It’s a matter of personal preference, but I don’t find this bag to be particularly stylish. It’s a bog-standard style only available in a couple of muted colourways, so it doesn’t spark joy as much for me as other brightly coloured choices! Selected for the 2021/22 Outdoor 100 – Read our full Bach Dr Duffel 70 review. BUY NOW: BACH-EQUIPMENT.COM These bags can be pricey once you’ve already shelled out for the safari itself, but if you go on safaris fairly often, it’s a great investment for the future. That’s why we’ve pulled together this list of key factors for Rab Kit Bag II 80L below, to help you choose if it’s the right product for you and your budget. Selected for the Green Gear Guide 2021/22 – Read our full The North Face Base Camp Voyager Duffel review. BUY NOW: THENORTHFACE.CO.UK

The classic North Face holdall is hard-wearing and durable, while also being made from water-resistant, recycled materials. This makes it a sustainable and practical choice too. Another factor that can be a great indication of product quality is the brand. Brands like Rab are of course extremely well known, especially for duffel bags. There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Rab Kit Bag II 80L. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for. This is a really stylish holdall in traditional safari colours, and there’ll be no mistaking your bag for another once it appears on the luggage carousel. This is another duffel bag that impressed us for its eco credential, so much so that we decided to include it in our prestigious Green Gear Guide this year.

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It’s genuinely difficult to find a con for this one; there are plenty of reasons to choose it as your next safari holdall, which may make it difficult to spot yours on the luggage carousel amongst many lookalike bags. It’s a very popular choice! That got us thinking though, that we’re looking at every possible item from Rab so it would be good to narrow our search down even further and only look at Rab branded products within the duffel bags category. The cost of Rab duffel bags Despite the bag’s soft material, it is one of the most structured bags, particularly due to the plastic high road chassis that holds the wheels. That means it won’t be as flexible or as easy to squeeze into luggage compartments and you may get some disapproving looks from the pilot when loading. But the bag’s manoeuvrability is a worthy trade-off if your airline will allow it. When buying duffel bags, the quality of the product is going to be one of the factors that you really scrutinise before you commit to buying. Secondly, 40l was just a little bit tight for a full week’s worth of clothes and phys kit, plus wash kit, books, chargers and so on. Especially so if I need a towel, which I frequently do either for the gym or because of the type of places I’m staying.

The downside to buying online is that you can’t actually get hold of the product to try it out first. The main opening is huge, so you can access kit easily without having to rummage around or fling items out and there’s loads of well paced padding that makes this comfortable even when you’re carrying around heavy loads. A traditional canvas holdall, available in two colour ways and holding an impressive 72 litres of stuff. There are however some methods that you can use to determine a product’s quality without needing to physically have it. Duffel bags are useful for anyone who leads an active lifestyle, especially one that involves plenty of travelling. The best duffel bags will be lightweight but durable, and able to stand up to the rigours of travel. They’ll be able to support heavy loads and still be comfortable and easy to carry over short to medium-length distances, and they also won’t be too rigid and bulky so that they can be kept out of the way when not needed.The material the product is made from is often a sign of the quality for duffel bags. Take a look at the product details over at Cotswold Outdoor to get a feel for this. One aspect we really liked during our tests was the amount of adjustment. You can really cinch this in if you’re carrying a light loads, or loosen things up if you’ve got a lot to lug around with you. To give that price some context we then looked at all of the products available from Cotswold Outdoor in the duffel bags category. We found 24 items in total. What’s the price of duffel bags?

I’ve been using the older version of this duffel bag about twice a month for almost ten years now and it’s served me excellently. It’s come with many on countless flights and road trips and actually doesn’t even have that many scars from the mileage. Though bags with wheels aren’t always recommended, they do make carrying your luggage a whole lot easier! The 40L interior won’t be big enough for long trips but is ideal if you’re committed to travelling with hand luggage only. Plus, many safari lodges offer laundry facilities so you can afford to take less with you.

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We’re really pleased to have scored Rab Kit Bag II 80L so highly, givimg it 8.2 out of 10, making it well above the average for all duffel bags. The best duffel bags will offer full waterproof protection but the majority tend to only be rated as water resistant – this isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re unlikely to need the bag for any water-based adventures. One final point: we’ve gone for duffel rather than duffle, for the sake of consistency and also because it seems to be the form that most brands go for. Apparently there’s no set way! One thing that we really liked about this is its water resistant coating which uses a PFC-free DWR (durable water repellent) treatment that’s solvent-free wax – it’s actually inspired by natural beeswax.