The 5 Best Roll-Top Dry Bags of 2024

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After a new round of tests, the Ortlieb Dry-Bag is our top pick, the Ortlieb Dry-Bag Light Valve is our runner-up, and the Earth Pak Original Waterproof Dry Bag is our budget pick. mdf for laser cutting

When you’re planning a watery adventure—be it kayaking, canoeing, or even just camping in dicey weather—a roll-top dry bag should be at the top of your gear list.

After testing 15 dry bags, we’re confident that the Ortlieb Dry-Bag is the most dependable, moderately priced, durable, and easy to use of the lot. It closes readily, packs well into other, larger bags, and comes in more sizes than any other bag we tested.

This affordable, reliable dry bag is lightweight and durable. Use it on its own for a day trip, or pack it into a larger bag for a multiday, overnight trip on the water. The warranty, though, covers just five years.

Made with featherlight single-coated polyester fabric and equipped with a compression valve, this dry bag is very easy to use. However, it comes in just three sizes and costs more than similar competitors.

This classic, wallet-friendly roll-top bag dependably keeps its contents dry, though it isn’t great for packing inside larger bags. A cross-body strap allows you to wear it on short hikes or bike rides.

Bigger yet lighter than our top pick, this bag is made with very soft, very durable material. It’s easy to close, and it offers sturdy attachment points for easy toting behind a kayak. It is, however, more expensive than other classic roll-tops on our list.

If a supposedly waterproof dry bag can’t keep the stuff that you’re carrying inside it dry, that’s a real dealbreaker.

Sure, sometimes a leak can result from user error, but a good dry bag makes it hard for you to screw up when sealing it.

A dry bag should be able to withstand sun, rain, and being dragged through the water all day and then lobbed up onto the shore.

Some people need to carry only a lunch; others may plan to camp overnight. That’s why we picked several models that come in multiple sizes.

The Ortlieb Dry-Bag is a classic, reasonably priced roll-top bag that will keep your stuff dry during a full day on the water—even if it’s submerged—or over the course of a rainy camping trip.

The Dry-Bag is easy to open and close and to slide into a larger bag for packing, in part because it’s made from soft, pliable polyester double-coated fabric. With nine sizes to choose from between 5 liters and 109 liters (the biggest range of all the bags we tested), the Dry-Bag is the roll-top dry bag we recommend for weekend warriors and daily adventurers alike. (We tested the 10-liter version.)

The tube-like shape of the bag does make it tricky to open and root through if you need a snack or more sunscreen mid-trip, and the company’s warranty, which promises a replacement should you run into a problem within five years of normal use, isn’t as robust as the coverage on other bags we tested.

The 12-liter Ortlieb Dry-Bag Light Valve is a larger, lighter sibling to our top pick that’s also more expensive. But it offers a compression valve, which could come in handy when you’re carrying bulky items (a sleeping bag, say). The bag’s material is extremely light and totally waterproof; during our tests it kept everything inside the bag bone-dry. It’s easy to pack, and it makes a great bag-within-a-bag, too, when you’re packing for longer or overnight outings.

The Dry-Bag Light Valve comes in only three sizes, though—we tested the middle one, the 12 L version—and it has the same five-year warranty as our top pick.

The Earth Pak Original Waterproof Dry Bag is our choice for a reliable dry bag on a budget. It comes in three sizes (we tested the 10-liter version) and will hold up on most outdoor adventures, keeping your things dry. The bag’s PVC fabric is strong and durable. Still, it feels rubbery and doesn’t slide readily into another, larger bag for packing. Earth Pak does offer customers a five-year warranty when you register your bag, which is why this model won out over others at the same price.

The Earth Pak bag comes with a strap that can attach to two of its three D-rings, but we didn’t find the strap comfortable enough to wear over the shoulder or cross-body for any significant length of time.

The Sea to Summit Big River Dry Bag is one of the softest, most malleable bags we tested, which made it very easy for us to use. Bigger and lighter than our top pick, the 13-liter Sea to Summit bag costs more than most of the bags we tested. It also comes in five other sizes and features fabric loops woven along each side that you can attach to a carabiner or rope.

The bag rolls closed and clasps so handily that it gives you confidence that your items will remain dry while you’re on the water—as ours in fact did. The company provides a lifetime warranty on its bags.

While most of my nearly 25 years in journalism represent a wide range of coverage from breaking news to business to lifestyle and wellness, I spend whatever free time I have outside, mostly on a lake in Maine—kayaking and hiking with my family in summer, skiing and snowshoeing with them in winter. The outdoor gear I value most isn’t always the most expensive or made by the fanciest brand. I rely on what works best over time, the gear that feels intuitive and allows me to be more present and engaged.

For this guide, we tapped the expertise of folks such as Tuck Fauntleroy, a photographer and an avid backcountry fisherman from Jackson, Wyoming, as well as a Maine-based river guide, Lani Love, who has more than 125 trips on her résumé. Marine biologist David Gruber shared his perspective after years of using dry bags in far-flung places, and Jennifer Willoughby, a mother of two who, with her family, spends every weekend on a river near her Colorado home, weighed in on the features she finds most useful.

If you spend much time in kayaks, rafts, or canoes, you probably already know how useful a roll-top dry bag is: It protects your personal items (phone, extra clothes, and even food), keeping them sealed and dry. Usually, these bags fit the bag-within-a-bag category, as people often throw them into a larger pack or tote or stow them inside or strap them to the top of a paddleboard or canoe. These bags are also helpful on camping trips, at the beach, or aboard boats for organizing gear, even on a rainy hike.

While outdoor adventures might be the most obvious use for roll-top dry bags, they can also corral dirty laundry while you’re traveling, hold wet attire after swimming, skiing, or surfing, or contain stinky clothes in a gym bag. We’ve even heard of parents using dry bags to carry liquids (breast milk, baby food) to prevent spills in a larger tote bag on car rides or flights—as well as to contain a dirty onesie after an unfortunate diaper incident.

The world of roll-top dry bags is vast: They vary in size from as small as a toiletry case to backpacks fit for a weeklong trip, and they cost anywhere from $12 to $220. After reading reviews on retailer sites, outdoor-enthusiast Facebook groups, and Reddit, and talking to people who use these bags regularly, we decided what size we wanted to test: as close to 10 liters in capacity as possible, plus a few larger, less traditional options.

We didn’t consider any bags with zippers, as they’re harder to repair and replace, and they fall outside of the traditional definition of roll-top dry bags.

After researching 25 bags, we narrowed the field to 15 that we wanted to test. Here’s what we looked for in our testing:

The Ortlieb Dry-Bag hits nearly every note when it comes to what we’re looking for in a classic roll-top dry bag. At just under $30 for the 10-liter version, it’s a great value.

It keeps everything inside bone-dry. And that’s the whole point of a dry bag. After 30 minutes of kayaking and even putting the Dry-Bag through a dozen fully submerged dunks in the pond, we found no sign of moisture or dampness inside the bag.

Securing the opening is simple. At the top of the bag, you’ll find a slap-bracelet-type band that helps delineate where to fold it. You just fold the mouth at least three times and secure the clasp. In our tests there was no fighting against thick or sticky fabric, or second-guessing as to how securely the bag was closed.

The bag is easy to manipulate yet extremely durable. Ortlieb used to call this bag the PD 350, as it’s made with double-coated polyester fabric and weighs 350 grams per square meter (a standard measurement for fabric). The Dry-Bag has some give, and the fabric held up nicely to being dragged repeatedly across sticks and rocks, as well as across my asphalt driveway.

It’s very portable. Multiple attachment points—two plastic D-rings at the top and one flat-lying polyester loop at the base—made the Dry-Bag easy to pull behind a kayak. It weighs 6.7 ounces, heavier than the lightest bag we tested, the Dry-Bag Light Valve, and about the same as the larger Sea to Summit Big River Dry Bag, but lighter than all the rest.

It packs well, and it’s packable too. The interior of the bag is very smooth, allowing items to slide in and out without struggle or friction. The 10-liter bag can easily hold anything you may need for a day at the beach or an afternoon in your kayak; we fit a Turkish towel, a long-sleeve T-shirt, sunglasses, sunscreen, a paperback book, and some snacks. Since the loop at the bottom of the bag sits flush against the base, you can set the bag on the ground and access the top opening without the bag’s teetering as you root through its contents. This bag also slips easily inside another, larger bag for use as a packing cube.

It comes in more sizes than any other bag we tested. You have nine to choose from in all, from 5 liters in capacity to 109 liters.

Although the Ortlieb Dry-Bag Light Valve is lighter and a bit larger than our top pick, it’s also more expensive and available in just three sizes. The 12-liter version we tested is priced at $40, but it has the added feature of a compression valve, which may be worth the extra cost depending on your needs. Though you don’t have to use the valve, it’s useful if you’re traveling, say, with a sleeping bag that you’re trying to keep dry within a larger backpack. It’s also a good space-saving feature for overnight adventures.

The bag is so light—the lightest we tested, at 2.6 ounces—that you may have a hard time believing that it’s waterproof and as durable as alternatives made from far thicker material. That thin material also makes it easy to close. Two plastic bands line the rim of the opening, serving as a guide for rolling and closing. Though the standard recommendation for closing roll-top bags is to make three rolls before securing the clasp, Ortlieb recommends rolling this bag five or six times. We did, and the towels inside our bag were completely dry at the end of our time on the water.

The Dry-Bag Light Valve is easy to pack and use. In our tests, a Turkish towel, a long-sleeve T-shirt, sunglasses, sunscreen, a paperback book, and some snacks slid in without a problem. This bag has no D-rings on its top, unlike the Ortlieb Dry-Bag and other models we tested; we tied our tow rope to the sturdy fabric loop at the base of the bag.

The traditional tube-shaped profile of this bag does mean you’ll have to be thoughtful in how you pack it. Given the bag’s smaller opening and its longer body, it’s important to stow the items you’re less likely to need at the bottom. Ortlieb formerly called this bag the PS 10, as the paper-thin material is made from single-coated polyester fabric that weighs 10 grams per square meter. Still, it held up against sticks, rocks, and asphalt, despite a few visible scrapes to the fabric’s exterior.

The same five-year replacement warranty applies to this bag as to the Dry-Bag. Outside of the warranty, repairs might cost you between $10 and $25.

For the occasional day on the water, the Earth Pak Original Waterproof Dry Bag is a solid choice. It’s inexpensive, it comes in three sizes (we tested the 10-liter size; the other versions hold 5 and 20 liters), and it keeps its contents dry. The material isn’t as soft and light as that of other bags we tested, but this bag is sturdy and reliable for the price. It’s almost identical to another bag we tested, the Marchway Floating Waterproof Dry Bag, but Earth Pak covers it with a five-year warranty for buyers who register, and so it won out over its near-twin.

Because the material is rubbery, this bag isn’t ideal for use as a packing cube or for storage inside another, larger bag, such as a backpack. You could try to use it that way, but it wouldn’t slide in as deftly as our other picks. The bag also comes with a cell phone case, though we didn’t risk testing it after reading buyer reviews noting soaking-wet phones.

The Earth Pak bag also performed decently in surviving our drag test across asphalt and rock, and it kept everything inside dry while trailing behind a kayak. In terms of weight and material, it falls in the midrange among the bags we tested. The material is a 500-denier PVC fabric. (Denier is a measure of a fabric’s fiber thickness.) It feels smooth and soft, and it’s a bit thicker than the material of some of the other bags we tried.

The bag has multiple attachment points: two D-rings by the clasp and one near the base. It comes with a cross-body strap that can attach to any of those D-rings. We don’t recommend using the strap for any significant length of time—it’s uncomfortable to wear—but it could come in handy on very short trips to make packing or unloading the car easy, for example, or as a simple way to tote some things on a quick bike ride to the beach.

The Sea to Summit Big River Dry Bag feels substantial in almost every way: material, durability, and attachment points. The 13-liter size is bigger and lighter, at 6.7 ounces, than our top pick, but it typically costs a little more. (It’s one of six sizes ranging from 5 to 65 liters.) Woven into the bag’s side is a thick fabric band with three loops that are handy for attaching carabiners or rope ties. You’ll also find a small fabric loop at the base of the bag, and one D-ring is attached to each end of the clasp that you use to secure the bag closed after rolling the top.

The 420-denier nylon fabric of this bag is soft and sturdy, and in our tests it didn’t resist as we rolled it closed. Our towel, shirt, shades, sunscreen, paperback book, and snacks slid inside without any pulling or catching on the fabric, and this bag would just as easily load into a larger bag, too; the attachment loops on the side are so low-profile, they wouldn’t get in the way at all.

The top of the bag is lined with a rubbery band of material marked with instructions to “roll at least 3 times and clip buckle.” During our tests, the towels inside the bag stayed completely dry, and the nylon fabric handled our drag test brilliantly.

Sea to Summit covers the Big River Dry Bag with a lifetime warranty; should any problem arise, the company will replace the bag at any point so long as you have proof of purchase. That promise, per the company’s policy, holds so long as the bag was used under its intended circumstances and does not cover normal wear and tear. Of the 1,000-plus customer reviews we skimmed, we saw no complaints about Sea to Summit bucking its policy.

If our budget pick is unavailable: Consider the Marchway Floating Waterproof Dry Bag, which is a near-twin to the Earth Pak Original Waterproof Dry Bag. The Marchway bag comes in five sizes; we tested the 10-liter bag, which typically costs about $17 on Amazon. Made from rip-stop tarpaulin, the bag has a classic tube shape, and it easily protected our supplies for a day on the water (a towel, a book, sunglasses, an extra layer, sunscreen, and snacks), keeping everything dry. The Marchway bag was also durable enough to handle the rocks and asphalt of our drag test. Depending on the size you order, it comes with a crossbody strap (in the 5- and 10-liter options) or backpack straps (on the 20-, 30-, and 40-liter sizes). The main difference between this bag and the Earth Pak model is that Marchway offers no warranty on its bag—that’s why we made the Earth Pak bag our budget pick.

If you’re looking for something to take car camping, to the beach, or even to a rainy sporting event: We recommend the 25-liter Rux Waterproof Bag. It is indeed totally waterproof, it stands up nicely on its own wherever you may place it, and it holds plenty of gear, supplies, and clothing. The bag, made from 840-denier TPU-coated nylon, is both durable and soft. Two tote straps and one crossbody strap make it easy to carry in town or to and from the car. It’d also be an excellent option to throw in the car for spring skiing, surfing, or even mountain biking, to separate and store wet or dirty clothes for the ride home. Rux offers buyers a lifetime guarantee and will repair or replace bags with “defects in material or workmanship” (not general wear and tear), even after extended use. Although this bag does roll closed and has 18 small loops to serve as attachment points, it is a tote bag, and as such, it doesn’t fit the classic roll-top, tube-shaped profile we were looking for in our picks. It’s also pricey, at $150.

The 25-liter SealLine WideMouth Duffel is shaped like a duffle bag, which makes it refreshingly intuitive to use. We were planning to make it an also-great pick suitable for a car-camping overnight trip or a family day on the water, but we discovered just before publishing this guide that the bag is being discontinued.

The Matador Flatpak Dry Bag would make an excellent dirty-laundry bag for suitcase travel, but it isn’t durable enough to stand up to outdoor use. In our tests, the fabric loop on the side of the bag ripped with just one firm tug.

The NRS Bill’s Bag Dry Bag is durable and certainly waterproof, but at 65 liters, it is best suited for a multiday, overnight paddling and camping trip.

The NRS Tuff Sack, a classic roll-top bag, has no compression straps. Also, many reviewers who have been using NRS bags for years complain that the current version of this bag doesn’t stand up to past versions in its durability and how it closes.

The D-ring at the base of the Red Waterproof Roll Top Dry Bag made it tough to place steadily on the bottom of a kayak or the ground, and the pricing ($50 for the 10-liter version we tested) was steep compared with that of equally functional competitors.

The warranty on the Skog Å Kust DrySåk covers manufacturing defects for just one year. Additionally, the paper we placed inside the exterior pocket of the bag was sopping wet after our on-the-water test.

The Watershed Big Creek is a large backpack-style dry bag that has a lot of straps: backpack, chest, and compression. We found that the vertical tube-like pack was hard to seal, and the opening of the bag wasn’t big enough to make packing a friction-free experience.

Similar to the SealLine WideMouth Duffel, the Watershed Chattooga is horizontally oriented. The opening to the bag, though, is too tight for packing. We also found the bag hard to seal with confidence.

When we first researched the current edition of this guide, the Outdoor Research CarryOut Dry Bag was unavailable. Now that it’s back in stock (we recommend it in our guide to gym bags), we plan to evaluate it in comparison with our picks here.

This article was edited by Christine Ryan.

Tuck Fauntleroy, photographer, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, phone interview, September 13, 2023

David Gruber, marine biologist and scuba diver, text-message interview, September 13, 2023

Lani Love, co-owner and guide, Allagash Canoe Trips, Carrabassett Valley, Maine, phone interview, September 13, 2023

Jennifer Willoughby, recreational rafter, Eagle, Colorado, phone interview, September 13, 2023

Nicole Gull McElroy is a freelance writer and editor based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. While you can find her bylines in Fast Company, Wired, Fortune, and Men’s Journal, she is most happy pointed downhill on powder days or on her yoga mat.

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