GoDark 45L Duffle Faraday Bag Review
GoDark 45L Duffle Faraday Bag Pros & Cons
Cons:
TLDR: It’s the (almost) perfect choice for travel, the gym, or long term electronics protection. Plenty of space, excellent faraday and weather protection.
Faraday bags aren’t new. Most follow the same blueprint — thick fabric, stiff roll-top, and a promise that your phone will go radio-silent once it’s sealed.
GoDark decided to push the concept further, creating a 45L duffle bag. The idea being, make it large enough for hauling everything, but subtle enough to blend in anywhere. And yeah, still protect your electronics too.
So, how does the GoDark 45L Duffle Faraday Bag hold up?
Can it fit all of your devices? Block unwanted signals?
After spending some time with the bag and a few tests, we’ve got a pretty good feel for what it does well—and where it could use some fine-tuning. Here’s the quick rundown before we dig deeper into the details.
Our Verdict
In our book, the GoDark Duffle is among the Best Faraday Bags you can buy. It’s well designed, looks sharp and is adaptable, though it has a few minor shortcomings. It’s large enough to protect multiple items such as a solar panel, power stations, sat phones and communications equipment. Most importantly, it does its job protecting your devices. Overall, we’re really happy with it and think you will like it too.
We have more to say and tons of pictures to share, keep reading below.
GoDark Faraday Duffle Bag 45L
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Specs
- Capacity: 45 liters (approximately 12 gallons)
- Inner Dimensions: 22 in (L) × 10.5 in (W) × 11 in (H) / 55.9 × 26.7 × 27.9 cm
- Outer Dimensions: 23 in (L) × 11.5 in (W) × 12 in (H) / 58.4 × 29.2 × 30.5 cm
- Shielding Material: Three layers of GoDark RF-shielding fabric
- Signal-Blocking Range: Blocks EMF, cellular (4G/5G), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS signals from 200 MHz to 40 GHz
- EMP Rating: Meets MIL-STD-188-125-2 standards for high-altitude EMP shielding
- Outer Material: Heavy-duty 600D poly shell with PU face coat and TPU backing; water and puncture resistant
- Closure / Access: Roll-top closure for Faraday liner and watertight zipper for outer shell
- Carry Options: Two padded shoulder straps for backpack carry and top carry handles
- Attachment / Modular Features: MOLLE panels inside and out with removable liner secured by Velcro MOLLE straps
- Weight: 3.4 lbs (1.54 kg)
- Color: Black
- Price: $399 USD (MSRP)
Key Findings
In this section we’ll break down all of the things about the bag that stood out to us.
Firstly, fit and finish. The material feels top shelf. It’s not stiff, but still feels heavy duty.
There’s two handle straps on the top of the bag.
The strap attachment points are reinforced on the bag and feel like they will stand the test of time. You can see they are reinforced with double stitching.
Something else is that this is the only faraday bag we’ve reviewed that gives the option of removing the faraday liner. This is helpful if you need to clean the bag or replace something due to damage.
The liner is easily removed by detaching the 4 velcro molle straps on the inside of the duffle.
Without the lining, the duffle can be used normally and still provide complete weather protection. The faraday lining uses a typical roll-top closure like others.
The fact that the faraday lining is removable also means that if it were to get damaged, it could be replaced by itself without replacing the entire duffle.
We drenched the GoDark Faraday bag with a hose for several minutes to check weather protection. Construction is a 600D polyester outer with PU face coat and TPU backing for water and puncture resistance.
To our delight, the interior stayed completely dry. Good thing too, because I went full send on the soak test with all my electronics still inside.
Weatherproofing is helped by sealed zips, which keep water from sneaking in at the teeth and tape. This is the spot where most “weather-proof” bags often fail.
Size-wise, it’s quite large. Big enough to swallow more gear than you’d expect.
We tossed in 5 pants, 5 t-shirts, 1 fleece, a laptop, 4 handheld radios, a Lifepod safe, 3 USB hard drives, 2 small flashlights, and 1 full size Maglite.
Even then we couldn’t fill it up. There’s still enough room you could probably fit a solar panel in here!
A couple of other notes. One side of the duffle has a small zippered pocket (not faraday lined) that’s good for storing stuff you reach for most.
This is ideal for stashing quick-access essentials like your ID, glasses, snacks, a multitool, or pen and notebook. Items you want handy without digging into the main compartment.
It also has a single strip of molle webbing for attaching small items like keys or possibly a smaller accessory pouch as shown here.
The duffle has attachment points for the shoulder strap on both sides and comes with two straps. It can be used with both and worn like a backpack, or carried with a single strap like most duffles.
What About Faraday Protection?
Okay, so how well does it do protecting against signals?
GoDark’s site says the faraday lining is made with 3 layers of their RF shielding fabric, which has been lab tested to exceed 100 dB of EMF signal attenuation and has passed the MIL-STD-188-125-2 standardized military test for High Altitude EMP shielding.
Here’s a video where we tested how well it does blocking cell signals.
While we didn’t exactly test against an EMP pulse designed to wipe out all of our electronics, the sealed-bag call test showed complete signal loss.
Now for a few of the design flaws we found…
Downsides? A Few—but Nothing Major
Like any bag, there’s a few things we could nitpick about, though nothing we think that should prevent you from buying one.
The strap attachment hardware is a potential flaw simply because they are made of plastic and have a proprietary design.
A simple snap hook would be more universally compatible in the event that hook replacement ever becomes necessary.
That said, it is a good design which allows for quick removal or attachment of the strap by using your fingernail to depress a spring loaded latch and slide out the connector. The swivel clip is from ITW, which is the industry standard for military gear.
If it ever gets damaged though, it may prove difficult to repair.
The Go Dark Faraday Duffle Bag also features a non-adjustable compression clip on both ends. This is a feature which could use some improvement by adding a few inches of adjustable strap.
Overall the duffle could also benefit from some side compression straps, but it’s not a deal breaker. Alternatively, the shoulder strap can be attached at this point and carried in a more centered position.
GoDark Faraday Duffle Bag 45L
Who Should Use the GoDark Duffle Bag?
You can’t go wrong with GoDark’s Faraday Duffle Bag if you want a simple, rugged, and intelligently built travel companion that does more than just haul gear.
While plenty of duffles promise toughness, few combine military-grade signal shielding with the kind of weatherproof durability that can take some abuse. This would make a great casual day use or travel bag.
Note: this is NOT a tactical bag. It’s not covered in webbing and Velcro patches. It’s clean, understated, and designed to blend in while quietly doing its job.
If privacy, resilience, and longevity top your list, the GoDark 45L is an expedition-ready duffle built to protect both your gear and your data wherever you go.
Warranty Info
From what’s listed on the site, the brand offers a minimum 1-year limited warranty covering defects in materials or manufacturing. Pretty standard.
They also advertise a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” where you can get a refund or exchange within 30 days if you’re not completely happy, but you have to send it back in new, resalable condition.
Beyond that, you likely rely on normal customer service or repair policies. So while the warranty isn’t “lifetime,” for users who abuse their gear, it about what you’d expect.
Final Verdict on GoDark Duffle Faraday Bag 45L
Because we’ve used some of GoDark’s other faraday bags, we had high expectations for this duffle. I’m pleased to say that by the end, it did exactly what we wanted it to do and the craftsmanship was top notch.
The GoDark Duffle Bag is large, reliable, and durable enough to protect lots of electronics on the go. It would make an excellent addition if you need lots of storage space in an understated, sleek design.
What do you think of GoDark’s faraday products? Got a duffle you think does the job better? Tell us in the comments below.
Also, be sure to check out our roundup on the Best Faraday Bags!
