About Us

Changing the Way You Work

If you’ve ever experienced the limitations of a conventional backpack or vest, then Tablet EX Gear chest packs will revolutionize the way you carry essential gear.  Keep your tablet, computer and other essentials safe and secure without hindrance or discomfort. Unparalleled in design and workmanship, Tablet-EX-Gear chest pack offer a simple, streamlined solution to the challenges we all face in the field. Tablet-EX-Gear chest packs are ready for action!

Our President Brian Saunders has spent the majority of his 30-year career working as a Forester on the West Coast of Canada. Until relatively recently, the “tools of the trade” changed very little. In 2011, a dramatic shift occurred with the introduction of iPads as tools for fieldwork. Tablet computers have quickly become an essential tool for many professionals working in a variety of disciplines.

Tablet computers have replaced much of what we previously considered to be essential for fieldwork – camera, notebook, paper maps, clinometer, GPS unit, calculator, and hip chain. While it was great to be able to remove so much gear from our work vests, the question became how to carry a tablet computer in the same manner that the vest efficiently carried equipment that we no longer needed! A puzzle.

In the spring of 2012 with field work approaching, Brian began to investigate options for packing a tablet computer into the field. The need was for comfort, protection of the tablet and ready access. Nothing was available that was well suited to the work he performed.

“I had a few days of fieldwork coming up early in the summer. So on the Saturday before I was due to head out to the bush I sat down at my grandmother’s old treadle sewing machine and cobbled together a chest pack to allow me to carry an iPad, radio, compass, cell phone and a roll of flagging tape. It wasn’t pretty but it was functional”

Our packs are ready for action

Unparalleled in design and workmanship. Tablet-EX-Gear chest packs offer a simple, streamlined solution to the challenges we all face in the field.

After a few days in the field Brian thought he was onto something. The chest pack allowed much quicker access to the iPad, and by sandwiching the tablet between ABS plastic in the front and back of the main pocket it was very well protected in the event that he fell (“which I do almost every day in the field”). In order carry everything required he added a backpack. “The combination of the chest pack and backpack worked very well. I now had better access to my essential field gear and I could more comfortably carry all the gear I needed for a full day!”

“I loaned the chest pack to a colleague to see what he thought. A few weeks later I checked in with him to see how it was working for him. He didn’t want to give it back to me until I had another one for him to use. I made another and after using it myself for a while I loaned it to him and loaned out the original version to another colleague. Again the response was very positive.”

Brian then recruited his friend Lorraine to help develop improved prototypes. Lorraine is a talented seamstress and had some great ideas to improve the design. They worked together on a series of prototypes for several months, producing a dozen different versions of the original Cortes Pack (Discontinued in 2018). During this time the design was also improved with feedback from a variety of professionals.

“I never thought that it would take eight months of field testing and multiple design changes, to come up with a design that I could be confident would meet the needs of a variety of professionals that are using tablet computers in the field. While the pack is not perfect for every conceivable use, it is well suited to a wide variety of professionals that work in the field. With feedback from customers we will continue to work on improving the design and accessories to better meet our customers needs.”

We would really appreciate you feedback so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.