Mazama Water Bladder Universal for Hydration Pack Taste Free 2L and 3L - Replacement for Camelbak - TopFill 2.0L Hydration Bladder

I have been bedridden for the past three and a half years with a collapsed spine keeping me flat on my back in bed prompting me to utilize hiking bladders hanging from my bedpost in order to take medications and to stay hydrated. All of this based on the fact that you cannot successfully drink from a cup or other normal vessel while lying flat on your back. I have gone through many models of hiking bladders, none of which had the full complement of features that this one has. A great bite valve and a wonderful magnetic clip to hold the hose's bite valve end for regular use without having to fasten it each time in an easy way. It also has one of the easiest opening and closing mechanisms to fill or clean the bladder that we've had so far. My helper fills it with ice and fresh water each weekday and it holds enough water to keep me supplied through even the occasional three or four day weekend. I could not ask for a better feature set and the low price is a bonus. That is why I have stocked up with two more for the long term future in case my scheduled surgeries don't solve my problems.

Used this maybe 6-7 times so far. Seems durable. Washed out with water and a little lemon juice which seemed to reduce plastic flavor. My daughter has a Camelbak and the plastic flavor was her complaint about it.The lemon wash helps.Anyway bought this to go inside Chinese brand biking packs. Works fine, fits fine. Good price.My only complaint is the maintenance: it has to be dried out and/or cleaned every use and it is a bit awkward to accomplish with it being a bag and having a tube at the bottom. (I end up hanging it upside down over the shower rod with a paper towel shoved in it to keep it open.) That is just due to its being a water bag and the trade off is the ease of hydrating on the go?This one is quality in any case.

I wish Camelbak had come up with this and included a bladder this great with their backpacks. If you have a CamelBak, store the included bladder for use as a temporary replacement in case you somehow break this one and get this *replacement* bladder immediately.Not only is this super easy to clean, fill, and use, but it never leaks and the water stays taste free, even if you're lazy like me and forgot about it for months. Before I found my Coldest Water Bottle, I kept my CamelBak on the back of my chair with the straw/hose, over the top of my chair so I could have ice water in easy and plentiful availability.The only thing to make this better would be double vacuum insulation like the Coldest Water Bottles (or HyroFlask/Kleen Kanteen if you only like your water to be cold for longer than 6-8 hours) so we could sip ice water through the hose for days. Please make this.

The bladder itself looks to be top quality as I am sure the hose and bite valve is as well. I ordered two of them because the price is a good one but I wanted the ones pictured without the handle running the height of the bag. If you want that handle then you won't go wrong with this purchase. I returned the two I bought because I had hoped to get the 3L Mazama bladder pictured.

There is no quick way to disconnect the hose from the bag, unlike most other bladder systems. The mouthpiece is too large to fit through the hose hole in my backpack so the mouthpiece must be removed to get this inside the bag. The result is I must first remove the mouthpiece and thread the hose before filling the bladder. Most bladders have a quick disconnect to avoid this problem. The description says this has a quick disconnect, but it doesn't. This is a major issue and I wish I'd bought something else.

I bought two of these bags to replace same-style bladders in my Ogio hydration bags. The Ogio bags snapped their clips after a couple of *YEARS* of use. Well it only took one week and about 6 refills to snap the little levers on BOTH bags. Having prior experience with this style of bag, we are always careful with alignment of the clips as you try to close them. It didn't matter - they snapped anyway. These knockoff bags are complete crap and I would avoid them. I guess you get what you pay for.

The upper description says "Quick connect exit port with auto shut-off" and the lower description says "A mid-line quick connect lets you load your reservoir". The photo does not show either one, and indeed the reservoir I received does not have quick connects of any kind. I'm wishing now I'd bought a different one.

Mazama Hydration pack is of quality. Ive been purchasing 1st Camel back when I 1st starting MTB, then they switched to that big screw on cap, big mistake, so I switched to Hydra Pak, loved it, big opening easy to load and clean, but got tired of paying $30, so I decided maybe Amazon has a better price on them, saw different brands I never heard of, and the price was awesome, starting reading the reviews, and some were good, saw this one which resembles the Hydra Pak and the reviews were great, so I purchased it. On receiving it I was very impressed with look and quality of the BPA Reservoir . If your a serious cyclist, you will not be disappointed. If anything I might switch the mouth tip to a camel back silicone one, there simple and work great, in fact they offer them on Amazon, not Camel brand, but an off brand with good reviews, for less, I will have to try those also.