ARB Cargo Gear Storm Bag Review

SilicaRich

Wandering Inverted
I received an ARB Cargo Gear Storm bag (large) a little over a year ago as a birthday gift and loved it, but was always curious how well it would hold up. I love ARB and know their reputation for the quality of their products, however, I have little to no knowledge of their cargo gear. Regardless, the bag was a must have being that I drive a 2005 TJ that has basically no cargo room and needing a bag that is weatherproof to mount up on my roof rack.http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-Cargo-Gear-Storm-Bag-Large-10100350-P3618.aspx This is my particular bag, however, they make a smaller version as well.

At first glance, the bag has plenty of room for whatever you are needing to pack, me personally I pack my clothes, tent, hammock, and really all my needs. On either side of the interior of the bag there are mesh side pockets, for undergarments or such, and a nice square bottom for what I would say helps in organization. The bag uses a roll top closure and velcro. You then clip and tighten the 4 straps on the bag and now you are "stormproof". In some cases, when you close up the bag you don't always exactly attach with the velcro but that is no issue. As long as the straps are tight and prevent the top from unfolding, the bag is weatherproof.

Personally, I love this bag and if anything have abused it since the day I got it. Any chance I get, the bag goes on my roof rack to open up storage in the rear. Passing through some rain while driving? No problem! The bag is as stated, stormproof. However, I didn't get the true test of how stormproof this bag was until a week trip in Big Bend National and State Parks over New Years.

During the trip, we had uncharacteristic weather for that of the desert during that particular time of the year. Cold never the less but instead of cold with sun we have cold with overcast and humidity. Then one night, I got the true test of how stormproof the bag was. While camping off one of the unmaintained roads in the state park, we experienced a downpour for majority of the night. Instead of being able to bring my bag inside of my tent as usual, I was forced to leave it outside due to me spilling some water in the tent previously and getting the bottom of the bag wet. It wasn't until morning that I remembered the bag had been left out all night. The outside of the bag was soaked....
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....but everything inside was a dry as the desert should be!
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Honestly, I have to say that this bag has really impressed me and would recommend to anyone who needs a stormproof bag to store on their roof rack or bed of their truck.
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Chive on

-Guthrie :safari-rig:
 
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patsfan

Observer
I have the same bag and also two of the small size, haven't had a chance to use them in the weather yet but they are pretty well made, no doubt they'll hold up in the long term
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
Great bags! I've been traveling with some for over 6 years now. They've weathered many storms, flights and even shipped via UPS a time or two. I've got a couple little wear holes I need to address but for the money they rock!
 

bigblueox

New member
Just another $.02 .. over several years, we've traveled with a large bag on the roof rack for 21,000 miles over 9 weeks of camping, and added a small bag for 7,000 of those. They've been through some torrential downpours for multiple hours, and kept everything dry. The bags have held up well; they're pretty tough; the fabric has faded a little but not too badly. When the bag is fully open it gives you a slightly false impression of its capacity since you have to fold it over a bit to achieve the watertight seal, but that's how it works. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for. I'd rather that than find all my stuff wet after a rain storm. Highly recommended!
 

xjnomad

New member
Used a large gear bag late 2019 on Loch Katrine in Scotland in a "packraft" and with the bag sitting in the bottom while paddling then sitting outside the tent it kept everything inside dry. For the trip off the water we put all dry stuff in our packs then filled the Gear bag with the wet stuff, kept the taxi dry, bloody good gear.
 

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