Will The Nite Ize Runoff Backpack Keep Gear Dry In Baja
I spent a winter in Baja with this bag strapped to my back more days than not, and most of that time it was either soaked, submerged, or about to be.
The Nite Ize RunOff Waterproof 12L Backpack is built for exactly the kind of trip I was on. Snorkeling off the beach, paddleboarding out past the break, hauling camera gear and snacks and a phone through conditions where a normal bag would soak everything inside within minutes. This one didn't. It got the most work during our stay near the Sierra de la Laguna, where we were in and out of waterfalls all day, climbing through leaky, splashy terrain that would have destroyed a regular pack. That's where this thing earned its keep.
Exploring waterfalls and river passages in the Sierra de la Lagunas in Baja Sur. Photo by Dalton Johnson
Pros
Actually waterproof when sealed. Zip it closed and your gear stays completely dry, even in waterfalls, surf, and full submersion.
Innovative waterproof zipper. Unlike anything else on a standard backpack, and it's the feature that makes the whole bag work.
Durable material that held up to being scraped through rocky, wet terrain around waterfalls and beaches.
Purpose-built versatility. Great for snorkeling, paddleboarding, fishing, whale watching, and snow days, anywhere gear needs to survive contact with water.
Cons
Zipper reliability. It's the whole point of the bag, and one of two units I used failed outright over the trip.
Too small, no interior organization. 12 liters is tight, and everything floats loose with no pockets to separate gear.
Slow to dry. If water gets inside, it doesn't air out on its own and needs real attention to dry fully.
Minimal padding. Fine for a phone or snacks, risky for anything fragile like camera gear.
The core feature is simple. Zip it closed all the way, and your stuff stays completely dry. Not water-resistant, not mostly dry, actually dry. It functions like a hybrid between a backpack and a dry bag, and that's a rare combination to get right. The zipper itself is the reason it works. It's unlike any zipper I've used on a bag before, a genuine waterproof seal instead of a flap or roll-top workaround. The first time I pulled a bone-dry phone out of it after a full day of getting tossed around in the surf, I was sold.
That said, the zipper is also the bag's biggest weak point. It's a hit or miss piece of hardware. I ran two of these packs over the course of the trip, and one of the zippers broke outright. When your entire waterproofing system depends on a single mechanical part, a failure there isn't a small problem, it's the whole point of the bag going away. It still worked fine as a regular backpack after that, but the reason I bought it in the first place was gone.
Size is the other real limitation. Twelve liters is enough for snacks, a phone, some camera gear, sunscreen, the basics for a day on the water. It's not enough if you're trying to pack for anything bigger, and I found myself wishing for more room more than once. There are no interior pockets either, so everything just floats around loose inside the main compartment. A couple of small dividers would go a long way.
Drying it out is its own chore. If water does get inside, whether from a bad zip or just humidity building up, it doesn't air out on its own. You have to actively dry it, flip it inside out, leave it open, give it real attention. On a multi-day trip where you're using it every day, that's a real consideration.
Padding is basically nonexistent. That's fine for a phone or a dry bag of snacks. It's not fine if you're carrying anything fragile. I kept camera gear in there and always felt like I was trusting the bag more than I probably should have, given there's nothing cushioning a hard bump.
Nite Ize also makes a hip pack version of this same waterproofing system. I had one along but barely used it, the backpack did basically everything I needed.
Where this bag shines is small, water-centric adventures. Whale watching, fishing, paddleboarding, snorkeling, even packed snow on a powder day, anywhere you need your essentials to survive direct contact with water and you're not hauling a ton of gear. I wouldn't take it into a city or use it as an everyday bag. That's not what it's built for, and it would feel like the wrong tool the second you did.
The Nite Ize backpack went everywhere with me when I paddleboarded around Baja. Photo by Dalton Johnson
Overall, I liked the Nite Ize Runoff Backpack a lot. It solved a real problem on this trip, kept expensive gear dry in conditions that would have wrecked it otherwise, and it's genuinely one of the better purpose-built products I've used for water adventures. Just know the zipper is doing all the work, and hardware like that can fail.
