Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55

Review by Kate Agathon

When a suitcase is too bulky and an open tote will not suffice, the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55L is the perfect bag for a weekend ski trip.

Unless I’m traveling on a plane, I don’t use a suitcase. It’s just too structured and takes up too much space for a weekend trip in a car packed with skis, gear, and dogs.

I needed something durable that could hold all my gear and can handle being dragged, crushed, shoved, thrown, and crammed into a car.

First Impressions

The Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55L arrived in a cube (packed inside out from its storage pocket).

It was not easy to unpack, but once I managed to successfully unfold it, the duffel was good to go.

It appeared smaller than I expected, but it was surprisingly spacious.

My initial concern quickly disappeared once I began to fill it with items for an upcoming weekend ski getaway.

As I packed the duffel bag with clothes, overnight items and ski gear (jacket, pants and accessories- not ski boots or helmet), it seemed like a bottomless bag. I liked it so much, I wish I had owned it when I went on a week-long mountain biking trip to Arizona earlier this year.

I kept adding more and more items and was impressed with the fact I didn’t need to use my packing cubes. Undoubtedly, I could have packed even more had I used them, but the duffel bag would have become too heavy to easily transport.

Backpack Details

While the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55 does not come with a shoulder strap, it does come with two padded ergonomic removable shoulder straps (marked L and R) to use as a backpack.

Many users of the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55 have praised the shoulder straps for the convenience of travel and getting around airports hands-free, but they were probably taller than me (I’m a petite 5’0”) and the shoulder straps probably fit them better (mine kept slipping off my narrow shoulders). Also, because I am so short, the pack is large enough that I’d typically want a hip belt to keep it balanced, were I to use it as a backpack.

The backpack straps were appropriately marked L and R to match the discreet L and R tags on the pack itself. Despite the helpful markers, attaching the shoulder straps was not intuitive and it took me a hot moment to figure out how to secure them to the D ring attachments on the top.

I eventually figured it out (you have to kind of bend the end to fit inside the D ring where it stayed secure), but it would have been much easier if the straps had a buckle on both ends instead of just the bottom.

Responsibly Constructed

A couple of years ago, the iconic Patagonia Black Hole Duffel underwent a couple of notable updates.

The first was that Patagonia’s repair center began to stock replacement pieces for the base, side and top panels, replacing the old school practice of patching.

The second is that the Patagonia Black Hole Duffels are 100 percent constructed from recycled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), the material that makes the bags famously durable and weather-resistant.

This is remarkable because the TPU “waste” discarded from factories is acquired by Patagonia, who in turn recycles all the waste material into the construction of the Black Hole Duffels.

Features:

• 100 percent recycled body fabric, lining and webbing

• Weather and abrasion-resistant

• Padded, detachable shoulder straps

• Reinforced haul handles

• Exterior daisy chains

• Mesh interior lid pocket

• Zippered side pocket can be reached from the exterior or the interior of the bag

• Fair Trade Certified™

Overall Thoughts

The indestructible Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55 is a practical duffel designed for all types of travel and terrain and responsibly made.

I loved the matte black color (a nice departure from the shiny Black Hole collection of yore). The minimalist duffel was super spacious and could easily accommodate all my gear for a ski weekend.

The padded base was a nice added layer of protection for the bag’s contents; especially if it sits on snowy ground.

Admittedly, I was not a fan of the backpack straps and will not be wearing it as a backpack. However, many people are fans of wearing it backpack style and it is one of the most frequently seen duffels in airports due to this feature, its ability to get stowed in overhead bins, and its durability.

Available in nine colors, you can’t go wrong with the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 55 to stow all your ski gear this season.

Kate Agathon

Dr. Of Stoke

Freelance writer, bicyclist, outdoor recreation enthusiast, and mom to her furbabies, Sansa and Benjen.

 

A Colorado native, Kate considers the outdoors her mother ship. She brings her passion for bicycling, the environment to her writing.

Her primary outdoor recreation activities are mountain biking, road biking, nordic skiing, alpine skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, and peak bagging Colorado’s 14ers. She and her husband, Paul, live in Summit County with their dogs, Benjen and Sansa.

Kate earned a BA in History from Colorado State University and later an MSEd and Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Purdue University. In addition to her education, Kate’s background serving two terms on the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and experience working for non-profits and bicycle sales well position her to bring depth and understanding to the complex changes currently taking place in the outdoor recreation industry.

The Dr. of Stoke has been part of the Engearment team since 2016.