Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Is There a Good Device Holster?
gurps_npc writes "I have seen several technology holsters. There are a lot of good ones for cell phones, but I am looking for something larger — for a tablet (Nook/Kindle/Nexus/iPad). There is, however, a direct trade-off between being discreet and having decent carrying capacity. Has anyone found an ideal balance? I would love to hear from people with direct experience. Do you look like the worst kind of geek hipster while wearing it? Any feature I should look for? I found one from a company called techslinger, but it looks a bit too geeky for me (double-sided makes it really stand out)."
Good news, you won't have to worry about looking like a hipster at all. You will however, look like the worst kind of utility belt nerd, and there's no getting around it.
nice advertisement!
When I was travelling around Europe, for getting through airports I sewed my own leg-webbing for my phone and it's accessories out of black canvas. It wound up being very low profile since I wear black cargo pants normally, but was much easier to take off quickly in airports (and kept everything spread out for X-ray scanners) and allowed me to keep my phone much higher and closer to my belt (which was great for making sure I had my phone on me and keeping it easy to keep an eye on).
Carrying a tablet the same way could probably be done pretty discreetly - a 7" tablet would easily fit along the space of one's thigh without standing out at all. But I seriously doubt you'll find anything to buy - break out the sewing the machine and see what you come up with is my recommendation.
Unless you are built like a low-poly linebacker, there isn't anywhere on your torso where something as large as a tablet won't rest awkwardly with at least one protruding corner, unless you wear a McMurdo-grade winter jacket at all times.
Since you can't hide something of that size, you might as well go with a small messenger bag, which will have the same capacity as a very large holster; but won't look utterly ridiculous.