CamelBak StoAway 100 Reservoir

Really a great product for being a hydration system. I've used several other types of hydration pouch systems before and I really like the Camelbak. It's well made, a little bulky, but there's a bunch of insulation - what do you expect.
I personally found the pouch pretty easy to use. It was nice that everything came put together and ready to go for winter use. That being said, you really need to be conscious about what you will be doing, where you're taking it and how extreme you want to go. Any hydration tube regardless of insulation is going to freeze up below 20deg F... It's a fact of life. Here are some tips that I have accumulated over the years of using hydration systems to help you out:

1. If it's going to be cold, try and keep your water intake up and take sips frequently, keep the water flowing.
2. After you've taken a drink, blow back the water in to the pouch and try to clear the sleeve. Bang off the mouthpiece in your glove or ice axe/trek pole to try and clear some of the extra water.
3. before you leave base camp or high camp for that matter, put some warm water in the pouch. Yea, it's not as nice to drink "warm" water when you're working your booty off, but it beats not drinking water...
4. tuck the mouthpiece in a chest pocket, or down your neck to keep the end of the hose from freezing up
5. Finally, what I've found most important is to add about 12oz of Coconut Water to my bladder when I know I'm going high and cold. The salt and sugars drop the freezing point of the whole system quite a bit. Not to mention, it's great electrolytes to keep you going hard. The colder you plan on getting, add more Coconut Water. 0deg day? - add 24oz per 100z. Works great!

Dinging it a star because i would like to have a longer tube. For extreme summit attempts in negative weather, I like to have a 18L pack with about 48oz and just my essentials. Because it gets so cold, I have to run the tube under my coat and down my arm sleeve, there just isn't enough hose to accomplish this with some of my layering techniques.

I've used this on ski trips and for day hiking, and I expect that it will work well for overnighters this summer, but I haven't had it long enough to test that function.

The insulation is both good and bad. It does keep the water in the bladder cooler on hot days, but the insulated hose still gets warm pretty quickly, so the first mouthfull is lukewarm or hot, depending on how long you wait between sips. The water in the bladder does stay cool/cold for hours when the whole thing is secured inside a pack, and will stay cold long enough for you to drink the whole thing if you're drinking enough water to stay hydrated. In that regard, it works very well.

On cold days (my experiences were all under 20 degrees) the hose will freeze up in short order. As specifically as I can get, at 14 degrees it took about 10 minutes for ice in the hose to begin to freeze, and within an hour (probably less) it was frozen to the point that it won't allow water through. The bladder didn't freeze at all inside my pack, it was just blocked in the hose, so keeping the hose more protected somehow would help. The easiest solution is to take a few good drinks every 10 to 15 minutes and it will continue to function well at temps in the teens. I assume anything colder than that would require you to take a drink every 5 minutes or so. It does thaw quickly at indoor temps, so a few minutes in the lodge is usually long enough for it to be functional again.

Overall it's a great product, as long as you don't expect it to work miracles. The insulation is effective within reason, and the cover on the mouthpiece is a nice touch that helps with cold weather and also keeps dirt/debris off of the drinking tube and out of your mouth. All of this does add weight though, so if that's a primary concern I'm sure there are better options.

I bought this Hydration pack in November 2012 and have used this pack on 20+ runs and skiing for 3 days. I've used 1 or 2 camel packs in the past. My desired use for this pack was for hydration in a winter 50k run.

I am satisfied with the pack but I would be interested to test how much the insulation actually helps since you will most likely be storing it in a back pack anyways.

My three complaints are (1) It is surprisingly difficult to refill the bladder because it is difficult to get it back into the shell when full. (2) I was trunning in about 10 degrees and the tube would freeeze in about 15-20 minutes... Wasn't that the point of an insulated tube? Not a big deal, almost functioned as a reminder to constantly hydrate. (3) It just seems poorly designed. You have to take the bladder completely out of the shell to refill it and the hydration tube attaches to the bottom of the bladder instead of the top.

Final Rating 7/10. It is functional but the design could be easily improved and I think the insulation on the tube should be better. Honestly I'm not convinced the insulation is worth it and would probably just buy the bladder so refilling wouldn't be such a pain.

This is a great product from camelbak. I actually use it in the tropics to keep my drinks cool on extended outings. Fill it with ice and your favourite beverage and it'll keep cold for hours!

Little hook to hang reservoir at the top is very conveniant so it doesn't bunch up. Cap on the bite valve helps keep dirt off when not in use.

Highly recommended!

I already had a backpack that i used for pretty much everything and really wanted to add on a hydration element. The StoAway pack fit nicely into what i wanted,which was versatility. I totally recommend this product.