GORUCK Wire Dopp Review

I have been using the GORUCK Wire Dopp off and on since it was released. When I was using a GR1 for my every day bag it only made sense to look into an accessory from GORUCK to house all of the wires that my electronics require. As I rotated through bags I found that the Wire Dopp holds its own in non-GORUCK bags as well.

Review

I used the GORUCK Wire Dopp for over a year before writing this review. It has traveled with me on numerous business trips, conventions, and vacations. To accommodate these different uses I have created a skeleton setup that travels in my work bag which doesn’t include some of the travel-specific items.

Quality

The GORUCK Wire Dopp is sewn to typical GORUCK standards… which are excellent. There were no loose threads poking out and all of the sew lines looked great. GORUCK used three non-USA YKK zippers to close the internal pouches and one buckle to keep the two sides of the pouch together.

I ran into absolutely zero quality issues during the year I used the Wire Dopp. There were a few loose threads that occured over the course of the year (and then some) that this was used before the review but they’re easy enough to clip. If I had any real issues I would have contacted the GORUCK SCARS program as this pouch is covered under their SCARS Lifetime Warranty.

Design

The pouch is designed to be filled up and stored away in a backpack or bag as a way to keep your wires separate from the rest of your gear. Separating your wires means that you should always know where they are if you need them which in turn means no more digging around for a cell phone charger. Due to the size of the GORUCK Wire Dopp you would be hard pressed to lose it in a pack unlike some of the small cords you probably own.

When closed and empty the Wire Dopp lays flat and can even be rolled or folded to store easier.

There’s a 3” x 2” patch area on the outside so that you can both display your new favorite morale patch and differentiate your Wire Dopp from others. If you carry two laptops or feel the need to separate your gear out into multiple Wire Dopps then this is a great feature.

The buckle used to keep the pouch closed works well and receives no complaints from me. When trying to think of ways to improve this pouch I kept coming back to the buckle… but I couldn’t find any way to make it better.

A Velcro flap would be less intrusive but there’s no real good way to open that without making a sound. Buckles are nice in that if you’re in a meeting you can get to your cords without disturbing or disrupting anyone.

Opening the Wire Dopp reveals the internal pockets to hold your cables. One side features a full-size area while the other side has two half-size pockets.

All pockets close via zipper with the standard heat shrink style zipper pulls that GORUCK has become known for.

The pockets have different color zipper pulls to help you differentiate between them but due to the mesh pockets you can easily tell what’s there already.

Here’s quick picture of how the buckle is attached on the back side of the Wire Dopp.

Usability

The GORUCK Wire Dopp is incredibly easy to use and has made packing my bag and retrieving cables much easier. Originally I tried to fill the three pockets based on use so that I would only need to access one to complete a given task.

After trying that for a month I switched over to filling the pockets based on how well everything fits together. Although I now need to open two pouches to get most of my tasks done I don’t mind due to how simple everything is to access and how much better it all fits now.

My standard setup for the pouch is to keep one laptop charger and one giant battery backup in the full-size pocket. The battery backup I’m currently using is an Aukey something-or-other and can recharge both my phone and camera multiple times. It’s incredibly useful for conventions, traveling, camping, and any place that you want electronics but don’t know where/when your next charge will be.

In one of the half-size pockets I’ll keep two USB cables (one for my camera and one for my phone). I used to only keep one but now that I have a phone that requires a USB-C connection I need two different cables. I’ve also found it convenient to have multiple cables since the Aukey has two USB out ports which means you can charge two devices at once. In addition to the two USB cables I’ll keep a laptop mouse in there. Since I use laptops that run Windows I currently use a Microsoft Sculpt mouse. They hold their power very well, are battery operated, and have a windows button on them which has only become more useful with Windows 10.

The other half-size pocket contains a USB wall charger which I can use to recharge my phone, camera, and Aukey battery. In addition, the pocket also holds a travel router and a CAT5 cable. The wireless router doubles as a battery charger so if the Aukey ever runs out I can switch over to this but that has yet to happen. The wireless router + CAT5 cable combo is something I’m still playing around with. It’s convenient when traveling because you can set up a private wireless network in your hotel room. If you plug it into a Ethernet port then your private network will have internet access as well. Someday I’ll write a longer post on why this is really cool but the short and sweet version is that you can stream content to a Chromecast device in your hotel room.

Here’s a quick list of what’s in my Wire Dopp at any given time:

• Aukey Battery Backup
• Laptop Charger
• USB-C Cable
• USB Micro Cable
• HooToo Wireless Router + Charger
• Cat 5 Cable
• USB Wall Charger
• Sculpt Mouse (not shown)

With all pouches full the Wire Dopp can be a little thick but that’s to be expected. This thing doesn’t have any magic properties to make your cords thinner but with proper item placement you can minimize the bulk created.

My recommendation when placing it into your backpack is to put the end that opens down. I used to keep that end facing up so that I could get into it without pulling it out but due to the way the pouch is set up that can be a difficult task. What will also end up happening if the open end is placed facing up is that if you put things into your pack after this pouch without looking they can slip between the opening and get caught up. By having the open side facing down you’ll ensure that papers, magazines, books, or anything else slide right on by without getting stuck.

Deploying the Wire Dopp is convenient and it’s very nice to have all of your cords within reach. When working remotely (hotels, business centers, client sites, conventions, etc.) it’s already a bit chaotic so knowing where your necessary cables are can reign some of that in.

Value

At $25 I consider the GORUCK Wire Dopp to be an absolute steal. It’s incredibly well priced (especially for made in the USA gear) and has performed much better than even I expected. The Wire Dopps have been included in GORUCK’s Steals & Deals in the past so there’s a chance that you could snag one for cheaper however even the standard retail price of $25 price is tough to beat.

Summary

If you are someone who works on a computer, travels a bit, or has issues with cable management then I can’t recommend the GORUCK Wire Dopp enough. It does a wonderful job keeping your cables organized and together so they’re not floating around your bag getting tangled up. The GORUCK Wire Dopp is made in the USA and is aggressively priced at $25 which, in my opinion, absolutely makes it worth trying out.

Availability

The GORUCK Wire Dopp has been floating in and out of stock on the GORUCK website lately. So far GORUCK has released them in Black and Coyote and hopefully there is a Wolf Grey version in the works. If the GORUCK product page says “product not found” then that just means GORUCK has temporarily pulled them from the website. They have done this a number of times so there is a good chance that the GORUCK Wire Dopp will be back.