The other day I reviewed an Outdoor Products Valuables Dry Pouch that I had purchased at Walmart several months ago to store small electronics such as a mini LED light, shortwave radio, batteries, and so on in my bug out bags.
Sadly, I tried to do a video review but couldn’t get the audio to work properly (darn computers!). So, here’s the abbreviated written review…
The cost for a single dry pouch varies depending on where you buy it, but most places sell it for around $12. Since the point in such a pouch was to keep the contents dry, I figured I would test it for water resistance.
I devised two tests: (1) run the pouch under water for several seconds to simulate hard rain and (2) dunk the pouch in a bowl of water for several seconds to simulate getting dunked in a river crossing.
Rather than risking my electronics, I choose to wad four pieces of paper into balls and stuff them into the dry pouch to simulate something being inside. I also figured that the paper would get wet and shrivel quickly so that I could tell if water had intruded.
The first test, run the pouch under water, went well. Rather than removing the paper from the pouch I merely dried off the outside with a towel and visually checked the paper for signs to wetness. As near as I could tell the paper seemed dry.
The second test, dunk the pouch in a bowl of water for several seconds, also seemed to go fairly well. I decided to do the test again for a bit longer and, after noticing several air bubbles escaping, I figured that wasn’t good, so I checked again. After a brief visual inspection I removed the wadded up pieces of paper and noticed a bit of wetness on back sides of two of the wads of paper indicating that some water did intrude.
Considering, however, that I wasn’t expecting the contents to survive even a full submersion, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. While there may be better options for serious outdoors-men, for the cost and considering the application, I would recommend these dry pouches.
Having said that, don’t expect to fit much into them. They are rather small and are only meant to fit small electronics and other supplies.
