Brent Kearney

For some mysterious reason, Camelbak’s marketing department dropped the term “bladder” for describing those plastic bags which go inside hydration packs. I’ll use “bladder” and “reservoir” interchangeably here.

As someone who is often training for multi-day adventure races, I go through a fair number of hydration bladders. For me, a quality hydration system is essential. You could say that I’m a hydration bladder connoisseur.

“Source” Reservoirs

In 2008, a new brand of hydration reservoir appeared at MEC, and I loved it. It was from a company in the UK, called Source. It had a unique (at the time) fold & slide mechanism for closing the bag, an idea likely borrowed from the dry bags that paddlers have been using for decades. The top of the bag is wide open, and to close it, you fold the top of the bag over, and slide a plastic bar down a rail, which seals it. It never leaked on me, despite plenty of abuse.

The big opening makes the bag easy to clean, which is essential for keeping mold/fungus/bacteria from growing on the inside of the bag. Especially after filling it with sugary sports drinks.

The Source’s bite valve allows big gulps, and it has no rubber taste. To control unwanted leakage during transport, there is a plastic cover that fits over the bite valve, attached to the hose with a string. I broke the string in short order, so just had to be careful of where I put my hose…

Overall, I found this hydration bladder simple, effective, and inexpensive. I’m not alone. During the gear check at the Full Moon in June adventure race, I discovered that all four members of my team showed up with more than one of them, and I saw other teams using them too.

Unfortunately, MEC stopped carrying them, and now only carry the Source Clear Hydration system, which has a huge screw-off cap on the front which bulges out quite a bit, making it less than ideal for squeezing into tight packs, and could be uncomfortable on the back for long runs. I haven’t seen Source products at any other stores. I don’t know the name of their 2008 version of the product, but it looks very similar to the Widepac Trail.

* * * Update: the Deuter Streamer 3.0 looks exactly the same as the one I bought at MEC in 2008.

Camelbak Omega

Last summer I picked up a Camelbak Omega Reservoir, and the first five times I used it, it tasted like drinking from an old rubber hose. The rubber taste eventually disappeared, but I recall being annoyed that “no plastic taste” was one of their selling points, which turned out to be true only after a week of suffering. I would have returned it, but at the time, there were no alternatives in Banff and I didn’t want to drive to Calgary.

I was very reluctant to buy this hydration reservoir because of the twist-off cap, but it is fairly recessed and doesn’t stick out too much. As it turns out, the screw-off cap has not yet caused me any troubles or discomfort. The opening provided by the twist-off cap is large enough to make filling it easy, but not large enough to get my hand inside for cleaning. For this bag, I am careful never to add anything but water to it, for fear that I won’t be able to clean it sufficiently to avoid losing it to bacterial/fungal growth.

One thing I love about this product is the bite valve. Camelbak calls it the “Big Bite™ Valve”, and it does allow a generous gulp of water, saving me time and energy. Given that the main function of a hydration system is to transfer liquid from your back into your mouth, getting this right is a big win for Camelbak. Despite it’s other shortcomings, because the bite valve works so well, I like this bladder, and use it often.

Then again, the Big Bite™ Valve also allows lots of water to flow out when you don’t want it to. Like all over your shirt when the valve is squeezed by a strap on your backpack, for example.

I like the material that they used for the hose and bag. The hose doesn’t kink at all, and seems really tough. In fact, Camelbak is so confident in the toughness of the product, that they throw in a lifetime guarantee that it will not break.

Platypus Big Zip

Last week, I bought a new Platypus Big Zip, and so far, I’m impressed. There was no rubber taste on the first use. Platypus has scored a big win on whatever they did to get rid of the rubber taste. And importantly, they did it without BPA.

I used to hate the older Platypus hydration reservoirs, mostly because of their ziplock closure system. It was very difficult to close it in a way that stopped it from leaking fluid all over the place. This new version is similar to the Source closure mechanism, and effectively eliminates leakage and makes opening and closing easy. Platypus calls it the “SlideLock™ closure”.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Platypus valve system. On one hand, the ability to close the valve via a twisting mechanism is useful for preventing leaks during travel. On more than one occasion I’ve seen a pile of backpacks in the back of the car, and one of them, with a soggy sandwich inside, is soaked due to an accidentally open hydration pack valve. This doesn’t happen with the Platypus valve.

On the other hand, you will sometimes find that your Platypus valve is in the closed position just when you really need a sip, when you’re ripping down the side of a mountain, your white knuckles glued to your mountain-bike’s handlebars.

Another problem I have with the Platypus is that the bite-valve just doesn’t allow enough volume of liquid through per sip. It feels like I can get about twice as much in one sip from my Camelbak’s bite valve as I can from the Platypus. When you’re running hard, and therefore breathing hard, it takes considerable effort to suck water out of a hose. You have to stop breathing for a moment, forcing you to choose which you want more: air or water?

Update (June 20/2010): Now that I’ve been using this bladder for a few weeks, I have altered my opinion of it. The lack of flow through the bite valve is a much worse problem than I originally thought, so I’ve decreased that score from 3 to 1.5. It also seems to hold the taste of the previous contents for some time – the Camelbak does a much better job of not retaining flavour, so I’ve changed that score from 4 to 2.5. The open/close valve does however work quite well and I haven’t had much of a problem opening it on the go, so I’m increasing that score from 3 to 4.5.

Further Reading

For more exciting hydration bladder reviews, check out this awesome list at Trailspace.

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