rmncwrtr Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I have kids ages 9, 7 and 4. We do a lot of family hikes and I was thinking about all the water we usually need, particularly for our climb at Smith a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking kids hydrations packs might be the way to go. I found a list of hydration packs made for kids here, but was hoping someone might have first hand experience to help me narrow down my choices. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selkirk Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I'm not actually a big fan of specific "hydration packs". If they're actually going to be carrying any weight (and at 8/6 my sister and I started backpacking with the my parent, so I would expect your 9/7 year olds would be fine), I would just find a pack that's comfortable for them and not too expensive as they'll probably only get a few years use before they outgrow it, and it's handed down to the next one For daypacks the internal frame and/or frameless ones are pretty nice, but if your thinking backpacking you might consider external frame packs. While lots of folks here would probably pooh-pooh them, they tend to ride just as comfortably, don't result in the immediate sweaty back, and are often significantly less expensive. The only real advantage to internal frame packs is that they are more compact and keep the weight closer to your center of gravity (which is very important on technical ground, and not really important at all on any reasonable trail. ) Most packs (small daypacks or larger overnight) anymore seem to have a sleeve near the frame that is intended to drop a hydration blatter into. Then you can just go with whatever bladder you like. The nalgene ones work pretty well, as do the platypus, though they aren't quite as burly as the Camelbacks/MSR Dromedaries. I imagine they won't be abused too badly though so I wouldn't expect that durability will be an issue. It's also nice that the platypus and nalgene ones come in smaller size (1 liter, 1 1/2 liter etc, while the Dromedaries and Camelbacks are typically bigger. My 2 cents! Definitely get them outdoors though!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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