2023-12-18. Snowboard bag by Outdoor Master. 900D. Water resistant. Shoulder strap travel bag. Foldable design. Grey.
First off, the bag comes in 3 sizes, so make sure you get one that fits your ride. The small is for boards 150cm or smaller, the medium will support up to 160cm, and the large up to 165cm. I ride a shorter 153 Custom, so I went with the medium size.
When I saw this bag, it looked pretty promising, but now that I have it in my possession, there are a lot to be said.
Materials. Most bags are made of Polyester and when woven is commonly referred to as Oxford Cloth. The unit of measure is DENIER and refers to the fibers weight and thickness. In general the higher the number, the heavier and thicker the yarn used in the material's construction. As a reference 600D is the most common weight used in bags. And you probably guessed it, the higher the weight of the same fabric, the stronger it is. e.g. 700D is heavier and stronger than 600D. This bag is made with 900D weight. An advantage of polyester is that it is highly resistant to many things: wrinkling, shrinking, stretching, mold, mildew, and non-oil based stains. In addition, it's abrasion resistant, flame retardant, and being a plastic is naturally 100 waterproof (note, the polyester fibers themselves are waterproof, but once woven to create this Oxford fabric, water may seep through depending on how tight the weave is).
Zippers. The main compartment comprises of a double Zipper and the only other zipper is the stow-away compartment which is a single double-sided zipper. The zippers are SBS. While not the best, SBS zippers do provide solid quality and consistency. They're a Chinese brand, but they've been gaining traction in the industry and have been consistently used in many top-ten items lists as a lower cost solution with quality and reliability.
All straps used on this bag are made of polyester webbing (very similar to the oxford cloth). All webbing is cross stitched (see pics.) There are a couple of options on how this bag can be transported:
1) A polyester webbing handle is sewn in at the center of the bag for a briefcase style carry option. This handle is NOT padded for comfort.
2) There is a separate shoulder strap that can be attached as well allowing for the cross-body carry or one-shoulder carry. The straps are attached via metal and plastic rotating spring snap clips. This strap IS padded.
Note: A second polyester webbing handle sits atop of this bag as well. This handle is not so much for transporting the bag as it is for pulling the bag out of your vehicles cargo area or storage rack until you can access one of the other transporting handles noted above. This handle is also NOT padded for comfort.
Functionality. This bag is about 162cm (~62") and fits my board nicely with a little room to spare on the ends. Inside the main compartment, there are two sets of polyester webbing straps used to secure your snowboard (see pics.) The bag is really designed only for snowboards; you can put skis in there, but they would slide around a bit if you didn't fill the bag. This brings me to my second point. The main compartment is large enough to accommodate all your gear: ski/snowboard boots, helmet, goggles, gloves, pants, jacket, and more. However, there are no pockets inside, you would just be dumping it all in there. Another notable are the webbing straps. Not sure how they decided on the length of these, but it was an epic miss in my opinion. Most snowboard bags are large enough to fit TWO boards with bindings installed, and while the capacity of this bag can technically support it, the straps are too short to secure them. I did manage to snap them shut with a lot of finagling of the position of the boards, but will not be doing it or recommending it. With the bag in use, the storage compartment can be inverted and used (accessed from the outside). The compartment is zippered, but without a double zipper, there's no way of securing any contents if used for plane travel.
I've purchased Outdoor Master products before; in fact, I've outfitted my kids with their helmets and goggles. Recently, I've ordered a beach tent and was disappointed with it, and I hate to say it, but this bag missed the mark for me as well. The bag is not padded and neither is the carry hand strap, there are no additional storage pockets (inside or outside), the webbing to secure your board is too short to accommodate two boards, and the stow pocket is not double zippered.
Overall, I'm wanted to like this bag, I really did, but as I got into the details of it, the bag was more and more disappointing. While Outdoor Master didn't skimp on main materials of the bag, they seemed to have lost focus on the small details. From a functionality perspective, the bag met minimal requirements and nothing more, and for that I'm going to give it a passing grade. It didn't meet my needs, but that's not to say it won't meet yours. If you're looking for a basic low cost stor...
