Pacum - review

David Williams trials 'the most powerful, multi-functional, hand-held vacuum in the world'
Pacum

Like many families, we’ve long used vacuum bags to squeeze bedding, sleeping bags and pillows into tight, space-saving packages to save room when packing the car for rental-cottage holidays.

We’ve seldom used them when travelling abroad however - how likely is it you’ll find a handy vacuum cleaner at your hotel when you need to re-pack clothes for the return flight?

Pacum is intended to solve this problem with what is claimed to be ‘the most powerful, multi-functional, hand-held vacuum in the world’. Costing £50 - complete with one vacuum bag - it is highly compact (86mm x 43mm x43mm) and light enough (145g) to stash in your suitcase, as well as being easy to operate. You simply plug its USB line into a power source, press a button and start vacuuming the air out of the sealed bag.

It efficiently sucks air out, successfully reducing a small pile of jumpers or T-shirts in size. If you’re prepared to manually squeeze and flatten the bag simultaneously, you get even better results. But - it’s worth noting - the pump won’t achieve the super-compact results you get with a more powerful domestic vacuum.

It is worth the expense? If you like gadgets and if space really is at a premium when you travel, possibly yes. And if - in the rush to pack your car and get to the airport - you’re prepared to fiddle around flat-packing clothing into the bag and waiting for the machine to do its magic (it only takes under a couple of minutes), it might be for you.

If on the other hand you’re prepared to simply roll up your clothes nice and tight (a technique I use when stashing motorcycle panniers or when travelling with carry-on baggage only), you can still achieve good results without the bother and expense. The Pacum comes with valve adaptors too, allowing you to switch the gadget to ‘blow’, to inflate beach floats or footballs, which is handy.

Pacum

Pacum’s makers say it can be used with other brands of airtight storage bags which is just as well, as the device is supplied with only one bag, although they can be bought separately. That said, you wouldn’t want to rely on Pacum to prepare several, large bags for camping, or family holidays or similar. Despite being well-made and ideal for the space-conscious single traveller, it’s probably not really big and fast enough for the entire family’s luggage.

Pacum can be purchased here.