Ratsack Size Medium

Just used this on a four day hike and it held tons of food. Worked just as it was supposed to since my food was untouched and other people had squirrels all up in their business. I will say it smells like WD-40, so I kept it in a plastic bag inside my camping gear, but by the end of four days of use the smell was mostly gone, and I just rolled it up in my bag. The Velcro is incredibly sturdy. You do need to put your food in plastic bags inside of it because otherwise bugs will get in, but I think the point of this is rodents and it absolutely works for that. The Velcro is much too strong for a raccoon.

This is larger than I visualized and does add backpacking weight. But it is as described. So I certain hold nothing against the seller. That is one of the negatives of buying sight unseen. I believe I could easily have used the small or medium size now that I see it. The benefit is my backpacking partner will benefit being able to add his stuff during the night as well. So it saves on buying two smaller ones. It will certainly hold all my food, soaps, and smelly items for my 3 day trip. The velcro at the top acts as the closing mechanism. The Velcro is super heavy duty, very thick. Before I saw the actual product I was concerned a critter might be able to get it open. Not so. Its almost adult proof. So no worries there. A planned backpacking trip to Havasu Falls/Grand Canyon area is coming up in a week. The squirrels are terrible in the area so this will be put to the test for sure. Follow-up after the Havasu Falls Backpacking trip May 2017. This Ratsack worked great. Not issues. Highly recommended after using it.

This is my second RatSack. I bought my first ten years ago and it is still going strong, but I wanted the bigger size. The bag really keeps your food safe from rodents and other critters, but it is not bear proof. It is pretty light and can fit a lot. You have to be a little careful, because the tough meshing can damage food packages if they rub against the walls of the bag, especially as you are loading it. I have found it most convenient to carry the bag empty or with only a few sturdy items in it, and leave the rest of my food in my backpack during my hikes. And when I set up camp for the night I transfer the food to the bag, which would then be outside my pack and easier to handle. It sounds cumbersome, but it is actually quite easy. I also bought a thin, steel, plastic-coated cable at the hardware store, plus some crimp-on ties to create loops on both ends of the cable. With that and a light-weight aluminum carabiner I can tie the sack to a tree at night, to prevent curious animals from dragging it away, even if they cannot open the sack.

We got this bag for backpacking because we were worried about coatis and small mammals getting our stuff. Imagine our surprise when we returned to camp after a day hike and found a big black bear ripping the food bag down from the tree it hung from and then tearing it apart and eating the food inside (I clearly didn't put it high enough, lesson learned). So yeah - it was a good bag while it lasted and it works for the intended purpose (smaller animals) but if you were wondering about bears - the answer is no, this will not keep out bears.

I have done a couple of multi-day hikes into the Grand Canyon. On the first hike, I saw a squirrel tear through the brain pocket of a pack and steal trail mix and black birds pull nuts out of a side pocket of another pack. With that knowledge, and knowing that the camping locations for our second hike would not provide metal ammo cans for food storage, we purchased this mesh sack to store our food at night. On our second hike, we came across a couple who had left their food, double bagged, and in "odor-proof" ziplock style bags, for about 10 minutes. they came back to find 12-15 black birds tearing through the bags and flying off with their food. We ended up giving them some of our "extra" rations because their supplies were completely destroyed or stolen. We camped a couple of hundred meters down from this couple and everyone in our group used the ratsacks (placing them off the ground in bushes) to store our food. None of us had any issues with birds, squirrels, or any other animals getting into our food. The next night, we did not have the options to have the food up off the ground, and could hear rodents of some sort, but no one experienced any issues with food being stolen or destroyed. These sacks are TOTALLY worth it and serve their purpose effectively.

It keeps the critters out as long as you use it appropriately. It's lightweight and very packable. The description is accurate, but to reiterate, this is NOT suitable for bear protection.

needed a way too keep my food safe from the critters at camp! Used this and had no problem! It’s very durable mesh wire to keep your food safe! Please note this is not a bear safe product!

Took this to our amazing backpacking trip to Havasupai. Yes, it’s super large, but it’s big enough to put your whole backpacking backpack in so you don’t have to worry about unpacking/forgetting that you have sunscreen or lip balm inside. We put all of the food and body products for 4 adults inside this bag and had plenty of room. All of the other rat sacks would’ve been too small to accommodate everything in one, so it was cheaper to bring this large one anyway! This is the only photo I have of it, but we ended up moving it to a much higher branch. This was right after we hiked down, so we were too tired to put it up higher.

Recently had a good test for this bag at a Tasmanian campsite with a problem possum population known for ripping into bags and tents to get to food. I hung my food and toiletries in the Ratsack inside a thin nylon dry bag. In the morning it was clear the possums had tried hard to access the food as the dry bag had multiple holes bitten/clawed through it. The Ratsack however held firm and all the contents were untouched. Recommend.

Before buying this product, I have had my food eaten by rodents (likely squirrels since I hang my pack) at least 5 times. Once I had to end a trip a day early because a rodent chewed into everything I had. I started losing sleep on trips because I was worrying about things eating my food while I slept. I bought this for a 7 day trek with no road access in Northern Ontario and have taken it on ever trip since and never had any more rodent issues. Carrying a 1 pound metal sack around feels stupid when hiking but I sleep so much better knowing my food is rodent-proof and it is so worth it for me. Eating less food because a squirrel got into your bag slows you down more than a little bag does. Yes, they are very expensive for what they are but they are so worth it. I even bought another after I misplaced mine on my last trip and both of my brothers bought one as well after one of them lost some food to a squirrel while mine stayed safe

I probably should have got a smaller sized sack, but this has worked great for me. Very noisy when opening, so you'll annoy your campsite neighbours at night if you need to get into it too many times. I got it for bike touring, and I was able to stuff a few dry sacks or even my bike cooler bag into it with more than enough room. As long as you hang this right your food will be safe - it won't stop a bear but raccoons and squirrels won't get in.

Haven't used it yet, but seems strong, I will be pairing this with odor proof bags. The Velcro is actually hard to open so it seems very good for the price. I will have or update this review once has been used.