Last Fall, I found the need for a new water bladder that could hold more than a liter of water.  You need to stay hydrated or risk major problems, disorientation or even death. I did plenty of research and found what I was looking for. When I spoke with Jennifer Lappin at Rocky Mountain Survival, LLC, she recommended the Pure Hydration Armoured Reservoir. She mentioned other hunters were using it, but that I should judge it for myself. A few days later I received a 3 liter bladder and inline filter attachment to review.

The Pure Hydration bladder is touted at the most durable on the market. Just check out this video by the inventor.

To fill the bladder, you open the zippered double-lock at the top. Fill it to the desired level, lock down both locks, fold it over and then Velcro it in place. Just be sure to have BOTH locks zipped up. I made the mistake of only having one locked at first, squeezed the bladder for verification and it exploded all over my kitchen counter. Oops!

My next challenge was getting them to fit inside my Badlands 2200. Anyone who uses this pack knows that the bladder pouch is meant for the Badlands bladder alone. I hate that, but this review is not on that. So, I was forced to adjust. There are two holes for hanging at the top of the bladder. I’ll admit, I was hesitant to hang the bladder by string in fear of it breaking the plastic, but I had no choice. The plastic tab with with the holes held up amazingly well. I took out multiple times, filled with water and it bounced around in my pack. There isn’t a single tear in the plastic.

Initially, I was using these only in the high desert of Southern California. I also wanted to test it in colder weather, so I decided to also take this on my New York whitetail hunt last Fall. It worked well until we had a few cold days. For some reason there was air seeping into the mouthpiece each time I would attempt a drink. I took out the swivel-release tab (the one that allows the flow of water to your mouth) and then inspected the rubber bushing. No tears and seemed to be nothing wrong. I put it back together and it worked fine for a few times and then I was back to the same air seepage problem. When I got back to California, I tested it here and the same thing happened. I mentioned this to Jennifer and she had not heard of this issue before. We discussed what was happening and couldn’t narrow down what may have caused it, so she offered to replace the one I had. We exchanged them and I have been using the new one for the past two months without incident. Great customer service, too!

I had the bladder unprotected in my pack. There were items always hitting, rubbing, poking it in my pack. I wanted to test it this way because when you are seven miles in, you don’t want your water bag to burst! I beat it up and it performed beautifully.

The hose clips into an attachment on the base of the bladder. This works very well for filling it up, for cleaning the device, but most of all for attaching the inline filter! Fill the bladder from a water source, clip in the filter, then attach the hose. Immediately, you have clean drinking water free of bacteria and harmful contaminates. It works great!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this bladder to hunters who need a durable water bladder. The bonus is that with the inline filter you won’t have to pack bulky water filtration devices. The Armoured Reservoir retails for $79.99 and the Inline Filter system retails for $89.99. The price may seem steep compared to other bladders, but this one is 3 liters, durable as ever, and you can clip in a filter to save some space/weight in your pack.