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Overview of the REI Big Haul 40

A solid, well-constructed travel duffel for under $100 from one of the most trusted gear brands on earth. Super high strength ballistic nylon, packable backpack straps, and a large 40L capacity in a carry on friendly package, all for about 2 lbs. One baggers looking for a solid, durable, economic travel duffel will love the REI Big Haul 40.

• Cost: $89.95
• Capacity: 40 liters
• Dimensions: 21.3″ x 13.4″ x 10.2″ (54 x 34 x 26 cm)
• Style: Duffel Bag
• Weight: 2.06 lbs. (0.93 kg.)
• Laptop: No dedicated pocket
• Features: 1680D nylon, backpack straps, lockable zipper, lightweight

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Materials, colors, and sizes

High Denier Nylon Fabric, Combined with Ripstop

Strategic use of high quality fabrics is key for bag construction. The Big Haul 40 uses a tough 1680 Denier nylon fabric on all the places your bag will wear the heaviest: botton, top/bottom sides, and backpack straps. This is the same heavy duty ballistic nylon material used to make the Aer Travel Pack 2. Its super sturdy, water resistant, and virtually indestructible. It is heavy though, which is where REI nails it with their strategic use of a lighter ripstop nylon.

REI utilizes a thinner 400 denier ripstop nylon coated with TPU on the remaining exterior of the Big Haul 40. The advantage is a lighter material, while retaining the abrasion and water resistant properties of the rest of the bag. TPU stands for thermoplastic polyurethane. It’s basically a thin, rubbery plastic coating bonded to the nylon fabric. It increases the strength, durability and adds water resistance, yet it maintains flexibility.

Colors of the Big Haul 40

Again, plagued with a deep desire to be ordinary, I opt for the black bag. There are several types of travelers when it comes to bag color.Those who want to stay under the radar, avoid attention, and the prying eyes of thieves. Like me, black is a great option for this group of folks. It’s always classy, it looks great, and you don’t draw attention to yourself. The other group likes to stand out, they like to show their character through fun and bold colors (Cotopaxi is a great brand for you). For these folks the REI BigHaul 40 gives you some great options. And while there are no neon colors in the lineup, you will appreciate the Flash Pink, orange Canyon Ridge, and the oh-so-bright, squash inspired, Kabocha Orange.

Lightweight

One advantage that duffel bags have over standard clamshell travel packs, is they tend to weigh less for the same capacity. Here is a short-list of some of the best clamshell-style travel backpacks. Despite all of them being the same, or smaller capacity than the REI Big Haul 40, they all weigh more. Often quite a lot more. The GR2 and Outbreaker are over double the weight:

• Aer Travel Pack 2 (33L / 3.7 lbs.)
• Cotopaxi Allpa (35L / 3.4 lbs)
• Goruck GR2 (40L / 4.8 lbs.)
• Minaal 2.0 Carry-on (35L / 3.1 lbs.)
• Osprey Farpoint 40 (40L / 3.2 lbs.
• Topo Designs Travel Bag (40L / 3.7 lbs.)
• Tortuga Outbreaker 35 (35L / 4.6 lbs.)
• WANDRD Hexad Access (40L / 3.9 lbs.)

It’s lighter because it doesn’t have any of the frills of these other bags, like bulky padded compartments, extra zippers, pockets etc.The downside? You don’t get a padded laptop compartment, interior compartments,zippered organizational pouches, expansion zipper, or water bottle pocket. Add your own organization or keep the bag simple, it’s up to you.

Slightly Wider than Standard Carry On Size

With few exceptions, duffel bags suffer from the“slightly larger than carry on size in one dimension” syndrome. The REI Big Haul 40 is not one of these exceptions. While airlines vary, the standard carry on size tends to be about 22” x 14” x 9”. Most carry on travel bag companies design their bags to be at, or below this standard. The Big Haul 40 is below this standard in the length and height, however it is about 1.2” wider than most airlines allow. But being a soft-sided duffel bag, you shouldn’t have a problem fitting it into the overhead.

Exterior components

The REI Big Haul 40 uses high quality YKK zippers, and Duraflex buckles. In fact, if you want to geek out on zippers, they use the newer style “RC” Racquet CoilZippers. Designed for luggage, with high abrasion resistance. The main compartment features a big lockable YKK 10RC zipper. The largest, most robust zipper in this line. They also attach handy plastic pull cords to their zippers, making them easy to open.

Exterior pockets and compartments

This duffel bag only has two exterior access pockets. The main, large duffel compartment, and a small front-facing zippered pocket. The small pocket is a great size for travel documents, and for reference it just fits my Fire tablet (8” x 5.25”). The luggage tag window, where you put your contact info in case of a lost bag, is also accessible from this pocket.

Backpack straps

The backpack straps on the Big Haul 40 have two great features, and one not so great feature. For a simple, inexpensive bag, the straps are surprisingly comfortable. The padding isn’t nearly as thick as higher priced bags (e.g. Minaal 2.0, Aer Travel Pack 2), but then again, it’s not nearly as expensive or heavy as either of these bags. Their system for storing, and attaching the straps is great however.

The backpack straps stow away into a small padded pocket on top of the bag. It doesn’t zip shut, but it doesn’t really need to. Instead of a buckle attachment, the backpack straps on the Big Haul 40 attach with an aluminum hook through a fabric loop. It’s easy to use, and probably less prone to breakage than plastic buckles.

Cross-body Strap? Nah

They advertise a “cross body strap” carry option for the REI Big Haul 40. In reality, this shoulder strap is just one of the backpack straps,with the strap loosened, and attached to the opposite corner. Unfortunately, it is awkward to use, and uncomfortable to carry the bag this way. The padding isn’t designed to be held in this configuration, and the strap isn’t long enough. It just doesn’t work.

Side Carry Handles

Side carry handles are great for pulling your bag out of tight overhead bins. Not to be outdone by other heavy handled bags, the Big Haul 40 hosts a generous 4 side-carry handles. One on each side. You can’t really have more than this. Unless you put one on the bottom, but that would be silly.They’re thick and sturdy, but not really padded for comfort. But with the backpack straps, and regular top carry handle, this probably won’t be your preferred mode of transport.

Top Carry Handles

The top carry handle is solidly constructed, padded handle,and metal/fabric look attachment points. The strap isn’t adjustable, so you just have to go with the length as-is. The metal hooks allow you to remove the handles when you convert to backpack mode. The only problem is, there isn’t really a place to put them other than the main duffel compartment. This is where a zipper on the backpack strap compartment would come in handy.

Side Compression Straps Convert to Full Compression

The innovative compression strap system is great for compacting the bag. The female and male ends of the side compression straps are reversed on the opposite side of the bag. This means you can unhook the side straps, and connect them across the bag to the buckle on the other side.Allowing for full-bag compression from the top and sides, if you are carrying an  oversized load.

Interior components and design

This Duffel Doesn’t Have Compartments (but it does have pockets)

A great advantage of duffel bags is the interior space is customizable. By using cubes (or not using cubes), you can pack the bag any way you want. You aren’t restricted to the interior setup designed by the manufacturer. I tried this bag out with several of my medium Eagle Creek packing cubes, and they work great. Put the packing cubes on the bottom, and larger items fit right on top.

Interior Pockets

The Big Haul 40 does have 2 small zippered pockets on the lid. The smaller one is good for small items, a passport, small electronics,and has a key clip. You could put your toiletries, or other small, loose items in the larger pocket. They don’t have much expansion, so your storage in these pockets will be limited.

How to Pack the Big Haul 40

This bag has one large interior compartment, so you are probably going to want to use packing cubes. I’ll show you below how I pack the Big Haul 40 for about a 7 day trip. My setup includes 3 packing cubes for clothes, 1 small pouch for electronics, toiletry kit, tablet, sunglasses, a travel wallet,and a laptop in a padded case. It fits everything great, with room to spare.

Click here for a dropdown pack list for the REI Big Haul 40

This bag holds a surprisingly large amount of gear. I actually added a few items of clothes to my normal gear list, to show how much you can fit in this thing. It’s also super easy to pack. All your gear is visible in one large compartment. Just do some light tetrising, and voila.

You will have to make some hard decisions on where to store electronics however. This bag doesn’t have a dedicated tablet or laptop compartment. The storage on smaller items is also minimal. You can remedy this with smaller cubes, or an electronics organizer.

Fit, durability, and testing

Like I said earlier, the backpack straps on the Big Haul 40 are surprisingly comfortable for an inexpensive travel duffel. They lack a sternum strap and hip belt, but the molded straps fit your shoulders pretty well. After carrying this thing around downtown L.A. for several hours, my back and shoulders weren’t fatigued at all. The inside of the strap did start to press into the side of my chest after a while, a sternum strap would have really helped here.

The top fabric on the bag, the coated ripstop nylon, is also the back of the bag when you’re wearing it. This is obviously not going to be the best option for breathability. A fabric designed to keep water out of the bag, is going to keep water on your back. Again, I try not to be too critical of the carry system on this bag, because its good at what it is.That’s being a solid duffel bag first, with decently comfortable stowable backpack straps second.

Overall summary

Overall, this is a great bag. The good qualities are really good, and the less than great qualities are pretty minor. It’s solidly constructed with high quality ballistic nylon fabric, YKK zippers, and Duraflex buckles. It has a large capacity 40 liter compartment, with 3 smaller organizational pockets. It has comfortable backpack straps, a ton of carry options, side handles, and daisy chain loops. All this for under $100, and about 2 lbs. is a fantastic deal. If you’re looking for a solid, durable,economic travel duffel, you will love the REI Big Haul 40.

Best features

• Bomb-proof 1680D nylon fabric
• Stowable backpack straps
• Large, spacious interior

Worst features

• Shoulder strap not comfortable
• Slightly wider than standard carry on size
• No breathability on back of backpack

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