For longer walks, you will need to carry more water and more gear. I find I drink more often if I use a hydration pack with a sipper tube. I am in mourning that Camelbak has discontinued my favorite one, the Pixie. It was the perfect size for a walk of two hours and fit a women's shorter frame. While mine has a lifetime guarantee, what will you buy once they are all gone? I feel like Goldilocks when shopping for a new hydration pack: this one is too big, this one is too small, this one is too complicated. Sigh...the Pixie was just right! The following are designed for women or children.
Courtesy of PricegrabberThe pack I found that is most similar to the Pixie is the Camelbak Scout 50 ounce version. While it is designed for children, it works well for women who have a short torso. Like the Pixie, it has a larger main compartment and a smaller outer organizer compartment. It also has two outer mesh pockets, which you can use for items you want to get to quickly. The 1.5 liter/50 ounce hydration bladder is a little larger than Pixie's. It has a sternum strap that includes a safety whistle.
Wendy Bumgardner © 2012I normally wouldn't pick this vest design, preferring a backpack. But I tried it and was extremely pleased. The length was perfect for my short torso. Even though it has a large 70-ounce water bladder, all of the weight is carried above my hips. Plus, the water bladder is designed to be low-profile, so I can wear this under a rain jacket (necessary in my neck of the woods!) It has five pockets for carrying capacity and bungee cords for attaching your jacket after you warm up or the rain stops. The drawback is style -- I am less likely to wear this around town when I'm not on a dedicated training walk.
Courtesy of PricegrabberThe Camelbak Annadel has the right reservoir capacity for my training walks - 50 ounces, the amount you would need two large water bottles to carry. It's designed for women and has a low profile. It has one pocket big enough for most of your small essentials, plus the pocket that the reservoir is in. It has reflective piping on the straps and on the pack. For days when you don't need to carry much except your water and an energy bar, this pack would do fine.
Courtesy of PricegrabberThis pack has a 50-ounce hydration bladder, which is the size I like. It has a stash pocket that is large enough for most of your essentials. I'm not a fan of having a vertical zipper on my storage pocket. It seems like something is always going to tumble out. The waistbelt is removable. The reinforced tool loop at the top of the pack can be a good place to loop your jacket or insulating layer when you take it off, since it's unlikely to fit into the pack. The pack has a chest strap, which can be a useful feature to adjust where the arm straps hit you.
Photo Courtesy of PriceGrabberThe Camelbak Magic has a bigger hydration bladder than I generally need -- 70 ounces. That makes it good for a long walk, where you won't be able to refill your hydration bladder. Camelbak is now making its reservoirs external-fill, so you don't have to remove the hydration bladder to fill it and then try to stuff it back into its pocket. But you can also get your whole pack wet when refilling from a water fountain. The Magic has a top organizer pocket with a cord port, perfect for you iPod, cell phone, keys and money. It also has a two-compartment zippered outer pocket, but these zip and unzip vertically; this makes me worry I'll be spilling stuff on to the ground. A large stash pocket is useful for hat, gloves and so on.
Pricegrabber.comThe only thing wrong with this pack is that it is huge. It's great if you are going for a long day hike and need to remove or add layers of clothing or carry your lunch, but it's overkill for a 1 to 2 hour fitness walk. I bought one a couple of years ago, and it sits unused in my closet. The Cloud Walker holds 2 liters of water in its hydration bladder. The waist strap and sternum strap are removable. Large- and- small-zippered cargo compartments let you carry most anything you want along or latch items to the pack with the built-in bungee cord.
Photo Courtesy of PriceGrabberThe Flashflo is a waistpack rather than a backpack. It carries 45 ounces of water -- as much as in two large water bottles. You sip the water through a tube that hooks to the waistbelt. The small cargo pocket holds your keys, ID and an energy bar -- but not much else. It has reflective stripes. Like the Cloud Walker, I bought one a few years ago, and it sits unused. The advantage of a sucker tube is for it to be right there on your shoulder, and I never could figure out how to position it from a waistpack.
