So you have found your favorite backpack, good. Now how do you organize it? After 6 years on the road, let me tell you that packing cubes are a gift from the gods in Valhalla. My favorite cubes are made by Eagle Creek. So in honor of them, I want to share one of the biggest secrets to traveling smart, Eagle Creek compression packing cubes!

Why I Use Compression Packing Cubes

After having a proper backpack, I would say packing cubes are the biggest quality of life improvement you can make for the lowest cost and effort. Not only do they organize your stuff, but it also makes it a lot easier to pack and unpack.

Just pull it out of you backpack and place it in a dresser, and you’re good to go. The compression variant of these takes this all to the next level. As somebody who loves to travel lightly, and with a small backpack these are a godsend. They essentially halves the room that clothes takes up as you can see in the image bellow:

Eagle Creek Compression Cubes open vs closed
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Eagle Creek Compression Cubes open vs closed

What Are Compression Packing Cubes?

The difference between a normal packing cube and the compression packing cube is that the compression ones takes up about half the room of what the normal cubes does. Other than that it is exactly the same as your normal travel organizing system.

The compression is done by adding zippers around the lining of the top, and the bottom of the packing cubes. You then pull the top and the bottom of the cube together, thereby compressing everything inside of the cube.

Quick video guide for these packing cubes

Reviewing Eagle Creeks Compression Packing Cubes

Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter cubes are built sturdily. They are made of the same ripstop fabric that you can often find in their other products. This is a super lightweight fabric that can take a heavy beating without showing signs of damage.

I have a daypack by the same company that has been around the world quite a few times, and has even been used as my primary backpack. Over this extended use there are only tiny holes at the bottom of the bag from being placed on sharp surfaces a few times too many. Your packing cubes are hopefully not going to sit on sharp surfaces, but rather be comfortably tucked away in your travel bag.

Since the packs are made of this sturdy material I have been able to stuff my cubes quite full before compressing them, and there has not been any problems so far.

How Much I can fit in my packing cubes
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How Much I can fit in my packing cubes

As you can see I am able to fit a shorts, and 5 pairs of underwear in their smallest compression packing cube without much effort. For the larger one you can fit twice as much, which means you could easily bring pants, shirts, more shorts, or whatever else you’d need.

The zippers are sturdy, and if you have had any Eagle Creek products before you will know that they are built to last. When you compress the cubes there is a chance that the zipper will get stuck in the fabric. I have not noticed any damage from this happening. This is easily avoided by putting your finger down on the fabric in front of the zipper as you compress the packing cube.

Issues With The Compression

There are a few things to note about the compression packing cubes vs the standard variety of packing cubes though. The compression ones will squeeze your clothes together. This is totally fine for jeans, t-shirts, underwear etc.

Here’s a video of me using the packing cubes, and here’s a full packing list

But when it comes to shirts and more dressy items (and linen!) this isn’t good, as your shirts will get wrinkly. The workaround for this would be to bring a non compression cube for your shirts.

There is also an increased amount of work when packing since the compression takes a few seconds to do and undo. You can get away with just opening the cube and grabbing something without undoing the compression zipper though.

In Conclusion

As you can probably tell, from the review, I am a huge fan of these Eagle Creek compression packing cubes. I recommend using these over the normal ones. I have found that the small and medium ones are the most useful ones.

Here’s an Amazon affiliate link the ones I have reviewed here: Eagle Creeks Pack-it Specter

Make sure to check them out!

photo of a compression cube with the text how you can carry less when you're traveling
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