Having given up on Hydration Packs, I'd been carrying reusable water bottles for hiking, usually insulated ones. However, those are heavy, and the forecast for temperatures in New Zealand when we were going indicated that they would never get that hot. In addition, on a 4 day backpacking trip, you're not going to get a chance to put ice in the water bottle anyway, so insulation is just extra weight for no good reason.
There was a sale on the HydraPak Flux over the holiday period, so I bought two of the 750ml bottles. They weigh 94g each, or about a quarter the weight of a Hydraflask of the same capacity. The cap was surprisingly well designed. You give it a half turn, flip open the cap, and then you can drink like from a water bottle. There's the usual plasticky flavor at the start, but bottle cleaning tablets got rid of the taste right away.
The biggest concern with such light bottles is that they could tear a hole easily and then you're out a water bottle. (That's why I bought 2!) But I dropped them multiple times and not once did they develop holes. The cap design also ensured that it never spilled. Surprisingly, the bottle did not change shape when not full --- there's enough air and the bottle is air tight that the bottle retains its shape, so it kept fitting nicely in the water bottle pockets of my backpack.
For a day hike on a hot summer day in California, you're not going to beat the insulated metal bottles. But for winter hiking or a multi-day trip where every ounce you're carrying matters, these are the ones to get!
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