- The Patagonia Black Hole Duffel bag 40 Liter,
is a 40 liter bag that can hold quite a bit of stuff.
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Taylor, one of our writers, and I have been testing this
for three weeks across Detroit, Michigan
and San Francisco, California.
It's important to note that this is the 40 liter version.
And at the time of this review,
Patagonia also offers this bag at 55 liter,
70 liter and 100 liters.
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the full written review.
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Let's dive in.
(jazzy music)
Kicking it off, the main fabric of this bag is a 900D,
polyester that is TPU coated.
They also use nylon webbing on areas
like the daisy chain and grab handles on the sides.
The polyester exterior, the polyester interior lining
and the nylon is now 100%
bluesign approved recycled material.
And this is new with pretty much
the entire Patagonia Black Hole line.
We like that Patagonia is keeping a very close eye
on sustainability.
And always pushing their products to be more sustainable.
They're pretty much an industry trend setter at this point.
Not to mention their worn wear program
which has been going on for quite a while.
Where you can exchange your old gear for new gear,
sell your old gear or buy used Patagonia gear.
At the time of this review, the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel
comes in five different color waves.
For once, we did not go with Black
and opted for Classic Navy.
In addition to these two colors, they've got Cobalt Blue,
Deep Plum and Hammonds Gold.
Patagonia updates their color waves all the time
so the chances are if you viewing this video
a couple of months after it's been posted,
they have already updated their color waves.
They all look decently sporty and of course,
bear that big giant Patagonia logo on the bottom
and the sides of the bag.
That happens on both sides and of course,
there will be no confusion that you have a Patagonia bag.
We poled our Instagram audience to see what they thought
of the overall look of this bag.
And here are the results.
Wrapping up the rest of the materials,
we have durable YKK zippers on the main compartment
and the side pockets.
We have durable Duraflex buckles
used to attach the backpack straps to the bag,
which we'll get into in a little bit.
Kicking it off with the external components,
starting with the carry modes.
Patagonia claims there are two different ways
to carry this thing.
However, we found three.
First off, you can carry the bag by the buttonable handles
on each side of the top of the bag.
The handle isn't very padded
and uses two sewn together pieces
of that rip stop polyester you've seen
on the exterior of the bag.
The fasteners that hold both sides of the handle together,
also do a good job at staying put.
On some other duffels we've tested,
we found that the fasteners can be a little bit finicky
and come unbuttoned
when you fully pack the bag out with gear.
However, this is not really the case
with the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel.
One thing to note on these fasteners,
if they're buttoned up, you'll likely have to unzip them
to access the main compartment of the bag.
Especially if you want to open it way up.
Generally, we think that carrying by the handles
is the best way to carry this specific bag.
Next up, we have the backpack straps, which can attach
and detach via the D-ring and the Duraflex buckles
at the bottom of the bag.
Quick note, if you want to keep the backpack straps attached
and still use the handle, we found that you can sort of
tuck it under here, lay it flat against the top of the bag
and that works pretty well at keeping things tidy.
You may want to remove the straps
if you're going to be checking you bag in on the airline.
Or you just want to use it by the handle.
It's definitely a bit cleaner
without the backpack straps on.
At first, the way that these straps attach with the D-rings
seemed a little bit precarious.
But in testing, we got more used to it
and more comfortable with the idea of it.
Plus, the D-rings are not very offensive
when they're just hanging off the bag
without the backpack straps.
The buckles at the bottom of the bag, however,
stick out quite a bit.
And we like how other bags have handled this,
say the Tom Bihn Aeronaut.
It kind of tucks into the fabric
and gets that buckle out of the way
and promotes a lot cleaner of a look.
Generally, this bag is less comfortable
than other specific backpacks.
But it sort of depends on how you pack the bag out.
We'll cover that later in this review.
The straps themselves are a little bit on the thinner side.
But we still think they are a great choice for this bag.
Although thin, the foam is dense
and that helps promote a comfortable carry.
We have two pieces of nylon webbing across the front
of the straps and one features the Patagonia logo.
Curving down the front of the strap,
there's a daisy chain you can use
to attach a sternum strap, if you like.
Or attach any additional accessories
that you want close access to at the front of your body.
At the bottom, the strap adjusters seem kind of backwards.
Instead of pulling them down and towards your back
typically like you'd adjust a backpack.
With these Patagonia straps,
you sort of pull them up towards your chest.
This matches the Patagonia MLC
that we reviewed previously, quite closely.
It makes these straps feel a little bit more
in the way than what we've seen with other bags.
Especially ones that offer an elastic keeper
to help manage that strap a little bit more.
We understand that this is a by product a bit
of just how the bag is designed
and how these straps come off.
However, we have had a better experience
with other duffel and backpack combos
in terms of the straps and how they're managed
at the bottom.
And one last note on the backpack carry.
If you're wearing this as a backpack,
putting your arms through the bag straps,
it's also easy to put your hand through the duffel handles
and kind of get them caught as you're going through.
We've tried buttoning these handles behind our back.
But a heavy load, it kind of just sticks into your back
and it's not very comfortable.
We have experimented with attaching a carabiner
to the side PALS loop webbings here.
However that's not the cleanest way to deal with it.
And we would've just liked Patagonia
to figure out a solve for this.
And just overall, this bag isn't super comfortable
to carry in backpack mode.
But most duffel and backpack combos are not anyways.
Next up, the third way to carry this, is on your shoulder.
Just by clumping up these two straps.
This isn't the most comfortable way to carry a duffel
but it gets close to that traditional,
shoulder strap style carry that you see
with a lot of other duffels on the market.
Wrapping up the rest of the exterior components,
we have two hauler handles on each side of the bag,
which are good to grab onto and cart the bag around.
Especially when it's open.
These are simple folded nylon webbing.
And it does feel decently comfortable to grab.
However, it's not super padded.
Just like we've seen on the duffel handle up top.
We think this is okay.
Maybe a little borderline for 40 liters.
But definitely when it gets up to the larger sizes,
some foam padding would be nice.
Next up, we have two rows of PALS webbing
on each side of the duffel.
This if for you to attach those side handles
if you want to keep them secure
and not behind your back and flapping around
while in backpack mode.
You can attach any other addition accessories you like.
Whether it is a MOLLE accessory
to go on this PALS like webbing.
Whether it's a water bottle with a clip on it.
Or really anything with a carabiner clip.
The sky is the limit with what you want to attach
to the outside.
Starting with the front pocket of this bag.
It opens right up to stow smaller items.
On the exterior, there is a zipper garage
that will help deter most moisture
from entering the pocket when fully zipped as well.
The thin para cord pull on the zipper,
paired with the sturdy YKK number eight zipper,
feels nice in the hand and it's easy to operate.
Now this pocket is accessible from the exterior
and the interior of the bag as well.
So you can get access while you're in the inside
or from the outside.
Plus there is a small key clip in here.
Nothing too special but it's a nice place to stow your keys.
This is the handy little pocket
that allows to you stuff this 40 liter duffel
into itself for either packing into a larger bag
or putting it in storage.
Of course, when we received the bag,
it came perfectly compressed inside of this pocket
and we really haven't been able to get it back ever since.
We also had a bit of an issue deciding
which side to pack it out of,
but if you look for that double zipper,
the one that has a pull on both sides,
then you know the right pocket to pack it into.
We were kind of trying to pull it out
of this front pocket zipper.
And it can get a little bit confusing
if you're not paying too close of attention.
Another thing to bring up with this bag is,
it is not quite as packable as other bags we've seen
that are typically smaller
and specifically meant for packing.
The fabric is a little bit rigid.
And it can be hard to fit inside of that zippered pocket.
And also, don't really know why you'd want to pack it.
Of course, you can store it that way
and it's a nice clean way to store it.
However, I guess, if you're gonna pack this
into another bag,
it pretty much better be a pre massive duffel.
Like maybe the 100 liter duffel.
If you for any reason you need to take it out.
But if you're doing any type of one bag traveling,
it's seems like overkill.
The number 10 YKK zipper opening up
to the main part of the bag is very durable
and also covered with a storm flap
that has that TPU coating on it
for additional weather resistance.
This zipper opens up fully horseshoe style.
And when you open the bag, you really start to get
the idea of why it is called the Black Hole Duffel.
There's a ton of room on the interior to pack stuff like
packing cubes, compression sacks, loose clothing
and other gear you may want to keep inside.
We wish the liner on the interior of the Navy color,
offered a little bit more pop,
so you can see darker colored gear
and what's going on inside of the bag.
However, it is a little bit dark.
The rectangular shape really allows you
to maximize the space inside.
Plus it allows you to easily stack these duffels
if you have more than one.
The padded bottom of the bag gives it
a little bit of extra protection.
Which makes total sense considering this is typically
how you're gonna set the bag down.
The top flap of the bag offers
an additional zippered mesh compartment
that is good for things like socks and underwear.
Generally, things that are softer and flatter in nature.
Because whatever you put inside of here
is going to be directly at your back
if you're going to be wearing this bag in backpack mode.
We also noticed that some other Black Hole bags,
both the previous versions and larger versions,
will offer a bit of segmentation here
and offer two separate mesh pockets.
On this 40 liter version, at the time of reviewing this bag,
it is just one big mesh pocket.
While testing this bag, we really found
that it was most comfortable fully packed out
with clothing and packing cubes.
Generally, packing this bag on trips
tends to promote the best carry experience
in both duffel and backpack modes.
It is a really nice duffel to have on the road
and use as a companion if you pack it up correctly.
We also filled this bag up with groceries
at the grocery store
and you probably don't need
to watch this review to understand,
but it is really not the best bag for that job.
There's very little structure to the bag.
So carrying it by the handles when it's full of apples,
oranges and milk cartons is pretty bad
because the bag doesn't really stay structured.
It sort of just starts creasing all over the place.
We like to be thorough and test bags in different contexts.
You probably won't use this as a grocery bag,
but it's just something we noticed and we wanted to bring up
to really drive the point home,
that it is best used packed with clothing,
packing cubes and other gear
that holds the shape of the bag a little bit better.
Lastly, in the three weeks of testing,
we haven't really noticed any durability issues.
Despite this being on two plane rides.
We usually see TPU gets kind of scratched up
and tarpaulin like material tends to get scratched up
when it's coated like this.
However, we have not ran into that yet.
And everything else is working out just fine so far.
So to wrap this thing up with some pros and cons,
starting with the pros.
The bag is made with recycled materials
and a focus on sustainability.
The rectangular shape maximizes interior volume
and it's great for packing cubes.
The duffel packs into itself for easy, clean storage.
On to some of the cons.
The duffel handles interfere with the backpack straps
and there's really no way to stow them
without using a carabiner.
The backpack strap adjusters and excess strap
can get in the way.
Definitely not a dangle free experience.
The bag doesn't really perform well
unless it's fully loaded.
It really needs to be packed out
for the best carry experience.
At the end of the day,
the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 40 liter is a solid duffel.
The ample space inside paired with the simple
yet functional organization
adds that little bit of extra zip
to the classic duffel.
Plus the recycled materials and focus on sustainability
are features we always appreciate
from the folks at Patagonia.
The backpack straps offer some versatility
when it comes to carry.
Although they'll get the job done,
we found them to be mediocre during testing.
But if you can get past that
or just looking for a solid duffel,
this bag could be a great choice for you.
So there you have it.
Our review of the Patagonia, Black Hole Duffel 40 liter.
As always, we would love to hear what you think of this bag.
Any comments below.
So be sure to let us know.
Thanks for keeping it here at Pack Hacker.
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