OR Hydrolite Stuff Sack

Field Review

 

Biographical Information:

Name: Chuck Carnes

Age: 34

Gender: Male

Height: 6’0” (1.83 m)

Weight: 175 lbs. (79 kg)

 

Email address: ctcarnes1@yahoo.com

 

City, State, Country: Taylors, S.C. United States

 

Date: March 10, 2004

 

Backpacking Background:

I have been influenced to go camping and backpacking all my life. Every summer for the first 5 years of my life, my parents took me camping. I was in the Boy Scouts at the age of 12 and have been backpacking, on and off, ever since. Needless to say, I love the outdoors. I enjoy taking a lot of STUFF in my pack and can’t seem to get my total pack weight down, I wonder why. I usually hike around Pisgah National Forest and The Great Smoky Mountains. I go at anytime of the year and try to hit the trails when there is no rain. If it does rain, it’s okay. Trail terrain, such as rocky trails or muddy trails, is not that big of an issue with me. I just like getting out and enjoying nature.

 

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Outdoor Research

Size: #4

Dimensions: 9 in by 17 in (22.6 cm by 43.1 cm)

Volume: 1100 cu in (18.03 L)

Year of Manufacture: 2003

URL: www.orgear.com

Weight as Delivered: 1.9 oz (54 g)

MSRP: $15.00

                     

Field Information:

            During these two months of testing, the OR Hydrolite Stuff Sack was used in a few different ways. I took it on a one night, quick field trip in February where I used it for a clothes and food bag. I also used the sack in a food test around the house.

 

Testing:

One Night Field Trip:

 

            The trip was not going to be a long one but it gave me an opportunity to test the stuff sack in a few ways. I was able to stuff my food and my clothes together in this sack. I was really curious to see if my clothes were going to smell like my food and my food taste like my clothes. Most, if not all, of my food was in a zip lock or already prepackaged. Before putting the food in the sack I took a good whiff of the containers with the food and determined that there was no smell coming from the bags in the first place. I continued to stuff my clothes on top of the food and then cinched it tight. This sack is pretty large just for one night in the field but I wanted to test it the best way I could for this short of a trip. I had about a quarter of the sack unused at the top so I squeezed the air out and stuffed it in the backpack.

           

            While at camp, I emptied the bag and everything smelled the way they did before I stuffed them in the bag. Since the bag is a somewhat dark color (blue), it was difficult to view some of the snacks that I had towards the bottom of the sack. I had to remove the clothes to see what I was trying to retrieve. When bed time rolled around, I stuffed the remaining clothes in the sack to use as a pillow. Although I didn’t bring very many clothes on this trip, I was able to create a pillow about the size of my head. After shifting my head back and forth throughout the night, the clothes spread themselves out and I ended up with a very flat pillow.  Maybe on longer trips I will have more clothes to beef this sack up to have a decent size pillow. Also the material was not really face friendly, my face tended to sweat a little bit from the material. I don’t feel like this trip was long enough to give this sack a full test as far as volume. I hope to be on a week long trip in April and at that time I will be able to put this sack through a much better test.

 

Around the House:

            I did try a quick food test to see if cats could smell food through the bag. I boiled some chicken and placed it in a Zip Lock™ bag but did not zip the bag. I then placed the Zip Lock™ in the stuff sack, put the flap inside and cinched the bag closed as tight as it would go. I set the bag outside in the yard where usually 6 or 8 cats will come and hang out. I set back and observed what would happen and I noticed the cats immediately came to the sack. My first thoughts were “They can really smell that chicken”, but after they sniffed a little bit at the very tiny hole at the top of the sack where the material comes together, they moved away from the sack. I think at first they were intrigued by the sack because it was something new and since they didn’t smell food they left it alone. I can’t speak for the cats but I don’t think they smelled any food from the bag. I knelt down and took a whiff myself and didn’t smell anything either. From this test I tend to think that the sack holds in food aromas pretty well.

 

Future Test:

            I have not evaluated a water repellent or water proof test at this time. I will test it in weeks to come hopefully during a rain storm or some accident of the sack falling in water. I will also test this sack as a tent stuff sack on my next trip and evaluate its potential to become my full-time tent sack.

 

Summary:

            So far I have no complaints on the sack. The lightweight material seems to be holding up very well for the activities that it has been through. I will continue to test and to monitor the wear on the pull string and web handle on the bottom of the sack. I hope to have used this sack to the fullest at the time of my Long Term Review.

 

Thank you again OR and BGT for giving me the opportunity to test the OR Hydrolite Stuff Sack.