- In this video we're going to be taking a look
at the Matador FlatPak Soap Case.
I'm Tom the founder of Pack Hacker
and we do travel gear reviews like this all the time.
So if you're new here, consider subscribing.
This little guy was just released today
on the publish date of this video.
So we're excited to share our thoughts with you
after one month of testing, from Detroit to Barcelona.
So let's jump right in and take a look
at the FlatPak Soap Bar Case from Matador.
[upbeat music playing]
This case is black on black
featuring a welded Cordura fabric.
And it looks like there's some ripstop on the outside.
And then on the inside there is some liner
that is proprietary to Matador.
The construction appears to be two pieces of fabric
that are relatively flat.
Then they're welded on the sides here.
According to Matador it's a Dry-Through technology.
So basically it keeps any water
on the inside from getting out,
any water on the outside from going in,
but yet it's still breathable.
And this makes sense considering
that the fragrance of the soap bar
kind of comes through this fabric a little bit.
So that can be either a positive
or a negative depending on if you like that or not.
Overall I think that's a really great thing,
especially when you're traveling around with your backpack.
It's sort of like a miniature air freshener for your bag.
So overall, I found that to be a pro.
And again, water isn't getting in or outside of this thing.
For the rest of the aesthetic
there is a subtle punched in logo
that you can see right here.
Then we have like a little tag logo on the bottom.
So some tasteful branding from Matador
without going a little bit too crazy.
We like that they kept it mostly black on black.
And you just have a little bit
of a white Matador tag here overall.
Definitely a slick looking little piece.
And to wrap it up there is YKK plastic hardware
on this thing as well.
So sometimes Matador will use SBS, sometimes they use YKK,
we're a bigger fan of YKK
so we're glad they used that in this case.
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Basically pretty easy to use.
You just slide your soap bar in
and then you roll it up three times.
So one...two...three...wrap it around, buckle it
and Boom! there you go.
And so basically almost an air tight container
where you can hold your soap inside of.
Yet still breathable because the fragrance still
somehow makes it outside of it through the fabric.
I'm not really sure how that works.
But it definitely does work.
One thing to know is when you are putting
your soap back inside here, just make sure to dry it off,
dab it off a little bit, it'll help your soap last longer
and it will be less gunky like grime soap buildup
happening on the inside.
One negative part about this system
is that it can technically come unrolled
while it's still in this state.
So I can fully unroll it here.
Let's just do that real quick.
And there we go, now it's pretty much open.
Now it's very rare that this is going to happen,
I really don't foresee this happening
unless you have something really crazy happen
inside of your bag or your pack.
But just note that it is possible
and it isn't like exactly sealed.
It's definitely just rolled
with this buckle system in place.
But a positive part of this buckle system
is it basically creates a little hook
where you're able to hang this either from a carbiner clip
on the inside or the outside of your pack,
or on like a hook while you're using it inside of the shower,
at a hostel or something with a limited shelf space.
So that's definitely a big plus for this system.
It will fit most soap bar brands we've tested -
so we tested something from Dial,
from Kiehl's and also from Tone.
All fit inside, no problems.
So some of the benefits of having a softer case like this
versus a hard case are that you are actually able
to be a little bit more flexible with how you pack things.
So this can kind of take on the size of the bar of soap
that you have.
When you have a large plastic case,
it's basically going to be the same size the whole time,
'cuz it's a little bit more rigid.
So this gives you some added flexibility
as you use more soap on your travels;
this will eventually get smaller making it easier to pack.
So that's one nice aspect to this.
Now what are some other nice aspects
of traveling with bar soap instead of liquids?
Well for one, it doesn't count against your TSA allowance.
So TSA allows 3.4 ounces, or 100 milliliters,
to go into your carry-on bag.
With a bar of soap it doesn't really matter
since it's solid, and generally a soap bar
will last a little bit longer
than liquid soap while you're on the road.
If you do want to see a kind of very useful soap bar
that we've used in the past,
check out our review of the Lush Shampoo Bar.
We found that's really versatile -
you can use it for your hair, your body,
even laundry and dishes if you're in a pinch.
So all that is kind of great to have with you on the road.
Have those different options that'll definitely fit
right inside of this FlatPak Case as well.
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At the time of this review we've been testing the FlatPak
from Detroit from Barcelona for about a month
with pretty heavy use.
You can start to see some loose threads
going on on the side here.
But overall it's held up well so far
and that hasn't affected anything with the usage
of the FlatPak.
After heavy use it's pretty easy just
to flip this thing inside out and wash it out,
let it dry and then flip it back to it's original state,
just to clear out some of that soap gunk.
And on the road, although we have demonstrated the mechanism
of this being able to unravel itself with your hands,
that's never actually happened in our bags.
It's just something that we wanted to bring up
even though it probably won't happen.
So to wrap this thing up with some pros and cons.
There is some flexible fabric
that basically fits around the size of your soap.
Matador has done an excellent job with the design
and it's all smartly pulled together
to create a pretty slick product.
High quality materials are used throughout the designs
from the welded Cordura to the YKK buckle,
they've definitely made some good decisions here.
Moving on to some of the cons.
There is some slight fraying where the Cordura
is welded together after a month of pretty heavy use.
Technically the buckle mechanism can be unraveled
without unbuckling it, not that big of a deal,
but just something to be aware of.
It's probably never going to happen in ordinary life and usage.
[upbeat music playing]
The Matador FlatPak Soap Bar Case is a flexible,
slick way to carry around your bar of soap on the road.
It doesn't take up as much room as a hard case
and the breathable fabric can work in your favor,
serving double duty as a light air freshener in your pack.
After a month of use we don't have much to complain about
besides some slight fabric nuances happening
on the Cordura where it's welded.
Thanks for taking a look at our review
on the Matador FlatPak Soap Bar Case.
Definitely head over to packhacker.com/newsletter
sign up for that newsletter and never miss an update.
Thanks for taking a look, we'll see you in the next review.
[beeping] Materials are used three out,
three out (laughs)
No (laughs)
[beeping] Sizes of soap bars.
It'll definitely fit a lot of soap bar sizes.
(beeping) Where's my honey.
I need honey. No, not yet.
That's fine. (laughs)
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