Bear can and Hyperlite Mountain Gear backpacks

There are three general orientations for a bear canister inside a backpack. First, the most common one is vertical. That means that the axis of the canister is going up and down. For packs of limited volume, this is popular. Second, you put it horizontally on the bottom. That means that the axis is going side to side. Additionally, I sometimes load mine in horizontally with the axis going front to back (that presents a flat surface to my back). Any way that you slice it, the canister takes up a chunk of space. To make it more complicated, I sleep on a foam eggcrate pad, and it has to travel inside the backpack as well. So, I wrap the pad around the canister. Then I have a strap that goes around that to hold it all together so that I can drop it down into the bottom of the backpack and still retrieve it easily.

If you get an unpadded canister in the bottom of some backpacks and then wear it a lot, the unpadded edges can wear a hole in cuben fiber. This is especially true for those canisters with metal edges.

If you have a specific question about a specific backpack and a specific canister, that should be posed directly to the manufacturer. Those guys tend to know what will fit and what won't. Also, if they claim that one will fit, ask which orientation they tried.

–B.G.–

2nd'd on call them up and talk it thru. I asked and was told the 4400 will fit most horizontal, but the 3400 will not fit the larger ones horizontal.

I have a BV500 and a Southwest 3400, it will JUST not fit. It looks like it would if the can was shorter, just judging by online measurements the weekender might fit horizontal — But HMG will know for sure.

I decided on the 3400 despite the annoyance of carrying it vertically or strapped up top. I only have 10 miles on it, but first impression is a top-notch pack.

Thanks Rick, good to know. I If the BV500 almost fits in the 3400, then I'd be surprised if it didn't fit in the 4400 and the Bearikade Weekender is shorter than that, so hopefully that would fit fine.

Bob, yea, thanks for the info. I just really don't like putting it in vertically. It doesn't work with my organizational structure in the pack. I've been using the BV500 in my Osprey Aether 70 just fine horizontally, but I'd like to drop a couple pounds off my pack weight by switching up packs.

Hi Eli,

Probably too late to be helpful but I just now saw your post… Sorry…

But for what it's worth… I have an HMG Southwest 4400 pack… AND a Bearikade Weekender… and can say with certainty that it does NOT fit horizontally, in any axis. I have tried. It would be VERY convenient to have it fit this way though. However… it may be better that it doesn't because the fit would be very tight. and I'm certain that the pack material would wear at the edges of the canister. Also, you would have to be extra careful when setting the pack down so as not to damage the carbon fiber body of the canister. I also worry (perhaps unnecessarily) that I will damage the bottom pack material by squeezing it between the bottom of the canister and the back. So I always lay down down a layer of stuff I don't use much at the pack bottom (e.g. first aid kit, extra socks, etc.) so that the canister is cushioned at the bottom. I hope that's helpful… like I said, it's probably too late.

On a different note… I LOVE my HMG pack. I've always been a MountainSmith guy. But this pack has taken me to a whole new level of awesome. My carry weights seem to start at 45 lbs and then gravitate downward as my wife and I eat all the food. We're about to head out on an eleven day trip so I'm betting that the pack weight will go even higher this time… ouch… Gonna be so fun in the second half of the trip when the pack weight drops into the 20s. But I digress.

I hope this is helpful,

Larry

Larry,

I have the same pack – an HMG WR 4400 and a Bearvault BV 500, which is 12.7×8.7 vs the Weekender at 10.5×9 inches. The Bearvault doesn't fit horizontally at the very bottom of the pack, but will fit about halfway up the main pack body, so around or below shoulder blade level. To go any lower, it'd have to be shorter, so I am surprised that the shorter Weekender doesn't fit given that it's only .3" greater in diameter.

I actually stopped by the HMG shop / factory last week. I used to live 12 miles from there shop but never knew it until we moved away.

Anyway, Mike and crew were great showing us around packs, kids, etc. His comments confirmed what is being said here, bear canisters vertical only in the 2400 / 3400. He said the 3400 was the same dimension as the 2400, just taller.

Mike did have an interesting perspective on the bear canisters. He suggested packing the canister full of your sleeping bag, puffy clothes, and other "stuffable" things. It does seem you could really pack a lot in there with soft goods than food. With this approach, I could see it being no problem with a bear canister if needed in the vertical position if well padded.

All in all, HMG was great, and will be in our near future.

I have a 2400 Windrider that I used on the SHR. I stuffed my sleeping bag and down jacket in my BV500 and carried it on top of my back (under the y strap) during the day, putting the denser food down inside the pack. Worked out fine, you just have to be a little more cognizant of packing well so that the can has a solid platform to rest on.

I've tried carrying the BV500 vertically inside the pack, never with much success. It doesn't fit very easily and invariably it ends up jamming against my back uncomfortably. My pack is something like four years old now though, not sure if they've changed the dimensions of the pack.

Might anyone have experience with Lighter1 Lil Sami cans and HMG packs? I’m leaning towards a 2400 Porter for my next pack, and I’d guess that they’d fit horizontally, as they only have a 7-inch depth, but a first-hand account would be great.

I had no problem with the BV500 vertical inside the southwest 2400 on Sierra high route. It was nice having a low volume pack when you spend so much time in talus.

I might as well follow up since this thread re-appeared, I noticed I commented almost 2 years ago!

The BV-500 in the 3400 worked fine either strapped up top or vertically with soft stuff packed around it, 200-some miles required on the pct.  I had it up top while I had a lot of food inside (used bear lockers to extend the range of the canister). Once it would fit inside, vertically was fine.  If you put that day’s food in a gallon zip in a handy spot the canister just stays inside.

I basically always pack this order, the bottom three things stay in all day.

lunch and snacks (on top or on outside).
Outer clothing
bear can (or food bag) with down jacket around it
bulky stuff: pot, bowl, ditty bag
quilt in stuff sack
Ground sheet + tarp (if its not wet), sleep clothes, bug net, all mashed in and compressed.

Except for more supple shoulder straps (like MLD) I have zero complaints about the HMG 3400 pack.

I saw lots of people having to creatively pack to get this thing inside their pack.  I just put it where my food bag normally rides and it sat on the solid base of camp items.

Late to the game here, but FWIW, a Bearikade Scout will just fit horizontally in the extension part of my HMG Junction 3400. Not in the main part of the body, but just above it, with plenty of room to close the rolltop.

Since you have resurrected this thread a bit….

The last time I was backpacking in Yosemite I saw a guy with his BearVault strapped on the outside of his pack—and the BearVault was empty!  Of course I asked him about it.

He explained that it didn’t really fit well inside his pack, so he just stuffed all his food into a plastic garbage bag in his pack (no problem fitting that!) and then carried the BV on the outside, as if it were a Zrest mattress or something.  When he got to camp he put the food into the BearVault, and everybody was happy.

I’m not sure I’d want to travel that way, but I do give the guy credit for thinking outside the box…or the backpack!