Padding / Protection
The Douchebag, with only its array of flexible plastic plates as protection, is not the most padded bag I’ve used. Compared to the Dakine Double Concourse or the now-discontinued Patagonia Black Hole Snow Roller, the Douchebag feels a bit thin and flimsy, especially since it does not have any foam padding along the top and sides.
It has, however, worked well for me without that padding and I haven’t suffered any damage to my skis, boots, or other gear throughout multiple international trips this year. The hard plastic plates seem to provide ample protection even for very wide skis like the DPS Spoon (dimensions, mm: 158-148-151).
Capacity
I was concerned about the Douchebag’s ability to handle being stuffed with fat skis, boots, avalanche gear, and other essentials that usually torture the inside of my ski bags. And it seem like I’ve maxed it out with the DPS Spoon coupled with the Whitedot Carbon Redeemer, bindings for both skis, avy gear, and a pair of boots.
But it handled all that almost as well as the Patagonia Black Hole Snowroller. It does not have the expansive volume of the Dakine Double Concourse but it’s ample for my needs even when rolling with multiple pairs of skis for review trips, or with the fattest powder skis for Japan.
Weight
A vital part of every ski trip is packing and weighing my duffel and ski bag for airline baggage regulations. As I wrote in my review of the Patagonia Black Hole bag, there is a pretty large discrepancy between the weights of various ski bags currently on the market. The Douchebag comes in right around 8lbs which is about as light as I’ve seen (comparable to the Patagonia) for a fully featured bag that can carry two pairs of fat skis and has wheels.
Wheels
I’ve used non-wheeled ski bags before when traveling with a single light pair of touring skis, but for any load more than that, wheels make life a lot better. The wheels on the Douchebag have worked well so far, down plenty of snowy, gravel roads and in busy train stations.
I also really like the option to attach the shoulder strap to the front to help drag the bag. Being able to move hands-free can be really nice when negotiating airports and other busy places.
Luggage Hauling
I loved that I could lash my duffle bag to the top of my Patagonia ski bag so I didn’t have to carry it over my shoulder on long walks. It worked very well, and was almost indispensable moving through the Japanese bus and train systems.
The Douchebag has a similar system, but it doesn’t mate well with my Patagonia duffel and the accessory bags made by Douchebag aren’t quite large enough for a lot of the trips I do.
I found a simple solution by using the daisy-chain-type tracks on the Douchebag with a couple of carabiners to clip my duffel in place, just as I had done with my Patagonia bag. This has worked great even when bouncing down escalators and long stairwells with 50 pounds in the duffle and 50 pounds in the ski bag.
Durability
As I’ve written above, I’ve stuffed this ski bag to capacity and have not had any issues so far with serious damage to the bag or its contents.
The areas of material not backed by the hard plastic panels do seem like they would be prone to ski edge cuts, and I experienced just that on our way down to New Zealand this year: a small 3cm cut in the handle of the bag from the tip of one of my skis. It doesn’t seem to be spreading, though, and should be easily reparable.
The zipper has held up to a lot of high-resistance, overstuffed zipping and shows no sign of failure.
The Price
At $239 (USD) the Douchebag is competitive with other popular ski bags, such as the Dakine Double Concourse ($225) or the Thule Roundtrip Double Ski Roller ($249).
The Name…
My ski partner has one of the older Douchebag ski bags, and it has the the full name written out on the side of the bag. Suffice it to say that I’m glad that the new Douchebags now have a more subtle “Db” logo.
Bottom Line
Ski bags aren’t a product where I’ve noticed a lot of innovation or new thinking, but the Douchebag clearly changes that. With the Patagonia Black Hole no longer on the market, the Douchebag is easily my ski bag of choice. If you spend a lot of time traveling to ski, I highly recommend it.
Why so squeamish about the product name? If it were named after a male personal care item would you still want the name to be more subtle?
Yes. I’d be equally uninterested in having the name of any male personal care item writ large across my ski bag.
So I typically travel for no more than ten days with a single snowboard, helmet, boots, outerwear, and day clothes, within the US and to Europe and Japan. Am looking to trade out my Burton locker bag (heavy with hard casings on both ends) for something that’s “less bag” and less prone to overloading but still protective, mainly against appalling NYC airport baggage handlers. Also I’m a woman so my board is 152 and typically is smaller than most bags. Would you say the Db bag makes more sense than the Dakine Low Roller or Burton Wheelie Gig?
Thank you for the interesting review and the great pictures! One question: How does the Douchebag Ski bag compare to Dakines Fall Line Double Skibag (190)? I am looking for a bag for air travel (2 pair of skis). So one of my main concerns is proper protection for the skis. The Db seems to offer only light protection, but your review sounded as if you were satisfied.
Hans – I have the Dakine fall line double and just received the Douchebag Slim Jim. (it’s the single ski version of the bag). It’s awesome. I think it will work great. But, there is definitely less padding than the Dakine. From a protection standpoint I think the Dakine bag wins. Hope that helps.
Hi Hans, I’ve only used the Dakine Double Concourse and have not traveled with the Fall Line. It does seem like the extra weight and thickness of the Dakine bags might provide a bit more protection but I’ve slammed my gear around quite a bit with the douchebag and it’s held up well without any damage to my gear.
I bought the bag and used it for my ski trip to Jackson Hole. First impressions before the trip is there’s tons of room for your clothes. It’s light. The straps are not particularly secure. When I arrived at my destination, the bag looked like it took a beating by baggage handlers at the airport. Really disappointing. Several tears on the top and sides that I need to duct tape.
I have had one one now for 4-5 years, and it’s the best built, most durable and easiest to haul ski bag I’ve ever had. Worth every penny. Only complaint was from my wife about the name but heh she doesn’t go ski trips with me anyways. I’d highly recommend the ski bag to anyone whose seen the airlines destroy previous ski bags. These last better than the rest.
One feature that is not well thought out is the zipper length. Going only to 3/4 of the length means it is quite impractical to fit second pair of skis, especially if the bindings or poles stay in the way. It is then practically impossible to put skis in/out while the bag is standing. If the zipper was running the full lenght – it would be much more practical.
Hi Chukko, I have regularly had 2 and even 3 pairs of skis with bindings in my Douchebag without any difficulty. Removing or adding skis while the bag is upright is not something I’ve ever tried with any ski bag but if that’s a priority for you, I can see the limitation you mentioned. best, Paul
Paul – i assume you had the bag on the floor with good access from all sides when packing the skis in, right?
If so, then for single “pack in-transport-pack out” it would be fine, but i use bags mostly for car storage/protection.
It is easier put all the skis in the first time, but when i take one pair out, then i struggle quite a lot when i try to put it back in. It works again when i take everything out and back in (but this is not so nice in a trunk full of stuff).
It is a bit frustrating as i have several basic ski bags and they all can be opened fully. I like all the other features of the DB – except for that inexplicably short zipper – which is killing it for me. And i dont see and drawback of having the full zipper – you would be able to pack even more stuff if it was fully opened.
I’d pay extra to have a Douchebag bag with the name properly spelled out! :-)
I bought a Douchebag ski bag and boot bag. After two uses the seams came apart. I don’t think this brand is good quality and they don’t have good customer service.
A great idea, poorly executed. Bad customer service to boot.
Pros: 1) Bag is very light, 2) the rollup feature definitely works (for both storage and keeping the bag rigid)
Cons: 1) Bag is toast after just 3 trips (ribs poked through the sides); 2) shoulder strap doesn’t work (bag ends up banging your hip which, thanks to the sharp ribs, actually hurts) 3) Customer service – where to begin? Although they replied to me quickly, each email contained a different version of “this must have been your fault. What did you do wrong?” When I’d clearly established that I’d done nothing wrong and this was a defect issue, they just stopped replying.
Summary: Another company needs to steal this idea and build the bag properly
Note: I sold my Dakine Fall Line Double to buy this bag. The Dakine lasted me 9 years and was in perfect shape when I sold it – thus, I’m 100% certain that it wasn’t my fault that the Douchebag broke.
CORRECTION — Patagonia IS producing the Black Hole Snow Roller double-ski and snowboard bag in two colors and two size lengths (190cm and 167cm). Highly recommended.
These wheeled bags are pricey but well-made and convenient to travel with — particularly when paired with any Black Hole duffel, which hook onto the top. My wife and I find our Snow Rollers / Black Hole duffels invaluable when schlepping lots of ski gear solo through airports. (Note that most airlines count a ski bag plus a ski boot bag — such as the duffel — as one checked item.)
http://www.patagonia.com/product/black-hole-snow-roller-190cm/49290.html?dwvar_49290_color=ANDB&cgid=luggage-black-hole-bags#tile-9=&start=1&sz=24
My Douche Bag has failed after just six trips. The company has also stiff armed me blaming the failure on the airlines. Here is the issue: The nylon on the bottom of the bag is not sturdy enough, and the sewn in cross bars create natural points of high stress.
Abrasion on the bottom of any luggage, especially a ski bag is a fact of life, especially for checked bags. I have Tumi bags with over a million miles of travel on them and Dakine ski bags with many years of travel and no issues. Its a design flaw, its fixable and its a clever bag otherwise.
Too bad Douche Bag wishes to conduct themselves in this fashion, so buyers beware.
A complement to the folks at Douche Bag. I have the ski bag and noted to them that the fabric on the bottom was not holding up after only six trips, and suggested they rethink the design a bit. The bottom of any ski bag is subject to a lot of abrasion over time. The Douche bag has plastic cross beams sewn in and while these add strength they also cause a stress point for the fabric.
After a few rounds of photos and emails the company agreed to replace my bag. Happy for that and hope they keep tweaking what is a very good product.
Do you think that hauling might work as well with patagonia black hole wheeled 120l bag?