Bushwalk Australia

Looking for some 600ml soft bottles. They seem stupidly expensive, even the decathlon ones. Sick of mangling the soft PET ones. Need to be see throughish. Any bargains out there?
Ta G

I also have used Vapur bottles (and similar ones that we had gotten as freebees from events - I got some from Melb Water and the Victorian govt trying to get people to drink tap water), but they all tend to break at the creases in the base after significant use.

I have the Hydrapak and the Salomon Speed Soft Flask but they are a bit pricey.

For cheaper options:
Kmart has a copy of the Hydrapak folding bottle 1L but at about 150g it weighs more than the original Hydrapak original. But it is substantiallyl cheaper. The Kmart version and the Hydrapak have wide mouth tops which fit my Steripen pre-filter attachment. Under $10.

I have also been using the Naturehike 750ml folding bottle since about 2016. My first one is still going well, but the bite valve has gone a bit yellowy. About $10 when I got it. I have a couple now.

The lid on the Naturehike 750ml is wider than standard bottles but not quite as wide as the normal Wide Mouth bottles. I have had to make my own pre-filter attachment to use it with my Steripen.

I like the Naturehike one as it is easier to drink from with the bite valve. It came with an attached bite valve cover as well. The whole assembly can be taken apart and cleaned relatively easily too. The downside is it doesn't stand up when filled, and the floppiness doesn't make it easy to fill from rivers/lakes and use my prefilter.

The Kmart hydrapak copy works nicely as it has the standard wide mouth and the thicker material and extra plastic makes it hold shape when filling, and stands up on its own. I'm just not very coordinated drinking from the wide mouth on the move. The material might not be transparent enough for your requirements.

The Decathlon soft bottle looks like a copy of the Salomon Speed Soft flask, but there's another Chinese brand you can scout for called Aonijie that makes these under $10. A mate has their triathlon running vest with shoulder pockets for their bottles.

The kmart one is $8.50 see here https://www.kmart.com.au/product/collap ... le/1862805

This is what it looks like against the Naturehike 750ml.

I have two of the Hydrapak varieties and I hate both of them, the one like the active & co one above is annoying to drink out of and they both have the same taste my Hydrapak bladder had ~15yrs ago.
I like the Platypus ones, they don't last as long as they delaminate after being folded many times but they have no taste and I think that the shorter life is a fair trade off.
EDIT- Sorry these are quite expensive.

If you are concerned about longevity and taste you could go full retro and get an aluminium Sigg bottle (or equivalent). The do not wear out nor do they have a taste.

They are around 150g for a 1 litre bottle.

I am curious as to why people use small collapsible bottles (500-600ml) assuming they are for water. I understand the reasons for larger collapsible bottles and regularly use 1 and 2 litre sizes for water in camp or the odd long dry stetch of a walk. For water on the go I have always used pet bottles - often two 600ml ones. They are usually at least half full and there seems to be little advantage in them being collapsible.

I regularly see small collapsible bottles in KMart, Big W and the dollar shops, usually in the kids lunch box area.

I kind of agree with Mark F, they can be hard to drink out of without 2 hands and they seem to fall out of side pockets easier.

But... for good money you can buy my current fav, the BeFree 600ml from Katadyn. People complain they block but I haven't had that problem, mainly because I've never had to filter muddy water and I regularly give it a proper rinse. I find if you filter a couple of litres of water before heading out, that gets rid of the taste the Befree sometimes has. Also find the Sawyer pouches hang in there nicely for carrying dirty water.

Thanks all.
Thanks kindly Keithy I shall have a look at those suggestions-there's also a Kmart about 20ks away (which is close) so next time I will look that one up.
Some ideas to ponder-whatever they are they need to be clear. Will think on it

I've gone the other way and just use 1 or 1.5L bottles from the supermarket (the ones from the soft drink aisle).
Bonus - they already come filled with water!

I find they last at least 6 months before I get a new set.
I've never had one fail.

They fit well inside my side pouches and the 1.5L bottles fit perfectly inside my titanium mug which then goes inside my side pouch.

ChrisJHC wrote: the 1.5L bottles fit perfectly inside my titanium mug which then goes inside my side pouch.

Ditto.

Mark F wrote:I am curious as to why people use small collapsible bottles (500-600ml) assuming they are for water.

It mostly comes from the trail running side of things, where they are more comfortable sitting in the front chest strap pockets of a vest or vestpack, where they're easy to access and refill at aid stations or running creeks/water sources, and allow you to more closely monitor your fluid intake than a bladder hidden away. They also don't slosh nearly as much as a hard bottle as they empty. Being collapsible, you can stow a couple of extra empty bottles away in your pack, say for races that require you have the ability to carry a minimum 2L water yet the course maybe only dictates you'll actually need 2L of water on you to get through one section between aid stations or water sources... part of the Cradle Run in a dry summer for example.

I personally prefer them for hiking too, usually one 500mL plain water and one with a strong electrolyte mix. I've got a bunch of Salomon branded Hydrapak bottles in both the narrow and large-mouth versions, the latter being vastly superior for refilling and popping in electrolyte tabs/powders. They are quite expensive to purchase individually I'll admit (I usually get mine included with trail vests) but bear in mind they are covered by a lifetime warranty. I had a pair of the earlier design bottles start to leak at a seam point after a couple of years and these were replaced free of charge within a couple of weeks, no questions asked. The subsequent design is much better, devoid of sharp seams, and are still going strong after 3 years.

They are for my 10L fast walking/shuffling/training pack. Not much available space. The smaller container is more easily packed in when full. The sack has no side or shoulder pockets and clean water access every 12 ks or so. Stuffed inside with all my cold weather and brew kit stuff for a cuppa after a couple of hours flat out.The larger solid bottles are a bit of a pain when full and a pain when empty. Already tried 600 ml PET bottles, a wee bit too voluminous when empty.

I use two 600ml SmartWater type bottles and carry a evernew 2L bladder/bottle. The pet bottles are hard to beat. In the last three years I have had to replace one because it got into the recycling by accident.

I fondled the kmart version, pretty heavy.
Today a hydrapak in Anaconda, $25.

Picked up a spare balance 1 litre from Coles, $2.10