A few years ago, someone started a thread saying how they had ditched all of their stuff sacks and reduced the total weight of their gear by several ounces, etc. That became a long thread about whether people pack with stuff sacks or not.

And that thread started just before I left for a two week backpacking trip. One morning on that trip I laid out most of my backpacking gear (not biking) for a photo.



Yeah, I could reduce several ounces of weight if ditched the stuff sacks. Instead of having a lot of my clothes in a mesh stuff sack, I could have had a half dozen individual socks to pack, etc.

But I like the ability to organize things better. On this trip I only used one compression stuff sack, I usually sit on that when I tighten up the draw strings to compress it. I do not use the vacuum type bags that were cited by the OP. Thus, only that one compression bag was specifically shrunk, it had my sleeping bag and down vest.

I readily admit that I should have backed up a few feet before I pushed the shutter, everything except my backpack and water bottles is in the photo. But I have a couple pockets on the backpack where I had GPS, spare batteries, tooth brush & paste, repellant, sun screen, lip balm, phone, etc.