Camel Bak Hydration System?

Has anyone here ever used the Camel Bak Hydration system backpack?

I know that it is used as an easy and constant source of drinking water. What I'd like to know about the backpack is if it also has other uses? Would there be space to store several other small (survival related) items.

Also, about how much water is carried in the reservoir? Is there about a full day's supply, or would you have to carry extra water to refill it within a day's time?

Thanks!

camelbak come with different bladders 70 oz 100 oz ect
depending on the model. I have the camelbak Mule Woodland Camo 540 cubes 100 oz bladder and the BFM OD Green 100 oz 2550 cubes. Military styles being more rugged than the outdoor styles such as the rimrunner.try camelbak.com for more details on the models you are looking for. 100 oz being about 3 qts they will both hold several survival items Hope this helps.

Leemann <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Camelbak has a number of models, some are to carry the bladder only, and some have varying degrees of capacity for other gear. There are lots of other companies making hydration systems now, and hydration-system-ready packs; you can assemble about any degree of capability you need.

I use a "Packteen" inside another bag for cycling, and I have a CamelBak H.A.W.G for hiking... the latter comes with a 100oz reservior, and will accomodate a second reservoir (for 6 quarts) plus gear. That's more water than I'd ever want to carry in it.

The convenience on the trail (or on bike) does make a huge difference. Since you no longer have to stop or pause to drink, the low-levels of thirst that we've all learned to ignore during exercise just go away, and both speed and enjoyment increase.

I agree with the posts before this one. And I would reccomend the Camelbak Maximum Gear series. THey are made of cordura and are better constructed. I have had a couple and the one I have now is the Maximum Gear MULE. It has 100 oz of water in its Omega resevoir, which has a large opening. It big enough to get your hand into, and makes filling it out of streams easier. It also has tow large pockets (I dont know the cube) that can be used for holding all kinds of stuff, to include a full MRE (if you take it out of the bag), my PSK and FAK, plus extra batteries, socks, and my pancho. I replaced my ALICE gear with it for the field.

I hope this helps, I love mine and I recommend to everyone.

Garrett

I've got a CamelBack HAWG (military version--it's larger & of a better design than the brightly colored civvy version). I like it a lot. As others have noted, it comes with a 100 oz (~3 liter) bladder, & has attachment points for another one. As an additional/optional purchase, you can get a 70 oz (~2 liter) bladder, or even a 52 oz (I dunno liters), for variable needs.

At the time I got mine, the HAWG was their largest pack (still a smallish daypack, though). It has now been surpassed by a couple of models. I've used it cycling & sightseeing, & right now, it's riding in my truck as an augment kit the the stuff I normally carry in there. It's a great pack!

I also have a Camelbak "Unbottle", which is just the hydration bladder & hose in an insulated nylon sleeve. It can be inserted into any pack, or by attaching straps to the D-rings, carried on your shoulders (I use the shoulder straps from give-away/promotional nylon briefcases I've accumulated over the years.) It's great when all you need is water (like mowing or working in the yard, etc.

Both reservoirs (that's a nicer word than bladder) are the Omega style, which is a wide-mouth, easy-fill design.
Camelbak is, IMO, the best on the market. They pretty much originated the concept, as best I can tell.

David

I'm actually in the process of buying a Camelbak right now. I'm currently looking at the H.A.W.G., the Motherlode, and the BLM. What I really want is a bookbag/backpack with lots of pockets, attach loops, and holds a water reservior....but I still need a large main compartment like a bookbag.

The BLM looks ideal but its not available in black, so I may have to settle for the Motherlode. I have been looking to see if Blackhawk has a similar bag (maybe the Force 5).

Any thoughts ?

I have the Camelbak Transformer.
100oz bladder, lots of space to carry, survival related items, food etc.

You may also want to look at the Blackhawk Hydrastorm series. Built tough and rugged. I have the Predator.

I have a CamelBak BlowFish, which I use for dayhikes, as well as my bug-out scenario primary bag. Here is what I carry in it and on person for day hikes:

http://www.roblester.com/rob/day_hiking_gear_checklist.htm

Hmm... that's the model I have (military, woodland camo with odd loops and tucks and slits for 2-way radios and such). I wasn't aware that it varied so much from the civilian model. I'll have to be careful with generalizations about it if that's the case.

I deliberately wanted a small pack, I have "day-and-a-half" packs and "3-day" packs, but was looking for something just for dayhikes. I might have gone for the MULE, but didn't like the lack of a single compartment.

P.S. I think Camelbak was the first manufacturer, but that book I keep mentioning, "Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert A. Heinlein, contains this:

"Rod put on his vest pack of rations and sundries, fastened his canteen under it. It was a belt canteen of flexible synthetic divided into half-litre pockets. The weight was taken by shoulder straps and a tube ran up the left suspender, ending in a nipple near his mouth, so that he might drink without taking it off."

Published... 1955. As with many things, Heinlein was way ahead of the curve.

That is in my top ten books of all time. I have a Camelbak Transalp years ago and use it all the time. I keep two 100 oz. bladders in it. The side mesh pockets can hold Nalgenes. I find myself drinking much more water when I wear the camlebak. I need to get some hydraloks for the bladders.

i got a camelbak clasic, which has no compartments at all. I take out the bladder and put it in mine compataible berghaus cubic 25 wenn i need storage space. And sometimes i throw that bladder in other backpacks aswell, even though they are not compataible.

Camelback is the best hydration system i tryed. Mine platypus hoser developed a crack on the hose attachment and the bitevalve isn't as comfortable to bite in. I used mine camelbak bitevalve wenn i used to use it. I also bought a source transporter, which i sold, becaus i didn't worked for me. The removable bladder isn't, so it's much harder to clean and dry, the "suck"valve is a bit annoying too....

Thank you all for all the great feedback! I think I can make a fairly good decision now, without finding out (too late) that I bought the wrong item.

I already have a closet full of "bad decisions" of various other items that I didn't research properly before buying.

Only dramas with camelbacks in a survival situation is trying to fill them without a tap nozzle to shove in the resevoir fill hole.
You know how you have to fidle to get it to fill up.
Tyring filling one from a very shallow water source, muddy hole or from a tree hollow.
You then have to use your nut to come up with a solution.
Just my thoughts to get you all thinking.

Camebak has recently made available a retro-fit kit for their HydroLink quick-connect/disconnect & shut-off valve fittings. It includes an adapter for the end of the fill tube from a water filter. To use, one unplugs the mouthpiece, makes sure the valve is open, plugs in the filter output hose, & pumps away.

Filling in less than optimum conditions (or even optimum for that matter) was one of the reasons for the introduction of the larger-opening of the Omega reservoir. Though I don't carry one (yet), it seems to me that a sponge would be quite useful in the scenario described by wazza (filling from a seep, tree hollow, etc), as would the intake hose of a filter, if carried.

Just my "tuppence", as our friends across the pond say.

David

Presumed Lost--

Yes, RAH was amazing--I won't say "prescient", because his "predictions" were the results of logical thought & extrapolation. I've read most of his works (including Tunnel in the Sky--though it was many years ago), and am continually amazed at how many things I run across that are things he described is his writings.

In one of his essays (collected in Expanded Universe), he notes that when the first guy to attempt to patent a waterbed went to the patent office, he was rejected on the grounds that the fundamental design was already in the public domain, and referred the erstwhile patentee to one of Heinlein's works wherein he described what was essentially a waterbed.

Having a new PC at home, I'm struck repeatedly by the similarity to scenes in Friday where the characters check the custom-delivered morning news & messages on the home computer.

And I just realized I'm wandering terribly off-thread... <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Sorry 'bout that.

David

>>That is in my top ten books of all time.<<

And mine, and mine. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don't think a short discussion of Heinlein, especially the early works, can be too far afield on a survival forum, as it was a pretty continuous theme.

The waterbed description was in "Stranger in a Strange Land". As is the case of many devotees of his earlier stuff, it's not my favorite work of his.. and it seemed uncharacteristic at the time, until he later turned out a number of similar works. Still...

"Stranger in a Strange Land" is what turned me off about Heinlein, and if what you say is true about his later works after that, I guess I didn't miss much. I think "Starman Jones" was one of his earlier works and I did enjoy that sort of story line.

I don't consider myself a prude, but when I buy a certain book with expectations based on previous excellent books by the same author, I want it to be new but in the same vein.

Bountyhunter

A lot of his earlier publications were very relevent material, but his later work would've been pure garbage if it weren't for his name on the by-line. I lost interest after reading one of his collected works that were nothing like his signature stuff.

Many of us that were impressed with his earlier works feel that way, myself included, mostly- but there were some exceptions. The one that sticks out in my mind is the "Dora's Song" part of "Time Enough for Love". The book as a whole is very much in his later style, but "Dora's Song" could almost stand on it's own as an example of the earlier style.

Unfortunately, it is my undertanding that some of the changes were due to health problems- blood supply to the brain is not a trivial thing.

While there are some of his later works I appreciate, I have to admit I'm still fondest of his "juveniles". His teenage characters are more intelligent and competent than 99 percent of the adult role models this society offers now, and they are striving to become even more competent in preparation for adulthood. If more "juvenile" writing was like this, we'd have a lot fewer problem adults now.

P_L--Yes, I'd heard that about his health, too. I thought Number of the Beast (the first thing he published post-stroke) was lousy--until I read E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series, and a number of the other books into which the characters jumped--THEN it made more sense.

I also like Friday very much, but Job, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and Grumbles from the Grave I suppose I read only out of loyalty to a great author. Stranger was written aroung 1960, IIRC. I read a Bowdlerized version in the early '80s, but didn't read the uncut version until Mrs. Heinlein published it in the '90s. Still, I can't help but grin when I think of the rovers on Mars now, & wonder what the "old ones" think of them. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hear! Hear! on the role models! I have several friends (all in 30s or 40s) who aver than Heinlein's works were a tremendous influence on them during their formative years, and I count myself in that group, as well. I guess the good news is that I get to share "the good ones" --and so many other things, too--with my children, as I teach them. As Solomon said: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

David

I may be mistaken, but I think this is another idea that Robert Heinlein invented(along with the water-bed)
I seem to remember the kid in the story mentioning the nipple clipped to his collar when he was on his 'Solo Survival' Graduation exam.
Heinlein was also BIG on caring a good knife with you.
The kids survival teacher, gave him his to carry, and told him to carry his own too, because he would never deprive someone of his personal knife.

Arghhhh...Just posted about that....But I got the attachment wrong...Arghhhhh
And that is one of my favorite books too.