Tortuga Travel Pouches (Set of 3) Review

Are you looking for a new tech pouch? Or do you need a new toiletry bag? Maybe you just want a place to toss your snack bars for the afternoon without digging for your favorite flavor at the bottom of the bag. Whatever you need to hold, a pouch comes in handy.

If you’re someone who’s always looking for a durable place to toss your tiny travel accessories and can find something to put in just about any size bag, you might like the fact that Tortuga won’t make you choose what size travel pouch you need. Instead, their Travel Pouches come in a set of three, each constructed with sturdy materials and able to lie flat when empty.
So, will they help you keep it all together on your next trip? Let’s find out.

External Components

You’ll get a small, medium, and large pouch with the Tortuga Travel Pouches. Each bag is about an inch narrower than the size above it. Unlike some other gear sets, you don’t lose any features when you get to the smallest one.

They’re each made with SHELL200, a sailcloth fabric similar to X-Pac with multiple laminated layers. In this case, there’s a 200-denier recycled polyester face, a 45° recycled polyester cross-ply, and a 70-denier recycled ripstop polyester backing. It includes a durable water repellent without fluorocarbons like PFAS/PFOA, so Earth friendly packers can rejoice. And even though these are smaller pouches that may not take the same beating as the bigger bag you’re traveling with every day or on a trip, Tortuga used the same material as on the Tortuga Travel Backpack 40L and the Tortuga Laptop Backpack. Both have held up well throughout our testing, and we have no issues with the Travel Pouches, either—nor do we expect to.

While they’re sturdy and lightweight, they are also super flexible and lack structure, so the bags cannot stand on their own. On a positive note, they’re easy to pack because they lie flat when empty.

Tortuga also put their stamp on the front of each pouch, with the turtle shell Tortuga logo in the bottom right corner. Kitty corner to that, in the top left corner of each bag, you’ll find a webbing loop that serves multiple purposes. First of all, it makes it easier to open the zipper to get inside the pouch. SHELL200 fabric is lightweight and durable, but it’s not as stiff as your first-grade pencil box, so you’ll need to hold onto something to open the zipper. Since the loop is right there, that’s what we recommend!

Aesthetically, we like the look of the loop on just one side, but that means you’ll have to grasp the pouch itself to close the YKK zippers because there’s no handy holder at the end of the track like there is at the beginning. Small potatoes, but worth mentioning, we think. The loop also allows you to connect the pouches with a carabiner to another bag’s attachment point, or hang them up on a hook.

The YKK zippers themselves work great on each of the three bags. They have branded metal pulls with the Tortuga logo on the top and ridges on the bottom for easy grabbing. Aside from having to hold onto the loop or the bag to open and close them—which, again, is due to the lack of material structure, not the zippers—we have no issues with them.

One thing to note, though, especially if you plan to use one for liquid toiletries or hang it outside in a tree above your tent to keep your sandwich safe from Yogi Bear: they’re No. 5 reverse coil zippers, not AquaGuard models, so moisture isn’t kept in or out of the pouches if it gets to the zipper. Of course, they’re not marketed as Dopp kits or dry bags, so despite the fabric’s water resistance, keeping it out isn’t their main goal.

Inside The Pouches

Inside the Tortuga Travel Pouches, you’ll find … the reverse side of the SHELL200 material.

That’s it. OK, all done, thanks for reading!

Just kidding, of course. The real story here is what you can do with these bags, and that’s a lot. They work great for really dialing in your organization. Sometimes, it’s nice to separate your toiletries into separate spots, for example. Maybe you’re flying out to Colorado to hike the Rocky Mountains. You’ll need to bring sunscreen, bug spray, and aloe, but you also need your makeup because you plan on heading out for a night on the town in Denver.

The large one is great for larger bottles of sunscreen and bug spray if you’re checking a bag and don’t have to worry about liquid limits, or for travel-size versions and a travel poncho. Then, you can use the middle size for your everyday toiletries and the small for a petite makeup bag, pulling out what you need when you need it without digging through the rest. The SHELL200 is easy to wipe clean inside and out, so it remains looking as pristine as the day you got it with a few swipes of a cleaner or rag.

If you are using it as a toiletry bag, you can dry out your toothbrush by standing it up at the end of the bag and zipping it closed. If you prop it up against the backsplash of your countertop, it can dry out until you need to use it again. It does need to be propped up, though, as there are no bases on the bottom of these bags.

Alternatively, if you’re going carry on only for your trip, you can use these as tech kits and to hold other small gear. The large and medium ones can capably handle bulky wall chargers, power adapters, cords and USB hubs, or a sandwich and snacks, depending on how many of each you need to bring. Then you can slot the accessories you’ll want on the plane—like your AirPods, sleep mask, and hand sanitizer—into the smaller one to toss into your personal item bag.

You may only need to use one or two at a time, or you may find a reason to pack all three. The nice thing about the Tortuga Travel Pouches is that they’re there if you need them and lay super flat when you don’t, so you may want to toss them into your travel daypack or backpack for your next trip.