21.7.2014

The only way I can do this dry bag justice is to tell the whole story of a weekend where nearly everything went wrong, and the weather was horrible.We set off from Crewe to Sandbach to pick up the last of our group after my rucksack arrived late, delaying us by half an hour or so - in high spirits - the sun was shining and this was going to be an amazing trip. When we arrived in Sandbach to collect our friend, he promptly posted his keys through his letterbox after locking his tent in his car. Great. Undeterred by this, we spent around 30mins fishing through his letterbox with a magnet and cord until, finally, the keys came back with the magnet. Elated by our success,we chucked all the gear in the back of the car and continued on our merry way - heading North on the M6 towards our adventure. All seemed to be going well, until we hit traffic backed up 3 junctions. It seemed like the forces of darkness were conspiring against us, determined to halt our journey. I changed the route on my SatNav, and, by using A roads, avoided the worst of the traffic, saving us precious time. Further North we went, nothing could stop us now. The journey continued for a surprisingly short time (likely due to our excitement), and we arrived at Galloway Forest Park eager to start our adventure. After loading up my rucksack, we headed up the hill in search of somewhere to camp for the night. After around 2 hours of wandering through the forest, we found an almost ideal place to set up camp - a good view of the sky and plenty of dry wood. We quickly got set up, and while the midges were eating us alive (despite copious amounts of insect repellent), we were in high spirits - after all, we had made it here, with a clear view of the sky and set up camp in the middle of a forest like true adventurers.As the dark closed in, it became obvious that the sky was not going to be clear for us this night. Still, there was always tomorrow night - this was a dark sky park, of course we were going to see the stars, stars like we'd never seen before. Slightly disappointed by the sky, but still hopeful, we went to bed in our nice, dry and warm sleeping bags. We awoke the next morning raring to go - had breakfast while chatting about the day to come, got packed up and set off on our adventure - along the track and taking in every last morsel of the beautiful scenery, a small cave, waterfalls, lochs, and hills in the distance. When we arrived at the second loch, we had a decision to make: head around the loch on the track, or head through the pine forest and connect back up with the track on the other side. As the distance was so much shorter, we opted to trek through the pine forest. This, we would later agree, was a mistake.We started through the pine forest, after choosing what seemed to be the least dense area to head into - the reality, however, was that it was all dense. Incredibly so. We pulled ourselves through narrow gaps between trees, trudged through bogs, continuing despite the constant barrage of pine needles finding their way to places pine needles really shouldn't be. We continued, through the heart of darkness, deeper. Deeper still, the pine trees seemed to never end - the forest torturing us with the occasional sight of clearing. "Maybe that's the track, finally!". Foolish hope. The darkness began to close in, the once light sky now darkening, threatening. As we found a clearing in which to rest and regroup, mother nature saw fit to assert her control once more, and the heavens opened. Rain like bullets, seemingly on a quest to drown the earth. The rain continued, and so did the pine trees. The ground now becoming even more boggy underfoot and our packs getting heavier as they clung onto the rain, pulling us down toward the ground that the forest seemed so intent to bury us in. As our situation became worse, we resolved to using the compass to head dead North until we reached the track, desperate to find something, some landmark or clearing so that we could find our way out. We continued to head North, through the now squelching ground and thick forest, still pulling our way between trees, checking our compass every ten feet or so and discovering that North was not at all where we thought - the trees spinning our sense of direction to pull us back in, back towards the heart of darkness, so that it might claim us as it's own.After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the edge of the forest - freedom! We had made it through the heart of darkness, and out of the other side. We had escaped. Our happiness was short lived, however, as we took a break to pull the pine needles out of our clothes in handfuls, the rain now taking over from the forest in mother nature's mission to truly destroy our spirit. The rain hammered, and we knew we had to keep moving if we were to make it to somewhere to set up camp for the night. The track was nowhere in sight, and we realised that though we knew the general area we were in, if we headed in the wrong direction, we would go for miles without finding anything. We resolved to head North, as it was the most likely direction to find something we could use to pinpoint our location. As we headed down the hill, the ground became softer and softer, until one of us was swallowed up the the knee in marsh. We had to get out of the rain - there was no progress on this ground, in this weather. We began to look around the area to set up our tarp - struggling to find anywhere even remotely suitable. After a short while, we found somewhere halfway up a hill - the trees were a little close together and probably not mature enough to properly support the tarp, but it was something. Something that would get us out of the rain, and allow us some clarity of thought to work out exactly where we were. We got the tarp set and gathered underneath it, every part of us dripped with rain. We sat in a huddle under the tarp, staring at the map and our surroundings, hoping to find something other than pine trees and marsh. Nothing. Pine forest, marsh. Nothing of any use. Half an hour passed, and we came to the reckoning that we had to move, to go somewhere that we could set up camp properly, out of the rain. The only opton was to wander to the back of us, to the crest of the hill and hope that we could see a loch or other feature.As I headed to the top of the hill, I saw it, the track. The track that would lead us to safety, away from the heart of darkness that had tried so hard to devour us. We quickly packed up our gear, spurred on by the new hope of the track. The rain still beating down, we headed along the track, checking each group of trees for somewhere suitable. We walked a short while and saw what looked like the perfect place for us to pitch up - tall trees, with few low branches. Exactly what we needed. As we got closer, our spirits began to rise - it was going to be okay, we were going to pitch up and get dry. Relief so short lived, as we heading into the small wood, we quickly realised the ground was not suitable; grooves between trees preventing us from finding any flat ground. We had to continue on the track. As we left the woods for the track once more, our spirits we heading South, thinking we'd found somewhere to stay, only to have our hopes dashed by mother nature's seemingly endless cruelty. Trudging through the rain, we eventually came by a large group of trees on our left that one of our party went to investigate, and what a good happening that was - he found us somewhere to stay. We headed up and got the tarp up fast, collecting water that trickled off it in our now ironically empty water containers. We stayed under the tarp, out of the rain for a couple of hours, patiently waiting for a break in the rain in which to get our tents up. We sat, and began to unpack our changes of clothes from our "waterproof" rucksacks - clothes that were, at best, pretty damp, but much drier than what we were wearing. We started to cook our food, knowing that getting some warm fuel inside us would go a long way to improving our situation.Eventually, there was a break in the rain. We quickly got our tents up, and as the group pulled out their sleeping bags from dry bags to find them damp, I felt a mounting dread. My sleeping bag had been on the outside of my bag all day, protected only by it's dry bag (this product). I pulled my curtain that I use as a ground mat and my flannel pillow from my bag, and laid them down. Now was the moment of dread - I released the buckles on the dry bag to a hiss as the air rushed back in. I reached into the bag with a quivering hand. My sleeping bag was dry! Not even damp, not a single drop of this horrendous weather that had soaked everything else made it through, even though it was on the outside of my bag. Bone dry.In short, buy this dry bag if you want a complete guarantee that you can go against mother nature's will and still keep your stuff dry. This bag in completely unbelievable.

1.2.2013

I use these to compress goose down sleeping bags for backpacking. They compress down as small as you like, squeezing the air out of the yellow e-vent panel on the bottom, and yet they are completely waterproof, ...and yet breathable so things can still dry out inside them. Genius. The roll-top closure clips together under the compression lid and keeps water out successfully.I also use one to pack a tent into. The poles and pegs go separately in my rucksack and the tent inner and flysheet get stuffed in one of these. (Stuffed - not folded.) It's brilliant because a wet tent can't then make anything else wet inside my rucksack. Plus, the tent then takes up less space. I've got it down to a fine art now,

25.2.2021

I bought this in a medium size and this is a really impressive bit of kit. I was a little sceptical when I got it out of the box as it seemed really lightweight and nearly as thin as one of the Osprey roll top bags (of which I have a couple) but my scepticism soon disappeared after I tried it out. The stitching for the straps look to be triple stitched and the buckles are very well moulded. I managed to compress my Vango Nova 200 tent flysheet and inner down to the size of a small football (not including the poles and pegs) which astounded me. I have a regular Mountain Warehouse synthetic sleeping bag (not mummy) and, although it was a slightly tight fit getting it into the compression sack,

11.8.2010

The eVENT drysack is a great product - it does everything it promises. It's very light, but still quite sturdy. I have so far used it on a canoe trip, and it kept the sleeping bags perfectly dry despite some.. interesting weather.The XL size is bigger than I anticipated - I had planned it as a replacement for my old compression bag, but it actually fits 2 large sleeping bags, which is nice if you try to minimize the amount luggage e.g. in a canoe. As the material is so light/thin it also functions perfectly for only one sleeping bag. I will also use this bag for motorcycling tours, as the compression system is good, and the bag is waterproof, so it can just be strapped on top of the pack.

17.8.2011

It seems most people use these compression sacks for sleeping bags and camping gear (which I think there were originally designed for) but they are excellent for clothing too. I am backpacking with a 65litre pack at the moment and to stay sane you really need to have everything neatly organised, including your clothing. These sacks let you section off your clothes while saving you a good amount of space at the same time (either 1/3 or 1/4 depending on what is in it). I actually have a S2S medium packing cube for 2 pairs of trousers and 4 shirts then I put everything else in the sack. It is actually like a magic bag when you pull all the gear out of it. Also,

6.2.2018

It began its travels with me cycling down England, in Janury 2013, on the back of my bike. Then withstood 2 months in Morocco. Since then it has been away on 100+ camping trips, in countless amounts of rain and mud.Pros:- I use it to hold my down sleeping bag and maybe the odd piece of clothing, for which the size medium is ample.- You can pull the straps tight to compress it, which can be better or worse depending how much is inside.- Fully watertight if you seal it properly.- Repairs can be made with GAFFA tapeCons:- When I first bought it I tried to squeeze my sleeping bag in in its case, but that ripped the side a little (see photos). I repaired with some GAFFA tape and it's still going strong.

8.3.2014

I use dry sacks a lot on my hikes and kayak trips. These compression sacks are awesome since they utilise event fabrics and also because they are heavy duty. If you plan to use these for your sleeping bag I could hint that S size (10-3.3 litre) seems to be same size as the Mammut's XS compression sack which is used with their most smallest packing sleeping bags. I feel that the Sea to Summit Event Compression Dry Sack has a bit more traction inside the sack so that it's not as easy to stuff the sleeping bag in to the sack as it would be for the sleeping bags own sack. If you're looking for ultralight compression sacks which doesn't have to be as tough as Sea to Summit's sack I recommend Granite Gear's Event Sil Compression sacks.

9.11.2009

As my husband and I are daft enough to do camping weekends on our motorcycles during the winter months, warm sleeping bags are obviously important!! I recently purchased a bag designed to appeal to Carp fishermen..its a lovely warm and roomy bag which unfortunately rolled up to the size of a small Dinghy!! I purchased the Sea to summit XL compression dry sack and am happy to report that it compressed my Sleeping bag down to a much more managable size and has the added advantage of keeping it dry too (unlike the bag provided with it..)This has made packing it onto the bike much easier.. and will save me wrapping my gear in numerous bin bags which invariably disintergrate and let water in at speed...

10.7.2010

I bought one of these (medium) a few months ago, and liked it so much I bought two more - a small and extra small. I've now taken these on two 5-6 day treks and I'm pleased with my purchases.I was keen to get something that was both waterproof and acted as a compression sack. These do both well.The combination of medium, small and extra small works perfectly for me and has enabled me to ditch my 50 litre rucksack in favour of my much-preferred 35 litre rucksack.I've been out in some severe weather with my stuff packed into these bags, and not a single drop of water has got through, although the map I had right next to them was utterly ruined.The only thing I can fault them on is their colour

24.6.2016

Excellent compression sacks. The large is has enough room to get my Hilleberg Soulo tent in [minus the poles], my Marmot Hydrogen down bag & a NeoAir Trekker. It compresses all 3 down to a third of their size & the waterproof test? While I was playing with it to see what I could get in there, we had a Mountain Rescue shout & I raced off, leaving the compression sack in the back garden with my down sleeping bag inside. The nice sunny day that it was, turned into a monsoon in the late afternoon & on return 6 hours later I realized what I had done, brought it inside, pulled the sleeping bag out - bone dry! It's the best endorsement I can give at the moment,

7.2.2014

Wasn't sure at first, because it seems to quite flimsy on first inspection. However now it has been used it seems to in fact robust and well made. Only time will tell I guess. It seems to be well waterproof, but I have not tested thoroughly enough for this to be guaranteed. Certainly it is water repellent. Again time will tell. :)As it is not listed elsewhere, that I saw the sizes are as follows:XL : 27 cm x 58 cm; 210g; 30 litre max; 10 litre min.L : 23 cm x 50 cm; 168g; 20 litre max; 6.7 litre min.M : 20 cm x 46 cm; 148g; 14 litre max; 4.5 litre min.S :18 cm x 40 cm; 129g; 10 litre max; 3.3 litre min.XS : 15 cm x 35 cm; 107g; 6 litre max; 2 litre min.These are their figures, not mine. :)

11.8.2013

Just returned from a month in Nepal and wanted to share how great my eVENT sacks were. They're not cheap compared to other dry sacks, but after buying 1 and seeing the benefits, I splashed out and bought 3. Sizing is a bit of guesswork; I ended up using a LARGE for my 3-4 season sleeping bag and 2 MEDIUMS for my clothes and tent. We went in the monsoon but not once did any of my stuff get wet - thanks to the sacks. My tent flysheet got soaked most nights, but once packed, the eVENT sack kept the water inside so the rest of my rucksack stayed dry. I wasn't sure if the eVENT sacks were worth spending the extra money, but having used them and saved so much space, I would highly recommend them!

9.2.2015

These little compression dry bags are a great upgrade to your existing compression sack with down or synthetic insulation gear.They can compress a sleeping bag much further than the usual manufacturer bag in most cases, while also providing some water protection. Usually the biggest challenge of drybagging a sleeping bag is getting the air out. With these eVent bags the air is expelled as you compress with the straps.I own the medium for a three season Alpkit Skyehigh 800, the Large for a skyehigh 1000 and the small which stores an Alpkit Filo down jacket and a pair of Montane Prism pants.All three provide superior compression to the manufacturer bag, with great water protection

28.7.2016

Incredible, this is going to make such a difference. Very well made as you'd expect from Sea to Summit. Our double sleeping bag is as big if not bigger than our 6 man tent in it's stuff bag, so it take up a huge amount of space. Plus the stuff sack is not waterproof, so when striking camp you need to make sure the sleeping bag is not left somewhere it's going to get wet. This takes care of all that. The Sea to Summit Compression Sack reduced the sleeping bag to less than half of what it would be in it's stuff sack, and is waterproof as well. Now going to buy one for the kids sleeping bags, and whatever else I can think of that can be crushed down!

4.9.2010

This is one of the best compression sacks out there - the key is not only in being waterproof but in also allowing air to escape the bag you really can compress it down in a way that is just impossible with say exped rollsacks. For things like compressing and protecting a sleeping bag/tent this is crucial, particularly if you're backpacking, which i was recently and this kept my 3 man tent compressed to the size of less than a football. VVV impressive. Sidenote is that construction is excellent, straps are hardwearing and seams are double stitched and taped. OVerall a great buy for backpackers/campers/outdoorsy types :-)

Sea to Summit eVent Compression Dry Sack XS grey - Reviews

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