Bottles vs Bladders

[maverick]

Yes Mav, also in case I should ever walk off without my bottle again, I'll have a backup.

[Snowtrout]

Never have used a bladder because, like others have said, I do not like not knowing how much water I have left and the fear of a leaking bladder on my down bag. Tried the Nalgene once....way too heavy. Used to carry two 32oz plastic bottles but went to one 32oz since I am usually hiking near water.

For me, the 32oz bottle that works the best is the PowerAde bottle. Slim and fits nicely on the sides of my Osprey pack. Tried Gatorade bottles and the wider shape along with the ribs in the bottle design, made the elastic at the top of my pack's water bottle holders get caught, making it harder to get it in and out.

[AlmostThere]

used bladders from their inception, found that I stopped having such trouble with dehydration.... bottles don't work for me.

my bladder started to leak on a four day not long ago. the pack liner kept my gear dry. It only leaked if in the pack under pressure, so I carried it the last day - which was fine for me. it has a handle. Platypus replaced it.

I do what works. bottles have cracked and broken - everything breaks some time. Duct tape or platy patches work fine on a bladder.


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[longri]

Bottle.

I've made an effort to make drinking out of the bottle super easy, one handed, no stopping as I walk. So no reason to dehydrate. I still get dehydrated though. I just don't want to drink water sometimes. I don't know why. I'm like that at home too. A bladder with a spit encrusted bite valve wouldn't change that for me.

But if I were a runner I'd think about the bladder approach. I actually have a bladder, brand new, never used.

[Brien]

I carry both. I like the bladder because I can carry a lot and find the additional weight on my back acceptable. I also carry an empty bottle stuffed with misc. supplies. I use this bottle at camp for my filtered water for cooking. I find it easier to fill the bottle and pour it into my pot than the bladder.


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[freestone]

A 1.5 liter wide-mouth Gatoraide bottle in the backpack side pocket, 2 liter Platypus collapsible bag stowed empty in my pack for camp use, and a Sea to Summit collapsible shot "glass" in my pocket for dipping into streams and lakes as I hike and fish. I do not use a hydration tube while hiking because I love taking breaks to gulp vast amounts of water to quench my thirst while hiking. Heavenly.

[ofuros]

A leg in each camp for me....when scrambling along dry ridges & peaks, i take regular
mouthfuls from a 3litre bladder + have a reserve collapsible 500ml bottle containing water for an
evening meal.

Boulder hopping streams chasing trout, swimming through gorges exploring etc etc where water is
plentiful & accessible I usually just plunge my cupped hands into the flowing water during the day & slurp
& use my cook pot to scoop enough for a meal at the end of the day.

Never had a bladder fail yet & i use a camelbak everyday @ work, you can hear/feel from the outside if your supply is getting low.
Bladders come in the old vertical style & the newer horizontal varieties...now with fold over/slider seal & wide mouth filler,
instead of a screw cap, making them easier to fill, clean & dry (just turn them inside out).

Its a personal thing, experiment...if you don't like it, don't use it.

[Wandering Daisy]

Bottles only. I use one 1-qt vinegar bottle because it is really tough- can fall out of the pack and still be fine. Then I have a 2L platypus for camp use. I have never tried a bladder, because I rarely drink more than 1 qt of water a day on the trail.

[longri]

Bottles only. I use one 1-qt vinegar bottle because it is really tough- can fall out of the pack and still be fine. Then I have a 2L platypus for camp use. I have never tried a bladder, because I rarely drink more than 1 qt of water a day on the trail.

I'm the same as you except that my bottle is the skimpiest, thinnest least number of grams plastic water bottle I can find. I've never had a bottle leak when backpacking. It's happened to me only a few times when rock climbing with bottles that have been used/crushed/uncrushed/used/etc multiple times.

This past summer I had a bottle fall out of my pack. I didn't realize it when it happened as I was making a gymnastic move to bridge between rocks in a river and my foot hit the water -- at the same moment that my bottle did. I wondered briefly about the unusually large splash my foot made and then continued.

By the time I realized what had happened the bottle was long gone, on its way to the Pacific.

[Wandering Daisy]

Just a side-note. Lately I have found plenty of those lightest weight bottled water bottles left in the wilderness. If they break or leak be sure to pack them out. Seems like ditching them in a boulder field has become common.

At least your bear can did not go floating to the Pacific!