Latest Dry Bag Comparisions for a sleeping bag inside a pack?

LiteAF , Hammock Gear, Yama Mountain Gear and Mountain Gear Lab also make them, I sure there are more

Thanks for those other suggestions, I wasn’t aware of those.

I use a ZPacks dry bag that seems plenty durable.

I use an Exped Schnozzel as it does double duty as pack liner and inflator bag for my xLite. Quilt, pad, puffy, clothes and any thing that must stay dry go in the schnozzel, fold over the top, then everything else on top. No need for a quilt specfic dry bag.

I still prefer trash compactor bags for versatility, cost, and performance.  In my experience they’ve  outperformed both OR and Sea 2 Summit UL style sil drybags in that they don’t wet out and stay wet.  They cover packs left outside in the rain quite well.  I’ve also used them for keeping gore off of gear in a pack during hunting season or cut open as impromptu groundsheets for keeping meat clean.  And at the end of a trip you can throw in your wet and muddy clothes/shoes.  Basically, I don’t hesitate to use them for things that I’d never use a $$$ cuben sack for.

I have found that always having a box of these in the gear closet has proved more useful than a dedicated dry bag.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-18-Gal-Compactor-White-Trash-Bags-30-Count-HDX-959933/203473002

The Litesmith Nylofume pack liner and Gossamer Gear Clear Pack Liner have become very popular with thru-hikers. The liners are made from a very tough poly film that will hold up on the long trails. I got the Litesmith liners this time as a 3 pack because I give them away to AT hikers needing some help. They hold 25-28 gallons. If you do get a pinhole, Gear Aid tape or similar will work great – no special tape needed.

Cheers,
Bill in Roswell, GA

Turkey oven bags are another cheap, light, relatively tough option.

To your question, dyneema of any thickness should be waterproof, it’s more a question of durability, but even the ultrathin fabrics have proven strong enough for shelters and such.

I wanted a DCF drybag ~8-9L for bear hang and found that the ones from Hammock Gear are the lightest and cheapest, at least that was the case a year or two ago when I got it.

Yeah, manufacturers are still making these.

I MUCH prefer a compression/dry bag for sleeping gear as an UL hiker. All of my “must stay dry” gear fits in a small 10L one. This gets compressed down to about 5L in my pack. It handles my bag/quilt, long johns, jacket, sleeping socks. It weighs about 4.5oz, but it saves enough space that I can use a 13oz/2200ci pack, rather than a 16oz 3000ci one. In conjunction with my food (a 13L food/bear bag,) these are the only things that are necessary to keep dry for most of 3-season camping. I can drop the pack liner at ~1oz. It does double duty as a pillow when turned inside-out, sometimes stuffed with forest duff. They are rugged/durable (enough for around 360 trail days, minimum.)

For food bags, I have found that DCF/cuben doesn’t hold up well. I have had broken spaghetti/macaroni/rice, sharp corners of jerky, and corners of some packages will poke through the plastic membrane (not the spectra mesh) leaving leaks. This pretty much makes them useless after a few trips (maybe 30 days of trail use.) Abrasion resistance is generally poor, also. They really need a heavy weight DCF (like 1.30z/yd) to work, but these still are subject to abrasion/poking. The corners where the clips meet the DCF are often a source of leaks…pulling & stress over an 8-10 hour time period, while hung in a tree, the bag can eventually develop holes/leaks in this area. While fine for tarps/shelters, I would not recommend them for food bags/bear bags, either.

Nor, for dity bags, rock sacks, obviously.

I would guess they work fine for carrying extra clothing in winter months.

Those blindingly white compactor bags sure do make it easy to see things in your pack. The Nylofume ones do fit my pack better so that is what I am currently using.

Never been into compression; I like the loose stuffing of bags and clothes to fill voids and pack volume.  Seems to always carry better.

Yeah, Ken, the white helps with that.  I was using nylofume for a while but I seemed to start blowing out a bag on nearly every trip; nylofume fails in a weird way IMO, rather than tearing it seems to just blow out (if that makes any sense).  I still manage to get out a few times a month so it just started adding up too much.  The compactor bags are heavier but last me a long time.

I have a silnylon myog liner that has been great so far. No weight penalty over a compactor bag. But compactor rules for all the points Craig has listed.

My Sea to Summit inflator bag for my air mattress (REI FLASH) is kinda nice as a dry bag. I leave the valve open until the bag is loaded with clothing and other gear (sleeping bag goes in a much smaller dry bag).

Then then when I roll down the top, click it shut and push all the air out thru the valve I close the valve flap.Voile’! a great dry bag/inflator bag with easy closure.

It is really confusing trying to compare some of these bags. HMG says that their roll top bags are made from 1.3 oz per sq/yd cuben fiber. Mountain Laurel Designs says that their’s are made out of a heavier 1.5 oz per sq/yd. Then, HMG says that their 9.4 liter (medium bag) weighs 34 grams. MLD’s larger 12L (large bag) also weighs 34 grams. Am I missing something here? How can MLD’s bag be larger and use heavier fabric and yet still weigh the same as HMG’s medium bag?

Could be differences in the other components such as buckle, grosgrain ribbon, velcro, even the logo patch. Then again, could be differences in the scales each company uses.