Aer City Slim Pouch 2 Review

In these days of flat-top desks and remote work, you don’t always have drawers to hold your pens, cables, chargers, and more, but you probably don’t want them cluttering your workspace, either. Enter the humble tech pouch, a handy way to carry your everyday accessories from place to place or to organize the small tools you need daily on your desk. Aer has a plethora of options available, from the super skinny Aer Split Kit to the more robust, like the Aer Cable Kit 3 and Aer Slim Pouch.

We’re talking about that last one today because, after several years, Aer has released a new model, the Slim Pouch 2. What’s changed, and is it for the better? Let’s find out!

External Components

At first glance, it doesn’t look like much has changed from the OG to the new iteration, and that’s OK. We like that Aer has kept the durable 1680D CORDURA® ballistic nylon exterior—which is bluesign® approved—and the YKK zippers. Those are some of our favorite materials because we’ve seen that they last over the long haul, so it’s great to see they haven’t been pushed by the wayside.

The zipper on the front is still an AquaGuard self-locking model with a zipper garage, which will be good if you stick something in here that shouldn’t get wet (although we mainly use it for pens—more on usage shortly). The main compartment zipper is a reverse coil model that will repel a good amount of moisture, though not everything. We assume you’ll do your best not to take a tech pouch for a swim, though, so that’s OK. The base is still broad enough to stand at your desk provided you pack it evenly, so that zipper should be safe from accidental spills.

We’ve got the Black colorway on hand, but you can also get the CORDURA® in Navy and Olive at the time of release. The Slim Pouch 2 also comes in X-Pac Black with an orange liner and Ultra Black with a yellow liner.

Against the back, you’ll still find a handle loop you can grab as you pull the pouch out of your travel daypack or carry it from the den to the living room if you need a change of scenery when working remotely. However, there are also now two smaller loops in each top corner. We’re not quite sure why they’re there, but we can think of a couple of ways you could use them—either to attach a strap and carry the Slim Pouch 2 as a sling or to connect the pouch to another bag that has attachment loops spread the correct distance away. We think the former is likelier, but you might get lucky and find that your gear matches up; you never know. We never used them in our testing period, but they’re not in the way.

The Aer logo, printed on a Hypalon tab, is centered on the left side of the back panel. Other than being slightly shorter than we’ve seen on other models, it seems pretty standard. There are also Hypalon tabs on the main compartment zipper pulls, which are easy to grab yet no less jangly than the prior models. Most users know they’re in for jangling zippers when they choose Aer, though, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Inside The Pouch

That’s it for the outside, though, so we’ll head inside; that’s where the real fun begins.

Like the original Slim Pouch, the Slim Pouch 2 has a front pocket that spans about half its height. However, unlike the original, the latest iteration moves the zipper from the top of the pouch to slightly lower down the front of the bag. We like the look but want to mention that the pocket remains the same size—some of its capacity is now just above the zipper instead of hanging out together below the zipper.

It’s still a good spot for slimmer gear you need to grab on the go, like pens, a stylus, and the like, so the effective shrinking of the space doesn’t bother us, but it’s something to note if you want to use it for a slim battery bank or a USB dongle. You might run out of room if you don’t want to use the space above the zipper now, whereas you probably wouldn’t have before. The zipper is a self-locking model, so it will stay where it’s set if you want to—for example—put a battery bank in here and run a cable through the end to charge your phone. We didn’t use that feature much, but it’s there if you need to leave the pocket open partway for some reason.

Luckily, the main compartment has plenty more space and is just as easy to access. The dual-headed zipper runs in a rainbow across the top of the bag, ending about an inch from the bottom to give you a nice, wide opening.

If you’re familiar with the first iteration, the layout of this latest design isn’t much different. The materials have changed, however. The gray lining is now a bluesign®-approved ripstop nylon, and the pockets are now made of ever-so-slightly stretchy material that reminds us of Span instead of mesh topped with elastic.

There are two of these pockets against the front panel, and they’re large enough to hold the cable to our wall charger in one and the charger itself in another. They don’t hold tight to the wall of the pouch, though, so super skinny things like a travel mouse may slip out if the bag gets jostled around. That’s an issue we had with the first design, and it didn’t get fixed in the update.

The remaining organization is against the back panel. There’s a large divider behind which you can stick a notebook, a battery bank, or even a minimalist wallet if you want to order coffee while at the coworking space all day and don’t want to use a separate sling.

A zipper on its front opens to reveal a pocket for all your tiny travel tech accessories, from adapters to SD cards to wired headphones, car chargers, and more. Because it’s topped with that nice YKK zipper, we don’t worry about them falling out if the Slim Pouch 2 gets jostled around en route, which is nice.

Against the front of that pocket are two more slip pockets made with the same Span-like material. They’re shorter than the two on the front, so they’re better for business cards, a smart tracker card, or similarly-sized gear. Like their reflecting pockets, they don’t hold super tight to the back wall, so things have the potential to slip out.

Space remains between the two sides for whatever you didn’t stick in a pocket, whether that’s a tiny travel flashlight or your afternoon pick-me-up piece of candy. Whether or not you use it will depend on how much gear you’re carrying, but it’s there if you need it and, obviously, not an issue if you don’t.

Because of that, we find the Aer Slim Pouch 2 is a nice addition to the brand’s pouch lineup. It fits nicely in most daily bags yet has enough capacity for the essentials you’ll need throughout the day. Especially if your favorite daily carry lacks minute organization or if you like to have everything within reach on your desk, you may find it a handy travel companion whether you’re a digital nomad or just taking a break from your family on vacation to “work” (read: watch Pack Hacker YouTube videos while looking productive).