Hydrapak Review and Giveaway

I was recently sent an "Avila" Hydrapak to try out. (It's like a Camelbak.) Here's what it looks like:

Here's what their website has to say about the "Avila" pak:

OUR ULTRA-LIGHT RACE PACK THAT HANDLES THE DEMANDS OF THE TOUGHEST XC RACERS WHO LIKE TO FORGET THEY HAVE THE BEST DAMN HANDS FREE HYDRATION SYSTEM ON THEIR BACK

Features:
Speed Harness Ultimate Mobility Straps (SHUMS)
Ultra-Light Weight Materials
360 Degree Reservoir Insulation
Applied Mesh Pocket with Elastic Pump Loop
Silky Slider Sternum Strap
Key Clip
Reflective Light Loop

Specs:
Weight: 7 oz.
Gear Storage: 40 cu ( in top flap)
70 ox (2.0 L) Reversible Reservoir II with Classic Connector
Measures 13” x 6” x 2.75”
Silcone Impregnated D Trilobal Ripstop and 210D Nylon Construction

I tried it out on my first long ride of the year, which was about 10 days ago. Here are photos from that process:

All wrapped up


The empty 70 oz bladder


Nearly plump full

The closing system is great - it's just a "slide" that goes over a folded part of the bag. I didn't know if it would really be water-tight, but it sure was!! Also, I didn't know how easy it'd be to get the full bladder into the tiny backpack, but it went in MUCH easier than I thought.

Loaded and ready to go

The next question I had was "how much 'stuff' can the backpack hold?" Surprising, a LOT. I put in my cell phone, all my keys, and 2 gels, and I had TONS of room left. Here's the little zippered part opened up, and you can't even see the things I've put in there:

I didn't really test it, but I could imagine that it could hold another 6 gels, or a few PowerBars, or whatever else. But the storage is MUCH more than I thought it would be, and that's when I tested it with a full bladder of water in it too.

So I set out on a long (for me for this time of year) bike ride of 34 miles. I posted this photo last week (from about mile 8 of the ride), and if you look closely, you can see the Hydrapak:

Right after I took that photo, I had to make a minor adjustment and loosen the shoulder straps. When I put on the Hydrapak before heading out, it felt nice and snug. However, when dropping into aero, it was a little TOO tight across my back, so I loosened it a bit, and it was perfect for the rest of the ride. (Imagine wearing a very tight shirt while going into aero position - it would feel really tight / stretched across your back at that point.)


PROS:

• 70 oz is a LOT of water! I can't carry 70 ounces with my 2 bottle cages.

• Easy to put on. You'd think a TINY backpack could be annoying to put on. It's not. It goes on just fine.

• Extra storage. I like to carry a lot of crap. This allows me to (if I'd like to).

• Easy open YET water tight bladder. It's kinda like a "zipper seal" Ziplock bag, but even more "trusted." This was one of my favorite features.

• Essentially "hands free" operation. The mouth piece just hung by my chest, and I just needed to pop it in my mouth (which took 0.5 seconds), and then I could drink all I wanted to without taking my hands off the handlebars. This would be great for mountain biking where your hands off the bars could make you end up in a tree!

• Mouth piece did NOT drip. When I was in aero, the bladder of water was on my back, and the mouth piece was hanging over my shoulder in front of my chest BELOW the height of the bladder. And yet there was no dripping.

• You're not going to lose it. When you hit a big bump while road riding (or if you're just going over normal trails while mountain biking), it's easy for a water bottle to pop out of it's cage. This Hydrapak ain't going anywhere.


CONS:

• Not as easy to refill as bottles. On water bottles, you just pop off the top. There's a LITTLE more work involved with the Hydrapak to open the pack, pull out the bladder, "zip" off the top, and fill. That's not a TON of work, but it is a little more.

• Harder to use when breathing hard. This is what got me on my long ride 10 days ago. When I was going hard, it was difficult to gently bite the mouth piece while sucking to get water - it would have been a bit easier to just squirt water from a bottle into my mouth. So this ISN'T for use during really strenuous "Zone 4-5" workouts, but it would work GREAT for those easy, all-afternoon "Zone 1-2" bike rides with that special someone. (And as far as racing goes, I WOULD consider wearing this for an Ironman, but nothing shorter. I could imagine using a Hydrapak for my CarboPro - that way, I know I wouldn't lose my calories for the bike, and I wouldn't be going SO hard in an Ironman that I couldn't take an easy sip now-and-then.)


BOTTOM LINE:

• I would NOT use this for: time trials, hard sprints, or Olympic Distance triathlons. It's too hard to get the water out while working (breathing) hard.

• I WOULD use this for: mountain biking, easier road riding, longer races (like HIM or IM), or easier running. It's easy to forget back there (in a good way), and you can store a lot of water. Like I mentioned above, it'd be a great way to get your calories for an IM (by adding something like Perpetuem or CarboPro).


If you want to see an entertaining "test" of the quality of their bladders, check out this video:


http://youtu.be/r-fdvAr05Vg

SO DO YOU WANT A HYDRAPAK?? WELL THEY'RE HAVING ME GIVE ONE AWAY TO ONE OF MY READERS!

ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST BETWEEN NOW AND MIDNIGHT NEXT MONDAY (the 25th of April). You just need to live in the US or Canada. I'll use a random number generator, or draw a number from a hat, or have a random Facebook friend pick a random number to choose the winner. If you don't have a blogger account, just make sure to leave a comment with something specific like "Hi! It's John Smith from Topeka, Kansas!"

Note: this WON'T get you an extra entry like I sometimes have done in the past, but if you want to fan Hydrapak on Facebook, you can stay up-to-date on their deals and what expos they'll be at. Check them out on Facebook.

So that's it! Comment to be entered! And check back later next week to see if you're the winner of a "Avila" Hydrapak!

The "Avila"

Thanks Hydrapak!!