additional weather resistance.
And then we have another zipper in the back here.
It's kinda this YKK lockable zipper.
So it's kinda hard to pull.
It's pretty much self-locking
when the head of the zipper pull
is in this down position.
When you pull that zipper pull up,
it just easily unzips.
You can test this right now
if you have a pair of jeans on
with a YKK zipper,
guarantee that it has a similar zipper to this one.
Well, almost guarantee it,
so you can test that.
Okay, so a ton of different components, materials,
just generally a lot going on here.
All of these material choices
feel very well thought out.
And everything is pulled together in a very cohesive way.
And this is something that's really special
about the CODEOFBELL X-Pod,
and that we've really loved in our testing as well.
(upbeat funk music)
Kicking it off with the exterior of the sling,
starting with the sling strap going on here,
arguably the most important piece.
So it's fastened with a really big
ITW buckle here at the top.
This is pretty great if you wanna wear it fanny-pack style,
and it's positioned right in the middle
so you can easily strap this to your back,
grab those straps,
pull it around your body.
So that's a definite plus there.
And that also works quite well in sling style as well.
Some other giant buckles that we've seen on slings,
we've noticed can kinda get caught on your shirt.
Not the case with this big ITW buckle
in the way that it's positioned here on this strap.
One thing to note here
is that if you are using a larger,
say 35 liter travel backpack on your back,
and this thing at your front,
if that bag is heavy and you're wearing this in the front,
you're definitely gonna feel this buckle here in the back
when you do put that larger bag on.
Some slings will forego a buckle altogether,
so take a look at the Heimplanet Transit Line sling pocket.
That one just has what we like to call
a new wave sling strap.
So there's no buckle there going on whatsoever.
And then other slings,
like for example, the Aer Day Sling 2,
will place this buckle towards the side here,
so that it's a little bit out of the way.
Makes it easier to wear the sling on your front
and a larger backpack on your back.
This is more of an observation rather than a con.
It's just something to note if you wanna use it
with a larger travel backpack.
CODEOFBELL does have a note on their website
that pertains to this buckle here,
and it says, "New stock will come standard
"with self-locking magnetic buckles for the shoulder strap."
So maybe in one of the future iterations
we will see kind of a magnetic buckle going on here.
You've got this ITW buckle for this one.
From a strap management perspective,
there's also a lot going on in the front here.
So some slings and some waist packs
will kind of forego any type of strap management.
Then you've just got these two extra pieces
of slack laying around,
but CODEOFBELL has handled this in two ways
with the X-Pod.
We have one elastic loop going on here,
which is nice to kinda keep this going on.
You can keep this in the middle,
it'll not give you a loop like this when you're using it.
And then on the side here,
there is a plastic clip as well
that will either stay with this,
kind of fastened like that.
Otherwise you can take this plastic clip,
let me see if I can get a good shot here,
and you can actually take that off and stick it here
in between.
So you can kinda clip that right in.
So now the edge of this is clipped right into the pack.
And that just gives you
way cleaner strap management as well.
One thing we noticed with the elastic keeper here
and the plastic clip at the end
is if you're shifting this
from the back to the front of your body quite a bit,
these things can get jostled around a little bit
and kinda move around.
If you wanna see a sling that handles this really well,
take a look at the Peak Design five liter sling.
There is a bit of a mechanism there
that you can just kinda pull it up
and the strap automatically loosens.
Really kinda handy and you really avoid
a bunch of additional strap stuff going on here.
At the end of that strap,
you will find two little padded pieces going on here,
and they are little hidden pockets as well.
So kinda similar to what we have in the back here
with that lockable zipper.
Got that going on, self-locking zipper.
That's a good compartment for headphones
or just kinda smaller items that you wanna keep separate
from the rest of the bag.
And then you have some YKK buckles going on
at the end of the strap here as well
that manages the compressing and uncompressing
of the front part of this sling bag.
Another small annoyance to note here
is that I can kinda feel these straps going on
on the backside of my arms
as I'm wearing this bag in the back.
So as you're walking around,
you can kinda feel that.
Again, just kind of like a minor gripe,
and if you get the sling positioned correctly on your back
you don't really notice it.
But if it is hanging a bit down,
some of these excess strap points
and all this stuff going on here
kinda get in the way
and rub against the back part of your arm.
Again, kind of a minor annoyance
if you're wearing a T-shirt.
Just thought I would point that one out as well.
Another small usage note here
is that if the sling is tighter
and you sling it around to the front of your body,
you're gonna kinda get those T-Rex arms going on
as you're trying to access what's inside.
Keeping it looser definitely gives it
a little bit of an easier access in the front of your body
when you need to access everything inside.
The back panel here is very nicely padded
and super comfortable to wear.
So we love that that's going on.
If you do have any items that are a little bit
kinda harder or pokey,
it's gonna be mitigated by the padding of that back panel.
There's a handle at the top of the sling
made of folded nylon webbing.
And if we flip that sling over,
you're gonna see some Hypalon here at the bottom.
So this is a Hypalon attachment point
down here in the middle.
Can also be used as kind of a smaller handle
if you do wanna grab it from that.
Then you have these smaller attachment points on the sides
for the compression strap.
Speaking of the compression straps,
there is a lot going on with them.
And I don't think I've ever
ran into a compression strap this complicated,
so buckle up.
There are two Hypalon attachment points at the top.
This is where the aluminum G-hooks attach.
And then we have this nylon webbing
leading down to this ITW buckle.
Again that ITW buckle
has kind of an interesting style to it,
and interesting look,
especially when compared to these YKK buckles on the side.
So that's definitely great.
Now again here,
strap management is very similar to the front sling.
So we have these elastic keepers here
that can go over the strap
and kinda manage it a little bit more.
And then we have this plastic clip here as well
which you can roll up and attach
in a very similar fashion to what you can do on the front.
So you can roll these up and attach them,
kinda keep them tidy as well.
Moving on down,
more nylon webbing,
and then you have the CODEOFBELL buttons here.
When you unbutton those,
there's also Velcro going on here.
So
holy cow.
That was a ton of compression straps.
And I forgot to talk about
the main benefit of the compression straps.
So you can hang a towel or a T-shirt
or something a little bit larger,
maybe a jacket,
on the outside of this thing.
Tighten it down, compress it against the sling,
and you have it hanging there ready and good to go.
(upbeat funk music)
Moving on to the interior of the bag,
starting with the hidden pocket on the back.
This is against your back,
arguably the most secure pocket
and great for flatter items.
So we just pull out this YKK zipper
out of the zipper garage,
and we got a nice kind of pocket back here,
perfect for a passport or other flatter items
that you wanna keep secure against your back.
Again, this pocket is very similar
to these side pockets
with these concealed YKK zippers on the sides.
Moving on the that compressable compartment in the front,
there are two different to access it.
So the first is great to access
when it's in compress mode.
So you just kinda unzip this from the top,
and there you go, you have access.
Inside here we have a YKK
hook that's gonna be able to hold on to keys.
So you just kinda push this down
when you wanna take the keys out.
Very quick and very easy to manage.
Other than that,
this pocket is pretty much a giant compartment.
So inside is a jacket,
really nice to kind of compress and pack one of these up.
This is the Patagonia Storm Racer,
really kinda lightweight rain shell going on.
And then you're just left with this
nice beautiful orange interior.
Very easy to see any darker black gear going on
on the inside here,
creates a nice pop of contrast,
since most or your gear probably isn't blaze orange,
unless you've got everything really color-coordinated
with blaze orange.
In that case,
send us a photo 'cause that'd be really awesome.
So when we unbuckle these straps at the top
and on the sides,
this is kinda what holds it rolled in place,
the sides here.
And then we unbuckle these compression ones
we can get access to the zipper.
So unbuckle these side ones.
And then you just have a massive compartment going on here.
Again, this brings the liter capacity,
almost doubles the liter capacity of this sling.
So if you wanna put a water bottle in here
or a jacket,
really kinda compress it down with the compression straps
and these side ones.
Now if you don't wanna utilize this space,
it's easy enough to zip this closed,
give this a fold and roll over,
and then attach these side buckles here
to kinda keep this compressed.
And you can tighten that down or loosen it
based on what's inside.
So a really modularly sized pocket going on here.
Really love that a lot more than I thought I would,
so we kind of got this unboxed in at the beginning.
We're kinda like, "What the heck is going on here?"
But in actual use,
it's nice to have that versatility,
and you can load it out specifically for your needs
for that day.
So when in fully compressed mode,
you kinda see that fabric folded on the inside here.
That's the fabric that will uncompress
and make this pocket really massive.
Lastly, the main compartment on this sling
is the zipper that's closer to you
than that one of the front compartment.
Unzip that and you have a very nice open space
with an orange interior.
There are two zippered mesh pockets in the front
and one zippered mesh pocket on the back.
So we tested this with a couple items.
The Nintendo Switch does fit in there.
A lot of people ask us about that,
so wanted to make sure to show that
kind of in the main compartment here.
You could also add your phone here,
really anything else.
And one of the things that I really love
about these mesh pockets going on here
is that you can leave them open for taller items.
So if you want some kind of division
or segmentation inside,
leave that open and you have that additional space.
So we got just a pack of Orbit gum inside of here.
And then if you want something that maybe you need to access
a little bit less,
maybe you got some first aid items,
maybe some wet wipes, just things that you need on occasion,
keep that zipped up here
nice and low-profile in the front as well.
So two different kind of carry modes for that.
Leave the pocket open,
that simple division inside of the sling
which a lot of other slings do,
or zip it fully completely shut
if you don't need access to that item a lot.
Then again, it's got that smaller mesh pocket
towards the back.
Some field notes in here
as well as a pen.
Love taking notes, getting those ideas down on the road.
If you do want a quick pro tip on these zippers,
I'd recommend placing the double set of zippers
on each side,
so maybe you create a mental mile in your head.
On the right hand side,
you've got the two zippers
that will open the front compartment.
On the left hand side you've got the two zippers
that will open the one that's a little bit further back
and closest to you.
So little pro tip on zippers,
kinda keep those away from each other.
So we have them all in the middle here.
There's just kind of a lot going on
and it's hard to tell which zipper belongs to which zip.
(upbeat funk music)
At the time of this review,
Mark and I have been testing the CODEOFBELL X-Pod
over the course of one month in Detroit and Chicago.
Overall we really like the look and feel,
all of these smart features going on
that allow us to customize the sling based on our needs
for carry for that day.
Really dig all that.
Some high quality materials going on here as well.
So to wrap this things up with some pros and cons,
there is a lot of innovative design
that feels really intuitive.
The sling is very comfortable to wear
with this back panel across your chest
once you get it situated right
and this stuff is no longer kind of rubbing
on the back of your arm.
Lastly, there are some great organization options
inside of the main compartment of the sling
with those mesh pockets
as well as the ability to expand that front pocket
for larger load-outs.
On to some of the cons,
there is a lot going on that's a little bit complex
and could be overkill for some people.
The strap management system can kind of come undone easily
as you're flipping the sling from the front to your back.
And lastly, it is a little bit large
in the fully expanded state,
so the X-Pod has a pretty low profile when it is compressed.
When it's expanded it definitely gets out there,
and the profile gets pretty large.
Just remember that this expandability is optional.
(upbeat funk music)
CODEOFBELL has taken the idea of a sling
and souped it up to make it so much better
and more functional.
Although there's a lot going on with the sling back,
everything has a purpose.
And once you start getting used to it,
it all feels quite intuitive to use.
Although we have a couple of minor gripes,
overall the X-Pod is pushing the boundaries
of what a sling can be,
and we really love that.
So there you have it,
our review on the CODEOFBELL X-Pod.
We would love to hear in the comments below.
What do you think of this thing?
Thank you for keeping it here at Pack Hacker,
your guide to smarter travel.
We'll see you in the next video.