I've been considering a set of Sunset Saddlebags for a while and finally pulled the trigger a few weeks ago. They arrived as promptly as anything else from SLD and I finally got to use them this weekend on a trip with my son's Scout troop.

First, these are extremely well-made (as you'd expect). The stitching and materials are top notch.

Second, they are a perfect size. When packing for the trip, I shoved my Trail Winder in one and my top quilt (a 40 degree JRB Shenandoah) in the other and shoved them into my pack. I've been trying to move away from stuff sack to avoid overcompressing my quilts unnecessarily. The SSB is big enough to easily load up any of my quilts and small enough to wrangle them into my pack (inside a compactor bag liner). As I load in the rest of my gear, they fill in all of the available space at the bottom of the pack.

In camp, with the quilts in/on my hammock, the SSBs hold spare clothes, toiletry bag, etc. This weekend we had a heck of a thunderstorm with lots of heavy (straight down) rain and everything in the SSBs stayed perfectly dry, even with my tarp well above the hammock (the storm was unexpected and hit at 2 am, so I didn't think to lower the tarp before going to bed).

I'm looking forward to trying out this setup on a few backpacking trips later this year. If you're thinking about getting a set of Sunset Saddlebags, just do it!

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