Andes 2 Litre Hydration Pack/Backpack Bag Running/Cycling with Water Bladder/Pockets

Great product

There are plenty of reviews here praising the setup so I'm not going to dwell too much on it, the real question is should I spend the extra to buy a CamelBak top brand product or will this suffice? After all you can buy two of these for the price of the CamelBak system and we all know the saying 'buy nice or buy twice'....The bag alone looks worth the money I paid overall - nice small compact bag with extra room for additional items. Quality looks great so far, no issues. Nice and comfy, water feed works nicely.The water bag - ok so the main difference between this and a CamelBak system is the main 'lid' to fill the bladder. A CamelBak has a nice twist lock system and is easy to use. This one is a simple screw thread which can take a few goes to get right. If the threads don;t align it might leak... you can then force click the threads in but this might damage it long term, so i suggest taking a deep breath and trying to line them up again. Once you think you have it, turn the bladder upside down and give it a squeeze to test it. The lid will be at the top of the bag anyway, so the chances of a leak are low, but this is essentially the biggest difference with the premium equivalent.I recommend getting some Miltons sterilising fluid to clean the bag before each use... I have literally no idea how you can dry the inside well enough to avoid storing it damp, so instead am opting to sterilise before use. I think there are cleaning kits but I really don't have time to mess around with that. This will be an issue no mater what product you buy.TL;DR - Buy nice or buy twice. At this price you can buy twice. Great product!

Have just had this delivered and straight out the packaging it all seems fine, not used the bladder yet. Checked out stitching and zip construction, cant find any obvious weaknesses. Pockets, the bladder pocket is large enough for the bladder and a large ice pack as well or two. The large pocket is big enough for a kindle fire, not sure if it's big enough for an Ipad though, yeh I here the people moaning, "why would you have an ipad or kindle in here, its for outdoor activities, running, jogging, cycling etc" WELL lets not be too individualist, I bought it as a small rucksack with the hydration bladder as I'm fed up carrying in my hands bottles of water and the few things I take to work everyday, so you have another small zip pocket on the back sort of piggy backed onto the big pocket, this fits a large smart phone, a set of keys, packet of tissues and that's about it really. Two side net pockets, fit small compact umbrella and a bottle of water (if you really want to use without the bladder, you can fit loads in the bladder compartment!). Now to the shoulder straps and chest strap/clip (it looses 1 star here) ok I'm wearing this over my ordinary clothes and not intending to run with it on, so the wearing and ruining of clothes by the harsh material claimed by others to be part of the padding on the straps I cant really comment on, on sight the material doesn't look that harsh. However the shoulder straps are not straight like on a conventional ruck sack, they are slightly arc shaped, probably to hug tightly the outer edge of your shoulders, they sort of come over from the back and then down and out to sort of loop around under your arm pits a little bit (whereas in a ordinary ruck sack they would general come over the middle of your shoulder and straight down) however in testing this probably meant the pack would bounce off when running/jogging, so they fitted a chest strap, this doesn't really solve the problem as when you fasten the chest strap, it pulls the two shoulder straps in towards the middle and then the shoulder straps twist slightly and they don't sit flat on your shoulders anymore. What I'm trying to say it all appears good, but the chest strap is a waste of effort where a slight design change of the shoulder straps would make this a fantastic product, but it is seriously only a small gripe compared to the rest of the bag overall. Will update once I've used the bladder.

Used for hiking brilliant

Bit of a different reason for buying than most on here but very pleased with the quality.I go to festivals quite abit&like to carry few things around with me like for example a warm top for when outside the dance tent,a survival blanket again for outside as you never know when someone could use one.glowstick,glow balloons&various other uv reflective or glowing items.usually a bottle or two of water but this has the 2 litre bladder included&once you've done as mentioned in a couple of other reviews and once you've filled the bladder turn it upside down and suck the air out...no sloshing.My last backpack was small&compact just like this one but the first time I jumped in the air&landed again both straps tore away due to the weight being jolted,this thing however passed it by miles&then some&at roughly the same price aswell.I was very impressed with its construction and materials.I danced with this backpack on my back for about four hours solid and it didn't let me down in any shape or form.Overall after popping in&out of various tents I must have bounced&bopped for around 9 hours&this backpack did everything it was asked to do.the wide staps are comfortable&adjustable,even when it's fully packed it still allows you good movement but feels very secure to you.Agreed though as other reviews that the inside material of the staps can rough up nylon,lycra or other such materials but that's how it's able to feel secure,it really grips to you.Even just on a day out with my little daughter I've left the bladder out&it performs as a fantastic day backpackWould I recommend one...............for the quality you get&the price you pay,absolutely yes.