Cyclone Hydro Reservoir

Easy to use. Good price.

This is/was my first hydration bladder from Wal-Mart. It's easy to fill and works fine, but I found it slightly hard to get clean.

Even following the directions, it still molded while sitting to dry. Not sure what I may have done wrong. I have ended up using a baby bottle brush to clean it really well, but it is kind of a nuisance to do that over and over again.

UPDATE: I have since solved my cleaning problems with this item. I purchased a bottle brush from the Baby Department at the Dollar Store and am able to get inside the bag and really clean it.

HOSE CLEANING TIP: I recently forgot to empty the bladder until about three weeks after a trip and it was filled with Gatorade. The hose had a slime built up inside of it that would not wash out. (There was no way I was going to drink anything out of this again with that hanging in there like snot!)

After some searching, I found some good tips and this actually worked for me. Cut a long piece of paracord that is about an inch longer than the hose. Tie a knot in one end, take the unknotted end and drop it down through the hose until it comes out the other side (this takes some doing but it will go through). Once you have the unknotted end, pull the knotted end through the tube, it grabs the slime and pulls it out. You can do this more than once if you need to, just wash the paracord every time first.

Overall, I would not recommend this as a way to clean it every time you use it, but I think doing in once in a while or when you see something built up in there is a good hygienic idea. It took me approximately 30 minutes to clean the hose but I didn't have to replace the bladder or hose and it saved me that cost.