HydraPak  3L Seeker Collapsible Water Container - 100 fl. oz.

Do not buy the HydraPak water container. Water stored in this container becomes contaminated with an offensive plastic taste and smell. It's positively awful. I tried to return the HydraPak so I contacted Dawn (Senior Manager, Customer Operations) at HydraPak and received this response from her: "The items you have returned are not in their original unused condition, therefore we are unable to credit your account." Again, the HydraPak water container is not something that you will want to own. They are garbage. In fact, that's where the HydraPak, that I foolishly purchased, is going.

This was my feedback to Hydrapak after using my Seeker 3l storage with water POST rinsing with soapy water and rinsed in lemon water...... How about including some Bottle Bright tabs WITH your new Hydrapak products to take out the plastic taste instead of making it a separate purchase?!! It's like you're not putting all of the onus on the customer to make your product usable when its brand new. Or be upfront that some customers find an unpleasant taste to your hydrapaks when first used, even after soaping and rinsing! Or lastly, put the information on how to get the unpleasant taste out on your website. All helpful to customers I assure you, instead of having poor tasting water for a couple of days when you have no other water options as you were naive enough to think since the product had no information on it as I've described, then it must be good to go! Silly consumers.

I thought a couple of these would be the perfect water solution for cycling. Turns out, not so much. The screw tops seem poorly made and unless I really crank them down they leak. Even then, I occasionally find them in a film of water they've leaked. They are hard to get threaded on top of that. Second and probably the bigger issue is taste. I have THOROUGHLY rinsed these things many times. They still make water taste awful. Pretty disappointing. They will be going back. I can't drink the water that comes out of these things. Useless to me. The combination of horrible taste and coming from China is a bit scary. If I was a decision maker at REI, these would be a return to sender.

Firstly, all kinds of plastic containers will give off a plasticy taste. If you run into this, clean them with lemon and baking soda. Google it. Its a common problem easily solved. This container is fantastic. Sturdy, robust construction and comes with a nice little stuff sack for protection in your pack. I use this in a few ways. One is in conjunction with my BeFree filter on occasions when I need to filter a large amount of water for the group. I screw my BeFree onto this replacing its 1L bottle. Now you're 3x capacity, 3x faster etc. The other way it gets used is as a filtered water bag at camp. I'll fill my hydration bladder with 2-3L, then fill this with 3L, and fill the BeFree with an additional 1L, and now I'm set for the evening with a positively copious amount of water.

I've taken this out on two backpacking excursions and many hikes and it has been a unique but worthwhile water system. Figuring out how to connect it to my pack/store it posed some challenges but I was surprised with the durability. It can be difficult to drink out of but it is very lightweight while still being durable. It is difficult to filter water into it if you use a filtration system like the Sawyer squeeze but it does get the job done. I am not convinced this is the pinnacle of water storage but overall solid choice that I haven't regretted getting

Awesome container that doesn't leak or freeze! I went on a three day backpacking trip in the low 20's in the day and low teens at night. I kept the water container full and inside my pack off the frozen ground, and it didn't freeze or bust. I was quite amazed. I just recently found out that the Katadyn BeFree filter fits on the container! I didn't realize the same company makes this product. Now I'm super stoked about being able to carry more water that I can filter! Only negative aspect is the taste of the water in the container. I'm sure that will dissipate over time. Hopefully.

I have slowly warmed up to the HydraPak line as they have proven to be much more durable than I expected. My first experiences were with their 0.5L bottles. This 3L large bottle has useful handles and the lid seals without leaks. Adding the Plug-n-play cap allows it to connect to a quick disconnect fitting on the end of the Katadyne BeFree gravity filters. I use these as a packable clean water reservoir to receive the filtered water. I have two and can quickly have 6L of filtered water from the Katadyne ready to go.

This functions to hold water but you will not want to drink the water it holds unless you are absolutely dying of thirst.... perhaps not even then? It has a horrible taste that we have not been able to get rid of in over a year of use. This is a great idea but I hope you enjoy the taste of plastic.

I got these because we were flying out west and the idea of stowing a collapsible water bottle in a suitcase was appealing. First, I tested to make sure the lid was water tight. I filled them and let them sit overnight in the sink, incase they leaked. They did not leak. Then we tested them in our packs on a weekend trip on the AT. No issues with being squished in a pack. It is neat that as you use the water, the volume decreases as well as the weight. Then time to fly out west. Filling them from the springs on the trails in the backcountry of Zion National Park was easy. It can spill a little when pouring it because of the flexible bottle, so be careful. It’s best to have your buddy hold a drinking bottle or cup. Best tasting mountain spring water ever. They handled the heat of the desert as well as the cooler temps at elevation.

I think this pouch does the job, unfortunately it’s reeks of chemical plastic. The water absorbs the smell and it is very unsatisfying to drink from.