Owala Sun-Day Collapsible Tote Review

We love travel backpacks and daypacks, but a day at the beach or beside the pool calls for something different. A beach bag works better here (duh, it’s right there in the name), keeping sand away from your gear and giving you enough space for bulky items like towels, sandals, water bottles, and snacks. You also want something that’s going to stay standing on a rocky boat or uneven sand, and that’s where something like the Owala Sun-Day Collapsible Tote comes in handy. It’s rock solid and spacious, but is it something you want to haul for miles (or what feels like it from the parking lot to the shore)? Let’s find out.

External Components

The Sun-Day Tote is made from EVA, the same material as your favorite waterproof sandals and slides. That makes it great for watery adventures, since it’s waterproof and easy to wipe clean and dry. While it’s technically a plastic, it is flexible and feels soft, almost like rubber. However, we find that it’s also a bit staticky, so it can hang onto hair or other detritus that gets into your bag, though dirt and sand fall off.

Like most products from Owala (ie, our favorite water bottles), the Sun-Day Tote comes in various fun colorways. We’ve got Wavelength, a bright sea-and-sky blue, but as of the time of this review, you can also get Checkin’ In (a beige and tan checkered pattern), Rosy Rays (pink), and Hot Tropic (orange). Checkin’ In and Rosy Rays have plain colored straps, while Wavelength and Hot Tropic have checkered straps. We like all the colors and patterns, so we think you’ll find something to match your beachy personality, too.

There’s Owala branding debossed between the carry handle straps on the front and back of the tote, but it’s quite subtle. And, unlike Bogg Bags (which also have a similar Crocs-like material), the Sun-Day Collapsible Tote doesn’t have holes on its face, so it’s much more water- and sand-resistant. There’s nothing to close the top, though, so your gear is open to the elements, whether that’s a splash from a poolside cannonball or an afternoon summer shower.

The handles are a soft seatbelt-like webbing that’s folded in the center to make them easier to grab. In addition, the Sun-Day Collapsible Tote comes with an optional crossbody strap that you install by pushing the ends with EVA buckles through two slits on either side of the bag. It takes a bit of effort, so we just leave the strap on at all times to have different carry options. While you probably should take it off to collapse the bag, you don’t have to.

Speaking of which, as you might have guessed from its name, the Sun-Day Collapsible Tote can compress down for travel or storage. Don’t get us wrong, this is not a packable bag by any means. It is still quite large when collapsed, but there are creases along the sides that allow you to flatten it when you’re not using it. To do so, you push up from the bottom until it pops out, then slide it with the Owala name facing you (previously the portion that faced outward from the bottom of the bag) along either side of the bag. The carry handle straps slide into the channels you’ll see in the base, and you can slide an extra strap that comes with it over the bottom (or top) to hold it in place. There’s a hook-and-loop fastener on the strap that holds it tight when you cinch it down. This makes the bag easier to store under your bed or in the back of your closet when you’re not using it, since its 34L capacity takes up quite a bit of real estate when it’s set up.

To use it again, just reverse the steps: undo the strap, slide out the base, then push it into the bag with the Owala name down until it clicks into place at the bottom of the bag.

Fit Notes

The first thing you’ll notice when you unbox the Owala Sun-Day Collapsible Tote is probably how heavy it is. It weighs 4 pounds, and when you consider its 40-pound weight limit, things can get pretty heavy pretty quickly if you fill it to capacity. So, we were surprised to find that it’s actually fairly comfortable to carry. Whether you’re using the long carry handles by hand or over one shoulder, or the crossbody strap (which we never wore crossbody, by the way, only over one shoulder), the bag isn’t any more uncomfortable than other beach bags and pool totes we’ve tested. By design, these bags aren’t going to be the most balanced to carry as you’ll have them on one shoulder instead of two, and they’re likely filled with bulky gear like towels, drinks, and snacks.

However, a variety of testers found them comfortable to haul back and forth from the cottage to the boat (across a large yard and down a long dock, we might add) while testing the bag on a weekend getaway. And when we say “a variety”, we mean it: this bag has been carried by adults, teens, and small children, loaded down with five beach towels, an iPad and Bluetooth speaker, sunscreen, a phone, drinks, and a beach hat. While it’s large and unwieldy, it’s not uncomfortable. It is hard to squeeze into tight spaces, but luckily, EVA doesn’t scratch other objects, or at least it hasn’t made a mark on our cars as we struggle to pull it out from between two vehicles parked side by side in a garage.

Inside The Tote

The interior of the beach tote is the same material as the exterior. There’s no lining or built-in organization, except for an “essentials pouch.” Like the crossbody strap, it’s something you install yourself when you first get the bag. It attaches similarly, just instead of pushing the buckles from the outside in, as you do the strap, you push them through slits in the EVA from the inside out to connect the pouch to the bag’s interior.

The pouch is also plastic, but it’s much thinner and more flexible, with a clear front panel. It seals with a waterproof zipper that opens with a corded pull. It’s not from a brand we can identify, but it works well.

What’s unique about the pouch is that it has a divider in the same color as the remainder of the bag. That means you can slide your wallet, phone, and cash behind the divider to keep them concealed from prying eyes on the beach. While it’s certainly not going to prevent a thief from grabbing your gear, it will hopefully keep them from thinking there’s anything valuable in your bag that they might want. Should you leave cash and valuables inside as you walk miles along the beach? No, you should not. Might you feel better about the security of them as you swim in the ocean within view of your bag? Hopefully.

On a more practical note, it can also separate items that could harm one another, whether that’s your keys from scratching your phone, or residue on the outside of your sunscreen bottle from getting on your leather wallet, or, again, your phone.

The pouch is a good size for the small gear you’d want to carry, from your phone, sunglasses, and wallet to small bottles of sunscreen, an e-reader, or a small paperback book. It will also keep that gear dry if the skies open up, which is more than can be said for the rest of the bag.

In that main space, however, you can fit quite a lot. This is a 34L bag, so it can easily accommodate full-size beach towels (Owala says 6; we fit 4 along with other gear), bottles and cans, food containers, and more. We took it grocery shopping, too, and it easily held a bag of onions, three bell peppers, a cucumber, and a box of trash bags, though the onion skins stuck to it like glue due to static. We wiped them off with a cloth easily enough. Owala says it fits “3-ish” bags of groceries, and we think that’s definitely true, and it’s another use for the bag when you are, unfortunately, not at the beach.

We were skeptical as to the usefulness of the Sun-Day Collapsible Tote when we first got it, to be sure. It’s heavy and bulky, there’s no doubt about it. However, as we use it on the water and in daily life, it has grown on us. It’s sturdy and durable, so we don’t have to worry about rips or tears. It’s super easy to wipe clean, whether from sand, sunscreen, or drinks, and it’s way more comfortable to carry than we thought. If you’re shorter (or making your kid carry it), the carry handles are the way to go. If you have a ton inside or are taller, the crossbody strap is a better option because you don’t have to try to squeeze the top together to hold both handles at once. So if you’re looking for a beach bag that will last, the Sun-Day Collapsible Tote might be the last one you ever need to buy.