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Not actually Erin. & is used with permission. |
Back in 2020 I wrote a post titled Hydration Tube Inline Hijinks wherein I demonstrated my system for refilling your water bladder without having to dig out of your backpack. While I don't claim to be the inventor of this concept, to the best of my knowledge I haven't seen it used anywhere else; all of the quick-detach mounts I've seen are shown being used where the hose meets the bladder.
Regardless of who invented the concept, I have been very happy with my setup as it makes it a lot easier to refill my bladder in the wild. However, an oddity of the English language is that easier is actually harder than easy, and it isn't easy using a manual pump (in my case, a Katadyn Hiker) to push water up a tube and into a bladder. When I timed myself, it took 2 minutes to pump 2 liters of water, and by the end of it I was tired and my arms were beginning to ache. Yes, it was something I could do, but when you're hiking do you really need something as necessary and basic as hydration to further tire you out? I don't, that's for sure.
You won't be surprised, then, when I tell you that when I discovered the Pacific Bay Portable Water Pump on Amazon for $10, I bought it immediately to try it out. What follows is not specifically a practical review, as I have not put the pump "through its paces" over a weekend of camping, but rather my initial impressions and how it performs at home.
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| https://amzn.to/3t7pOla |
Performance
The hoses support standard quick-detach mounts used by Sawyer, Katadyn, etc. so I was able to easily adapt this to work with my inline system.
The power button is big and clicks easily, making for "easy on, easy off" operation. It automatically shuts off after a minute of operation, but if you press and hold the power button it will pump for as long as you continue to hold.
- a 2L bladder fills in 1:30;
- a 2.5L bladder should fill in 1:53;
- a 3L bladder should fill in 2:15.
I'm not just being pedantic here; there is no pressure sensor in the pump, so there is the risk of overfilling a bladder to bursting if you can't see its fullness.
I didn't detect any issues with performance when it ran out of water and started pumping air, although the sound changed pitch and there was gurgling in the hose.
Finally, the pump itself is slightly smaller than a standard 500 mL / 17 oz water bottle and weighs have as much, so it's quite convenient to pack.
Problems
The biggest problem I had was making sure the hoses didn't kink, as they are a softer and/or thinner gauge material than typical water bladder hoses. That wasn't even a true problem, but rather just a case of "Whoops, the hose is kinked, I need to straighten that out." I will need more experimentation to determine if I want to shorten the hoses or not.
There's no battery charge indicator on the pump, so there's no way of knowing how much battery is left. However, the Amazon page states that "Performance tests show up to 78 liters can be pumped with a single charge of the battery. Lifetime expectancy of over 100,000 liters", so a charged-up pump will easily last for a weekend of hiking/camping unless you're pumping for a lot of people.
Given it's light weight I would not consider this a durable piece of equipment. I think it will likely break if dropped a few feet onto a hard object.
This last point isn't a problem, but rather a question: should I put my Sawyer filter upstream of the pump or downstream? I'm not sure if unfiltered water would gum up the pump channel or not (although I do recommend using a prefilter, even if it's just an old t-shirt wrapped around it, just on general principles), but if so do I want to have a $30 filter protecting a $10 pump?
The video on Amazon suggests having the Sawyer upstream of it, but then the video also shows someone just throwing the Sawyer filter into the stream. This bothers me greatly, not only because that's a great way to lose a filter if the hose isn't properly seated, but also because I'd worry that immersion in water could introduce contaminants into the clean water supply from seepage around the hose-filter junction. No, I'm definitely keeping my Sawyer out of the water, thanks.
Verdict
This is a fun, inexpensive bit of kit that should make your life easier as long at it works. Since I have no firsthand experience with its reliability or durability, I won't suggest you put it into your BOB or GHB, but its lightweight convenience makes it a top candidate to bring along on pleasure hikes and campouts. Besides, at $10, it's cheaper and more entertaining than some movies I've attended.
Obligatory FTC Disclaimer: I bought this product with my own money. Go away.
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