Packing Cubes for Peak Design Travel Backpack

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I want to show you how to pack the Peak Design Travel Backpack using some cheaper packing cubes. I picked up two sets of Gonex Packing Cubes on Amazon, each for less than $20. And they work just as well as the Peak Design Packing Cubes.

Peak Design Cubes

First, I’ll to show you how to pack the Travel Backpack with the Peak Design cubes. The bag is built around a modular packing design, designed to fit 3 total units. The packing cubes, and camera cubes take up either 1, 2 or 3 units, depending on which one you use.

If you’re using the Peak Design Cubes, the medium cube is 2 units, and the small cube is 1 unit. You can interchange the small Camera Cube with the small Packing Cube, or switch out the Medium Cube, for the larger Medium Camera Cube.

With both these cubes fully packed, you will have just enough room on the rounded topside of the bag to fit one of the PD accessories. The Tech Pouch will fit in here perfectly, however the Wash Pouch is a little bigger, and doesn’t fit very well.

The Peak Design Packing cubes are great. I love the material; they hold a ton of clothes and are perfectly sized to fit in the Travel Backpack. The problem is they’re expensive. The Medium cube is almost $40, and the small cube is about $30. No matter how great they are, it’s hard for me to justify spending $70 on packing cubes.

Gonex Packing Cubes

Now let’s look at some cheaper alternatives. I bought two different sets of Gonex Packing Cubes, one regular and one expandable. I chose these cubes because they fit the interior dimensions of the Travel Backpack perfectly.

This first set here was $13.99 on Amazon. It comes with 1 Large 17.3” x 13” x 3.5” (44 x 33 x 9 cm); 1 Medium 13.8” x 9.8” x 3.54” (35 x 25 x 9 cm); 2 Slim 13.8” x 5.1” x 3.54” (35 x 13 x 9 cm), and a Shoe Pouch.

These aren’t expandable, so you must stack them on top of each other. Start with the large cube, which is big enough for several pairs of pants, shorts, dress shirts, etc. Next stack the medium cube, which I have full of t-shirts, and the slim cube, where I keep my socks and underwear.

These take up the same amount of space as the PD cubes, with the same little space on top for one of the accessory pouches. But like with the PD cubes, you don’t have room for all 3 of these cubes, PLUS the Tech Pouch, AND the Wash Pouch, and a pair of shoes. But we have options.

You can fit the tech pouch and shoes in the top panel, if you expand it. But you’re going to be over carry on dimensions. Better yet, you can take out one of these smaller cubes, and pack everything in the main compartment. A slim pair of shoes (use a shoe bag) will fit on top of the bottom cubes. Now you have a enough space above them to fit the Wash Pouch and Tech Pouch.

Gonex Compression Cubes

The Gonex compression cubes, come in a set of 3 on Amazon for about $18.99. Instead of different dimensions like the other set, this set comes with 3 Medium compression cubes (11.8” x 9.1” x 3.5” / 30 x 23 x 9 cm).

They’re not quite as large as the PD cubes, but I find that two of these cubes. Compressed, they fit on top of each other pretty good and take up about half the space in the main compartment.

Then you have the option with the rest of the room. If you have the camera cube, it fits perfectly in with enough room for the tech pouch on top.

If you don’t have the camera cube, you can use the third packing cube. It fits nicely in the top half of the main compartment, leaving you plenty of room for other gear.

With this setup, the Wash Pouch and Tech Pouch fit perfectly in the empty space on top

Quality

A quick note on the Quality of Gonex packing cubes. Obviously, a set of $14 packing cubes aren’t as good as the set of $70 PD cubes. But I specifically chose this brand because I’ve seen then recommended as a decent, cheap packing cube, and they have very high ratings and reviews on Amazon.

I’ve only had these cubes as little over a month as of this writing, but so far they’ve been holding up great, and seem to be well constructed for the price.

Summary

In summary, the Peak Designs Packing Cubes are great. I love the easy access zippers, thin strong nylon fabric, and the expandable zippers. But, it’s difficult to justify the almost $70 price. Especially when there are cheaper options available, that work just as good.

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