Hydration packs are very useful innovation — it brings forward both the "cool factor" as well as convinience. Why and how — well, mutliple reasons: (1) you get to show off with a snazzy multicolored pack with space age construction and aparatus for water intake (2) it is a very comfortable way to carry in some models, a fairly big load of water, (3) you just get compelled to drink more water when you have such a cool contraption attached to your back….and you achieve better results in your exercise without even noticing….Pluses all around!
Joking aside the hydration packs are very useful. I published already a couple of short articles dealing with new products in that category in the last couple of week – More Hydration Options and Hydration options for bicycling.
Next, let's look at decision criteria for selecting good and activity appropriate hydration packs:
- Chose according to the activity you most engage in:
- Mountain biking – your rides take a long time and you are usually not close to a gas station with bottled water – so choose 2-3L pack
- Road cycling – since most of you are focused on speed – you want to consider relatively small pack
- Recreational cyclist – you are probably not likely to spend a very long amount of time on the bike at any one time, so a 1-2L pack with focus on light weight is your best choice
- Next consider the overall size of the pack. No matter which type of biker you are (from the above choices) I suspect you are not one that wants to carry around extra weight and be constricted in movement while on the bike. To that effect consider wisely the water capacity as well as the extra carrying capacity of the packs under consideration. You want them to fit snuggly on you and become (almost) un-noticeable while you are biking
In the earlier articles I had alread links to several models that offer plenty of good options for bikers, and now decided to include one additional recommendation here.
It came from a list I came across showing a good set of recommendations and "Best of" listing with 2012 model year products here — check it out.