hydration packs

[Trigger Mike]

does anyone use them?  Are they worth it?  What are they better than the typical canteen on your belt?  Why are they worth more than $100?

[Utah Bob #35998]

Depends on how much effort you’re expending in the heat. Unless you’re humping a 70 pound pack up and down hills I don’t really think they’re worth it. And look for an unissued surplus one if your considering it less than 100 bucks usually.

Being old and lazy, I tend to conserve me enegy and fluids to the max. 

[Pat Riot]

Used them. Hate them. I would rather carry bottled water in a pack. Get one leak in a water bottle - lose limited quantity. Get a leak in a hydration pack - you could lose all your water.

 

Hydration pack hoses are a breeding ground for fungus and bacteria. No thanks.

[Dead River Den, SASS#915]

I use them for work, and like them, mine is a camel back, they have cleaning kits and winter kits for the hoses, mine was bought for me but think you can get them cheaper than a 100.00, bladders are pretty tough, i like mine because its also a small day pack, distributes the weight to your shoulders, and if your wearing waders  , makes water access and transport easier. Take care, stay safe, drd

[Sedalia Dave]

Issued to us when I was deployed to Bahrain. Life saver when working on the flight line. They were pretty new back then and they had their issues.  Learnt pretty quickly not to put anything but water in them. had the riggers making sleeves for the hose within a week.  Also learned to clean them with a water bleach solution pretty regular.

[Chief Rick]

I've had/used several.

 

If you're in a situation that prevents you from leaving a specific location and getting fresh water (guard posts, flight quarters, etc) they're worth their weight in gold.

 

I've never used one hiking or hunting.

 

When I was making multiple Iron Butt rides on my motorcycle (1,000 miles under 24 hours) before I retired I used several different "water bladders".  They were all heavy with a full load of water.  The water always got warm/hot (but better than nothing - which is why I liked them when on watch).  Fitting them under a riding jacket makes them a pain to re-fill.  Wearing them over a riding jacket keeps the jacket pressed to your back (sweat).

 

I ended up buying a a round insulated water jug with flip-open spigot and fed a water bladder drink tube down into it.  Used some bungee cords to strap it to the luggage rack with a small retractable leash to keep the drinking tube at my waist.  Kept the water colder, longer and much easier to re-fill at gas stations.

[Noz]

We got into backpacking in a big way some years back. Bought and used the Camelback brand and would not/will not go without them.  If you are working close to the house then not needed.  Some seperation between easy water and you, I'd wear them.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Backpacked a lot (including 4 Grand Canyon treks) with folks using both water bottles and camelbacks. The closest we ever came to killing someone was when a feller (adult) could not judge the amount of water he was drinking from his camelback.  We were on a five day hike, temperature on three of the days registered 128 degrees F at Phantom Ranch in the bottom of that gully.  Fellow went into heat exhaustion on day 1 when we found he still had 3/4 full camelback in his pack and every one else was almost dry.  Put him on bottle only from that point.  Heat exhaustion day 3 again.  Put him on a regime of supervised drinking and snacking with salty foods.  Got him out of the canyon with no long term effects.   Whew.

 

Another trip in heat in the canyon.  Youth drinking from camelback.  Went into hyponatremia from flushing all the salts out of his body by OVER drinking.  Put hiim on supervised drinking and snacking, quick recovery.

 

No camelback for me in hard situations - like high temps and high exertion.  Nalgene bottles probably saved that older fellow's life, and made treating the youngun much easier.  Plus, you can run any drink mix you want in them, and cleaning is a snap.  Electrolytes without sugar in them are my favorite.

 

So, wear a day pack and carry appropriate amount of water/fluids in bottles or flex poly "bag" bottles.  Tougher to puncture, quite easy to monitor what you have consumed and what you have left.

 

The places where a camelback is ideal is where you have to keep moving continuously (no breaks) and have both hands on critical controls - like bicycling long races.   Other than that, take your time and stay in control of your fluids.

 

Good luck, GJ