I only buy waterproof bags. Tried water resistant bags and covers; nuisance, and never completely protected contents. Condensation only happens if you put wet things inside bag; waterproof fabric keeps outside moisture out, inside moisture in. Have little trouble finding things inside bags; everything is organized; toiletries in one small bag; kitchen utensils in another, etc.
Not nitpicking, but this is what I don't get. If people are going to use bags to separately organize things--and most do--why not just make those bags dry bags and not worry about whether the panniers themselves are waterproof? Please understand, this is not a "You're doing it wrong, you should do it my way" post. I'm just trying to understand the thinking behind waterproof panniers.
Personally...Because not everything is goes in separate bags before getting packed in my panniers. In fact, very little of my stuff does. Toiletries and meds go in one separate bag. My Kindle along with paper cue sheets and any other pieces of paper I want to make absolutely certain stay dry have their own bag. Everything else goes in either the main compartments of my Ortlieb Packers or their limited internal and external subcompartments/spaces.
To me, it's more of a PITA to have to open and close individual bags to get stuff. I organize my stuff by bag. My cooking at eating equipment is all in my right front pannier. Off-bike clothes and sleeping bag in the right rear. Riding clothes in the left rear. Sleeping pad, pump, papers and Kindle, off-bike sandals and certain other items in my left front pannier. The right rear external pocket holds specific items that I will almost certainly only need while in camp (e.g., Kindle and phone chargers). The left rear external pocket holds items that I may need to access while on the road, such as sunscreen. I am consistent with my distribution so I always know which pannier something is in and where in each pannier it is.
And maybe I am abnormal in this way, but it's not like I have numerous clothing items that need to be separately segregated so I can find them. For example, for around camp I've got a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve, a couple of pair of underwear, one pair of convertible pans, one pair of warm socks and a hat. Riding clothes consist of two jerseys, two bibs, two pair of socks, arm and leg warmers and a few items of other foul/cold weather gear. I have a harder time finding stuff in my dressers at home when I am packing than when I am actually out on the road. One of the reasons I like touring: The simplicity due to lack of clutter.
