Piorama Bag Review

 

I am always seeking the perfect bag, so I was delighted to do a review on this duffel. I hate reviews that feature  "The Unboxing". I really don't care how it arrives, and I don't care how pretty the features are.  I want to know how will it preform in the field, especially under stressful conditions. Just FIY  I did not receive any free product from them, but they did give me a discount. The opinions here are my own, and the photos are mostly my own.

Piorama has designed a duffel bag that collapses into itself. This allows the bag to be configured for under seat, overhead, or checked sizes.  As my trips often have more stuff in one direction than the other, I had high hopes for this bag. I ordered two different styles the A10 and the S3.

I got the A10 for myself.  It is their middle of the road bag. The next step up is the B3, which is more back pack than I am able to use at almost 70 years old.

As far as I can see, there are two major flaws in the bag.  It holds too much.  I can overload this bag to the point that my back is very unhappy with me. The second problem is that it doesn't have wheels or carry itself. Ok that was all in jest. But if they ever come up with a design with wheels I will be first in line to get one.

The double open zippers are top of the line. Zippers are the weakest point in any bag. Bonus points for water repellent zippers. 

If you look at this picture you will see that they are not like most other zippers.  They are more resistant to being split open if you use a TSA lock or zip ties to "lock" the bag. Not a guarantee but just a deterrent to the person that wants to take a peek at what you got. 

Photo taken in the airport where I was using the bag as a footrest.

The bag is as light as one might hope for in a rugged bag, a bit heavier than a nylon duffle. But the fabric is TOUGH. I won't say that a knife couldn't pierce it, but it would have to be a really sharp, very pointy knife.

 

The photo with the big pile of suitcases being offloaded from my arctic cruise expedition ship was taken just before the skys dumped rain. Everything stayed dry in the bag, unlike some of my friend's bags with soft side suitcases.  At the end of this leg of the trip, my heavy duty hard side case had been smashed, but my Piorama bag still looks like new, and KLM has a lot to answer for.

I was impressed with the quality of the stitching.  Having worked in the textile industry for most of my career, I have a very high standard here.

There are three removable straps: two backpack, and one shoulder strap. I only used the backpack ones, so I left the shoulder strap at home. I did find that my decreasing flexibility made it less easy to put the pack on, but this is not the fault of the bag, I am starting to have difficulty with many backpacks.   

There are five hand hold straps. Three on the side may be overkill, but having a handle on each end is heaven.  It really helps when pulling the bag out from the end.

The hardware is mostly nylon.  Those clips and hooks will take more abuse than if they were cheap snappable plastic. 

When fully extended, my disassembled hiking poles fit inside. I was a bit squiffy about checking a soft bag, but TSA is really variable about whether they will allow them or not. I put them inside of a cardboard tube for extra protection. In the  middle size configuration, it is the easiest bag to put in the overhead. Because it is soft and squishy it can fit into that bit of leftover space from the other bags if necessary. The empty bag smushes down small enough to fit into my other bag when stowing in a tight cabin space.

There are three side pockets, two inside and one outside.  The placement is perfect for access, and the outside one is done in a way that it keeps the smooth surface of the bag, not snagging on stuff.

The three quibbles I have on the bag actually lead to my macgyvering a solution.  There are a lack of tie points to be able to attach stuff to the outside of the backpack on the rear of the pack.  I like to attach my jacket or small bag when carrying stuff. I would love to have a second outside pocket. And lastly, I love those sleeves that allow you to slide the handle of your rolly bag so stuff doesn't fall off when you are rolling thru the airport. 

The solution was to put a small belt bag around the middle.  Extra pocket, handle attachment, and I can put my jacket thru it.  I could detach this bag for my airplane stuff like head phones and book.  The bag I had at hand is bright blue. This makes the bag more visible in a pile of mostly black bags which is quite useful. Note to self: watch for a second hand bag with a water bottle pocket.

I got two of the S3 bags. I suspect that this was the first generation of the Piorama Adjustable Bags. I had a very specific plan for these.  My grandkids have outgrown their kiddy sleeping bags. I got them new bags and mats this year. Kids are not known to take careful care of stuff, especially these two. I wanted them to have a roughty toughty bags that could withstand the abuse that they would get.

The S3 bag is not as bomb proof as my A3, but after 3 months of hard use they are doing great.  We over stuff them. They are thrown down the staircase, have fallen out of the back of the van. That is to say they were thrown out of the van onto the gravel.  

Yeah they were more expensive than a nylon stuff sack, but they are not more expensive than the three stuff sacks I would have to purchase over the lifespan of the sleeping bags.

Shipping was fast and easy. The grandkid bags needed to be in the UK, so they arranged appropriate direct shipping at no extra charge.

And the Unboxing? Minimal amount of unnecessary packing. The bag was in a stuff sack of the same tough fabric as the bag.  Just perfect to stow my 18" rebar pavilion stakes!