For Ultralight Hikers, Water Bladders Are Better Than Bottles. Here’s Why.
The Smartwater bottle and Sawyer Squeeze filter combo is a mainstay of the ultralight hiking kit. The bottles are cheap, replaceable, and lightweight. The screw-on filter means you can collect water and filter on the move. In comparison, my preferred water-carrying system, the once-ubiquitous water bladder and hose, is now considered tedious, fragile, and—worst of all—heavy. Let’s bust some myths to explain why I still carry it.
Myth #1: Bladders Are Heavy
First, the weight. I often hear ultralight hikers explain that water bladders are simply too heavy to consider as an option. And if you’re looking at something like a 1.5-liter Camelbak that weighs 7 ounces, that’s fair. But today’s lightweight bladder systems are nearly as weight-efficient as using disposable bottles. A one-liter Smartwater bottle weighs 1.2 ounces, while a three-liter Platypus bladder and hose hits the scale at 3.8 ounces.
Continue reading to learn more, written by Nathan Pipenberg.
Soti nan eskwadwon an
Konvèsasyon Kanfi ak kominote nou an, ki soti nan Manm Eskwadwon ak Anbasadè yo nan Brand Patnè ak ekip la Sawyer.
Medya Mansyone
Sawyer’s spray offers an impressive 12 hours of protection against mosquitoes and ticks, and a little less (eight hours) against flies, gnats, and chiggers.
Medya Mansyone
Sawyer’s Permethrin spray has also worked as promised.
Medya Mansyone
Sawyer, for example, checks to ensure that no pore size exceeds 0.01 microns, stating that “the filters are then checked four more times at crucial points of assembly for filter integrity before they make their way onto the shelf.”
