Thule Subterra 45L Duffel Bag

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I really like Thule bags. They’re fairly widely available across different stores here in Singapore – both brick/mortar and also online. And though their bags are on the pricey side, bargains can be had if you’re patient and also alert enough to get in on the flash sales.

The first Thule backpack I have – the Enroute Blur which came as a birthday present from Ling several years ago – finally saw tears along the entire laptop compartment base. That was about as good a time to dispose of it, which leaves me with the still going on strong Enroute Blur 2 that I bought heavily discounted almost 2 years ago. The Blur 2 bag is my daily driver at work and has accompanied us for three trips out of the country now. But while its capacity suits the back and forth home and office each day, the bag is really less suited as a carry-on travel bag – what with its relatively modest main compartment size. The bag choked during the two Melbourne and Western Australia trips when I had to stuff two camera bodies, their spare batteries, three lenses – including the relatively large 40-150mm f28 – and a sweater into the main compartment. And that’s not counting the passports, a 20,000mAh power bank, two tablets, a laptop, waterbottle, and headphones that need to be squeezed into the bag too.

I don’t think the upcoming Bali trip is going to require nearly as much stuff cramped into the Blur 2 at least. The cold weather clothing is certainly not needed. Still, I started looking for a second bag at some point – and one that had a higher carrying capacity for the three overseas trips we’re/I’m making this year. Three backpack-type bags especially interested me: the Subterra 30L, Crossover 32L, and Subterra 34L. And I finally decided on a Duffel bag instead: the Thule Subterra 45L Duffel Bag. But I’ll still write a post on the three backpacks at some point this year, even if they got shelved for the moment.

Why a duffel bag? Well, the wheels of the smallest travel luggage case we’ve got – a 21 inch – broke during last December’s holiday to Phuket and we needed a replacement travel bag. And secondly, we’ve not tried a duffel bag before – so there LOL. We needed just a fairly small one that we can also use for short trips and staycations.

One of Thule’s smallest duffels is the Subterra 45L, and I found an online retailer based in Malaysia that was selling it at a comparative price of SGD202 to Amazon’s asking of about SGD195 including delivery. Delivery via Amazon would have taken about 4 weeks, while the Malaysia-based reseller is just that much closer to here. No contest there: and what was even more surprising was that the bag took just a day to arrive after dispatch from the store in Selangor.

So, pictures and first comments about the Thule Subterra 45L.

This Subterra Duffel goes up to 14″ tall. The bag comes in three different colors: black, ember, and mineral. The latter was my preference, but the ember was on offer – so that got chosen.
Bag tags. The Subterra 45L isn’t the smallest duffel carried by the company – most are 60L capacity and larger: there is a slightly smaller one – the Crossover 40L, which also features backpack straps. Several buyers on Amazon though remarked that there are quality-control issues with the Crossover 40L, so that got dropped from consideration.
Top view of the bag. Looks like a lady’s handbag from top. The shoulder strap eyelets are on opposing sides of the zipper.
The Subterra 45l can be flattened – for delivery, storage, or just stuffed into a luggage case in case and brought out for more space if you’re binge shopping on vacation.
The front side pouch is large enough to contain a slim powerbank, handphones, and passports. I don’t recommend critical documents be stored in this pouch though, as it seems pretty vulnerable to petty theft. The bag handles are also magnetic, but their magnetism strength is fairly weak.
Flaps at both ends of the bag can be folded down to make more compact the overall size of the bag if you don’t have that many things to pack away.
Plastic hooks for the shoulder strap. At least they won’t rust or stain easily.
Very wide mouth opening up to reveal the bag’s cavernous interior. As easy to pack stuff in as a traditional luggage case. I also appreciate that the inner bag lining is light-colored – makes it easy to find smaller items. The Groo book is a a very thick A4 side hardcover volume.
One fairly large internal mesh pocket for you to store things you need within easy reach. Would had been great to have a second internal mesh pocket on the opposing side too, but oh well.