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Watchful Eye Designs Aloksak - Field Report January 27, 2004

Personal biographical information
Name: Kelli Wise
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0" (152 cm)
Weight: 140 lb (64 kg)
Email: ciyd@comcast.net
Location: Western Washington, USA
Date: January 27 2004

Backpacking background: I've been car camping and hiking for 20 years and sport climbing for 10 years, but am new to backpacking. My backpacking style is lightweight but not ultralight. I am striving for a suitable compromise between safety and comfort. The majority of my hiking experience is in Western Washington so I get a lot of wet weather experience.

Field information: Western Washington, coastal, lowlands and alpine hiking and snowshoeing below 6000' (1829 m).

Style: Lightweight but not ultralight. Striving for a suitable compromise between safety and comfort.

Product Information
Manufacturer: Watchful Eye Designs
Model: Aloksak Element Proof Storage and O.P.Sak Odor Proof Barrier Bag
Year of Manufacture: 2003
URL: http://watchfuleyedesigns.com

Size:
Aloksak:
A. 4" x 7" (10 cm x 18 cm), volume not listed
B. 6" x 6" (15 cm x 15 cm), listed volume on bag is 350 cu in/ 5736 cc
C. 9" x 6" (23 cm x 15 cm) listed volume on bag is 60 cu in/ 980 cc
D. 12" x 12" (30 cm x 30 cm), listed volume on bag is 350 cu in/ 5736 cc

O.P.Sak:
E. 12.5" x 15.5" (32 cm x 39 cm), volume not listed

F. 16" x 24" (40 cm x 61 cm) listed volume on bag is 1386 cu in/ 22,712 cc

Measurements:
A. 4.5" x 7" (11 cm x 18 cm), 0.2 oz (6 g )
B. 6.6" x 5.9" (17 cm x 15 cm), 0.3 oz (8 g)
C. 9" x 6" (23 cm x 15 cm), 0.4 oz (11 g)
D. 12" x 12.5" (30 cm x 32 cm), 1 oz (30 g)
E. 12.5" x 15.9" (32 cm x 40 cm), 1 oz (27 g)

F. 16.5" x 24.5" (42 cm x 62 cm), 2.8 oz (80 g)

Note: due to the light weight of these bags and 0.1 oz resolution of my scale, I measured in both ounces and grams for greater accuracy.

Features: The Aloksaks are certified to be waterproof to 200', close as easily as a zip lock bag, are flexible and tough. The O.P.Saks are odor proof bags that have the same closure as the Aloksak and are for food and toiletry storage use in bear country.

Field Report The sacks are each marked with the Watchful Eye Designs name, phone number and URL. Several of the sacks are marked with capacity and size. See the Initial Report for details of markings of each bag. I noted in my Initial Report that I suspected that the capacity of bag B seemed to be mismarked. In December, I received a package from Watchful Eye Designs that included a letter stating that I was correct and that Watchful Eye Designs were making correction in their printing in the future. In this package, I also received one sample of a larger size product, now known as bag F. The new larger bag seemed ideal for clothing or a sleeping bag.

Since receiving the bags in November, I have had a chance to take them out on several day hikes, geocaching, and snowshoeing. This is fall and winter in the maritime Pacific Northwest and we have had a nice mixed bag of weather conditions that include rain, snow, moderate temperatures, and (regionally adjusted) extreme cold.

I placed all the contents of my first aid kit into one bag. (See photo A, my collection of Aloksaks and their typical contents.) Everything fit nicely into bag C. The bag is transparent so I don't have to remember which stuff sack holds my first aid kit, nor would anyone I am hiking with have to search around inside my pack for it. Since I carry the first aid kit on group hikes, this is a nice feature. This bag goes with me on all of my day hikes and backcountry trips. It has been carried both in a stuff sack and loose in my pack. The Aloksak has shown no signs of damage and has not leaked air into the bag since I sealed it in November, approximately 2 months.

Photo A: Several Aloksaks taken on a recent trip. Can you spot the Aloksak filled with Catnip? Neither could my cat, pictured here looking disappointed.

I placed my down mitts and camp booties in bag D, kneeled on the bag to squeeze all of the air out of it, sealed it, and let it sit for 3 weeks. The bag held the 'vacuum' for 3 weeks. I have found that sandwich zip bags will not keep a seal with compressed contents, so this was a good indication that the zip closure does completely seal the bag. I would still be testing this seal except I used the down mitts on a recent snowshoe trip.

I went geocaching in the rain, one evening, with some friends at several locations on an island in the Puget Sound of Washington, including one state park. These locations were all just above sea level. While my GPS is waterproof, I wanted to see if I could operate the unit through the plastic of the Aloksak. The buttons on my GPS unit are very tiny, but the Aloksak did not impede their use. The plastic is clear enough that the display can be easily read. After hiking about 2 miles in a steady rain, in the dark, the GPS unit remained dry. The outside temperature was approximately 45 F (7 C) and the plastic remained quite flexible. I did notice that the bag did leak air over the course of the evening and, after inspecting it closely when returning home, I noticed a tiny pinhole puncture in the bag. Since the bag was brand new and just out of the envelope in which it was delivered, and had only been in my jacket pocket, I am not sure what caused the puncture.

I decided that a small pinhole puncture would be typical after a long period of use and that I wanted to know how the bag would continue to perform with a small amount of damage. I decided to perform some abnormal tests on it to see if a small puncture in the bag would prove catastrophic. First up was to fill the damaged bag and an undamaged bag with colored tissue paper and run it through a cycle in my dishwasher. I ran these with a load of dishes, with regular detergent, in normal mode, placing the two bags in the top rack, and removing them before the dry cycle. The water temperature in a dishwasher is quite hot and the detergents used are very harsh, after all the purpose is to clean dried gunk off of porcelain, glass, and stainless steel, so this is a pretty harsh test. The tissue paper was weighed before and after the test and was inspected closely for signs of water spots (colored tissue will show water more readily than white tissue will). I followed the directions on the bags for closure, including running across the seal a total of three times to make sure the zip closure was completely sealed. Coming straight out of the hot wash, the plastic was quite a bit softer than at room temperature but, as the bags cooled, they returned to normal. I weighed and inspected the tissue and there was no water absorbed. This looked promising, so I took both bags and subjected them to a full wash cycle in a front load washer with a load of clothes. This is a 45 minute wash cycle with normal liquid laundry detergent, warm wash and cool rinse, one extra rinse and maximum water extraction settings (high spin speed). When I removed the two bags, I noticed that almost all of the printing had been rubbed off of the Aloksaks. Both bags remained completely sealed. I removed the tissue, weighed and inspected it. Neither piece of tissue changed in weight, measured in grams, but I did notice that there was a small damp spot located immediately adjacent to the pinhole in the damaged bag. This probably corresponds to one or two drops of water but made no measurable difference in the weight. The pinhole did not enlarge despite the rough treatment. The results of these two test would indicate to me that a small pinhole puncture would provide excellent protection when exposed to rain or snow, but may not provide complete protection if the bag were immersed for an extended period of time. The damage in the bag did not propagate even when subjected to rough handling, unlike a sandwich bag, so I would continue to use this bag in the field for non-critical items.

I was also impressed that the zip lock seals of both bags remained sealed even when the bags were subjected to enough stress to rub all the printing off. I was careful to follow the instructions on the bag which instructs the user to 'repeat at least twice to ensure positive closure' when sealing the bag.

As part of my destructive testing, I am using Bag B as a hiking wallet. When hiking, I carry my driver's license, insurance card, credit card, paper money and coins in this bag. I fold the bag around the contents along the same crease and have carried it in my pocket. While hiking, I usually carry it in the zip stow pocket on the front of my zip convertible pants. For civilian use, it sits in the back pocket of a pair of denim jeans, although I substitute a couple of frequent flier cards for the driver's license and credit card (which I normally carry in my purse). I have over 5 weeks of wear and tear on this bag in this configuration and the bag is showing some wear, especially along the folds, but seems to be holding up. See photo B.

Photo B: After 5 weeks of carrying the Aloksak in my pocket, the lettering is worn and the creases look permanent, but no leaks were found.

While testing a bivy sack for BGT, I spent a few nights sleeping outside in varying weather. I kept some extra items in bag C, sitting outside of the bivy sack. The lowest temperature I experienced was 20 F (-7 C). I also slept out in a cold rain where the low temperature was 34 F (1 C) and we received .25" (6 mm) of rain during the night. The Aloksak kept everything dry and was unaffected by the cold temperatures.

On a recent snowshoe trip, I used several Aloksaks of varying sizes, including the new, larger sized bag to carry all of my extra clothes. I purposely packed more spares than normal to see how much the large bag would carry. See photo C for an idea of how much will fit into this bag, using the GoLite Breeze pack as a point of reference. I loaded the bag with a down jacket, down mittens, liner gloves, spare socks, spare long sleeve shirt, and spare tights. I knelt on the bag to avacuate as much air out as possible and sealed the Aloksak shut. This made a small, flat, stiff package that I placed into my pack. I placed this into a trash compacter bag liner along with a stuff sack filled with wet weather gear, and other supplies. This was a dayhike trip starting at X ft altitude and reaching X ft altitude. When we arrived at the trailhead, it was snowing and it snowed throughout the entire trip. We estimated that we received approximately 6" (15 cm) of snow during the 5 hours we were on the trail. This is Cascades snow - wet and icy - and it was also very windy all day. I noticed that the outside pockets of my pack were partially filled with snow when we stopped for lunch. At the lunch break, I removed my spare clothes bag, dug out the liner gloves and down mitts, resealed the bag, with heavy insulated gloves on, and left the bag sitting on the snow while we ate. When it was time to pack up, I put the down mitts back in the bag, left the liner gloves out as they were wet by now, put my insulated gloves back on and sealed the bag up as I had at home evacuating as much air as possible. The temperature at this time was 23 F (-5 C). The Aloksak had been sitting on the snow, and had been subjected to continuous snowfall during the break. The plastic was not noticeably stiff and the zip closure was easy to seal, even with thick gloves on. I decided to pack the Aloksak outside of the trash compacter bag and see how it would fare with melting snow and damp gear. When I unpacked my gear at home, I noticed that the outside surfaces of all of my bags were damp, but the contents of all of these Aloksaks remained dry.

Photo C: This is Bag F, the large size, filled with a down jacket, down mittens, liner gloves, spare socks, spare long sleeve shirt, and spare tights, after evacuating the air and sealing the bag. It is shown alongside a GoLite Breeze as a reference for comparison of the capacity of the bag.

I placed some fresh catnip into bag B and left it out for my cat. She knew that there was catnip in the vicinity, but ignored the catnip in the bag. You can see her ignoring it in Photo A. I left the bag out overnight and, by the next morning, she began sniffing around the bag. This would leave me to believe that the odor of the catnip had seeped through the bag. Therefore, I would not depend on the Aloksak for odor proof use. I intend to repeat the test with the O.P.Sak.

As stated earlier, I have used the Aloksaks on other hikes, but the above incidents stand out as more severe and are likely field situations. I have been very pleased with this product and am looking forward to seeing how well they have held up when the long term report is filed. I do like being able to see the contents of the Aloksaks without having to open them up or even remove them from my pack and they have made organizing the contents of my pack much simpler. I am concerned about the puncture damage and will be watching the other bags to see if they develop similar problems. The bags seem pretty immune to abrasion damage, even 5 weeks in a pocket hasn't caused the plastic to fail, so they should continue to survive being abraded by the contents of my pack.

While I haven't had a need to carry a bear canister, I did load the O.P.Sak with food and place it into a Garcia Backpacker's Cache to check for fit. The bag fit well, but because of the wide lip of the Garcia's opening, I would put the O.P.Sak into the bear canister first and then add my food. This should prevent possible damage to the bag caused by abrasion against the bear canister's opening.

Likes:
Easy to close and open
Zip closure doesn't accidentally pop open even when handled roughly
Transparent - contents are easy to see Can use electronics and see displays
Still provide some protection even with small puncture damage
Don't become brittle or stiff in cold temperatures

Dislikes: I have 1 bag with puncture damage. Will be watching for this in other samples

I would like to thank Watchful Eye Designs and BackPack Gear Test for the opportunity to test the Aloksaks.

Reviews > Stuff Sacks > Dry Bags > Watchful Eye Designs - Aloksak > Kelli Wise > Field Report