Subject says it all. I want something that can live in a desk drawer most of the time that keeps cables etc under control but that can be easily slipped into a backpack for travel. Ideally it would be folded out in the drawer but pick up and fold up somehow for travel.
I use zip lock bags. The bag will have one cable and battery power brick. Never had a problem with TSA. I take the bag out, and place it on the laptop or the iPad.
I personally find the solutions where I am supposed to tuck something under an elastic band to be too much for me, it’s fiddly and annoying so doesn’t get done. With that in mind I bought 100 Velcro ties and recently bought some fabric/fake leather strips with a popper on, these mean I can take one cable and keep it tidy, and when I throw a
cable in the drawer that’s the only step involved.
I just use zip mesh bags for cables most of the time. I have a small Tom Bihn Q Kit which my travel laptop charger lives in and have been looking at the snake charmer too!
I love these things. They’re the best solution I’ve found to keeping cables orderly. When I unwind the cable to use, I just leave a loop and keep the snap on it. No Velcro, no elastic, no twisties.
You get the idea. I group related items together, and then I can pull out a bag and tell fairly easily / quickly if that’s the little bag that I need/want or not.
I have the luxury of “travel cables” and “home cables”. Just like I have a ready-to-go wash bag.
But then I do quite a lot of travel. Sometimes at short notice.
And I left my one travel watch charging cable at home on a recent trip because it belongs in my carry on but I wasn’t flying. (Fortunately a friend had a spare one and we were at the same conference so I borrowed it off her.)
This is what I do too - at home all cables stay in place, so I know where I can charge or connect at any time. What’s in the bag stays in the bag until I travel. It is just a simple nylon bag with a mesh front so I can see the contents a little. This holds a charger, battery pack and all the cables I need for my devices.
I have retractable cables for a few use cases, primarily my travel Ethernet cable! But also my travel Nintendo Switch cable…
Back on topic, I do have something like the organisers @geoffaire mentioned, but I’m not too keen on those. I got something intriguing with my Away suitcase though, it’s a mesh square that you fold in half and zip closed. So you get the benefit of the lie flat, plus visibility!
I’m a big fan of the mesh bag method and I’m like @MartinPacker in that I have several cable-bag set ups. I have one in my briefcase that is always with me, and another one with an expanded set of items in case I’m doing more things than my everyday setup, e.g. wireless presentations.
I tried the grid system and it worked terribly for me. I found it very inconvenient to use in practice, although it looked great when everything was in place.
Anybody else find their backpacks are ridiculously heavy?
So heavy, in fact, that I don’t care how heavy my MacBook Pro is.
Actually, I don’t trust airlines enough to check my cables etc. I always carry them on. So a cable organiser I can offer to pull out at Security is a must. (They never want me to and then quite often pull my backpack over because of the cables.)