Metolius Climbing Harness Hydration Pack - Deluxe Large

Great hydration pack for climbing and light hiking.

This is less a mandatory hydration pack, and more a durable, compact, and spacious fanny pack which attaches easily to your climbing harness. I have a Metolius Safetech harness, and they look really good together too! I use this also as a fanny pack that you don't notice on day hikes/around camp.

This hydration hip bag with the non-insulated leader-tube and bite-valve designed water draw is a very well made hydration bag for those occasions when weight is a factor or the activity is less than an enduro-event. The hydration bottle is sturdy and the nylon bag is well-constructed and has wide belt loops and hook loops for versatile and easy mounting on just about any gear or belt.

Most of the time I end up just using this strapped on to a pretty narrow belt with my dog gear on it for walking my dog. That being said, it has a tendency to bounce around a lot on such a small belt (3/4"). Strapped to an actual harness, it would probably be a lot more stable. It has decent capacity for a few small odds and ends or snacks. The biggest issue is trying to get the bladder in place. There is a mesh, zippered divider for keeping the bladder secure, but it is kind of difficult to get a full bladder into it. Especially without kinking the drinking tube. And then zipping up the divider is a bit of a challenge too. But once everything is in place, it's good to go and doesn't require any attention during use. The bladder is a little small in capacity, but I'm not sure you'd want much more than this as a waist-bag. The drinking tube has a simple clip to attach it to ??? I find that clipping it to my shirt high enough to be reachable tends to pull my collar funny. And the tube is kind of short to route over my shoulder (I'm 6'2", so it might be good for shorter). The bite-valve is a standard Platypus valve, so it has great flow, but little-to-no protection. Lean on the valve wrong or sit on it, and you're in for a bit of a soggy surprise. Platy' makes a valve cover, and I would highly recommend it for ANY bite-valve that doesn't already have a cover. The velcro on one of the straps was sewn to the wrong side of the strap on mine, but was simple enough to fix with a decent sewing machine. All in all, I'm satisfied with the product, and none of the issues I mentioned are all that difficult to overcome.