The crew at Hydrapak took a few days to head down to Monterey to take part in the Sea Otter Classic. We had a great space to show off our new Hydrapak & Gel-Bot canopies. We all enjoyed the positive responses when we would demo our Reversible Reservoir II and the Gel-Bot. The weather lived up to Sea Otter expectations with a chilly Saturday that was filled with dust and wind, but the days of relaxed sunshine were welcome change to the rain that hit event last year.

“‘Exactly what a daypack should be,’ said one tester - and that’s the best way to describe the Laguna. With the ability to expand from 500 to 800 cubic inches, the Laguna’s just big enough to fit a shell, snacks, and a few extras. The airflow system’s mesh padding doesn’t overwhelm the pack but still keeps your back from soaking.”

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“Hydrapak.com is a smaller company, but for the past few years they have consistently turned out some of the nicest packs available with some pretty clever features. The newest hydration pack to come our way is the Laguna ($80). This pack weighs 1032g pack with an empty reservoir), has a 500 cubic inch (expandable to 800ci with a bellows zipper), cargo space and 100oz liquid capacity.”

“Some of the nicest features of the Laguna, and common to most Hydrapak, er, hydration packs, center around the reservoir. First, Hydrapak, gives the reservoir it’s own top loading sleeve; you don’t need to fight through a full pack to fill it. The bite valve is round, so there’s no “right” way to put it in your mouth, and it’s comfortable and tasteless to bite on. Flow rate seems similar to current Camelbak bite valves. At the other end of the hose is one of Hydrapak’s best features: a quick disconnect where the hose meets the reservoir. This greatly eases filling, dumping, and cleaning the reservoir because unthreading/rethreading the hose is not necessary each time the reservoir is removed.”

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Gel-Bot Receives 4 out of 5 Star Review in the Thrash Test

“This is the most efficient way to ingest energy gel on a number of levels. To drink water, open the nozzle like on any waterbottle and suck or squeeze the bottle. The Gel Bot eliminates all the hassles of opening a gel pack while riding. There are no messy wrappers to stuff in your jersey or get your hands stick. You don’t have to down a full packet at one time. You can ingest the gel and chase it with your water in one simple motion.”

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