Here’s something a little out of the ordinary for an Adventure Travel and Photography site – A review of a plastic bag…

Preparing for trips we’ve always relied on freezer bags to keep contents dry and protected from the elements. Unfortunately freezer bags were not always up to the task tending to tear and leak at the worst possible time. When we first saw Watchful Eye Designs OPSAK Odor Proof Barrier Bags we thought we’d finally found a solution to keeping our gear and food stuff dry. Another key feature for us was the OPSAKs claim of preventing the bags contents from attracting wildlife.  Many of our trips take us into bear country where ursus arctos horribilis’s hypersensitive olfactory system can easily sniff its’ way into our backcountry jambalaya.

For the past year we’ve been using OPSAKs instead of freezer bags to store everything from Cliff Bars to camera gear. Advertised as resealable element-proof storage bags designed for a wide range of applications and environments these bags held a lot of promise as they are built beefier than freezer bags, have a protective odour-proof barrier, and boast some pretty impressive credentials and supporters – the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit Team; Scuba Schools International, formerly NASDS; National Geographic Adventure Magazine and; Team Nike Adventure race team.

While we did not have any unwanted wildlife encounters using the OPSAK (we never had a problem with freezer bags either), we did have the OPSAKs fail on occasion leading us to doubt whether the ability of the OPSAK to keep contents from the elements is any better than the freezer bag alternatives. Due to early failures we never rigorously tested the OPSAKs ability to contain semi-solids or liquids in the backcountry.

We purchased 6 OPSAKs – 3 now a year old and 3 new ones for our Road Trip ’08 adventure – and so far all but 1 (a new one) have failed. Two of our OPSAKs are useless; one experienced a tear when a weld failed separating the main compartment from the mouth opening, the other didn’t even make it into the field as the ziploc-type cinch mechanism separated from the bag on first pull. The remaining three are unable to hold water without leaking at the mouth of the bag while fully closed. For kicks we threw a well used brand name sandwich bag into the mix to see how it compared. Of course it leaked as well, but we were surprised to learn that the sandwich bag retained much more if its contents than did the OPSAKs.

While we cannot comment on the odour-proof materials used in an OPSAK, we assume it worked properly. Our experience with the bags leads us to the conclusion that the OPSAK has product developmental issues to overcome to be truly labelled an odour-proof barrier bag. The failures we experienced with leaking would suggest that the bags contents do indeed escape the bag rendering it useless for the task at hand. Watchful Eye Designs seems to acknowledge this as the company recommends using a product called Clip-n-Seal to ensure an airtight closure. Further OPSAK’s manufacturer recommends testing the watertightness of the bag prior to initial use. If the bag fails to hold water the purchaser is to contact the company for a replacement after the fact. To be fair I’m sure Watchful Eye Designs will stand behind their product, I just cannot muster the energy required to deal with, well, a glorified freezer bag that in our opinion does not work. Lesson learned.

We really wanted to like the OPSAK given it’s claimed performance. Unfortunately it did not measure up to expectations. A retail package of three OPSAKs will set you back about $9.00. Costly for a bag that five times out of six is not up to the task of bringing a goldfish home safely.

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