Outdoor Research Helium Compression Sacks

When I got a job and put my dirtbagging days behind me, one of the first things I got was a compression sack for my down sleeping bag. My first sack was the Granite Gear Air - it looked stylish, came in a little plastic case, had a neat logo, and so I thought I'd now be the envy of the campsite. Well, after about a year of stuffing my sleeping bag into it, the Granite Gear sack tore. It tore right at the edge where I'd hold it with my left hand as I stuffed it with the right. Granite? More like choss! At the time I thought that maybe stuffsacks are just meant to be disposable like that, like so many other conveniences of our consumer culture. So instead of buying one of the fancy ones, I went to the Outdoor Research outlet store in Seattle and picked up this Helium sack. It definitely doesn't look flashy - the colors are very granola. The first thing I noticed about it was that two of the straps are on snaps. Compared with my old sack, where none were on snaps (just cinches), this made putting it all together much easier. Without snaps, you're left to untangle the "cap" part of the sack every time you put it on, which is not the most fun activity when you want to just pack up and go. With the Helium's snaps, it's a no-brainer - just cap, snap, and cinch! But even more importantly, I've been using this sack for 3 years now, expecting it to rip like the last one, but it's holding together nice and strong. Since I wouldn't mind trying another sack for novelty's sake, I don't hold back when stuffing this guy. I push and pull on it like I'm shoving a demon back into hell. And yet it's held up perfectly. Looks like I'll be stuck with this ugly sack for a while!

I picked up two of these and they are great. The material is light-weight and still very durable. Also when not in use everything tucks into a built in pocket in the lid. The design with 2 permanent cinch straps on one side and 2 quick-buckle cinch straps on the other work great. All in all a great product.