HydraPak  3L Seeker Collapsible Water Container - 100 fl. oz.

DO NOT BUY THE HYDRAPAK WATER CONTAINER - STINKY

Do not buy the HydraPak water container. Water stored in this container becomes contaminated with an offensive plastic taste and smell. It's positively awful. I tried to return the HydraPak so I contacted Dawn (Senior Manager, Customer Operations) at HydraPak and received this response from her: "The items you have returned are not in their original unused condition, therefore we are unable to credit your account." Again, the HydraPak water container is not something that you will want to own. They are garbage. In fact, that's where the HydraPak, that I foolishly purchased, is going.

Unpleasant taste of Hydrapak Seeker

This was my feedback to Hydrapak after using my Seeker 3l storage with water POST rinsing with soapy water and rinsed in lemon water...... How about including some Bottle Bright tabs WITH your new Hydrapak products to take out the plastic taste instead of making it a separate purchase?!! It's like you're not putting all of the onus on the customer to make your product usable when its brand new. Or be upfront that some customers find an unpleasant taste to your hydrapaks when first used, even after soaping and rinsing! Or lastly, put the information on how to get the unpleasant taste out on your website. All helpful to customers I assure you, instead of having poor tasting water for a couple of days when you have no other water options as you were naive enough to think since the product had no information on it as I've described, then it must be good to go! Silly consumers.

Excellent Water Storage

Firstly, all kinds of plastic containers will give off a plasticy taste. If you run into this, clean them with lemon and baking soda. Google it. Its a common problem easily solved. This container is fantastic. Sturdy, robust construction and comes with a nice little stuff sack for protection in your pack. I use this in a few ways. One is in conjunction with my BeFree filter on occasions when I need to filter a large amount of water for the group. I screw my BeFree onto this replacing its 1L bottle. Now you're 3x capacity, 3x faster etc. The other way it gets used is as a filtered water bag at camp. I'll fill my hydration bladder with 2-3L, then fill this with 3L, and fill the BeFree with an additional 1L, and now I'm set for the evening with a positively copious amount of water.

Get what you pay for.

I thought a couple of these would be the perfect water solution for cycling. Turns out, not so much. The screw tops seem poorly made and unless I really crank them down they leak. Even then, I occasionally find them in a film of water they've leaked. They are hard to get threaded on top of that. Second and probably the bigger issue is taste. I have THOROUGHLY rinsed these things many times. They still make water taste awful. Pretty disappointing. They will be going back. I can't drink the water that comes out of these things. Useless to me. The combination of horrible taste and coming from China is a bit scary. If I was a decision maker at REI, these would be a return to sender.

Surprised with the durability

I've taken this out on two backpacking excursions and many hikes and it has been a unique but worthwhile water system. Figuring out how to connect it to my pack/store it posed some challenges but I was surprised with the durability. It can be difficult to drink out of but it is very lightweight while still being durable. It is difficult to filter water into it if you use a filtration system like the Sawyer squeeze but it does get the job done. I am not convinced this is the pinnacle of water storage but overall solid choice that I haven't regretted getting

Great Product that works w/ Katadyn BeFree Filter

Awesome container that doesn't leak or freeze! I went on a three day backpacking trip in the low 20's in the day and low teens at night. I kept the water container full and inside my pack off the frozen ground, and it didn't freeze or bust. I was quite amazed. I just recently found out that the Katadyn BeFree filter fits on the container! I didn't realize the same company makes this product. Now I'm super stoked about being able to carry more water that I can filter! Only negative aspect is the taste of the water in the container. I'm sure that will dissipate over time. Hopefully.

Taste of Plastic after over a year of use

This functions to hold water but you will not want to drink the water it holds unless you are absolutely dying of thirst.... perhaps not even then? It has a horrible taste that we have not been able to get rid of in over a year of use. This is a great idea but I hope you enjoy the taste of plastic.

Almost great, but bad taste ruins it

I bought one of these 3L Hydrapaks from REI years ago, and have been using it ever since. I had to replace the cap at one point, but that was because it got knocked against a rock, cracked, and started leaking, so not a manufacturing issue. I like it that I was able to buy a new cap for it without having to replace the entire bottle. I also like it that the bottle has stood up to years of heavy use. Only recently, the loops have started breaking so I can no longer attach it to my pack. I also like it that my Lifestraw fits in the opening with ease, so I can filter my water straight from the bag while drinking it. There are, however, two things I strongly dislike about this bottle. I would give it 3 stars for the absolutely horrible taste the water gets after sitting in the bottle for only an hour or two. The water you put in it is best used fresh, which means there’s no point in buying a bottle this large because you can’t use the water up fast enough to avoid that nasty taste and slightly slimy consistency the water gets when it tastes like that. I have tried everything over the years to get rid of the taste, including the suggestions Hydrapak offers every person who pipes up about this issue. Nothing works. I knock another star off because instead of fixing this issue with their product, which tons of people have complained about, Hydrapak insists on making excuses and continuing to use the same material they’ve been using since 2001 in spite of all the complaints. Hey, Hydrapak, why don’t you listen to your customers and do something about this disgusting issue?? Until then, I can’t recommend these bottles to anyone, which is a shame, because they’re almost great.

HydraPak 3L Seeker; good kit

I have slowly warmed up to the HydraPak line as they have proven to be much more durable than I expected. My first experiences were with their 0.5L bottles. This 3L large bottle has useful handles and the lid seals without leaks. Adding the Plug-n-play cap allows it to connect to a quick disconnect fitting on the end of the Katadyne BeFree gravity filters. I use these as a packable clean water reservoir to receive the filtered water. I have two and can quickly have 6L of filtered water from the Katadyne ready to go.

I got these because we were flying out west and the idea of stowing a collapsible water bottle in a suitcase was appealing. First, I tested to make sure the lid was water tight. I filled them and let them sit overnight in the sink, incase they leaked. They did not leak. Then we tested them in our packs on a weekend trip on the AT. No issues with being squished in a pack. It is neat that as you use the water, the volume decreases as well as the weight. Then time to fly out west. Filling them from the springs on the trails in the backcountry of Zion National Park was easy. It can spill a little when pouring it because of the flexible bottle, so be careful. It’s best to have your buddy hold a drinking bottle or cup. Best tasting mountain spring water ever. They handled the heat of the desert as well as the cooler temps at elevation.