Gravel Explorer Mini Toiletry Bag Review
The smallest toiletry and Gravel’s line - is the minimalist carry kit enough for your travel needs?
Gravel Explorer Mini Review Introduction
Gravel got its start with accessories. So while they’ve since expanded in to bags (read our Domestic Duffel Review here), accessories are where the heart is. Is that the expression? Yeah nothing to see here, let’s move on. Can’t win ‘em all, eh?
The first time I remember hearing about Gravel was around their toiletry kits. They came out hitting pretty heavy on the organizational front with their Explorer and Explorer Slim. I’m not a huge, bulky toiletry bag guy but I do love organization. I jumped on the Explorer Slim and reviewed that as one of my very early reviews on the site (Explorer Slim review). I loved it - but when I got more into the onebag game I wanted something smaller. Enter the Explorer Mini.
This is my review of the Gravel Explorer Mini toiletry bag. I’ve been testing this out on various trips for the past couple of months. Multiple trips with flights (DC twice, Grand Canyon/Phoenix) and a car based trip (up to my homeland of Western MA). For one of the DC trips I really got to extend the use because of the hurricane on the east coast - had two flights canceled two days in a row! Thank god we love that city. But it means I was packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking, etc. Now this is a toiletry bag, so I’m not going to oversell that activity, haha. But it does mean I was able to put it through its (admittedly minimal due to the product type) paces.
As always for full transparency, I did reach out to Gravel to see if they had a unit for review and they were nice enough to send one my way. That said, I had no interaction with Gravel for the review itself and this is not sponsored. I do use affiliate links which help to support the site if you decide to use them to make a purchase, but you’re under no obligation to do so and there’s no additional cost to you. Thanks for stopping by!
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Gravel Explorer Mini Overview
Spotted Out In The Wild.
In keeping with the spirit of this piece of kit, I’ll be minimal in this section. Because, well, this is the toiletry bag for minimalists. Think of it as having the same kind of appeal as a pencil case, but slightly bigger and obviously a few things that are focusing specifically on being a toiletry bag. As you’d expect.
While I’m not able to find the material type/name on the webpage, it’s definitely a durable fabric that seems to be very scratch resistant in my usage. I’ve not got a mark on it after my general usage. Meant to be easy to wipe off.
The style of this is really like a classic dopp kit for the most part. It’s a one-pocket opening on the front side and you just put your stuff in there. No organization to be seen in that sense. There’s a second pocket though - but I’ll save that for the features section.
Stats from the site:
Capacity: 1 Liter
Dimensions: 1.96" x 8.6" x 3.4"
Bag Weight: 3.6 ounces
The Explorer Mini comes in one color - black. Though I’d love to see them expand it into that khaki color they have in some of the other sizes - it’s pretty fire.
It retails for $39 USD as of October 2023.
Gravel Explorer Mini Features
The minimal theme continues here - this bag is about having what you need and not over complicating itself (or your experience). So this will be quick but there are some important things to note.
It’s longer and thinner like a pencil case and has a single zipper opening on the top. The great news about this zipper, it’s an aquaguard style zipper, though it’s not a YKK as far as I can tell. (I’ll see if Gravel corrects me on that and will update here if so). Regardless, I really like that it’s water resistant.
The zipper pulls are a nice and grippy rubber material, easy to pull back and forth. You can also get some additional colors on the website if you want to fun it up a bit. Cool to see, I like a bit of personalization sometimes vs. the Travel Ninja in black method.
The bag has multiple loops, one on each end of a different style. The first is more of a grab handle, the second a straight up small loop.
The bag also comes with a rubber strap that can be used to hang the bag up.
Burying the lede here, but there is a secondary zippered pocket on the bottom of the bag that is waterproof. This is designed to be a spot for your toothbrush and toothpaste so it doesn’t mix with the rest of your stuff. It can be used for anything obviously. This pocket also has the water resistant zipper closure.
The Good
Let’s focus on the obvious here - utility! Gravel set out to make a minimalist bag for those of us that really cut down on toiletries and just want to bring the essentials. It’s well made of very nice materials and feels very high quality. In typical Gravel fashion, I think they’ve also balanced the quality with the price. I think 39.00 is pretty reasonable for a bag you’re theoretically going to have forever.
The water resistant zippers are a great touch, but I really really like the idea of the toothbrush compartment. This isn’t a new idea for Gravel, they do it on their other models as well but I like the implementation here and I’m glad they decided to migrate it over to the mini version because it’s a huge selling point for their larger sizes. It’s super convenient, and I can say that it fits a Suri toothbrush, if you’re familiar with the brand. It will not fit a Philips however.
The Bad
Can’t think of much here - it’s going to be 100% preference based in the sense that there is not much organization, and it’s going to be small for the minimalists out there. But you’re picking your own poison, I don’t think you can take that out on Gravel. They have other options if that’s your bag. Get it? Sorry, I’ll see myself out.
The Improvement Requests for the Gravel Explorer Mini
Picking massive nits here - but maybe add YKK zips if these aren’t? That's such a bag snob thing to say. This isn’t really necessary from a functional standpoint. It would really just be catering to the nerd community. This is a bag celebrating its own simplicity and it’s pretty hard to find much fault in the implementation.
Packing The Explorer Mini
You were waiting for this pay off, weren’t you? What’s more exciting than seeing what’s in someone’s TOILETRY bag! Not much, I tell ya.
Well, don’t get too excited. As someone that REALLY cut down a long time ago, you won’t find much here. But I believe that’s how it should be, and I think if you’re looking at this bag, you might believe that too. So, here’s what I pack on a typical trip as of Oct 2023.
Suri toothbrush, Matador toothpaste tube, Folding brush I got from an airplane, lip-balm containers (and these) I use for my hair and beard products while traveling, a crystal deodorant, and a more powerful gel based deodorant in case I will be doing more of a stress test. Lastly, a HumanGear tube for my face wash (1.7oz/53ml; and yeah I know Gravel has some great ones, but I already had this one!). Sometimes I bring some small grooming scissors if I think I’ll need to maintain my beard a bit.
Final Thoughts On My Gravel Explorer Mini Toiletry Bag Review
So that’s what I got for ya on the Gravel Explorer Mini toiletry kit. There’s not a lot here and again, that’s by design. It’s a really great option if you want to cut down on space, stuff, and things you don’t really need. But it’s also great if you stilllllllll want to scratch a tiny organization itch with the separation of church and state between wet and dry items.
It’s really well made on top of all of that. Good job, Gravel. But then, you knew you had toiletry kits down pat.
To be honest I’ve got no reason to discontinue my use of it, so I’ll just keep going. I’ll still keep the Aer Split Kit, because why not. But I’ll reserve that for when I want something even smaller with even less to carry. It’s pretty much a specialist piece of kit anyway.
As always with the indie brands, I’d suggest buying directly through their website for best service.
Wander more - and wander smarter everyone.
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Head on over to our Travel Accessories reviews page for more reviews like this or check out another Gravel product, the Layover travel blanket review.
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