Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsNice features, bag split on first use
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2023
TLDR
Nice bag with some good features. Very questionable durability/longevity. Split at the seams on first use for storing a 7.5 foot tree.
Full Review
We ordered this tree storage bag before Christmas and then set it aside in preparation for storing our 7.5 foot tree. Without using the bag, the first thing I noticed was the material, which is pretty thick and looked fairly durable, though the bag lacked structure.
Yesterday we took our tree down, placed it in the bag, and put the bag in our home storage.
The Good
1. There are plenty of handles on the outside of the bag. There are handles on each end of the bag and a big handle on the sides that comes together and can be held together with a center Velcro holder. All of these handle options are really helpful when moving and lifting the tree bag for storage.
2. There are straps on the inside of the bag. You can use these straps to clip around sections of the tree to keep them in place. I used these straps two different ways. One, to hold each tree section in place as I placed the next. Second, I undid each strap after placing all tree sections and put them around the entire tree. Once tightened, the straps held the tree in place inside the bag.
3. There are two big sets of straps outside of the bag. You can clip these around the sides of the bag to provide more stability once your tree is in the bag and you are ready to move it.
4. The wheels are a really nice feature. Once the tree was packed and the bag was closed, I picked up one end and wheeled the tree easily through our house.
The Bad
With all of the good, I come to my biggest disappointment with this bag. As I mentioned at the beginning, the material of the bag caught my eye right when we received it. We have a 7.5 foot tree that splits into three sections and fits into this bag with room to spare.
You can imagine my surprise and extreme disappointment, then, to see that the side of the bag had split at the seams. Of course, I didn’t notice the split section until we’d already placed the tree into storage and were finalizing its placement. Given this, I won’t be returning it just because of what a pain it would be to get the tree down, unpack it, send back the bag, wait to get a new bag, and then repack and re-store the tree (and hope the new bag doesn’t split).
I’m REALLY disappointed at the idea that we spent more for this bag than other options because of the features and the material, which we believed equated to more durability and longevity. Now we have to deal with potential bugs (and whatever else) in the bag/tree next year, as well as potential issues getting the tree bag out of storage with a compromised bag structure (not to mention finding a new storage bag next year).
Suggestions for Improvement
If the manufacturer is reading this or you’re just wondering, here are a few suggestions for improvement:
1. Reinforced seams. Clearly, the seams of the bag need to be reinforced. This bag split way too easily, and after just one use to store a 7.5 foot tree. I would not want to see the state of this bag after packing a 9 foot tree in it.
2. Storage pockets inside the bag. Our tree has a remote control and some other pieces. It would be great to be able to safely store those in a dedicated space in the bag so they’re not loose, or in separate storage.
3. More bag structure. The canvas tote nature of the bag is nice and was what we were looking for after getting rid of our original tree box. It was a real pain to try to get the tree back in the box for storage and the freedom this bag provided when packing the tree was a big draw was a big reason we bought it. However, a little bit of structure on the bottom and sides of the bag (maybe a slightly stiffer material at least?) would make packing the tree a lot easier. The bag wanted to keep closing in on itself until we got two sections of our tree into it. This is not that big of a deal if you have a couple people packing up the tree, when someone can hold the bag open and another can place the tree sections. It’s definitely more of an annoyance if just one person is packing the tree into the bag.
