BigFoot Cargo Hauler Gear Bag Review

BigFoot Gear Bag Review

Editor: Mike

Basic Description of Item:

Weatherproof Gear Bag.

Just the Facts:

• Reinforced 18 oz. UV-treated vinyl
• Industrial duty #10 lockable zipper close & seal system
• FootZipTabs™
• Padded carrying handles
• 2″ heavy-duty polypropylene cinch straps
• 2″ stretchable strap for convenient storage
• 3″ carabiner
• Water resistant, easy to seal design
• Flat loading and easy stowing

Story:

We love to use our Jeep Wrangler in the outdoors, it climbs like crazy, is fun, is cool looking…BUT it does not haul CRAP.

On a recent trip to Southern Utah we decided to buy the BigFoot Cargo hauler to help solve the problem of getting our 3 days of camping and jeeping gear transported without having to take 2 vehicles.

We purchased the Heavy Blue version, in size medium from Sportsman’s Warehouse. Our jeep has a cargo carrier on top, so we felt the medium size would be the best.

We started by laying the BigFoot Cargo Bag flat on the ground, this is really a cool feature that allows you to use the bag as a tarp later. When laid out flat, we simply laid our gear on the tarp and prepared to zip it up.

We put the following in the bag:

-2 different 2 man Tens

-3 Sleeping bags

-3 bags full of our clothing

-3 pillows

-3 days worth of Mountain House Meals

All of this gear fit nicely. We then zipped it up.

We found that zipping this thing up was not easy and quick. It was a 2 man job, one perston tried to straighten out the zipper by pulling the bag together, and the other person zipped. This took us about 5 minutes, so not a huge deal, but not easy and fast for sure.

The bag now weighed about 175 lbs, and was full. We grabbed it, and easily hoisted it onto the top of the jeep. The handles on the bag were very useful, and were used to carry it out to the road.

Once on top of the jeep, we used the sync straps to secure one side to the jeep cargo carrier. We used a cargo net to go over the bag and secure it completely. We wished the bag had a couple more sync straps that we could have used to completely secure it.

During the trip to the famous Hole in the Rock Trail, we experienced all kinds of weather conditions: High Wind, Rain, Hail, Snow, and some Sun. I felt like this was a very good test for the BigFoot bag, we drove 600 miles, and spent 3 days on hard jeeping trails full of sand and mud.

When all was said and done we found the bag to be easy to use, and adequate for the job. We were dissappointed when returning home to find about a quart of water inside of the bag, and maybe a pint of sand. This all came into the bag via the zipper. The bag does have a flap that lies over the zipper, but due to the extreme weather and conditions we were in, the sand and some water made it’s way in. We tried our best to keep the bad laying in a direction that would prevent water from getting to the zipper.

Overall I found this bag to be a good buy, and useful. I think with a couple of simple adds this would be an OUTSTANDING bag.  As is, I am still happy with it. It made our jeep trip to Southern Utah possible.

What they could do Better:

-Make the flap over the zipper easier to wrap over, it is too rigid

-Put some additional tie downs on both sides, this would allow the securing of the bag to a cargo rack easier