New Water Bottle

Joe, you might be 'weird', but we at BPL understand..
IMO, you want versatility in your hydration reservoirs. Narrow mouth collapsable, narrow rigid, wide-mouth collapsable, and wide-mouth rigid. You should have one of each. Then start doubling up for volume options.

As you know, the lightest are narrow-mouth platys, but wide-mouths are good for adding ice, mixing powdered beverages, easily adding boiling liquids; Rigids for winter use in insulation sleeves or ease of use in external pack pockets, soda PET bottles for their ecology factor and disposability, etc.

I carry one platy and a 500ml PET bottle for 3-season, or a platy and an insulated reservoir in winter.

So if you do not have one yet; I recommend a Nalgene wide mouth collapsable 32 oz. REI has them.

But, the wide mouth mossy oak nalgene 32 is really cool also.. :)

That's exactly what I was thinking of – diversification of reservoirs.

I have a narrow-mouthed rigid, narrow-mouthed flexible, wide-mouthed rigid, and I need a wide-mouthed flexible.

Joe:

My Platys and my wide-mouth Nalgene 1L Cantene are almost 5 years old now and they're still going strong.

Reading the many, many posts about all the popular brands (Camelbak, MSR, Nalgene, Platypus, etc.) — the two things I got are:

1. You can depend on any of them for years of flawless service.

2. All the brands have the odd lemons — so always check before each use, esp. if you place full bladders inside your pack.

>>The recent chemical "scare" notwithstanding, hard plastic Nalgenes…

Recent and ongoing, and seemingly unlikely to be debunked. I'd go with Gatorade bottles, if looking for something non-collapsible.

I had a problem with the collapsible 1L Nalgene – sprung a leak at the top corner where it joins.

Soaked my therma rest.

Which then suffered 4 punctures when I tried drying it on a rocky surface.

And I only had 3 patches for the pad.

And that was half way thru a 9 day ski traverse.

Didn't get much sleep.

But it was July.

Still love the Nalgene, but now I pack it (new one) upright.

And carry a spare pad.

And never let rocks touch my thermarest.

Stephen,

This is the type of catastrophe that I was afraid of. I've heard that the 1L Nalgene will leak there. I guess that if I get it from REI (Return Every Item), I can always return it upon failure.

Platy's will leak too, eventually. But that's no reason to avoid them or the collapsable Nalgenes.

Agree with Brett that you need multiple container types in order to have options. The 1 liter Aquafina bottles with the medium opening are my preferred method, but I also own and use all the others that he suggested, depending on season, pack choice, and locale (desert vs mountain).

I was using 1L soda bottles exclusively. I just didn't see the reason to use anything else. Then I stumbled upon a bunch of 1L collapsible Platy bottles at a climbing store in Yosemite for like $1 each and couldn't pass them up. Since then, I've been using these instead of the soda bottles; I like that they collapse to eliminate noisy water sloshing.

Now the durability issue- I'm noticing the bottle I use most often is starting to I guess 'de-laminate' near the top. So far there are no ill effects but it looks like there is a layer of thin, almost film-like plastic separating away from the tough, outer layer. Has anyone else experienced this and have you had leakage as a result?

I now use Platy's exclusively — but before that, I too used supermarket 1L drinking water bottles. These worked fine, except the bottles were too smooth. One time, one of my water bottles suddenly jumped out of my pack's side mesh pocket and escaped into the deep ravine below! Collapsible Platy's are much less susceptible — at least none has ever jumped out in the four-five years that I've been using them.

My Platy's are all in great shape. Delaminating within one year sounds odd. I think you should contact Platypus — and see what they can do about that — maybe they'll exchange it for a new one.

Eh, for as cheap as I got them, I'd feel wasteful having Platypus ship replacements. Hopefully, the delamination is only cosmetic and they won't leak.

I'll probably just pony up for new bottles if they do leak. I really dig the collapsible bottles.

I have tried most of the more popular water systems, and the two keys for me are: 1. There are a multitude of “use-states” for H2O in the context of backpacking: Water needs to be treated/filtered, consumed directly (on trail and in camp), consumed indirectly in camp (cooking/cleaning), and lastly stored. 2. Knowing this, I have been seeking the system that accomplishes most if not all of these with the least components or pieces.

For the 3-season backpacking in areas where water flows rather clean I opt for the following:
2 – 1 liter Aquafina bottles, Aquamira drops or pills, and sometimes a bag system to store water for groups in camp. The bag system becomes a gravity filter if traveling to locations where water is particulate or really cold and suspect.
Advantages for me: Aquafina bottles have wide”er” mouth bottles allowing for quick fill-ups out of water sources and mixing powder beverages. They are the proper size for use with chlorine dioxide pills (just drop and go). They stand up in camp and are used as my drinking container in camp. A total of 2 liters is sufficient for even the longest stretches during a hike. The system does not require switching from one containment type to another when going from hike to camp mode and back again. I am finding I prefer not to place a platypus type bag inside my backpack (it can be awkward and time consuming to fill and pack).
The only disadvantage so far is the lack of access while hiking since the bottles reside in deep side pockets on my pack. I plan to modify a cap for the Aquafina bottle with a hose connector and place a bite valve on it for sipping while walking.

Scott:

Aquafina bottles have a wider opening than most other narrow-mouth bottles. I have built a “hands free” hydration system using the more standard narrow-mouth water bottles and a Platypus hydration tube and bite valve. Works very well, giving you the advantages of a hydration system while still allowing you to use supermarket water bottles and placing them in your pack’s side pockets. Click HERE if interested.