I enjoyed the light weight construction and ease of mounting to my pack. Having the extra 4L was a good size for me and another person. I had issues pouring out the water when it was full. Flow control takes some wrangling, as I had to hold the handle and also the strap for the lid. Didn't even try filling up my water bladder for the walk home. It felt like you really need two people to operate this without spilling/wasting water. It felt like all or nothing with pouring the water. It was good value, but the ergonomics are off for me. Not sure what lid/valve options exist but wish there was a nipple or tap option. The outside took some damage and marking, not sure what cause it, but it has a white discoloured crease.

I got these because we were flying out west and the idea of stowing a collapsible water bottle in a suitcase was appealing. First, I tested to make sure the lid was water tight. I filled them and let them sit overnight in the sink, incase they leaked. They did not leak. Then we tested them in our packs on a weekend trip on the AT. No issues with being squished in a pack. It is neat that as you use the water, the volume decreases as well as the weight.Then time to fly out west. Filling them from the springs on the trails in the backcountry of Zion National Park was easy. It can spill a little when pouring it because of the flexible bottle, so be careful. It’s best to have your buddy hold a drinking bottle or cup. Best tasting mountain spring water ever. They ... MoreI got these because we were flying out west and the idea of stowing a collapsible water bottle in a suitcase was appealing. First, I tested to make sure the lid was water tight. I filled them and let them sit overnight in the sink, incase they leaked. They did not leak. Then we tested them in our packs on a weekend trip on the AT. No issues with being squished in a pack. It is neat that as you use the water, the volume decreases as well as the weight.Then time to fly out west. Filling them from the springs on the trails in the backcountry of Zion National Park was easy. It can spill a little when pouring it because of the flexible bottle, so be careful. It’s best to have your buddy hold a drinking bottle or cup. Best tasting mountain spring water ever. They handled the heat of the desert as well as the cooler temps at elevation.

Excellent Water Storage

Firstly, all kinds of plastic containers will give off a plasticy taste. If you run into this, clean them with lemon and baking soda. Google it. Its a common problem easily solved.This container is fantastic. Sturdy, robust construction and comes with a nice little stuff sack for protection in your pack. I use this in a few ways. One is in conjunction with my BeFree filter on occasions when I need to filter a large amount of water for the group. I screw my BeFree onto this replacing its 1L bottle. Now you're 3x capacity, 3x faster etc. The other way it gets used is as a filtered water bag at camp. I'll fill my hydration bladder with 2-3L, then fill this with 3L, and fill the BeFree with an additional 1L, and now I'm set for the evening with a positively copious ... MoreFirstly, all kinds of plastic containers will give off a plasticy taste. If you run into this, clean them with lemon and baking soda. Google it. Its a common problem easily solved.This container is fantastic. Sturdy, robust construction and comes with a nice little stuff sack for protection in your pack. I use this in a few ways. One is in conjunction with my BeFree filter on occasions when I need to filter a large amount of water for the group. I screw my BeFree onto this replacing its 1L bottle. Now you're 3x capacity, 3x faster etc. The other way it gets used is as a filtered water bag at camp. I'll fill my hydration bladder with 2-3L, then fill this with 3L, and fill the BeFree with an additional 1L, and now I'm set for the evening with a positively copious amount of water.

Funky H2O!

I have to agree with the other reviews here that comment on the undesirable flavour that this bag imparts. I purchased this item for a bike tour and initially thought that the bad flavour was a result of chemicals being added to the well water at the campgrounds I was staying at. It was only after experiencing the same results with bottled spring and filtered tap water that I realized that the issue was with the material from with the Hydrapak is made. It’s difficult to conceive that such an obviously well-designed product could have such a crucial and critical flaw, but clearly the wrong material was used in its construction. Very disappointed, as it seemed like a great on-bike water storage solution. Will be returning to MEC.

Great bag but strong plastic flavor

I recently used the Seeker 3L on a backpacking trip. It’s incredibly light and very compact. The built in handles were really handy when filtering. Material seemed very strong. The only thing keeping it from five stars is that the bag imparted and extremely strong plastic taste to the water. It seemed to get stronger throughout the week instead of milder. It made it difficult to enjoy my coffee and dehydrated meals. I’m really hoping this subsides since this is such a great water carrier.

Not leakproof

I purchased a Seeker 4L and 2L for a desert water carry after being impressed by product videos showing how resilient these bags are.After receiving the bags, I filled them up while doing a full prep-pack for my trip. The materials felt high quality and the bags were sturdy. Everything seemed okay until I noticed that the side of my backpack was wet. At first, I figured it was excess water in the cap threads that had leaked out, but there was too much water. I checked my internal reservoir to make sure it hadn’t been punctured, but it was fine.Finally, I held the 2 Seeker bags upside down over a sink and sure enough they started dripping, slowly but enough to be a problem. I threaded and re-threaded the caps over and over again, but couldn’t make the drips stop. ... MoreI purchased a Seeker 4L and 2L for a desert water carry after being impressed by product videos showing how resilient these bags are.After receiving the bags, I filled them up while doing a full prep-pack for my trip. The materials felt high quality and the bags were sturdy. Everything seemed okay until I noticed that the side of my backpack was wet. At first, I figured it was excess water in the cap threads that had leaked out, but there was too much water. I checked my internal reservoir to make sure it hadn’t been punctured, but it was fine.Finally, I held the 2 Seeker bags upside down over a sink and sure enough they started dripping, slowly but enough to be a problem. I threaded and re-threaded the caps over and over again, but couldn’t make the drips stop. I thought I had it figured out and left them on their sides on paper towel overnight to see, but the next morning the counter was soaked.I still used the bags on the trip because I had to take something, but was constantly stopping to check that they were upright and not soaking through my pack.I’m open to this being an issue of user error, but it also shouldn’t take this much time/effort to put a lid on a container.Tl;drThe leakproof caps leak.

Still plastic taste

Used for ocean kayak camping fresh water source. I Tried 3x but H2O still tasted like Plastic. I tried “Bright tabs” limited improvement. Great size and durability. A little tricky to get the first water out if without spilling if Completely full. I have tried numerous water containers. Dromedary brand. Cheap plastic cubes. So far the platypus brand has been the best for no plastic taste.

Unpleasant taste of Hydrapak Seeker

This was my feedback to Hydrapak after using my Seeker 3l storage with water POST rinsing with soapy water and rinsed in lemon water...... How about including some Bottle Bright tabs WITH your new Hydrapak products to take out the plastic taste instead of making it a separate purchase?!! It's like you're not putting all of the onus on the customer to make your product usable when its brand new. Or be upfront that some customers find an unpleasant taste to your hydrapaks when first used, even after soaping and rinsing! Or lastly, put the information on how to get the unpleasant taste out on your website. All helpful to customers I assure you, instead of having poor tasting water for a couple of days when you have no other water options as you were naive enough to ... MoreThis was my feedback to Hydrapak after using my Seeker 3l storage with water POST rinsing with soapy water and rinsed in lemon water...... How about including some Bottle Bright tabs WITH your new Hydrapak products to take out the plastic taste instead of making it a separate purchase?!! It's like you're not putting all of the onus on the customer to make your product usable when its brand new. Or be upfront that some customers find an unpleasant taste to your hydrapaks when first used, even after soaping and rinsing! Or lastly, put the information on how to get the unpleasant taste out on your website. All helpful to customers I assure you, instead of having poor tasting water for a couple of days when you have no other water options as you were naive enough to think since the product had no information on it as I've described, then it must be good to go! Silly consumers.

Unusable Product

The TPU material imparts an absolutely disgusting plastic taste on the water, in as little as 15 minutes after filling. Think water that has been sitting in a brand new garden hose out in the sun all day. No doubt harmful chemicals will be ingested if you drink water stored in these containers. No amount of cleaning will remove the taste. I even left the lid off the bottle for 6 weeks to let it off gas. Did not help at all. I would never, ever recommend this product to anyone unless I hated them. Hydrapak should be absolutely ashamed and this product should be pulled from the shelves. I can’t wait to return this. Please get rid of this product MEC! Would you want your children drinking contaminated water? I’ve never even left a review of a product on a site anywhere ... MoreThe TPU material imparts an absolutely disgusting plastic taste on the water, in as little as 15 minutes after filling. Think water that has been sitting in a brand new garden hose out in the sun all day. No doubt harmful chemicals will be ingested if you drink water stored in these containers. No amount of cleaning will remove the taste. I even left the lid off the bottle for 6 weeks to let it off gas. Did not help at all. I would never, ever recommend this product to anyone unless I hated them. Hydrapak should be absolutely ashamed and this product should be pulled from the shelves. I can’t wait to return this. Please get rid of this product MEC! Would you want your children drinking contaminated water? I’ve never even left a review of a product on a site anywhere before, but felt I had to in this case. Pure garbage. Negative stars. I’m not the only one who thinks this either.

Versatile, compatible with all filters

So, I bought two of these, so I could make a gravity filter set for backpacking. The weight is good, the durability seems good, too. I bought the dark charcoal for a "dirty" bag, and the blue one as my "clean" water bag.I bought the connectors so they would fit a Sawyer Squeeze filter, and that works...ok. The drawback is that you have to twist the locking top counter clockwise to release the plug and/or Squeeze adapter. That works, but because you have to hold the Squeeze to pull it out of the click-lock plug hole, it is difficult to do this. One hand has has to do the twisting motion on the cap, and the other has to pull the filter off, out of the plug.To make this easier, of the fins on the cap were a bit taller, that would help.The last small criticism is ... MoreSo, I bought two of these, so I could make a gravity filter set for backpacking. The weight is good, the durability seems good, too. I bought the dark charcoal for a "dirty" bag, and the blue one as my "clean" water bag.I bought the connectors so they would fit a Sawyer Squeeze filter, and that works...ok. The drawback is that you have to twist the locking top counter clockwise to release the plug and/or Squeeze adapter. That works, but because you have to hold the Squeeze to pull it out of the click-lock plug hole, it is difficult to do this. One hand has has to do the twisting motion on the cap, and the other has to pull the filter off, out of the plug.To make this easier, of the fins on the cap were a bit taller, that would help.The last small criticism is that to hang is for gravity filtering, it would be nicer if one of the handles would be adhered to the bottom, so it could hang upside down. As it is, I need to run a cord through the loop closest to the bottom. It works, but maybe that would make gravity feeding simpler. One of those blue Squeeze couplers will work to make your gravity system complete.If you're not doing gravity filtering, this bag works GREAT. With the adapters, you can use a Sawyer Squeeze (if you buy the cap and adapter), a Platypus QuickDraw (same adapters as the Squeeze will work), or a Katadyn BeFree (no adapter required). Wide mouth makes it easy to fill with lower risk of leaking, compared to the pinch-closure on CNOC bags which can do the same thing.I think it's going to make a solid piece of gear for backpacking. The flexibility of using any filter system available is a big plus. Highly recommended.