Sure we love to look at bikes, and boards, and ski’s and amazing jackets and the best backpacks, complex, multifacetted products that you pick apart, and get completely gear geak about. But sometimes the best products are just the really simple ones. Gear that can make or break your day in the outdoors.
The Osprey Dry Sack, that I got to use in the 3, 12 and 30 liter sizes, is just that kind of product. It is a very straightforward product. It’s only goal is to keep your gear dry. So this review could be very short. Did the Dry Sack keep my gear dry? To be short, yes. Very much so. But there is more we can say about this simple product.
Circumstances
I used the various Dry Sacks on canoe trips and days at the beach in the Netherlands, went boating with them in Spain, hit the beach there as well, and took some stuff with me on a 1K ocean swim from one beach to the nest in Spain. Besides that a lot use ona family camping holiday with many a water side activity. I used them to pack and protect everything from my phone, through to my DSLR film camera, to food and clothing.
Keeping water and more out
Besides keeping water out, which the Dry Sacks did admirably. Especially during the canoe trips, where the canoe got quite wet, the sacks kept everything dry. To further test that, I rolled the largest 30L sack up with a little air inside, and saw it float happily on the water. I also used the 12 liter version as a rain cover during a video shoot in pouring rain in England. Worked out very well. Besides that, on the beach they are just great at keeping the sound away from your electronics and to just keep everything stowed away and organized.
Material
The DRYSACKS are made from a siliconized ripstop nylon, which is very light. What you often see in Dry Sacks is the use of heavier polyester coated fabric, whereas the material used on these is very light and not thick at all. I do expect that the durability is a bit less than those heavier drybags, though the bags are still undamaged till now.
When you are not using the sack, you can roll it all the way up to a very small bundle you can pack away for when the going gets wet. The roll tops with the stiffening bar work well, the buckles seem strong enough and haven’t disappointed in anyway till now. There is no compression / deflation valve, so in order to avoid trapping too much air in the bag, you do need to be smart about rolling the sack.
Conclusion
One or more Dry Sacks are a great addition to your outdoor kit. They pack very easily, are easy to use and good at what they are supposed to do. The Drysack range from € 12,- for the 3L version to € 24,- for the 30L. So it is a fairly modest investment for the security of keeping your stuff dry and safe.
