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Reviews > Stuff Sacks > Dry Bags > Vargo Res Tek UL Drybag > Test Report by Nathan Kettner
VARGO RESTEK DRYBAG
INITIAL REPORT - March 10, 2009
TESTER INFORMATION
I'm a medium weight backpacker, meaning my pack usually weighs 30-35 lb (13-16 kg), and I generally hike a moderate pace and mostly in mountainous terrain. I almost always use a tent (lightweight when backpacking, wall tent when hunting). I'm a weekend backpacker and make lots of day trips and single night outings, plus a few week-long backpack trips. All of my outings have been in the beautiful and rugged Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming since I started backpacking in 2004. PRODUCT INFORMATION & SPECIFICATIONS
Manufacturer: Vargo Outdoors INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
Before I even opened the shipping box I thought, "Wow, this thing is really lightweight." After opening it, my initial impression was even stronger that this drybag is extremely lightweight, especially for its size. At just over a 1/4 lb (134 g), it is impressively light. The fabric feels very much like the tent I purchased last year and the seams are similarly taped and sealed. TRYING IT OUT
For an in-home test I put a sleeping bag, pillow, and shirt into the drybag along with an indicator strip (i.e. toilet paper). I then put the bag into the bathtub and turned the rain simulator (shower) on and let it run until there was a couple of inches (5 cm) of standing water. To make the test as difficult for the bag as possible, I made sure that the long seam on the 'back' of the bag was facing down, thus submerged, and left it sitting for an hour and a half. When I pulled it out of the tub, it didn't seem to have lost any of the air that had been squeezed inside, so it seems unlikely to me that any water could have gotten in. After removing the contents, it wasn't even so much as humid inside the bag. SUMMARY
This featherweight drybag passed my rain and puddle simulation with flying colors. And with its enormous size, it is easily the largest drybag I have ever used. I'm looking forward to seeing whether or not it will remain impermeable after some hard use camping and (hopefully) whitewater rafting. FIELD LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS
You might not think the dry mountains of the Western United States would be a great place to test a drybag, and normally you'd be right, but this Spring has brought more rain than normal and I've had good opportunities to get out and play in the rain. On the other hand, when the forecasts called for rain every weekend for the past two months, I didn't get out as often as I would have liked, but still got 2 good trips in to see how well this bag holds up. PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD
My first trip with the Restek drybag was to sunny Moab, Utah for a 3 night camping, hiking, and mountain biking trip. On the way there and back (about a 6 hour drive) the Restek drybag kept some of my essential gear (2 sleeping bags and 2 pillows) as dry as a bone even after getting lashed by rain at 75 mph (120 kph) for about 1/2 hour each way in the back of my truck. Unfortunately (fortunately?), it didn't rain while we were in Utah, but the bag provided a sense of security knowing that our extra clothes or food, or whatever wouldn't fit in the tent with us, would be dry when we woke up in the morning. SUMMARY
Although I wouldn't call it torture testing, I have put the Restek Drybag through a couple common test cases (strapped into the back of the truck and sitting outside my tent). In both cases, the contents were kept dry and I believe the bag is still airtight (judging by the "puffiness" of the bag), not to mention waterproof. LONG-TERM TEST LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS In the past two months I've taken the Vargo Restek Ultralight dry bag on two car camping trips, two backpacking trips, and best of all, a whitewater rafting trip through the Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River in southern Colorado. The Royal Gorge is 10 miles (16 km) of class III-IV rapids through a steep canyon with sheer walls up to 1,100 ft (330 m) high. Rafting it takes about three hours. PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD
On each of my camping trips, I was fortunate enough (unfortunate for testing a dry bag) not to have any significant precipitation, so the only real test was on the whitewater rafting trip. Since it was just an afternoon trip, all I had along to store in the bag was a change of clothes. Unfortunately, this required me to roll the top down much further than would normally be required with a fuller bag. Even with the many rolls, the bag was not tight when I snapped it shut. SUMMARY The Vargo Restek Ultralight dry bag kept my stuff dry in every case. It is very lightweight and easy to pack for the times when I need the extra storage space in camp, in the bed of the truck, or on the raft. CONTINUED USE I will use this dry bag on camping trips for as long as it lasts. Its large size allows me to throw anything I need in and not have to worry about the weather. This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1.5 Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.Read more reviews of Vargo Outdoors gear Read more gear reviews by Nathan Kettner Reviews > Stuff Sacks > Dry Bags > Vargo Res Tek UL Drybag > Test Report by Nathan Kettner |