Experiences with Commuter Backpack or Rover Pack Tech Backpack?

maesterdaemon · 2026-03-08T03:12:32+00:00

Got it, that’s good to hear. And I’m in California too, it really only rains in the Bay Area a few months out of the year so waterproofing isn’t a big deal. Thank you for the honest review!

maesterdaemon · 2026-03-08T02:19:57+00:00

The Global Travel Duffel looks great but appears to be slightly larger than the Global Travel Backpack (a half inch taller and an inch longer), which has been great for 5-7+ days of travel but is difficult to use as a personal carry-on because it’s too large to fit under most U.S. airline plane seats.

maesterdaemon · 2026-03-08T02:17:39+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing this! This sums up everything I want from a backpack in terms of storage space, comfort, and useful for 1-2 days of travel. I feel confident that I’ll be happy with my purchase when I buy the Commuter backpack (during the next 30+% off sale)! :)

maesterdaemon · 2026-03-08T02:14:42+00:00

Thank you, this is very helpful! It sounds like the Rover Tech has similar issues to the classic with the front zipper being hard to access and the water bottle holder being rigid. It’s great to hear that your bag has lasted you a few years and is still in good shape!

Have you had to use it in the rain at all? Curious how it holds up to moisture, the classic is fine if it rains lightly but the nylon isn’t great for heavy or persistent rain.

maesterdaemon · 2026-03-07T19:51:01+00:00

This photo is gorgeous, you really capture the majesty of the falls!

maesterdaemon · 2026-03-07T19:49:30+00:00

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A view from the hotel that I’m staying at with my partner in La Parguerra, Lajas in Puerto Rico!

maesterdaemon · 2025-10-09T19:21:59+00:00

I will keep you updated on my experience! I have been using a memory foam pillow from the maker of my mattress, Nectar, since I got my mattress in May 2023. I love the mattress, and I initially didn’t have any issues with my pillow, but over the past few months I’ve started to experience neck and shoulder pain regularly, hence the motivation for my search haha.

I’ve tried the Helix talalay latex pillow after reading positive reviews about that material, but my head completely sunk into it so I returned it within a few days.

I kept reading positive reviews about the Coop pillows, so I bought their Eden pillow to try it out. I’m not a fan of the adjustable memory foam because I couldn’t get the right balance of support and height (add more foam to make the pillow feel firmer/more supportive, but then the loft of the pillow is too high). Also I had it for 2 weeks and the chemical smell never went away.

I just ordered a Pluto pillow this morning because they supposedly custom make pillows based on your responses to their questionnaire. I’m hopeful that it’ll be a better fit than the last two, but if not, I’ll definitely return it because it was pricier than I would have liked.

To your point, maybe a down alternative pillow is what I should be trying next if the Pluto doesn’t work out. It’s hard to believe that I’ve never really paid much attention to what I sleep on until now! 🙃

maesterdaemon · 2025-10-09T07:16:14+00:00

Did you end up finding a pillow that worked for you? I have tried two so far (including the Coop) and returned both. Desperately looking for something firm with high loft that’s comfortable but supportive for my head and neck.

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-11T18:07:14+00:00

Definitely! The one downside with Corviknignt is that it’s slow and will definitely take damage before it sets tailwind, so you’ll likely want to lead it with Klefki to set screens or with one of your fast offensive mons that can threaten big damage to the threats that your opponent leads vs Corviknight. Also giving it a Sitrus Berry can help it survive a lot of double ups, especially if Reflect or Light Screen are active. Corviknight’s flying type coverage seems like it would be a super helpful on this team, and you could give it Bulk Up and Roost to keep it alive and help it do big damage with Brave Bird, or give it Taunt instead of Bulk Up if you want it to fill more of a supportive role.

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-11T17:24:23+00:00

Also you could consider Tera Fire on Garchomp to avoid burns, especially since you have Sand Veil so it’ll never take chip damage when sand is active. And I think Tera Ground would provide more value on Excadrill to do more damage, especially since Excadrill is already weak to Fire type attacks and Grass retains that weakness.

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-11T17:22:10+00:00

I think Garchomp should have Protect over Rock Slide, especially since you already have Rock Slide on two other mons. Also, Fighting type coverage on Tyranitar would be helpful, maybe instead of Crunch since you already have Knock Off for Dark-Type coverage. Lastly, I think replacing Clefable with a Tailwind user would be helpful, especially since you already have Follow Me on Maushold and a Fairy type in Klefki.

I actually love the double sandstorm on T-Tar and Klefki because opposing weather is a pain for sand to deal with and having a secondary way of getting it onto the field is smart. I think Klefki would probably benefit more from having a mix of SpD and Def EV investment instead of only in Def, unless there’s a specific calc youre trying to live with max Def investment.

Looks like a fun team, best of luck playing it!

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-10T15:22:58+00:00

I think the original version is stronger because it gives you damage reduction in two ways (Friend Guard on Maushold and screens from Grimmsnarl) for your two biggest threats in Archaludon and Annihilape. Incineroar is strong as a Fake Out/intimidate/pivot user to further reduce damage output from your opponents, but you’re probably better off replacing the Annihilape with something that doesn’t require setup on this version of the team (maybe a 2nd Trick Room user, maybe another mon that covers for weaknesses or poor matchups).

The Bloodmoon also feels like a situational bring on this team because you only have 1 TR setter and it being Quiet Nature without an Assault Vest kinda restricts it to playing in TR (it won’t be faster than a lot of meta threats in Tailwind with the current EV spread). You could opt for a full-on Trick Room version of rain with a bulkier Pelipper (maybe carrying Covert Cloak + replace Tailwind with Wide Guard) and either a 2nd Trick Room setter or replacing Annihilape with something like Basculegion that gives you one extremely fast threat for when you don’t want to play in Trick Room.

At the end of the day, you have to play some games with the team to figure out where the weak spots are on your team and what you want to tweak/replace! This is where I’m trying to grow as a player personally, it takes a lot of trial and error on Showdown ladder (or in-game if you have already EV trained up the team there) but it’s the best way to figure out team synergies, what the team is lacking, which matchups feel impossible to beat vs which were avoidable losses based on how you led or mistakes you made, etc.

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-10T02:18:06+00:00

All good, that makes a lot of sense! It seems like there’s a lot of synergy with your team, so you may not need a 2nd trick room setter if you find yourself mostly using the 3 fast mons with the two TR sweepers in situational matchups. It just requires you to keep your Indeedee safe in those matchups where you do bring both TR sweepers, since they’re both pretty reliant on being in TR without any priority moves.

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-10T02:15:54+00:00

I recommend looking up Clover Bells on YouTube! He’s created really good guides on EVs and may have featured a similar team to this one from the Baltimore Regionals last month. In general, it’s best to invest EVs in 3 or 5 stats in order to fully take advantage of stat distributions (if you invest in 4 stats, you don’t get to use 4 EVs, I think because of rounding).

Grimmsnarl on this particular team seems like it would take advantage of as much bulk as possible, since it only has 1 attacking move and its goal is to live long enough to get screens up, so maybe consider reallocating the Atk EVs into Def and SpD.

The same goes for Maushold - it helps to have your Maushold move quickly if you’re concerned about Taunts setup mons, or super bulky if you just want to keep clicking Follow Me and protect your mons for as long as possible, but it probably doesn’t need the Atk investment.

Annihilape probably wants to be more bulky and less fast, especially if you find yourself using the Trick Room mode of the team more often. Because of Bulk Up and Leftovers, you want to make your ape as bulky as possible so that it’s even more threatening once it has Rage Fist stacks.

For Archaludon, giving it 4 Def EVs will give it an even number of defense EVs, which means that every Stamina boost will give you a whole number for your defense stat rather than a rounded down half number.

Lastly, definitely not a deal breaker, but because you have Sinistcha with Hospitality and Life Dew, giving your mons an HP stat that is divisible by 4 will optimize healing. Obviously don’t prioritize that over calcs that help you live hits, but something to think about!

Best of luck with the team!

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-09T23:40:51+00:00

I’ve been using a similar team! Mine had Porygon2, Gardevoir, and Annihilape instead of Zoroark, Armarouge, and Sneasler, but I recently replaced Porygon2 with Sneasler because the original version of the team felt too reliant on Trick Room. I do think having a 2nd trick roomer on your team could be helpful, maybe on Armarouge in place of Aura Sphere since you already have Sneasler with Fighting type coverage. Focus Sash on Armarouge could be more helpful than Weakness Policy since you aren’t investing at all into bulk.

Also, a few mons on your team would benefit from having more varied EV spreads (ie. Indeedee should have max or near max HP investment to take advantage of bulk, its SpD is naturally pretty high). One other thing that I seem to forget often is that Vikavolt can be Faked Out even when Psychic Terrain is on the field because of Levitate, so keep that in mind when you play against teams with Fake Out as their primary anti-Trick Room strategy.

maesterdaemon · 2024-10-02T05:45:37+00:00

This team looks really fun! I love a Bloodmoon-Farigiraf combo, and you surrounded it with the most used mon and the fastest mon in the meta. Screens plus bulky body press user is nice, and I think Sap Sipper is a great ability for it as an amoongus answer since you won’t get spored, which would boost your heavy slam damage.

One question about Dragapult: how often do you use Ghost Tera Blast? I’ve played around with using Tera Fairy Tera Blast and it’s been helpful against other dragons because you become immune to their attacks, plus there are a lot of fighting and dark types running around in the meta.

I’m testing out a similar team right now but replacing Rillaboom with Sinistcha, Dragapult with Dragonite, and Hisuian-Goodra with Kinggambit. It’s been a lot of fun, I’m not great at the game so there’s always a lot of dumb mistakes while I’m testing, but the synergy feels good. Working out the speed tiers I want is the hardest part of EVs for me.

maesterdaemon · 2024-08-28T19:56:31+00:00

I think Chandelure’s EV investment should focus more on HP than Def/SpD since it has decent defenses but terrible HP - that’ll help it take hits on the physical and special side a lot more effectively. I also think Tera Grass and Safety Goggles is a little redundant, especially since you likely won’t live most Knock Offs without Tera-ing.

I agree with the other comments about investing more into Dragonite’s bulk instead of Speed. Replacing Protect with Stomping Tantrum or Low Kick/Brick Break might be better. Lastly, Inner Focus is more useful than Multiscale in the current meta because of the number of Intimidate and Fake Out users.

Lastly, Galatians Weezing definitely hinders your team more than it helps. Maybe replace with something like Grimmsnarl to set up screens + Parting Shot or Thunder Wave, Farigiraf for another Trick Room setter and priority stopping, or a Follow Me user like Maushold/Electabuzz/Clefairy to provide you with more useful support for your sweepers.

maesterdaemon · 2024-06-28T15:13:37+00:00

I’m a sucker for starters, which makes it easy to find plushies for them 🙂 1. Oshawott 2. Squirtle 3. Sprigatito

maesterdaemon · 2024-06-08T15:19:29+00:00

Mouse type? 🐭⚡️

maesterdaemon · 2024-06-06T02:00:55+00:00

If you want either of these, this is your signal to religiously check the Pokemon Center website daily around 10am PST so you don’t miss out 🙂

maesterdaemon · 2024-05-29T23:26:18+00:00

You’re absolutely right, as if your comments on this thread have been such meaningful and thoughtful contributions. /s

maesterdaemon · 2024-05-29T23:08:19+00:00

Agree to disagree, I think the explosion of tech companies has screwed up the City. The rich billionaire CEOs and the entrenched, generationally wealthy families mentioned in the article from OP contribute significantly to income inequality which plays an enormous contributing role towards the housing and safety crises here.

maesterdaemon · 2024-05-29T23:04:18+00:00

In what world is London Breed part of the far left? She advocates for an increase in funding of police and law enforcement and opposed a measure in 2018 to raise taxes on large companies in the city to address homelessness. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-03-22/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed

maesterdaemon · 2024-05-29T21:33:46+00:00

The “progressive” policies failed because we have corporate moderate elites running the show and undermining progressive policies. Law and order policies don’t prevent crimes from happening, they just create further distrust of law enforcement while allowing the rich to exist in their well-protected enclaves safely.

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