A rant against the new Decathlon hydration pack
By Julien on Thursday, September 29 2011, 21:37 - Equipment - Permalink
I'm rather unhappy about the new Decathlon hydration pack I have bought a few months ago. Up to that point, you're thinking "nothing extraordinary" :) . Less obvious: I bought it to replace a previous Decathlon hydration pack that I actually liked, which was coming to the end of its life. Yes, you read it correctly, I was satisfied with a Decathlon product. Funnily, that's exactly what the website product description reads: "to replace your old hydration pack!". Odd description, first-time buyers: this one is apparently not for you :)
But I digress. This replacement was a big mistake!
First of all, the bite valve is of appalling quality. It was chewed off after two runs only (OK, the cumulative distance of these two runs was about 280km, but still). On top of that, the older one had a better flow.
And one of the reason I had to bite it hard(er) is that they added their "new" push-pull valve between the bite valve and the pipe. They claim it's to avoid leakage. But if the bite valve was well designed in the first place you wouldn't need this extra valve! Guys, it's simple, the clue is in the name: "bite valve". You bite, the water flows. You release, the water stops. Hence it's a valve... Otherwise it would just be called a "bite"! So essentially the only reason for adding this extra valve is to allow them in fine to reduce the quality of the original bite valve. And indeed, the new bite valve leaks whereas the previous one didn't. So Decathlon product designers, you might as well remove the bite valve now, since it's pretty much useless. Luckily I kept the older one and used it as a replacement.
And last but not least, the new pipe might be slightly lighter, but it also pinches rather easily when forced to take a "sharp" bend. And the only way to solve that is to remove the bladder, put it back, shake the bag, change the pipe side for good measure, and hope for the best. How long until they come up with a kind of extra sleeve to support the pipe along the bending areas, yet another "innovation" designed to fix a problem that didn't exist in the first place?
To come back to their "replace your old hydration pack!", well just don't. Really. The old one was far better.
Ultra leak
But I digress. This replacement was a big mistake!
First of all, the bite valve is of appalling quality. It was chewed off after two runs only (OK, the cumulative distance of these two runs was about 280km, but still). On top of that, the older one had a better flow.
And one of the reason I had to bite it hard(er) is that they added their "new" push-pull valve between the bite valve and the pipe. They claim it's to avoid leakage. But if the bite valve was well designed in the first place you wouldn't need this extra valve! Guys, it's simple, the clue is in the name: "bite valve". You bite, the water flows. You release, the water stops. Hence it's a valve... Otherwise it would just be called a "bite"! So essentially the only reason for adding this extra valve is to allow them in fine to reduce the quality of the original bite valve. And indeed, the new bite valve leaks whereas the previous one didn't. So Decathlon product designers, you might as well remove the bite valve now, since it's pretty much useless. Luckily I kept the older one and used it as a replacement.
And last but not least, the new pipe might be slightly lighter, but it also pinches rather easily when forced to take a "sharp" bend. And the only way to solve that is to remove the bladder, put it back, shake the bag, change the pipe side for good measure, and hope for the best. How long until they come up with a kind of extra sleeve to support the pipe along the bending areas, yet another "innovation" designed to fix a problem that didn't exist in the first place?
To come back to their "replace your old hydration pack!", well just don't. Really. The old one was far better.
Ultra leak
Comments
I bought a Decathlon water bag, including this hydratation pack. But I had a presentiment of its quality so I replaced it by a Source hydration pack. It's twice the price but for a much higher quality.
http://www.source-hydration.co.uk/a...