Monos Compressible Packing Cubes Review

Whether you’re packing checked luggage, a rolling carry on, or a travel backpack, packing cubes can come in handy to help you stay organized. We tested the Monos Compressible Packing Cubes on an 8-day trip to Jamaica, packing two travelers’ worth of clothing into the set of six. You can also get the packing cubes in a set of four, which should be all you need for a carry on bag, though you can’t buy any of the sizes separately at the time of writing.

External Components

The Monos Compressible Packing Cubes are made with nylon twill, even in the area that gets compressed, and the tops have TPU-reinforced mesh for visibility and breathability. That durable material comes in handy when filling them, as we find it easy to pack the clamshell-style bags and live out of them on a trip since the sides don’t easily collapse. Some other compression cubes have much lighter-weight fabric used for the expansion/compression area, which can make them trickier to fill since the sides don’t stand up. That isn’t a problem here.

We’re testing the Grey colorway, but at the time of this review, you can also get them in Tan, Black, Purple Icing, Banana Pudding, and Cactus (lavender, yellow, and green, respectively).

The remaining hardware on the packing cubes includes zippers of an unknown brand with metal heads and pulls, and that’s it. While each cube is labeled with a black Monos brand tag at the end of the main zipper, there aren’t any handles, buckles, or anything else to mention.

What there is to talk about is the many different sizes and shapes included in each set.

We already mentioned the largest and the smallest in the set of six above; those two are missing if you choose the set of four. With both sets, you get more smallish and medium styles of cubes that are roughly the size of a casserole dish, a serving platter, a folded T-shirt, and a pencil case. We’ve listed the exact dimensions above, and we’ll talk about what fits inside later on, but if you can’t figure out why Monos chose the sizes it did, it’s because they designed the sets to perfectly fit Monos luggage, whether it’s a carry on or checked size. You can see how exactly to orient the cubes to fill the space on their website, though we also had no issue fitting them into different luggage brands. Suitcases typically come in standard sizes, so there’s a good chance that the Monos Compressible Packing Cubes will fit the bag you have if you don’t plan to invest in an all-new set.

Inside The Packing Cube

The interior lining is the same material as on the Monos Carry-On: antimicrobial recycled polyester. This one is soft and features a subtle color-on-color polka-dot pattern. That does, however, mean there are two layers of material—the thicker exterior fabric and the thinner liner—to squish into each cube when trying to compress it.

We got excited when we got them out to pack for an anniversary trip; it seemed there would be enough to hold enough men’s and women’s clothing for a weeklong stay at an all-inclusive resort. That meant we were packing dressy clothing for each night, plus swimsuits, pajamas, workout gear, casual resort wear, socks, and underwear for two. “Great!” we thought, “We’ll have plenty of space in the suitcase since you can fill these babies up and then compress them down.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, no matter how we packed inside and how hard we tried.

First, we grabbed the long and skinny cube, thinking it would be perfect for seven thin nightgowns and three swimsuits. Everything fit until it came time to compress the cube. Despite the mesh top (which lets air escape), we could not fully compress them. Instead, we ditched two nightgowns and still struggled mightily to close it. “OK,” we thought, “We really didn’t need a different nightgown for every night,” and moved on, trying to fit a week’s worth of sundresses into one of the medium-sized cubes.

Same problem. The issue seems to be that the same thick, durable material that’s so nice to fill because of the structure it provides the sides ends up taking up the space of a shirt or two once you try to compress it. That fabric has to go somewhere, and it’s going where your clothing should be. We won’t take you through each cube, as we had the same result each time, leading us to Sophie’s Choice: either bring way less clothing than fits in the cubes or don’t use the compression.

Since we were packing in one large checked bag and one piece of rolling carry on luggage, we had plenty of space and decided to use the cubes as if the compression didn’t exist. If you want to use compression, you’re better off folding your clothing instead of rolling it. You can fit more inside with rolls, but that’s actually a disadvantage—there’s no air to squeeze out with the compression zipper if you do. Speaking of squishing, we also found it very difficult to squeeze in an extra pair of socks, for example, after the cube was already compressed. When you unzip it, you see all the extra material inside, and there’s no space for an extra article of clothing.

They function fine that way, in case you’re wondering. In fact, if that compression zipper wasn’t there and “compressible” wasn’t in the name, this would be a much more positive review. The structured sides are easy to pack, as we already mentioned, and it was simple to just unpack the cubes from our luggage, pop them in the drawers of our hotel room, and keep everything organized throughout the trip. You can flip the clamshell top out of the way or fold it underneath the cubes if you don’t want to open and close it every day, and most of the sizes work well for the gear we had.

The largest worked well for bulkier menswear, from travel pants to collared shirts, while the other squarish medium worked for men’s swimsuits and workout gear. The smaller long-and-skinny one worked for women’s socks and underwear, but we had issues finding a use for the smallest cube in the set of six. We ended up using it for toiletries, but we found it too small for most clothing, especially if you try to compress them.

Overall, the Monos Compressible Packing Cubes work well for what we need in this type of gear: organization. If you’re careful not to overpack and want different sizes for different types of clothing, it has a wide variety to suit just about any need. However, if you truly need compression packing cubes, we think there are better alternatives. With the Monos Compressible Packing Cubes, by the time you take out the amount of clothing you must in order to compress them, you could nearly fit in the next smaller cube.