Disclaimer: I received an Orange Mud HydraQuiver Vest Pack 1 to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
It’s time for my first review of the year!! I love getting the opportunity to try new running related products! At the beginning of December I received an Orange Mud HydraQuiver vest pack to test out. If you have been following along, you’ll know that I have been using one of Sean’s Ultimate Direction packs because we have a few of them here but I’ve seen the Orange Mud vests all over Instagram and Facebook so I was super excited to try it out.
Some of the features of the HydraQuiver Vest Pack (from their website):
- 2 shoulder accessory pockets to hold up to 6 gels per or a phone.
- Front chest pockets for access to nutrition on the fly.
- 25oz BPA free bottle for easy fill, easy clean-up.
- Glove like design for a comfy fit.
- Weight 8.7oz/230grams, with bottle 10.7oz/300 grams.
- Fit for minimum chest circumference is 27″. Max is 52″. This is measured at or just below your armpits depending on body type.
The difference between this and the HydraQuiver is that the vest has a bunch of pockets on the front. Both styles sell in single or double barrel styles.
I wore the vest probably 1/2 a dozen times or so during December. I wore it in 2 races, with a tank top, a t-shirt and long sleeve shirt and with my puffer vest on so I could see how it fit in different clothing.
The first time I wore the vest (with a long sleeve lululemon shirt) was for the North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon Relay and it was super easy to get the bottle out of the back of the vest. My only complaint was that I did feel a bit of chafing under my right arm pit and it sounded pretty noisy. I spoke with my friend @runningwithSD who has the double barrel and she said that I might need to wash it to get the best fit.
The next time I wore it was for a short run around Mission Bay with Sean in a Lululemon T-shirt and again I felt a bit of chafing under my right arm pit. I didn’t notice any noisiness from the pack during this run though.
Test #3 was out on Mission Trails, I started out with a long sleeve shirt on but quickly warmed up and ended up in a tank top. First off, the front side pockets are big enough that I was able to fit my lululemon run swiftly long sleeve in the pocket and not have any issues with it feeling weird. Secondly, I don’t recall having any chafing issues, which I was really concerned about wearing a tank, so I guess the pack had settled in and I had gotten the sizing right.
The nice thing about this pack is that it is adjustable to be able to fit on a lot of different body types. They recommend using the side straps to adjust but I did have to adjust the front too, I’m definitely on the smaller side, since it ranges from 27 – 52 inches. I am estimating that I am in the low/mid 30s so there was a lot of extra strap that would swing around a bit. I tried tucking it in and that was very uncomfortable.
On Christmas day, I wore it out on the trails in Noble Canyon with my North Face puffer vest and again no chafing (YEA!!) and the fit was great.
I changed the fit on the pack with both the adjustable side straps and the front strap as well to get a good fit. I did notice that after I drank from the bottle and it got lighter that the pack would start to rise up on the front so I would just tighten the straps a little. Another note about the bottle, I typically wear my hair up in a pony tail and it’s not super long, but I did notice that on occasion, my hair did get stuck in the bottle top. I had to move my head to the side to get the bottle out every once in a while.
Now the bottle, at first I thought it was good, nothing special but then as I started using it more, I was noticing that a lot of water was pooling around the cap. I thought that I didn’t have it tightened enough, but it was. I’m not sure what the issue is but that would probably be my only complaint.
Now, I didn’t wear the vest for any longer than 13.1 miles and that was in a race situation so there was additional hydration available. I’m not sure even with the double-barrel that I would take this out on a really long run, especially if it was hot out. I drink a lot when it’s warmer and when I got longer (and we run in a lot of places were there aren’t a lot of water sources) so I definitely would want the ability to hold additional bottles. I did read on their website that they are in the process of creating a new Ultra pack so I would be interested to see if that would allow for more bottles.
Although, I didn’t try it, the pockets in the front are probably big enough to fit an additional bottle, especially if you used soft bottles or smaller ones.
I liked being able to put my phone and fuel in one of the side pockets. It kept it dry so that I didn’t have to use my pouch & put it in the waistband of my shorts, like I normally do, oops.
There were 2 additional pockets on the shoulder, that opened down, I would put my car key in there but I didn’t really use them because I was a little afraid that the items would fall out while I was running. I like to eat Jolly Ranchers while running and they are too small for the pocket. I also didn’t want it to be too full because of where it sits on my shoulder. I felt like it could be a little awkward so I didn’t really use them.
I have to say it was nice to have the vest to wear on my shorter runs vs holding my water bottle and/or phone. I think it may have actually helped my form a bit too.
All in all, I liked the vest and I’ll definitely be using it on my upcoming shorter runs/races.
Want to hear what others have to say? Check out some of the other BibRavePro reviews:
http://runningmarathonmom.blogspot.com/2015/12/orange-mud-hydraquiver.html
https://marathang.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/orange-mud-hydraquiver-vest-pack-1-review/
http://trailrunningfaith.blogspot.com/2015/12/product-review-orange-mud-hydraquiver.html
http://seejessrun711.blogspot.com/2015/12/try-it-tuesday-orangemud-hydraquiver-vp1.html
How do you carry your hydration?
