Last Updated on November 16, 2020 by Lisa Vargas
The Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag is a hybrid between a large travel bag and a tactical bug out bag. It’s designed for the person on the move who wants something tactical in nature, but comfortable and versatile at the same time.
Red Rock Outdoor Gear, out of Waco Texas, has been around since 1999 and does an excellent job at supplying the market with extremely high-quality tactical gear such as backpacks, sling packs, and carry bags.
At 55 liters, this bug out bag has plenty of room for carrying all of your essential gear. Because of it’s larger size, you’ll need to take some care in not overpacking it so that it’s too heavy to carry.
Below you’ll find detailed information about the Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag including comfort, fit, storage design, and water resistance.
Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag
Editors Comments: The Travel Duffle Bag by Red Rock Outdoor Gear is a large and versatile bag that can comfortably fit essential bug out gear for 72 hours. We love the fact that you can wear it as a duffle bag or as a back pack!
Read The Full Comparison Review: Best Bug Out Bag For SHTF
- Capacity: 55 L
- Dimension: 24”W x 11.5”H x 12.5”D (overall length is approx. 25-26 inches long)
- Pockets: 3 pockets. One on the top and 2 on the side.
- Hydration: None available for this duffle bag
- Material: 600 Denier construction with PVC lining
- Manufacturer: Red Rock Outdoor Gear
Bottom Line: A rugged and durable bag that can be used for a 72 hour bug out bag that fits tons of survival gear inside.
Pros
- Lined with thick, durable plastic-like coating on the inside to create an almost waterproof bag
- Lots of MOLLE webbing for additional gear
- Well design and extremely rugged
- Can worn as a duffle bag or backpack
Cons
- Zipper could be of better quality as it tended to not work properly some of the time
- The sloping ends of this bag tend to reduce the capacity slightly
Summary
When we looked at the Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag, there were several features that we really liked about this bag.
Firstly, carrying this bag can be done a few different ways including using the top carry handle, the removable over-the-shoulder strap, or it can be worn as a backpack when loaded down with everything needed for 72+ hrs. This is one of the best features – the fact you can wear it as a backpack to help support the weight.
You will have 3 choices when it comes to carrying this bag. It has the hand-carry handles, a shoulder carry strap, and backpack style straps. The Travel Duffle Bag has a really large main compartment containing two collapsible dividers as well as two quick-release gear straps for securing your larger items.
This is one of the larger bags we’ve seen and it’s just perfect for carrying supplies that may be larger in nature such as a survival saw, or larger tools.
The pockets and storage on this bag were fantastic when we first looked it. There are two internal soft-lined pockets that provide storage for your smaller more valuable items. The entire duffle pack is clad in MOLLE webbing for the addition of gear and/or pouches.
Read The Full Comparison Review: Best Bug Out Bag For SHTF
Our Analysis, Comparisons & Test Results
performance comparison
The Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag did a great job of providing what we liked to see in a bugout bag. It had all of the right features including MOLLE strapping, large organization internal compartment, lots of smaller pockets for gear, and overall rugged design and high quality.
You can configure the bag to carry very small, compact loads or you can stuff it full with tons of gear, it’ll handle it all. It’s also built like a tank; big heavy-duty zippers, thick tough canvas, strong comfortable straps, great molle system, etc, etc.
The ability to top load, cinch down your gear, and shoulder carry as either a duffle or backpack is amazing. I’m impressed with how the top of the bag opens up and how the cinch straps pull the bag into shape for transport
This bag performed well against our others and received good marks for durability, comfort and fit, overall storage design, and having high-quality zippers and buckles. Below we will look in more detail at each one of these components.
Comfort And Fit
When it comes to comfort and fit, we gave this bag an 8. Because of its potential weight, we were concerned that it wouldn’t be as comfortable as other bug out bags, but we were happily surprised by the various components that contributed to its fit and comfortability.
To start, it has really nice, cushioned grab handles that make it easy to carry the heavily-loaded bag. With the two contoured padded backpack shoulder straps and the removable sternum strap, we were able to support the load on our backs with no problems.
When you carry it using the shoulder strap, there is heavy padding underneath of that strap to make it so that it doesn’t dig into your shoulder.
Durability
We loved the durability of this bag and gave it a 9 out of 10 on our rating scale. It’s a thick, heavy bag weighing 4.3 pounds when empty and feels and looks indestructible.
When we talk about durability, we primarily are talking about the material and the design of the bag. You may have noticed this bag was made from 600 denier strength fabric.
You have to be cautious when first looking at the material types of any bug out bag you may be considering because denier doesn’t necessarily measure the strength and ruggedness as much as it measures the individual yarn strands and how it is woven together.
Most of the bags that we looked at were made from 600D nylon, which is where we would like to see this minimum threshold. With that said, we’ve learned through reviewing these bags that having a higher denair number seems to give the bag a higher level of durability. Higher denier fabrics will also weigh a little more, which gives the bag more strength.
Zippers, buckles, and stitching
The Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag is built with extreme ruggedness in mind and when it comes to the stitching, buckles, and zippers, this bag brings it all together in terms of quality.
You can pack as much gear in hear as you can, and the zippers hold well.
We didn’t see any loose stitching when we were looking over this bag, and there’s double stitching on the MOLLE webbing. The D-rings on both sides for attachment of the shoulder straps seemed well made and should stand up to the test of time.
The quality of the material, zippers, and pocket locations is very good. The stitching is extremely well done and zippers appear to be heavy enough to stand up to normal wear and tear.
Storage Design (Pockets, MOLLE)
When it came to storage design, the Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag scored an 8 out of 10. We would have liked to see maybe 1 or 2 more pockets on the outside, but overall it is an extremely functional bag with other pockets to make up for it.
This bag has over 3,300 cubic inches of total storage capacity and has a main compartment with a 48-liter hold capacity. There are three external pockets to provide additional storage for travel or outdoor essentials and two soft-lined internal pockets allow for storage of sensitive gear.
The top pocket below the handles is extremely useful. We packed a 3-4 day supply of gear comfortably and efficiently within this bag and were pressed with its ability to organize it all quickly and easily. It has zippered internal dividers made to compartmentalize the master compartment, which came in really handy. You could put an extra shirt, then your food, then some gear in each of the compartments.
But one of the coolest things about this duffle bag is its unique convertible strap system. If you flip this bag over, underneath you’ll find a hidden zippered back panel for storing the backpack or chest straps when not in use. I almost missed it when I first started checking this bag over. Such a cool feature!
For those of you who like Molle webbing, it has a great platform throughout for customization with pouches and other attachments.
Water Resistance
This bag was pretty water-resistant when we tested it out. It’s lined with a thick, durable plastic-like coating on the inside, so if you left it out in the rain, for example, the only place the rain can really get in is through the zippers and even those are pretty well covered by Cordura flaps.
On the other hand, if you’re out on the lake in a boat and this bag goes overboard, the contents are not going to remain dry for too long. The water is going to soak through. I tested this bag out and set it on my wet lawn after I had just watered it and didn’t have any problems with it getting extremely wet, so there’s something to be said there as well.
Our Final Verdict
The Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag is an incredible bag the can be used as a backpack or a carry duffle bag. In my opinion, I would use this bag as a vehicle bug out bag because it got a little heavy for me once I filled it up with the contents. I wouldn’t want to carry it around by its handles for too long. I would definitely have to switch it to ride on my back to support the weight.
The dividers, pockets, compression straps, and hideaway backpack straps are really well thought out. It organizes really well, with tons of zippered compartments and the backpack straps which make it super-easy to transport longer distances comfortably, without having to carry it by hand.
conclusion
Final Thoughts
The Red Rock Outdoor Gear Travel Duffle Bag would be a great bag for anyone that likes the duffle bag style or maybe a bug out bag that you can throw in the trunk of your car or your truck due to its size. Being that you can convert this bag into a backpack makes it versatile enough to heavy-load the bag with more gear.
This is an exceptional bag for the price and we highly recommend it for all of your bug out bag needs.
Read The Full Comparison Review: Best Bug Out Bag For SHTF