Podsacs Waterproof 30 Litre Backpack

A very tough, versatile, and useful bag, which is impervious to the elements. Not the greatest hiking pack, but it is a roomy weekend bag, grocery getter, canoe pack, or car storage protection for your emergency warm gear. Of course, it will also keep your wet, muddy possessions corralled, after doing the opposite duty all day.

I bought this bag in October 2020, along with the 20 Litre version (https://www.trailspace.com/gear/podsacs/waterproof-20l-ruscksack/#review41294)

The smaller bag is an excellent foul weather day sack. I bought the larger version at the same time with no real plan for its use but assuming a portable dry bag, of larger dimensions, would serve a variety of functions. This has proved an accurate assumption—or lucky guess!

500D PVC tarpaulin fabric is pretty burly stuff. With a roll top closure it's entirely waterproof and abrasion-resistant. Which isn't to say I'm in the habit of dragging the bag over rocks or carrying around carpentry tools in it. As a weekend bag, it easily copes with bus depot floors and being jammed into a corner of my buddy's pickup bed. It's an ergonomic dry bag—hard to penetrate, designed to be thrown around and crushed—but with shoulder straps, so it can be carried on your back, in relative comfort. 

There are shoulder, chest, and waist straps attached. They're pretty cheap and the padding is barely adequate, if you are thinking of loading heavy stuff into the bag, then walking across town with it. If the intended use is to keep a couple of $300 sleeping bags dry in your car these remarks clearly don't apply. 

Straps are attached to strong fixing points, top and bottom, and also to a padded back support and waist strap, which both fix to the bag with Velcro. Straps and pads can be removed in a minute or so if you intend to carry the bag by its roll top or use the carry handle fixed to the front of the bag.

Also on the front are four nylon double loops, with shock cord strung between them, for holding your rain jacket or similar lightweight bits and pieces. The only other creature comfort is a large (2-inch) hook, inside the bag, for the heaviest bunch of keys imaginable. 

This was an inexpensive purchase, so I don't want to judge it too harshly. It's an excellent dry bag, with multiple carry options. The back straps, back support, and waist belt are pretty rudimentary, but for a lot of purposes that would be irrelevant. A serious hiking pack this isn't.

For general travel, car camping, canoeing...this is a reliable way to transport your stuff. It'll handle a pretty good load of foodstuffs or other provisions, but it's not designed to be an all-day, heavy load carrier. It would make a great rope bag for those short hauls to the crag.

I suppose the lack of any organising pockets of any kind is a clue to the intended uses of the bag. On a muddy river, or in a rainy mall car park, you just want your bag to perform one or two functions—perfectly. Yes, you can hang stuff from the external anchor points, but it's the toughness and simplicity of this product that are its strongest features.

Background

The bag lives in my car in winter. It carries groceries, hides wet clothes and boots, protects my fancy sleeping bag, carries my lunch on short hikes when I know it's going to rain. It's a good size for weekends away, although not first choice for active adventure travel.

In two years, it's never leaked or otherwise let me down—but I don't ask it to be a mountain pack. An Apple is an Apple, an Orange is not an Apple;-)