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Patagonia Black Hole Pack 32L Review
Cost: $149.00
Capacity: 32 liters
Dimensions: 22″ x 10.5″ x 6.8″ (56 x 27 x 17 cm)
Style: Top Loading Backpack
Weight: 1.8 lbs (0.81 kg)
Laptop: 15”
Materials: 300D ripstop polyester; TPU laminate; YKK zips
Origin: Made in Vietnam
Patagonia Black Hole Pack 32L
The Patagonia Black Hole Pack is a simple, minimalist backpack with a and decent carry system. It has a large easy to pack main compartment, but also a few additional pockets for smaller gear. The top opening lid, and convertible laptop compartment makes this bag a good option for both travel, and hiking. And being minimalist under 2 lbs, means you’re not wasting weight on unnecessary features.
Dimensions
This bag has is similar dimensions to the Black Hole Duffle except it has a top opening compartment and is more comfortable to carry as a backpack. The Black Hole Pack comes in two sizes. I have the larger 32 liter size here, but it also comes in a smaller 25 liter version.
The dimensions on both these packs will easily work as a carryon size bag for most airlines. This one comes in at 22″ x 10.5″ x 6.8″ (56 x 27 x 17 cm) and the height and width dimensions are similar to the 25L version. Most of the increase in capacity coming from a slightly thicker depth on the 32L version. However the height on these packs is both 22” which is going to make it too tall to work as a personal item.
Materials
Black Hole fabric is one of my favorites. It’s thick, durable, waterproof, the TPU coating makes it a little shiny, but it’s much more flexible than fabrics with similar coatings. However just because the fabric is waterproof, that doesn’t mean the bag is. I did a few tests with this, I took it paddleboarding and set it outside under a sprinkler for about an hour. I found it to be relatively water resistant. Water doesn’t get in unless you get the bag really wet. It will hold up to light rains, but because the seams and zippers aren’t sealed the bag will eventually start to leak.
Zippers and Buckles
The hardware on Patagonia bags is always solid. This bag has three main zippered compartments which all use large YKK zippers. As well as high quality Duraflex brand buckles on the shoulder straps. None of the zippers are lockable, tot even the laptop compartment, but the holes on the zipper pulls are large enough that you can easily connect them together with a travel lock or a little carabiner.
External Components
The main pocket on the Black Hole Pack opens from the top, but the bag’s volume is mostly just this main compartment. That means this bag works great for either a travel or a hiking pack. In addition to the main compartment there’s also a top mini brain pocket, a rear laptop compartment, and two side water bottle pockets.
Top Slash pocket
This top pocket is smallish, but large enough to hold a decent amount of gear. I’d say it’s about 2-3 liters, similar capacity to this Nite-Ize toiletry kit.
Water Bottle
These two side water bottle pockets are made from stretchy mesh and are both large enough to hold a skinny water bottle. The inside of the top stretchy strap is kind of sticky, which will keep your water bottle in place here. I never felt like my water bottle was going to pop out of these pockets, but I wouldn’t mind it if it was just slightly taller.
These pockets are also almost the width of the whole bag so there’s plenty of room in here for gear other than a water bottle. Like a pair of sandals, an umbrella, or basically anything you want to store on the outside of your pack.
Laptop compartment
The rear laptop compartment is a good compromise between protection and weight. It’s a full zip opening right behind the backpack straps. There are two sleeves, one will hold a 15” laptop, the other one a smaller tablet or e-reader.
It’s decently padded, thin foam between the main compartment as well as on the sleeve. And the back padding is the very thick padding on the backpack. There is a small false bottom here, with a seam sewn in about an inch above the bottom of the pack. This is going to keep your laptop from hitting the floor when you set your bag down, but it’s not very large so you still need to be careful.
If you want to use this bag for hiking you can also put a hydration bladder in the laptop sleeve. There’s a little hose port on the back and a loop on both shoulder straps to keep the hose in place.
Carry System
These carry system on the Black Hole Pack is fairly simple: two backpack shoulder carry straps with thick back padding, the straps are not stowable and there is no hip belt.
Shoulder Straps
The shoulder straps are consistent with other Patagonia packs I’ve tested. It’s a simple, moderately wide, moderately padded shoulder strap with a nice curve and an adjustable sternum strap.
Hip Belt
The 32L size here is right on the edge of where you might want a hip belt. It can get a little heavy if you have the bag fully packed so it would have been nice if they gave you the option to at least attach an after-market strap. On some packs you see small fabric loops sewn on the lower corners for attaching a hip belt. For example other packs like the Thule Aion have a slide through, and actually sell a hip pack that doubles as a hip belt. However the Black Hole Pack doesn’t have any of these options for adding adding a hip belt
Back Padding
The back padding on the Black Hole Pack is thick enough to be comfortable with almost anything loaded into the bag. It’s about 5/8” thick foam padding, with a softer breathable pad sewn in on the back top and bottom. It’s pretty flat though, without much air ventilation.
Interior Design and Organization
One of the great things about this bag is they don’t waste weight or space on unnecessary features. Which allows you to have a bag that’s very lightweight while maximizing the volume in a huge main compartment. This pack has a slanted top opening zipper that runs not quite half-way down the bag. Meaning you can peel the lid back and still get to your gear in the bottom, but your stuff isn’t going to fall out of the top.
Packing the Patagonia Black Hole Pack
I tend to use packing cubes when I travel, and this is a great bag for them. You can easily fit a medium compression cube down here in the bottom, or if you have more clothes there’s enough room to stack two of them. Then there’s a gap on the side large enough for a minimalist toiletry kit and a few other small things like a travel towel. I stuffed a light fleece on top of everything then used the top brain pocket for my electronics, e-reader in the laptop compartment and water bottle in the exterior pocket.
Carry Comfort
This is what the Black Hole looks like on me fully packed, at 11.7 lbs or about 5.3 kg. It has good shoulder straps and feels good on my back. It’s a decently comfortable pack especially if you keep the weight lower. But it would be nice if it had a hip belt option if you’re hauling a lot of weight in this bag.
Patagonia Black Hole Pack 32L Summary
In summary, I like the Patagonia Black Hole Pack for its simplicity and decent carry system. It has a large main compartment, but also a few additional pockets for smaller gear.
The biggest con right now is the availability on this bag, there’s a waitlist on the Patagonia
website, and it took me almost 3 weeks to get one. The aesthetic on this bag is largely a matter of personal preference. It does look a little like a hiking backpack and not everyone is going to like the shiny fabric. And I do wish they had a hip belt option for the larger 32L version of this pack.
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