I'm thinking about one of these: http://www.optactical.com/sori3lpaaco.html

What's everyone think about them?

I've had two camelbaks fail recently in nasty, sweaty, leaky, "just kill it with fire" ways that involve super-concentrated sweat and smell like ass. Nasty enough to justify replacing both (Thermobak and Mule).

Primary use is local, suburban-area hikes, 3 to 7 miles up to about 100 degrees. Having a *little* storage for a stuffable rain coat would be nice, and that high-vis strip seems cool for times when I'm out after dark.

Secondary use is paintball big games; 6-8 hours running around and needing to hydrate while wearing a mask. Having space to stuff a Power Bar.

Might get used for the occasional short climb up a mountian, but not likely. Having storage for a sandwich on the top of Mount Monadnock would be nice, but not something I'm likely to need very often.

Anyone know of a better option?

i have several source badders.  not that one but i like them better then camelbak.  from what i have read on that one it has a wide and flat bladder.  i do not have one of those yet

I use a source bladder with a camelbak bite valve. The bladders definitely dont get funky the way camelbak bladders do but in my opinion the valve source uses sucks. Luckily all the parts (bladder,hose,valve) all use camebaks hydrolink system and are interchangeable.

This is the greatest selling feature. I love how easy Source bladders are easy to clean but hate their stupid valves. I had a valve fail on me in the middle of August during an Army sanctioned hazing event. It was towards the end of the event, but I was dealing with an M240B with a broken sling and no way to drink water. Shit sucked. The only way I could get water was to take the bladder off my back and drink from the round fill hole. By the way, I had the bladder setup with the round fill hole that has the exposed fill cap. I had to shit can that after a few days of use because the cap is exposed and would get caught on everything in a vehicle, thus spilling my water out.



 

Were you folks using the storm valve or the helix valve?

Storm valvue the have there down side they kind free flow unless you close them so its just a different way