OEX 60L Cargo Bag Review

OEX 60L Cargo Bag: First Impressions

My first impressions of this bag arent overwhelming. I bought it simply because it fitted my needs at the time. I was just about the board a plane to Peru, but realised the bag I had wasnt going to be big enough. A quick rush to my local Go Outdoors and I returned with this bag. So of course there were a lot of options, but what made me choose this one? Well frankly it was the price. It was one of their highlighted bargains and at the time I paid £29. Since then that bag has been with me around the world and survived every trip.

Usage

The OEX Cargo 60L has definitely been good value for money. I can honestly say I have not been careful with this bag for one moment. This bag has been thrown and squished into the back of vans, slid across airport floors, and bumped into walls whilst on a trollety card. After years of abuse it’s still showing no signs of wear and tear. Each one of its four sides has a handle which makes it easier when trying to grab from the pile of other bags on the coach while travelling. At this stage it has been with me all around the world. From the dusty heat of outback Australia to the frozen tundra of Iceland.

The fact that its unstructured makes it easy to fit into gaps or squeeze into place. But it doesnt provide much protection if you have any gadgets stored. So it’s worth making sure they have extra padding or wrapped around clothing. It can also make it awkward to carry as holdalls arent ideal for long distances. Although the OEX 60L Cargo Bag has straps allowing it to be carried on your back. It easily slumps and feels uncomfortable. Theres been times where I have had a long walk from the Airport drop zone to the entrance or trolleys and its just been made 10x harder because of it.

Durability

The OEX Cargo 60L is made of a durable and waterproof material, making it perfect for being chucked in the bag of vans on trips. Any dirt can be wiped away and any water from wet bags just runs off. The straps are made are made from a reinforced webbing and to rip would take a lot of force As well as being more durable, the webbing makes the handles more textured so that is easy to grip. The main lid on the bag overlaps the compartments zips, this is a great way of improving the bags ability to keep out water, as often the zips are a weak point and where water will break through. This only helps in rain though and not when fully submerged.

Internal storage

As is traditional with cargo bags, the main interior is one open area. However it does include zip-up pocket for storing of small or thin items that could easily get lost amongst the bags other contents or would need to be found in a hurry like documents.

A feature that I love is the inclusion of a ventilated pocket on the bottom corner as shown below. This could be used to keep trainers separate from the rest of the contents of the bag, but also can be used to store wet gear whilst its drying. The ventilation of this pocket allows water to escape from your wet gear as it dries, stopping it from soaking the rest of your bags precious cargo. If you decide you don’t want to use this feature the space wont be wasted as the pocket can be pushed into the bags lining letting you get the space back in the main compartment.

OEX 60L Cargo Bag: Final thoughts

It’s a simple, no thrills bag. It will take whatevery you chuck at it, and it feels like a very middle ground option. I don’t love it by any means but I dont hate it either. The OEX 60L Cargo Bag simply does it’s job and I am ok with that. But had I more time to research it’s not necessarily the one I would have chosen and it is something I would look to upgrade at some point. With it having no structure or rigitity, I have complete confidence the bag will survive anything, but I can’t say the same for its contents. That’s the risk you take with cargo and duffel bags though. Currently the newer models are priced around £79, personally I think thats a but much. but if you can grab one on sale and you just want something simple then this is a solid choice.