REI Trail 5 Waistpack

A rare fail for REI, for me anyway.

I did not expect to be able to carry a 3-day load in this but one should be able to carry a water bottle, 10 essentials, and a few other things in a 5 liter pack. As you can see, this one won't hold a liter bottle in the water bottle pocket. In fact it barely holds my Grayl. I wouldn't hike with it there because it isn't really secure. The only thing it will carry securely is a one pint bottle. How many of those can you drink in a day! 

There are some nice features. It's a wider hip belt which is more comfortable.The straps at the bottom would be handy and the pocket design is good. I liked the passport pocket and the extra small pocket on the hip belt. It's a good size for first aid bag I carry for day hikes. But there is no way this holds 5 liters. You can see my 1 liter Nalgene almost fills it up.

For me, the size is an absolute deal-breaker. It just isn't 5 liters, unless I'm wrong to think that a 5-liter bag should hold, you know, 5 liters worth of stuff. And that a day pack would carry a 1-liter water bottle in the water bottle pocket. Around my place, the Grayl is a good choice because there is usually water running close by. But the pocket is so small, I wouldn't feel comfortable for fear it'd fall out somewhere.

Honestly, It's probably ok if you're going out for an hour or so. But my question would be: how much do you really need for a one-hour walk? REI gets a lot of stuff right but not so much with this little pack. Maybe call it a 3 liter which seems closer to capacity and put an actual water bottle pocket on it. This would be ok for a child I think...as long as someone along had plenty of water. Leaning towards a return for this one. 

***UPDATED April 5th***

I chose to return this. It simply was not going to work. I did learn that there are almost no waist packs that carry a 1-liter bottle and many are now sporting bladders and hoses...not my thing. I do like the freedom of a fanny back on day walks and found a Fajllraven that looks to fit a larger bottle. Perhaps that is the one.

Background

Got my first fanny pack at the old REI on Capitol Hill in Seattle in 1980...had to write the price on a tag with a grease pencil back then.