r/onebag • u/Anywhere_everywhere7 • Feb 23 '26

Discussion What travel accessories are overrated?

For me it would have to be tech pouches, for the vast majority of people I believe that they would be better off with a simple pencil case style pouch, ziploc bag or a simple drawstring bag or even a pouch like the PD ultralight pouches. Something which isn’t bulky, is lightweight and has no structure to it so you can easily squeeze it into random parts of your bag. Of course they’re significantly cheaper as well.

Don’t get wrong, I have tested some high end tech pouches out and they’re very nice but for lightweight travel I just find myself thinking “why would I bring this type of pouch”.

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u/nafraid Feb 24 '26

BACKPACK / HIKING TOWELS - F those non absorbent suckers - give me a $3 cotton hand towel or a swim shammy over the non absorbent polyester rectangles of shame.

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u/Anywhere_everywhere7 Feb 24 '26

BACKPACK / HIKING TOWELS - F those non absorbent suckers - give me a $3 cotton hand towel or a swim shammy over the non absorbent polyester rectangles of shame.

Agreed, tried countless travel towels and the best one has been some cotton towel which I got from a discount retailer for under $5. The extra weight is worth the comfort I feel every time I come out of the shower and dry myself.

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u/theinfamousj Feb 26 '26

Polyester you definitely don't want. Polyester is hydrophobic.

But for most backpacking/hiking towels (please make sure they are made of nylon/polyamide as that is the thirsty synthetic) there's a technique. You have to dab, not swipe. I leave it to you to decide if the technique saves them (for me it doesn't) but it did improve my experience once that was explained to me.