Eagle Creek pioneered those nylon zippered organizer bags. Always a step ahead of the, uh, pack, the company has introduced expandable bags that unzip to double the space. Made of ultra-lightweight ripstop nylon that’s not much heavier than a self-zip plastic bag, the new Pack-It Specter Compression Cubes (which are actually rectangular) come in sets of two, with one bag about double the dimensions of the other. One bag — 10 inches by 7 inches by 1 inch thick — expands to triple the thickness, about the size of Eagle Creek’s popular “half cube” organizer bag. The other bag expands from 14 inches by 10 inches by 1 inch thick to triple the thickness, which is what you get with the company’s “full cube” organizer (my favorite size for folded shirts). Each bag has a sewn-in nylon grab strap. Especially cool is that these bags are translucent enough to see the contents. The sets come in bright green, orange, blue, purple or white. Buy them all (or pick your favorites), and you can color-code your packing — say, the blues for shirts and tees, the greens for pants and shorts, etc. A tip for zipper-closing: keep your middle or ring finger under the compression zipper while minimizing the bag size, so the zipper doesn’t catch on the cloth.
Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Compression Cube Set is $39.95 at .
Judi Dash, Gear & Gadgets syndicate
