Monos Metro Hanging Toiletry Case Review

If you will be traveling for some time or just bring a lot of grooming gear with you on every trip, having the best toiletry bag is essential. Since Monos makes some of our favorite pieces of rolling carry on luggage and plenty of other travel accessories, it just makes sense to try out their Dopp kits. So we were happy to get our hands on the Metro Hanging Toiletry Case, which seemed to solve one issue we had with the Monos Metro Toiletry Case Largehttps://packhacker.com/travel-gear/monos/metro-toiletry-case-large/—its lack of a handle.

But do a little extra space, a different layout, and the ability to hang it up make it a toiletry bag we’re happy to travel with? We’ve been testing it daily for weeks to find out.

External Components

The 3.02L (yes, Monos is that specific about its capacity) Metro Hanging Toiletry Case has a nylon twill exterior with vegan leather accents on the front and sides. That’s a fancy way of saying that you’ll find the Monos brand name debossed on a strip of vegan leather above the front zipper access, with two loops on the side made with the same material. Those loops can hold your toothbrush or razor upright outside of the bag if you like to keep it on the bathroom counter, though you can also loop a finger through and use them as carry handles in a pinch.

We’re testing the Oxford Blue colorway, but you can also get it in Carbon Black if you prefer something darker. Unlike the Monos Metro Toiletry Case Large, however, it only comes in one size, which is just slightly larger than the Large and has roughly the same footprint.

The material is water resistant and doesn’t easily stain. We primarily had it hanging up throughout our testing period since our bathroom had very little counter space. Because of that, the bag didn’t have much of an opportunity to get splashed, sit in puddles, or otherwise come into contact with stuff that would stain it, but if you accidentally grab it with makeup still on your fingers, it seems easy enough to wipe off.

As far as hardware is concerned, there are unbranded zippers with easy-to-grasp metal pulls and magnetic snaps along a webbing strap running vertically up the center of the back panel. You use that strap to hang the bag by wrapping it around a rod in the bathroom or slipping its loop over the hook. However, it snaps to the bottom of the bag to lay flatter when you’re not using it, and we find it to be a nice handle to move the toiletry case from place to place, as the magnetic snap holds tightly no matter how much you move it around. That means you’re holding the bag from the back instead of the top, but when given the option between having a handle in a different position or not having one, we’ll take one wherever we can.

Inside The Toiletry Case

Judging by the zippers around the Monos Metro Hanging Toiletry Case, you may think there are three spots to store your gear (we did, at first). There are actually only two.

We’ll start with the secondary compartment, which opens with a zipper that runs between those two side loops we mentioned earlier. It has one zipper head and opens from left to right to reveal quite a bit of organization. Seriously, while this is a secondary compartment on this bag, it’s all you sometimes get with other Dopp kits.

You’ll find several elastic loops along the front of this area to hold travel size bottles in place, along with a horizontal one running across the top for, we believe, a travel toothbrush. We have to say, this one is rather snug, so not every toothbrush will fit into the loop, but most 3.4 oz bottles and tubes of travel toothpaste have no issue fitting in the other elastics. Our primary tester’s toothbrush did not fit in the slot atop the compartment, so they simply laid it on top of the other bottles while traveling to their destination. It’s not a perfect solution, but it is one you can use.

On the opposite side (against the back wall) is a zippered compartment where you can stash bits and bobs that you don’t want floating around the bottom of the bag, whether that’s nail clippers, tweezers, hair ties and pins, or personal hygiene products. It’s not a super large space, but it’s big enough to hold a travel pill organizer and some of that other gear we mentioned.

The lining inside, here and in the other section, is made from recycled polyester that Monos says is antimicrobial. We lack a lab to test that, but we can tell you it seems to resist stains and is easy to wipe clean when necessary.

Moving to the front of the bag, you’ll find a horizontal zipper that seems to lead to a quick-access pocket. That’s partially correct; it’s certainly for quick access, but it actually opens into the main compartment’s bottom half. That means you can grab whatever is in here without opening the whole bag. We used it for makeup and a hair brush since our tester felt that would be the gear they’d most likely need in transit. However, it’s important to note that if you pack this area full from the outside, your gear will be upside down after you open the main compartment to access it from the inside, and vice versa. Let’s close this zipper and head inside the main compartment so we can explain.

The main compartment has two zipper heads that wrap around the bottom of the bag, allowing the toiletry case to open completely clamshell for accessibility when hanging. That’s how our tester primarily used the case; after all, why invest in a hanging toiletry bag if you don’t want to hang it up? If you have a rod or hook near the sink or countertop in the bathroom where you’re staying, it’s super convenient to do this to keep it away from water and out of the way of your travel companions, and the bag is designed for everything to be on display when you do so.

We’ll start at what is now the bottom since this is the area you were accessing from that front zipper. It has a mesh cover that opens with a zipper near its top, which is actually the bottom of the bag when the case is closed. Hopefully, you now understand what we meant about your gear being upside down if you pack it from one side and access it from the other. And since you’re mostly going to access it from the inside throughout your trip, we think it makes the most sense to pack it from this side so that things are right side up most of the time you’re using it.

Whichever way you pack it, it’s a large open space with less than half the bag’s capacity. As we mentioned, our tester uses it for a travel hair brush and makeup, but you can put whatever you need quickly or to access daily here, be it medication, sunscreen, or soap.

Above that, on the top side of the case as it’s hanging, are two large mesh pockets topped with elastic. While we stick shampoo and conditioner in the other area because we like to unpack and put them in the shower at our destination, we keep deodorant, makeup brushes, face lotion, and a razor in these pockets; the first three because we want to access them daily near the sink of our hotel or Airbnb, and the latter pointed downward for safekeeping so we don’t accidentally brush it when reaching inside the main compartment. We pulled the razor out to store in the shower at our destination, but this was a great spot to stash it while traveling.

Overall, the Monos Metro Hanging Toiletry Case’s design makes it easy to use every day of a trip. We really like the combination of open space and organization for our travel needs and all the space for grooming gear. It will be overkill if you are a super minimalist traveler who washes everything with one bar of Dr. Bronners Pure-Castile Soap. Nevertheless, if you bring some makeup, sunscreen, various lotions, gels, creams, and tools wherever you go, it’s nice to have a space for everything to slot nicely and to be able to access it without taking up too much counter space.