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Posted by Bill S on April 4, 2007 at 8:51:10 pm EDT
In reply to Re: Bear canisters revisited (please) posted by Wanderlust on April 4, 2007 at 4:50:50 pm EDT

It's interesting to compare the different websites that people have given. One thing not mentioned on the Ursack blog is that one of the problems with the Ursack (without the aluminum insert) is, being flexible, the bears can (and do in tests) mush the bag around, which breaks the containers inside in many cases - think of a mixture of suncream, pancake mix, trail mix, and freezedry turkey tetrazini. In case of liquids in containers that get damaged by the bear batting the bag around and stomping on it (which happens in the tests), the liquified mix leaks out, allowing the bear to get a taste. Even if there is no leakage, the contents in a lot of the tests were mixed to a non-usable state.

In the comparison table of the Bear Vault and Garcia, I found it interesting that they (Bear Vault) considered the opening of the Garcia to not be "wide". The Garcia has a bit more of a lip that overhangs (5 inch diameter opening vs 6 inch for the BearVault), but I have never found it to be a problem when putting in items that I could pack in fairly compactly. Some odd-shaped rigid items, yes, but not most of what I take. Re-packaging to reduce weight of containers and waste to pack out seems to solve a lot of the odd-shaped container problem. The Bear Vaults are certainly lighter for the carrying capacity than the Garcia, but the BearIKade is lighter still for carrying volume.

Interesting that the Grizzly page included the Garcia and the hard-sided panniers for horse packers, but not the Bear Vault or BearIKade in their "suggested" list. They did have a "this is not a recommendation" disclaimer, though, and did mention the IGBC.

Dan, I agree with Tom D. What you describe is not the Bear Vault, but probably the Garcia (which I know the NPS rents in Alaska parks), or possibly the BearIKade. If it was black, it was the Garcia. If it was aluminum, it was the BearIKade. The Bear Vault, as several have noted has a transparent blue body with a large, black lid (screw-off the whole lid for most models).

I noticed on the SIBBG that there is a Bear Vault exchange program somehow connected with Rae Lakes area (where they state that "one or possibly more" bears have learned to open the earlier Bear Vaults - which means the one I have!). Wonder if I can exchange mine, even though I don't plan to go the the Rae Lakes area in the near future????

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