Cinebags Underwater - CB70 Square Grouper

I use mine on the boat, traveling and more. I don't care about the rinse tank part and like all of the ThinkTank products it has a robust build.

Thank you for the pictures.  That is helpful.

Purchased one of the ThinkTank bags.   If anyone needs a 10% discount code (purchasing directly from ThinkTank), let me know.

Maybe an outlier but thought I'd share my experience with the Square Grouper XL.

I use it for local shore diving. Fresh water diving in N Minnesota so it's lives a pretty easy life going from my house to car and back.  I love the size, the pockets - it's fits my Sony A7c/Nauticam, Inon Z330s or Kraken Solar Flare minis perfectly. 

Couple months ago the top bungee anchors started to unravel. Then a pocket shock cord pulled out.  I reached out to Cinebags via email twice - gave them a couple weeks as they had an update in progress banner on the site.  No response, so messaged them via Instagram, twice. No response. They did respond to my third email, sent me a return auth form to fill out, and offered one of their kit bags for my inconvenience.

Emailed three times over a month to inquire about the repair, my third message got a "I'll check on it" reply.  Bag came back with the top bungee anchors repaired but the pocket shock cord still torn out and no kit bag.

I still like the bag but anticipate future off season sewing to keep it functional

@~ryan~ That's a real shame. I'd have hoped for that premium, that customer support would be better. I'm glad to hear they took it in for repairs but sad to see they didn't repair everything.

I ended up going for the Decathlon inflatable cooler bag, and so far it's worked very well. Houses a full DSLR + strobes/snoot, arms etc, with space to spare up top (with a mesh elastic compartment).

1 hour ago, ~ryan~ said:

Emailed three times over a month to inquire about the repair, my third message got a "I'll check on it" reply.  Bag came back with the top bungee anchors repaired but the pocket shock cord still torn out and no kit bag.

Wow, that is a disappointing response. As you say, these are not cheap items and I too hoped for good customer service if there was a problem.

On 11/1/2022 at 5:26 PM, sinetwo said:

 

I ended up going for the Decathlon inflatable cooler bag, and so far it's worked very well. Houses a full DSLR + strobes/snoot, arms etc, with space to spare up top (with a mesh elastic compartment).

Did you bought the 35 L one or the 25 L?

And did you bought also the waterproof bag insert? Or only the cooler.

Thanks in advance

On 9/17/2020 at 7:46 PM, TimG said:

Hey guys

I'm sure like many of us, I've played around with travelling rinse tanks. I've quite often bought a plastic laundry basket on a dive trip and have used that to carry my camera around and then as a rinse tank on a dive boat or at the resort or hotel. I give it away at the end of the trip.

I keep toying with the idea of a Cinebag Grouper bag: https://www.cinebagsunderwater.com/cb70-square-grouper but then think, way more expensive than a $5 laundry basket and yet another thing to cram into my dive bag.

But now having moved to a dive island and on boats a lot (yay!), I'm back to toying with the idea of  Cinebag Grouper again.

I'd welcome thoughts from anyone who uses one - and especially on the zips. I've tried several times to use soft zip-up cool bags but after a couple of trips the zips are trashed and solid with salt. Cinebags describes the YKK zips as being "salt resistant".  I'd be really interested in real life experience. Do they solder hard after a few dives? Or do they remain happily open-able and close-able even after getting a good salt spray?

Thanks!

Hi Tim,

After trashing a not-so-cheap AO cooler bag, I bought the CB80 Square Grouper XL (https://www.cinebagsunderwater.com/cb80-square-grouperxl) because I often have a 230mm dome port on my rig. I have had it on about 100 boat dives this year and I absolutely love it! Since there is little room on the boats, I put my rig in the bag between dives to protect it. After the dive, I fill it with fresh water and use it as a rinse tank. I have not had any issues with salt in the zippers etc. I slipped going down some slippery stone stairs in Cozumel last summer and landed right on top of the bag, but had no damage at all. It has also fallen off the bench on the boat onto the deck with no damage. Finally, it folds up into my dive bag for travel and it is as compact as my old AO cooler bag was. Expensive, but highly recommended!

2 hours ago, pbalves said:

Did you bought the 35 L one or the 25 L?

And did you bought also the waterproof bag insert? Or only the cooler.

Thanks in advance

I bought their biggest one, as I well as the insert. This way it is waterproof and can act as an insert. 

1 hour ago, UWPics said:

Hi Tim,

 Finally, it folds up into my dive bag for travel and it is as compact as my old AO cooler bag was. Expensive, but highly recommended!

I agree. I've been through a good number of cheaper coolers and had to throw them away as they either leaked or the zip could not handle the salt.

I've got the not-XL one and it takes my Subal D500 housing, 2x Retras and a Retra snoot quite happily. It's done about 200 dives so far and, as you have found, it's a great rinse tank and a very good protective transporter. I was just sorry to hear that ryan had had problems with his and customer service had been less than helpful.

On 11/2/2022 at 1:00 AM, ~ryan~ said:

Maybe an outlier but thought I'd share my experience with the Square Grouper XL.

I use it for local shore diving. Fresh water diving in N Minnesota so it's lives a pretty easy life going from my house to car and back.  I love the size, the pockets - it's fits my Sony A7c/Nauticam, Inon Z330s or Kraken Solar Flare minis perfectly. 

Couple months ago the top bungee anchors started to unravel. Then a pocket shock cord pulled out.  I reached out to Cinebags via email twice - gave them a couple weeks as they had an update in progress banner on the site.  No response, so messaged them via Instagram, twice. No response. They did respond to my third email, sent me a return auth form to fill out, and offered one of their kit bags for my inconvenience.

Emailed three times over a month to inquire about the repair, my third message got a "I'll check on it" reply.  Bag came back with the top bungee anchors repaired but the pocket shock cord still torn out and no kit bag.

I still like the bag but anticipate future off season sewing to keep it functional

 

 

I have had the exact same experience here, I bought mine mid-2022. I really baby my gear but was very disappointed with the Cinebags Square Grouper XL when the bungee anchors also started to give and bungee pulls came out. I had NEVER even used the top bungee and the anchors still came out.

Also tarpaulin material isn't anywhere near as abrasion resistant than the ones on the AO Cooler. I used an AO Cooler for 3 years and the base never showed signs of abrasion. On the Cinebags one the corner is starting to show abrasion after a few trips!

Same experience with no replies to my emails. I got frustrated and just manually repaired both with a sewing machine.  I am very unhappy and looking to change bags in the future. I am just repairing it to maximize what I spent on it.

Another pet peeve is that the inner and outer pockets don't have drain holes. They collect water and stay damp! A pain to dry off and deodorize. Thinking of just cutting the pockets off.

That is seriously disappointing- especially the lack of responses.