This is very timely, as DH had the "a-ha!" moment with the packing cubes this last week. I actually bought them for our last cruise in 2011, and at the time he thought they were nice, but not necessarily that much more superior than simply rolling the clothes himself and leaving them loose. I think what he was expecting was that they'd provide a lot of extra room, but didn't really think they compressed all that much. What he did like was the ability, as others said, of being able to quickly unpack and repack, as well as find things without digging through a suitcase. I much preferred them to our previous experiment with ziploc bags.
Fast forward to this last week on a long road trip with three different hotel stays. Now we're both REALLY in love with them. We were able to quickly pull out the cubes each time we got to a new hotel and store our massive suitcase out of the way. And all without the annoyance of a full repacking every other day. Just rezip, and back into the suitcase. SO FAST! Even better, we would simply pack our dirty clothes at the bottom of the suitcase, and lay the packing cubes on top. When you unpack again, just leave the dirty clothes in the suitcase. When repacking, the base of the packing cubes kept the clean off the dirty (I suppose, though, if you got really grimy one day, it might help to also pack a trash bag for sandwiching the already worn clothes). Such a cinch!
That being said, part of me is tempted to get several small cubes for future road trips. That way, we could pack a cube for each trip leg, and just leave our big suitcase in the car trunk. Just pull out the cubes we'll be using and carry them in in a small tote or duffle.
Have to add, I am excited about the purchase! My road warrior dh has used the Eagle Creek cubes for years, but I've been happy with the 2 gal ziplock bags for the rest of the family. After reading reviews here and from others I think the cubes will be even better.
