I’m thinking about getting a hydration vest and I’m curious what brands/models you guys like. It would mostly be for trail running and long marathon training runs when water isn’t available. My concerns are fit, function, and not chafing my skin to bad.
Here are two I have my eyes on…
Salomon S-Lab Hydro 5 at $160
Ultimate Direction SJ at $129
I think the UD vest is great. No experience with the Salomon vest. Unfortunately, you have to try a bunch of expensive vests to find the one that fits you comfortably. If you have any friends with them, try them out that way first.
I have the UD AK 2.0 They make really nice gear but I wish I bought the SJ as I could use a little more room (and easier access to) for gear
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I have the Salomon S-Lab Hydro 5 and I love it. I use it all the time on my long runs. The soft flasks are great. It is super easy to drink out of them, but they do tend to slip down into the pockets when the liquid levels go down. Also you can’t really put ice in them because of the small mouths. The vest is super comfortable and doesn’t bounce around at all. The rear pockets on the back are inaccessible while running because they are too high, but they are really big and can hold a ton of nutrition and the zippered pockets are great for car keys and credit cards. My phone however is just a little bit too big for the zippered pockets (Nexus 5). Overall I highly recommend this vest for long runs and trail runs.
The Camelbak Marathoner has been pretty good for me. Good capacity and a very wide mouth for adding ice and complete drying of the reservoir between runs. Adjustable enough to minimize bouncing.
Best way to carry water, its called a bike.
I own the S-Lab but both are excellent packs. You won’t go wrong with either as I have tried them both but the Salomon matched the rest of my trail running gear. For the price I would consider the UD pack. You can also go to irunfar as they have a lot of information on both…actually just checked and they have the UD Anton Krupicka Race Vest 2.0 for $100. Can’t go wrong there!
Best way to carry water, its called a bike.
So he should carry his bike with him when he’s running you’re saying?
The ‘bottles in front’ vest are the new trend. They are cool because you can put more crap in the back. The old style “bladder in the back” obviously loses a lot of storage when you fill it up. I like my Nathan 020 just fine since I don’t need the extra storage. I think grabbing a straw clipped to my chest strap is a lot easier than quickdraw-ing a bottle from these new ones. Then again, I have never tried them…so, who knows?
shop around and try on as many as you can. See what works and what chafes.
You can’t go wrong with Nathan Hydration stuff. I have one of their vests and I use their hydration belt for shorter runs.
http://www.nathansports.com/hydration/race-vests/hpl-020
I was and still am a camelback user for all outdoor stuff BUT for running I think Nathan has it realy dialed in. They fit great, adjust 6 ways to sunday and weigh nearly nothing without water.
I have had this one for 9 years now and it could be replaced but is still holding up well. I use it on all long runs over 10 miles when it is warm and I can’t get more water on my loop.
I run ultra’s and use ultraspire There are two on sale at “The Clymb” right now. This is the one i have Omega. It is what I am using for my 100 mile and all training. It was designed by the top women in the world. (Not affliated with the Clymb, just buy there)
If you need more room the Titan
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I have tried a few and settled on the UD AK 2.0. I love it! The key things I like are that it’s pretty minimal, but has just enough storage for long runs/ultras. The bottles sit higher than other vests, so it doesn’t get in the way of my arm swing, plus on hot days, you can throw ice in the back at aid stations to keep cool if needed. It’s super-light too. Sometimes I use little 10oz bottles instead of the 20oz ones, depending on how far apart the aid is. Here’s a video from an ultra I just did 3 days ago with it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuJ16PpYP4A&list=UUCZjZv5gzdEOj_7XldJzAXQ
Most of those would drive me nuts to run in. A belt with a single bottle holder is the least objectionable, for me. I guess it depends on how much water you need to hump.
The ‘bottles in front’ vest are the new trend. They are cool because you can put more crap in the back. The old style “bladder in the back” obviously loses a lot of storage when you fill it up. I like my Nathan 020 just fine since I don’t need the extra storage. I think grabbing a straw clipped to my chest strap is a lot easier than quickdraw-ing a bottle from these new ones. Then again, I have never tried them…so, who knows?
shop around and try on as many as you can. See what works and what chafes.
I’ve tried so many hydration systems and hate them all. It’s been a battle of which I hate least. I have a nathan minimalist vest that I used this summer, and hated it only a little. I couldn’t get anywhere near the amount of water I needed because the straw released so little water that I got out of breath trying to drink out of it. It also would constantly slide down my back ever so slightly so I found myself tugging at the arm straps constantly. I had it as tight as I could, so that I could still expand my lungs, but nothing really helped.
I went back to my fuel belt for my last run and that sucked even more. It sucked more than I remembered it sucking. Bounced all over, water bottles would eject, but I could get all the hydration i needed.
I’m probably going to give up on bringing it with me and go back to my old school method of dropping bottles at certain points along my route.
Unfortunately I can’t afford to try every system on the market.
I’ve got an Mountain Hardwear vest with 2 Salomon 0.5 liter soft bottles. Hard bottles are uncomfortable, and a bladder might “slosh”. Soft bottles shrink as you drink from them, so there is no “sloshing”. I don’t remove the bottles for drinking, I just bend the head forward.
But the fit is important, so it’s hard to recommend any product in particular.
Wow, that’s too bad! I had a Nathan belt that dug into my back. I tried a friend’s camelback on a run and it slid up. I guess I got lucky on my third try with the Nathan 020.
and a bladder might “slosh”. Soft bottles shrink as you drink from them, so there is no “sloshing”.
Two steps is all it takes to completely eliminate sloshing (provided the pack has the right adjustments)
After you fill the bladder, close it and flip it upside down. Suck all the air out from the straw do that the bladder “shrink wraps” around the liquid.
As you drink it, try not to let air in, but if it does, you can tighten the side straps throughout the run to keep everything in place. In any case, you’d still want to tighten those straps as the shrinking bladder no longer fills in the pack.