While you’re in either sling or shoulder carry mode, you can easily take the other straps off and stow them away. It did take us some time to get the hang of this, but the more we used the duffel, the easier it became. The great thing about duffels is that they usually open up to one massive compartment, and the Peak Design Travel Duffel is no exception. A key feature of the Peak Design Travel Duffel is that it has four different carry styles to choose from. Yes, you read that right— four. This wouldn’t be suited for the same level of abuse as other bags like the StoneHauler though, and is better used on more casual adventures where keeping weight down is of chief importance. A sleek-looking, versatile, and durable duffel that performs highly across the board and is ready for any adventure

While we like several elements of this update, we wish they had retained some key features of previous models — namely the lid and daisy chain setup. The large U-shaped opening of old has been replaced with a single center zipper. This shaves some weight and simplifies the opening, but we just can’t get over the ease of accessing tons of gear at once that the old lid offered. polyester with phthalate-free PVC coating (body), additional layer of 840D recycled ballistics nylon with a non-PFC DWR finish (bottom) It takes a good deal of prolonged rain to breach the beefy TPU-coated fabric of Gregory’s Alpaca or Osprey’s Transporter. For most of what you’ll encounter on your travels, this will suffice. However, if you’ll be keeping to controlled environments with a lot of pavement and nice walkways, these can alleviate a lot of stress on your body. Many brands also offer rolling duffels that hover around 40 L, making them suitable as carry-ons. The duffel bags in our lineup span across a variety of types and are available in many different sizes. During testing, we directly compared feature-to-feature for each bag to avoid biases that might arise from testing different types and sizes of bags. Remember, the best duffel for you is the one that meets your needs the best.Internal straps help keep things organized and compact while on the road. This means clothes stay folded, shoes stay together, and you won’t find a tossed salad of gear when you zip open your bag at the end of the day. Flying With Duffel Bags Charging through the Chattanooga airport baggage claim loaded down with bulging duffels; (photo/Honey McNaughton) While the Allpa looks great around bustling towns or quaint remote villages, it’s built like a workhorse and won’t shy away from an adventure. Hefty TPU-coated 1,000- and 840-denier polyester and ballistic nylon protect your gear, and can hold up to some serious abuse on outdoor missions. Reinforced horizontal daisy chains round out its rugged aesthetic. Sometimes adventure takes us into truly adverse weather conditions, and for those times, water resistance isn't enough. If you're looking for a fully waterproof dry bag and duffel bag hybrid, the Yeti Panga 50 fits the bill. Its durable laminated high-density nylon is completely waterproof, and the opening seals shut with a HydroLok zipper. With RF welded seams, this duffel keeps the water out and the air in, even when fully submerged. For this reason, it is our go-to bag for protecting sensitive electronic equipment in wet conditions. This Yeti has a healthy amount of webbing and attachment points, plus shoulder straps, so you can just as easily carry it through the airport as lash it to an inflatable raft.

Vinyl or laminate finishes are common on outdoor duffels and will keep the bag’s contents dry in light to moderate rain, but water will eventually leak through zippers and seams that aren’t taped. Fully waterproof models obviously don’t have this weakness.

So, what’s the rub? With 50- and 70-denier fabric, this also registers as our least durable model, and the low weight means no padding and thin webbing on the straps. This won’t hold up to the same torture as the mighty StoneHauler above, or carry as comfortably, but at this weight and size, it is hard to quibble about its flimsy nature. The 600-denier TPU-coated polyester shell with a reinforced base provides great weather resistance and durability, but is a bit thinner than other battle-ready duffels on our list, and showed more signs of wear after similar tests. This does help cut down on weight though, particularly with the massive 120L version.