eBags Medium Packing Cubes - 3pc Set

After 25 years of international business travel, I only recently discovered packing cubes. Honestly, I thought they were a gimmick until I tried them. If you take trips where you're moving to a different city/hotel every couple of days, packing cubes are terrific, as they let you "unpack without unpacking" -i.e., you can remove the cubes to get at your stuff, but still repack your suitcase in under a minute the next morning just by popping all the cubes back in place. They also keep items (especially business shirts) neater, and they're very handy when a security screener needs to go through your bag. My packing cubes paid for themselves the first time I had to go through a secondary security screening at the airport.

In terms of specific brands and models of packing cubes, I prefer the eBags medium-sized cubes over the Rick Steves cubes. Two of the eBags medium cubes fit perfectly side-by-side in a typical 21" carry-on roller-style suitcase (e.g., the eBags TLS mini or the Rick Steves 21" carry-on roller, both of which I use), whereas the Rick Steves smaller cubes leave a lot of extra space on the sides. Also, the eBags cubes are shorter (about 3" vs. 5" for the Rick Steves cubes). Personally, I prefer to use more of the shorter cubes, with different types of items in each cube (e.g., shirts in one cube, underwear in another, etc.), rather than stuffing a lot of different stuff into a larger cube.

Having said that, packing style is a matter of personal preference, and others may prefer the deeper and smaller Rick Steves cubes, so the real question is quality and durability. Both the eBags and the Rick Steves cubes are well made, and the zippers on both work well. I think the eBags cubes will be more durable over time, though. The Rick Steves cubes are mesh on all sides. The eBags cubes use a very light, solid fabric (like parachute clothe) on the sides and bottom, with mesh on the top so you can see what's in the cube. I think the parachute cloth (which is reinforced with mesh) will last much better than pure mesh, and it doesn't get snagged on things as easily. The fabric doesn't add any discernible weight relative to all mesh, as far as I can tell. I also like the handles on the eBags cubes -nice feature.

Whichever brand you get, it's worth the investment. Packing cubes really do make travel easier. My only wish is that they weren't so expensive.

UPDATE 4 July 2012: When I wrote the above review, I speculated that the eBags cubes would be more durable. Sure enough, the mesh of the Rick Steves packing cube has torn around one of the seams, but the eBags cubes (which I've used more heavily) are still going strong with no signs of wear.

I really found these packing cubes useful. I'd also purchased packing folders Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Folder 15 and I liked them even more. More clothing fits in the folder and it keeps your clothes wrinkle-free. These cubes were great for pajamas, underwear, etc that weren't effected by wrinkles. Both of these gadgets kept my travel clothes easy accessible. Just take them out of the luggage and put them in hotel drawer for a clean way to unpack and repack.

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I bought 1 set and am planning to buy another set. It can organize your travel bag very easily and it can be fitted into a cabin bag 22". I used cubes for my 4 days traveling, it can store/hold in each cube a 6 pants, 6 sets of socks, 2 gloves and 2 thermals. . Also I used it for "backup cloths" in car, I put a Jens, Polo Shirt, pant, socks, shirt, pullover and small hygiene components bag. The secret is its light weight and thin material. Am sure that there are much more things you can use it for.

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These are fantastic! We had to pack 2 suitcases for a 14 day Land excursion and Cruise. We had to pack one for the land portion and one for the cruise portion. These really helped organize our clothes into His and Hers cubes. No more digging for what we needed. I was able to pack 10 shirts, 3 pants, 5 underwear, and 5 socks all into one large cube. Of course it did not look anything like a cube after we were done with it. It was very stuffed. I had red she had green. When we got to our destination (Alaskan cruise) we had to send our stuff out to be pressed because we had to roll everything but It worked out great. Very Pleased! We had to laugh when we came back to this listing on amazon and saw the picture of the cube as a perfect rectangle. Trust me after your done stuffing it, it will look more like a dome than a rectangle. We also used the Travelon Set of 7 Packing Envelopes, Assorted Sizes also available here at amazon and they also were a big help.

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I purchased these for an upcoming fishing trip to Patagonia, where we will be changing lodging every 2-3 days. This is a repeat trip and I was searching for an alternative to the constant packing and unpacking, which results in all the clothing ending up in a mess. Each of the medium size is sufficient to hold 2 days of fishing clothing, underwear, and socks (mostly nylon) and appears to be a perfect solution. They appear well made and are very light weight. I now have everything pre-packed by location (numbered 1-3 on the outside). Wish I'd discovered them a few years ago. The medium size is perfect for this, but if you have bulkier clothing such as jeans and heavy cotton shirts, you would probably need the large size. To give you a perspective on the medium size, four of these will nicely fill a roll-on suitcase.