Reviews > Stuff Sacks > OR HydroLite Stuff Sacks > Roger Caffin > Initial Report

Initial Report - OR HydroLite Stuff Sack
Roger Caffin

Product Information

Product Claims

These are basic round-bottomed stuff sacks for gear, made from HydroLite fabric, and closed with a draw cord and toggle at the top. The swing tag (or hang tag) which came with the sack claims the following features for the HydroLite fabric and the sacks. These claims are pretty much the same as found on the web site.

• Superior durability
• Superior or truly waterproof
• Ultralight
• Laboratory tests of
  • seam strength
  • waterproofness
  • DWR
  • tear strength
  • abrasion
• Generous dust flap
• A drawcord which cinches down very smoothly
• A tenacious cordlock
• A webbing handle at the bottom end

Initial Impressions

The Stuff Sack arrived just as we were about to leave on a week-long trip. Our packs were already packed and the initial impressions about the sack were a little mixed, so testing the Sack in the field was deferred until after this trip. However, the following impressions were recorded.

Certainly, the fabric 'feels' very nice. It is a light nylon with a fine ripstop pattern and a thick opaque white urethane coating on the inside. One could confidently expect the fabric to be strong and waterproof.

The 9" (230 mm) dimension is as quoted, but the 19.5" (495 mm) length is significantly longer than indicated on the swing tag (which quotes dimensions for all 5 sizes). Incidentally, while the smaller measurement is a diameter, the manufacturer does not explain this: it could have been the width of the bag when laid out flat. The length was measured from the lower hem to the top of the bag; there was no way I could get the quoted 17" (430 mm). However, it seems churlish to complain that the bag is slightly longer.

Actual testing of the rest of the claims made above will be made in the Field Report. I suspect some of the claims will have to be severely discounted for reasons given below.

The packaging was minimal, which is good.

Initial Concerns

I am sure I have seen this (stated to be) imported fabric and this coating elsewhere, so I doubt it is unique to OR. The urethane coating is visibly quite thick: enough to resist a high water pressure. However, I doubt the coating is much different ('superior') to other coatings of a similar weight which I have seen, but I have not tested this. Equally, I expect the DWR, fabric tear strength and abrasion resistance will be fairly standard relative to other fabrics I have tested recently. (I design and make ultra-lightweight tents and packs myself, and have some familiarity with the fabrics in the market.)

Three main concerns were noted right at the start when the bag was first inspected. They all involve the stitching on the seam down the side and around the circular base.

• The fabric may be strong, but the stitching has been done with an overlocker set to about 9 stitches/inch (9 stitches per 25 mm). For such a light fabric this is a very long stitch length. I put the seam under the sort of tension it would experience when used as a 'stuff' sack and the stitches become very visible, to the point of deforming the fabric around the holes and tearing the waterproof coating. While I have not yet stressed the bag in actual Field Test use, I worry about several possible failure mechanisms.
  *     There may not be enough thread to hold the seam together
  *     The long stitch length means there is high tension on the stitch holes, which opens them up
  *     Under tension a lot of thread becomes visible and open to abrasion
  In short, in my opinion the stitch spacing needs to be at least 15 stitches per inch (or 15 stitches per 25 mm) to justify the claim of durability.
• The hems on the sack are very wide, while the overlock stitching has been done with single strand thread and a very wide sideways movement (or needle spacing). This is not a strong hem; in fact I would describe it as almost temporary. It looks as though the hem design was focused entirely on sewing speed.
• Closely allied to the stitch length problem is the vexed question of the 'waterproof' claim. The swing tag with the Sack does claim "Superior waterproofness", but does not explain that it is only the material which is waterproof. The coarse stitch length and high tension at the stitch holes means the Sack might be expected to leak badly at the seams; the absence of any obvious seam-proofing almost guarantees this. Testing such a claim would normally be left to the Field Test, but in this case I decided to conduct a preliminary test. I put 6" (150 mm) of water in the bag to see if it would leak out: it did, most elegantly. In fact, I can see a wonderful use for this bag as a field shower unit. All the holes opened up as I expected and the water poured out everywhere. It seems a great pity to use such a fine waterproof material only to have such leaky seams. More seriously, the problem is that water can get into my pack during heavy rain (it happens) or while swimming a river (which also happens). If I had this bag sitting upright at the bottom of my pack I am quite sure the water would work its way inside the seams and wet my gear. This is not a prospect I wish to risk in the field. To me it seems downright misleading to claim "Superior waterproofness" when the bag leaks this badly.

On the other hand, the 'dust flap' is generous. It is a well-secured circle of material, larger than the bag diameter, sewn just inside the drawcord tube. It is quite sufficient to allow the bag to be over-filled such that the drawcord at the top cannot be drawn shut. In this case the flap can be tucked in to create a dust-proof top surface, much like the bottom surface. It should be noted that the dust flap is internal: this means it cannot easily be used to cover the top of the bag to help keep water out. This is reasonable: I do not know of any way to position a bit of material to be both a dust flap and a water seal.

The drawcord tube at the top of the sack is stitched straight through the fabric and does not appear to be seam-sealed. Combined with the simple design of the dust flap the top of the bag should keep out dust well, but not water. This is not a criticism, just a comment, as the bag is not meant to be used for full immersion.

The drawcord at the top comes out through a well-reinforced buttonhole. The buttonhole looks very strong. However, the drawcord itself is extremely heavy: it looks very similar to the cord used on the OR gaiters also under trial at the same time. The cord is strong enough to be used under the shoes to hold the gaiter down. Much lighter cord would have been sufficient. There is also a cordlock on the drawcord, and this could have easily been replaced by a slipknot if 'light weight' was a focus.

There is a loop of light webbing across the bottom of the bag, bar-tacked (heavy zigzag stitching) to a single layer of fabric at each end. This is a nice idea, but the bar-tacking looks much stronger than the fabric through which it is sewn. I fear that lifting a sack full of gear by this handle could rip the fabric at the attachment points.

There is an OR product tag sewn into the side seam halfway down. It is essentially a loop of tape. Perhaps it could be used for something, but none of my other stuff sacks have such a loop and I have never needed anything like that. I guess marketing had its way.

Initial Summary

It is not normal to include a summary in the Initial Report, but in this case one seems relevant. The Stuff Sack seems to have a good initial concept which is worthy of the OR company, but the execution seems to have been rather poor in comparison. It is almost as though the fabric and shape were created by an experienced walker, the fine details of construction were left to someone relatively ignorant of the harsh realities of the outdoors world, and the labelling/marketing was handled by a bunch of hype-driven spin-doctors. As a result, the product does not live up to the advertising hype and the price might be judged a little high.

Planned Testing

The first test for waterproofness has already been done, and the sack proved to be leaky down the seams. There will be no point in even trying to use the sack in situations which demand reliability under wet conditions. The bag will only be tested as a general purpose stuff sack, in comparison with many other stuff sacks which I already have. It will have to be lined with a plastic bag for safety, which puts it on a par with $5 and homemade stuff sacks.

The strength of the seams will be tested by 'stuffing' the sack with gear on a few trips. The strength of the handle at the bottom of the bag will probably be tested at the same time almost by mistake, when the full bag is grabbed.

Doubtless the quality of the drawcord and cordlock will be tested during use, but these do not seem as important as the above items.

Reviewer Details

Reviewer:	Roger Caffin
Age:	57
Gender:	M
Email address:	r dot caffin at acm dot org
City, State, Country:	Sydney, NSW, Australia

Backpacking Background

I started bushwalking (the Australian term) when I was about 14 yrs old, took up rock climbing and remote exploration walking at University with the girl who became my wife, and later on we took up ski touring and canyoning. These days my wife and I do all our trips together, very often by ourselves. Our preferred walking trips in Australia are long ones: up to about a week in the general Blue Mts (east coast of Australia) and Snowy Mts (alpine region), and up to two months long in Europe and the UK. Ski touring trips would also typically last up to a week. We favour fairly hard trips of some length and prefer to travel fast and light. Many of our trips are explorations in wild country which sees few other walkers. In between these long trips we do some day walks, often exploring the start of longer trips. On average, we would spend at least two days per week walking or ski touring. Over the last year or two we have become converted to the concept of ultra-lightweight walking, and have been cutting our combined pack weight down from 36 kg (80 lb) total to about 25 kg (55 lb) for week-long trips. We have also been designing and making our own ultralightweight gear for our own use.

Reviews > Stuff Sacks > OR HydroLite Stuff Sacks > Roger Caffin > Initial Report