Cotopaxi Cubo Expandable Packing Cube Set Review

Ah, packing cubes. The travel gear you didn’t know you needed until you tried it. Once you do, it’s hard to live without the organization and—in the case of the Cotopaxi Cubo Expandable Packing Cube Set—compression you can get from squishing your clothing into its own zippered pouch.

Which kind of cube works best for you? That depends on the traveler, their luggage, and in some cases, the trip. It’s harder to fit snow pants into even the largest cube if you’re heading to a ski vacation than it is to shove multiple pairs of shorts and tanks into a smaller space if you’re going somewhere warmer.

So, where does the Cotopaxi Cubo Expandable Packing Cube Set fall into the mix, and is this a set you want to add to your collection? Let’s dive into the details and find out.

External Components

Cotopaxi is vague about the actual materials used in the Cubo Expandable Packing Cube Set. Their product page describes it unhelpfully as 100% recycled mesh, and the tag inside says the cubes are made of synthetic materials. If we had to guess, we’d say they feel like nylon mesh, but that’s just a conjecture. Whatever the actual fabric, it feels slightly rough, yet is extremely lightweight and flexible.

The fact that the cubes are mesh is helpful for two reasons. First, you can see slightly inside the cube, so you might be able to get an idea of what’s inside without unzipping it. Of course, there are only two cubes in the set, so hopefully you’ll remember what you packed where between the day you packed and the day you arrive, but you never know. Jet lag is not kind to the mind or memory. Secondly, the mesh should allow your clothing to breathe and potentially air out a bit, especially if you stuff all your dirty clothing back inside for your return trip. We say ‘potentially’ because you’re shoving a lot of clothing into these cubes, so things in the middle won’t benefit from that airiness.

The con to that pro is that you won’t want to stuff damp gear inside the cubes if you’re concerned about keeping items alongside the cubes dry, so keep that in mind before shoving a wet swimsuit inside to go home. Sure, it’ll breathe and might even dry out a bit, but everything next to it will be damp.

You probably aren’t going to be packing just one swimsuit inside either of these cubes, either. The set comes with two compression cubes (or expandable cubes, depending on your point of view): a 6L and a 12L. They’re both fairly large, so you’d be wasting a lot of capacity if you used either for a single piece of apparel.

Both cubes include a webbing handle on top to help you move them from place to place or pull them out of a bag. Then, they use YKK zippers to do the heavy lifting of compressing and closing the cubes. That’s something we’re happy to see, since we trust YKK zippers to function for years. A packing cube with a broken zipper becomes just another piece of material to fit into your travel backpack, rather than a useful travel accessory, so we appreciate it when brands prioritize the most important part of their product by using quality materials.

We also appreciate when the zippers are color-coded so you know which to use to open and close the cube and which to grab when compressing or expanding it. In the case of the Jam colorway we’re testing, the expansion zipper blends in with the rest of the material, while the opening zipper is orange. You can also get the set in Black, in which case the open/close zipper is teal, like the Pack Hacker logo. The cords woven through the zipper pulls are also color-coded. However, they’re both shades of orange (expansion slightly redder, open/close slightly brighter), so it’s not as easy to tell the difference, especially in a dim hotel room.

There is a small strip of ripstop material between the two ends of the open/close zipper. We think it’s smart to put slightly stronger fabric here because it will be pulled tighter when you’ve got the cube stuffed with clothing. While we haven’t had any issues with the mesh ripping or snagging, that’s the potential point of concern we can identify with this set, so we like that Cotopaxi reinforced this area.

Each cube features a Cotopaxi logo tag, but there’s nothing to identify which cube is which size. Sometimes we care more about that in a packing cube set than others. In this case, with one cube half the size of the other, it’s obvious which is which, so we don’t miss it.

Inside The Packing Cube

Heading inside the cubes, you’ll see that there’s no lining fabric or extra material for structure. We appreciate that because we find it’s often hard to tuck in with the compression zipper and, at times, means you have to leave one item behind, since the extra material can take up the space that one of your shirts could have occupied.

However, the mesh has just enough structure to remain mostly upright as you pack, so you don’t have to hold it up while filling it (another problem we have with some packing cubes). That rough texture also means it’s not super slippery, like ripstop nylon can be, which, again, makes for easier packing. We’re here for it.

Each cube provides quite a bit of expansion. We’re not sure about the measurements on Cotopaxi’s site, as the 12L cube is listed as 10 inches when expanded and 4.5 inches when compressed, and that wasn’t our experience. Still, we can safely say you get about 4 inches of extra space to fill and squeeze out on the 12L cube, and around 3 inches on the 6L. Either way, it’s a lot of extra space, yet even when we filled the cubes to the top with rolled clothing, we were able to compress both cubes easily. Again, not an experience we have with every compression packing cube, and we think we can thank the flexible mesh material for that.

Inside the 6L, we fit seven women’s size small T-shirts, which is a lot. Still, we fit even more inside the 12L: two pairs of shorts, a pair of leggings, a pair of crop pants, a long-sleeve swim shirt and a swimsuit, a sundress, seven pairs of socks, and a set of pajamas. That might seem like a motley mix, and it isn’t as great if you plan to live out of your packing cubes, but if you’re going to unpack upon arrival at your destination, putting that many categories of clothing together in one cube won’t matter as much.

Obviously, your mileage will vary depending on your stature and destination, but hopefully, that gives you a decent idea of what 6L and 12L can hold. In our experience, that same amount of clothing might fit in a 19-22-inch piece of rolling carry on luggage, but it will take up a lot more space than it does in these cubes. So, if you’re traveling with a smaller suitcase or a travel backpack of any size, the Cotopaxi Cubo Expandable Packing Cube Set should give you more room for your toiletry bag, travel shoes, and other essentials. What more can you ask for? Well, in this case, perhaps a smaller (3L?) option for underwear, but otherwise, not much.