New bear canister

[Abraham Schlossberg]

Anyone have any opinion on this canister supposedly under development?
http://www.hunnycanisters.com/

[J R]

I saw that a few days ago. The weight is great, as is the ability to access from the top, the bottom, and the side. Not approved (yet) for use in bear-can-required jurisdictions so not worth buying IMO on the hope that it will be approved. I don’t care for the bulging middle shape, that does not look like it would be comfortable on your back.

[Don Burton]

Wow, if these bear canisters pan out it will be a game changer. It seems to make sense. I had thought a ball would be a great design in terms of strength and proving difficult for a bear to gain leverage. The arced sides of the Hunny design are the same idea.

The dual lids and snack door are genius as they address common issues. I’ve always liked the Bearikade and Garcia lids because if you place the cans vertically you can get things out without removing the can. This can be done with the Hunny when packing it horizontally at least.

I’ll preorder both sizes and cross my fingers that it gets approved and makes it to the manufacturing/fulfillment stage.

[Anthony Meaney]

Saw this too. Intriguing – I hope they get it off the ground.

[J R]

And the price is kind of unbelievable. Not as in amazing but as in not believable. In the neighborhood of 10% the cost of a Bearikade.

The old adage of taking three attributes, weight, price, and a key feature and you can have two but not all three — does it still apply?

[Brad Rogers]

This is interesting.  I hope they get approved but it may take quite a while before that happens.

The side door doesn’t seem useful to me but maybe that’s just me.

I am not sure how comfortable they would be to pack.

 

The he cost is great too, but I have always felt wild ideas could lower their price of the wanted to.

[JCH]

And the price is kind of unbelievable.

On the IndieGoGo site they include a breakdown of the manufacturing costs totaling $39.04 for the $39 aluminum lid model. So they are selling at cost-minus.

[Hikin’ Jim]

I notice that they mention approval coming from the SIBBG — which was disbanded a few years ago.  I wonder if they have really done their homework.  Now, maybe SIBBG has been re-instated and I’ve just been out of the loop, if so, someone please inform me.  As far as I know, only the IGBC is still in existence.

I also notice that they’re talking about scent control.  Scent control has basically been shown to be infeasible, unless they’ve come up with something new, at least that’s my understanding.  Aloksaks were tested with airport dogs, and the dogs were still able to identify which containers contained scented items.  Again, I wonder if they’ve done their homework.

All nay saying aside, I hope they really have come up with a winner.  I’d be perfectly happy to have something lighter that Sequoia, Kings, and Yosemite would all accept.

HJ

[jimmy b]

It looks as if the lids thread on but I don’t see in their illustration any locking mechanism. If that is the case I don’t think it will go far around here, as we know at least one BB in the ADK’s was able to twist of bear vault tops with one detent locking mechanism. Hopefully they have this figured out and it’s just not represented in the illustrations.

[Matthew / BPL]

I’m very skeptical of this product at this point but I hope it goes past the vaporware stage.

[Richie S]

With the scent thing I always imagined they just reduced the distance it would be detectable from rather than being discoverable from close range.

[Kief H]

I notice that they mention approval coming from the SIBBG — which was disbanded a few years ago.  I wonder if they have really done their homework.

The link on their site to SIBBG just goes to sierrawild.gov. That site has a section on bears but there is no mention of SIBBG, which ceased to exist after it was sued in federal court by Ursack. Even though Ursack lost, I was given to understand by an NPS manager that there was administrative reluctance to make themselves targets for further litigation. It’s sort of curious then that Hunny Canisters is providing dates next spring for field testing by SIBBG.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Seems unlikely for several reasons:
Manufacturability – the design cannot be injrction molded in one piece due to the internal concavity. More than likely the design would need to be made in halves and welded together. That being said, I think that what you are looking at is a pure CAD model that has not been prototyped.
Manufacturability – if the parts are injection molded, you are looking at one big mold and that is not going to be cheap
Supply- Ultem has historically gone through periods of short supply. It is a great material, but you have to have a good supply chain
Processing – Ultem is a high temperature thermoplastic and it takes a lot of skill and procces development to dial it in.

Over, I like the design and concept but it looks like a paper design that has not seen to cold light of day of the implementation process. My 2 cents.

[Cameron M]

Unfortunately this looks like vaporware with a doubtful outcome. One senses the typical (young) engineer hubris with certainty that something they can conceptualize will actually be realizable exactly as they imagine and work well in the real world. Listing weights accurate to a 1/100 of an ounce on a product in development is a real tip-off. They are counting on a manufacturing accuracy from 3D printing for their calculations which is particularly specious for parts that must mate extremely well to resist the forces required. It is really off-putting that they not only make great claims for their untested product but also make derogatory comments about other products that are actually on the market.

I am sure that a similar design is possible, particularly one with only one removable end cap, and with a greater weight. I have long thought that the caps of the Bearikades could be made lighter. It is a typical design strategy to design products and buildings to have the capacity to bend but not break. But any deformation makes the area where two parts meet, as in the removable cap, very problematic. The circular ends, if designed right, may provide enough local rigidity to do the job. But the side door is much more ambitious. Good luck to them, but I would prefer more honesty and modesty in their promotional materials.

[Ken Thompson]

We’ve been this close, if not closer before once,

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/58464/

[Ken Thompson]

or twice, at least

 

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/41913/

[Dave B]

I’m skeptical that this is going to make it to production, but I REALLY hope I’m wrong.  It almost seems worth the $25 gamble to get a pre-order in, though.

They also have a youtube video, which does not show their product.  That tells me they don’t have a prototype made, yet.  If true,that does not bode well for their optimistic timeline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8vU-LLubgM

[jimmy b]

I emailed these folks with questions and received no answer. I hope those who are sending off money have some planned recourse to get it back if this turns out to be a scam. To good to be true IMO until proven otherwise.

[Jerry Adams]

What’s the manufacturing cost of some youtube videos and stuff, vs how many people would send in $25?

Seriously, if the manufacturing cost is $39, you’d have to charge maybe 3X to make a business

[Robert Kelly]

Seems way too good to be true, but I hope I’m wrong, both for the sake of those who have invested (not me, at least so far) and for those who would like to carry an inexpensive sub-pound canister with more storage than a Bearikade Weekender (me, for sure).

[Ben H.]

I don’t see anything in the lids that would be bear resistant.  It seems to provide plenty of lip to rip the lid right off.  I also have the same questions on SIBBG… thought they don’t exist anymore.  It is interesting that they say they test with bears at the San Diego Zoo which is not the case with the old SIBBG (IIRC).  The most interesting thing about this campaign is the suggestion that black bear testing will restart!

[Kattt]

That looks like a good option to me. The price will come up after they lobby to get it approved. I know… I am jaded, but that is the name of the game as far as I have seen.

[Cameron M]

I talked with some of my manufacturing friends about this and they immediately pointed out the obvious, that additive 3d printing does not result in the same material strength and reliability as a mono-formed injection molded item. So if it is possible to 3d print this item it will need to be way thicker (heavier) than an optimized injection molded item.

I would hesitate sending your money…

[Paul S.]

The key different between Indiegogo and Kickstarter is that Kickstarter requires a functional product / prototype whereas Indiegogo is fine with concept art.  Much lower standard.  Either are risky, but at least you know they have an actual product with Kickstarter.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Well, I was an Engineering Program Manager at 3D Systems responsible for the design and release of their 3D Printers.  I can attest to the fact that the part will NEVER be as strong as a molded part, I would speculate that it would be less than 10% across the bond.   Ultem has a high processing temperature and I doubt that it will work.  My 2 cents.

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