MSR Dromedary
The Editors' Choice Gold Award-winning bladder came out in 1991, and it's still the toughest soft-sided water hauler ever made.
When MSR released the Dromedary in 1991, its purpose was clear: to be the most durable soft-sided water container on the market. Designers created it out of ultratough, 1,000-denier polyurethane that can withstand all of the potential pitfalls of the backcountry—from rocky campsites to careless drops—over years of use. After all, what good is a water-storage bag if it leaks?
Unlike other reservoirs we’ve used, we’ve never had a Dromedary get a hole. In Bears Ears, as we searched for water along canyon bottoms filled with sharp rocks, we tossed our samples around with impunity, never worrying that they’d fail. “On the hike in, I strapped my fully filled, 6-liter version to the bottom of my pack and sat on it in places that were thick with rocks and goat’s head thorns,” one editor says. “I never had to think twice about where I sat, as I knew it would never puncture.”
A cap with three lid options nested into each other—a small squeeze nozzle, a medium-size opening, and a large opening—makes it adaptable to all your pouring needs, and webbing around its perimeter (with reinforced metal grommets, so no drop in durability there either) provide an easy way to lash it to your pack. The Dromedary is available in 4-, 6-, and 10-liter versions. There are reservoirs that are lighter, but we’ll happily pack a few extra grams to keep water a sure thing, especially in the desert.
$45 (6 liters); 8.7 oz.; 4-10 liters