Canteens and Hydration Bladders

Hydration is basic stuff to anyone leaving home. The older way is to carry a water bottle, but nowadays you have a choice between a bottle and a very handy water reservoir.

Water bottle

A basic military canteen or a more modern water bottle is easy to pack, use, and clean. Usually takes around 1 liter (quart) of water. We've got both army surplus canteens and new military canteens and water bottles.

A good companion to a drinking bladder because it's much easier to pour out water from a bottle than from a bladder.

Hydration pack

Ahh, the modern way of drinking on the move is of course the hydration pack. Although water containers carried on the back are an age-old invention, at some point someone decided to add a tube to it so the water could be quaffed directly from the reservoir.

The hydration pack and hydration reservoir are kinda two different things; the pack usually means the combination of a bladder and its carrying pack or the pack only. The reservoirs are the hydration bladders for backpacks.

How about military hydration packs and other tactical hydration packs? If you need a Molle hydration pack, there are carriers that make your hydration pack Molle-compatible. If you don’t specifically want a plate carrier hydration pack, there are military backpacks that have a compartment for the water reservoir, thus making your hydration pack tactical. These also make great hunting hydration packs, hiking hydration packs, cycling hydration packs, etc. Vodka bottles and beer cases are the traditional hydration packs for festivals, but you should also drink plenty of water in the mosh pit.

You have many options but remember that the best hydration pack or water bottle is the one that you remember to bring along. How to clean hydration packs, you might wonder. It is very simple and we have kits for cleaning a hydration bladder.