Hydration Pack with 1.5 L Backpack Water Bladder (Camden Gear)

Today, I am branching out of my review comfort zone to share with you a product that I have thoroughly enjoyed for the past several months, and that is a hydration pack. Now, I'm no runner, but I do like to go on long walks, and it's always awkward to carry a water bottle when you are walking for anything more than a quick trip around the block. You feel like one of your hands is doing something but the other is just being lazy. And if you're clumsy like me, you end up dropping the bottle (more than once) and bust it open, rendering it useless. This problem exacerbates itself even more when you take a toddler with you. If you had a water bottle in your hand, your other hand is no longer lazy, because it is firmly holding tightly to your child who doesn't yet fear the real world, but if you want a drink of water now, how are you going to easily open it with one free hand? I give you Camden Gear's Hydration Pack!

Camden Gear's Hydration Pack is a pack you wear on your back that can hold 1.5 liters of water in a removable bladder. It retails for $50, but is normally on sale for about half of that amount. It is adjustable in size and can comfortably fit older children, teenagers, and adults. It comes with a chest strap so it doesn't bounce up and down, and you are able to tuck the hose into one of the shoulder straps giving you easy access to the bite valve. There are also several storage compartments and side pockets that can hold not only phones and MP3 players, but also tablets as well.

I really love this pack. It is small enough that it doesn't become cumbersome, but large enough to hold some essentials. The bladders and hoses are of good quality, and are also super-affordable if you want to buy additional ones. I have found many uses for this pack, which go beyond training, running, and long-distance walking. It is nice just to have around the town, as my son seems to always be thirsty. Where this pack really shined for me though, is on a vacation. I took this pack to Disney World, and it was a life-saver. The water in Florida is known for having a funny smell/taste/everything. So yes, tap water is free in the park, but is only palatable to me if I'm dying. Bottled water is expensive and adds up quickly, so this was the perfect solution. I filled this up the night before with something else, filled up a spare as well, and put them in the fridge. In the morning, I'd put this on and it would last me til the early afternoon, when I was ready for a break, and then I'd just go and swap out the bladders for the rest of the day. This really turned out to be an unexpected, but necessary thing to pack for my Disney vacation.

This product was provided to me for free by Camden Gear in exchange for an honest review.