Patagonia Black Hole MLC Cube 12L Review

The Patagonia Black Hole MLC Cube 12L is a unique take on a packing or gear cube, and we’re here for it. While it isn’t a sure bet for every traveler, it solves many issues for travelers who want to save space and reduce how many segmentation devices they bring on their next trip. Let’s dive in and find out why!

External Components

The cube is crafted from 300 denier recycled polyester ripstop and recycled TPU laminate with a poly coating on the inside. Like the rest of Patagonia’s Black Hole Collection, this stuff is incredibly water-resistant. Seriously, it’s just about as water-resistant as you can get before teetering on the edge of waterproof. For more information on the difference, check out our guide. For now, expect this cube to handle spills and heavy rain but not submersion.

The cube utilizes sturdy Duraflex clips, which can withstand a beating. It has a rolltop closure, which means that this hardware is essential and hasn’t failed us in testing.

The cube has a bottom pocket secured with a YKK zipper. The pulls are red on our copy, which adds some nice contrast and makes them easier to find. This compartment can be challenging to use; however, it isn’t the fault of the zippers, and we’ll get into that more later.

There’s a loop on the side of the cube, which enables you to hang it up. We haven’t found a practical use for that yet, but it is handy for drying out the bag if it gets soaked or if you use it to hold wet clothing.

The bag’s size is designed to fit inside Patagonia’s MLC bags and will fit inside multiple Patagonia bags without question. However, it will also fit in other brands’ bags—just measure it first!

Inside The Cube

This cube is broken into two parts: the rolltop closure and the zippered compartment.

The rolltop closure can be larger or smaller depending on how much gear you have inside. This also works as a compression feature, as you can force more air out by compressing the top more. You can’t do this indefinitely; however, we squeezed a few extra inches by rolling it a few more times.

This is a larger storage area for stowing more oversized items. The materials are lightweight but quite durable, so you can get everything from clothing to tech to tools here. We wouldn’t recommend stowing anything too sharp, as the materials could puncture. Still, we stowed metal and heavy plastic bicycle tools inside, and the cube held up fine.

In our experience, the zippered compartment is more complicated to utilize. Accessing can be challenging, especially without a ton packed in the top portion. It feels like you’re trying to lift air to get inside, which can be cumbersome. It’s nice to have a smaller area to stow gear that isn’t as large; however, in practice, it’s awkward to use. If you’re using the cube for packing clothing, you can stow larger items, like shirts and pants, in the rolltop area and smaller stuff, like socks and underwear, in the small zippered area. Or, if you’re in a pinch, you can stow larger tech items that won’t fit inside your tech pouch here. It isn’t a perfect fit, but it works if you’re pressed for space.

We’ve had mixed experiences with the Patagonia Black Hole MLC Cube 12L. In use as a gear cube, the rolltop area is handy, and it can stow a large amount of clothing and compress it without having to deal with two zippers. Still, the zippered compartment is awkward to use and feels like a waste of space if you have the rolltop compartment stuffed to the gills and there’s extra space here.

If you have the perfect use for the space, the MLC Cube works spectacularly. If you don’t, you may feel let down by this packing cube.