Why Hikers Love Smartwater Bottles for Hiking

Have you ever noticed that the vast majority of long distance hikers use a very specific tall, skinny water bottle with a blue label on the side? One stuffed into either side of the external pockets of their backpack. Not the durable Nalgene bottle but a cheap bottle you’d find at any store. These aren’t just any bottle…  they are Smart Water bottles and there are a few great reasons why most long distance hikers love Smartwater bottles for hiking over the hard sided plastic ones you’d buy at an outfitter.

Shaving Ounces

First off, the bottle weight and design. They weigh 1.2oz ( 34 g) when empty compared to 6.5oz (185g) of a Nalgene. While carrying two liters of water capacity, hikers immediate drop 10oz of weight just by making the switch. Thats probably the easiest and cheapest way you’ll find to save 10oz of pack weight. The design is a tall, more narrow bottle with the same capacity (1 liter) as a Nalgene. The more narrow design allows hikers to easily reach for the bottle while hiking and also allows it to fit better into the side pocket of their pack. I always found the mesh pockets on my Osprey Exos 48 were a bit too tight for a larger bottle but the smart water bottles fit in perfectly and are easy to put back in the pockets with the pack still on. In addition, I much prefer the narrow mouth of the bottle over the wide mouth bottle as it is much easier to drink from while walking without spilling.

Water Reservoir or Smartwater Bottles for Hiking?

What about a water reservoir instead of bottles? In my experience I’ve always found it a pain the butt to refill those. You have to take your pack off, unload the top few items, pull the sleeve out, filter the water and then put it all back together. The added volume of a full 2 or 3 liter bladder always makes putting the reservoir back in the pack more difficult. Plus you are more likely to carry more water and weight than needed as its such a hassle to refill them.

Smart Water Bottles + Sawyer Squeeze = Perfection

Aside from the weight and design there is another very important reason hikers much prefer Smart Water bottles and that is the threads on the mouth of the bottle. The most popular water filter for long distance hikers is the Sawyer Squeeze. This water filter weighs a mere 3oz (85g) and is rated to 0.1 micron filtration, removing 99.999% of all bacteria and protozoa including salmonella, leptospirosis, cholera, E.coli, giardia and cryptosporidium. So whats the point?… the Sawyer Squeeze has the exact same thread pattern as a Smart Water bottle making them a perfect match. This gives hikers a lot of flexibility with their hydration. Some prefer to attach the filter to the bottle and drink directly from the filter. Some have a dirty and clean bottle setup and some like myself love the emergency use case when the included bags from Sawyer pop in the field. It does happen and it makes that filter useless. Sawyer has been paying attention and has come up with a new product very similar to the Smart Water Sawyer Squeeze setup but with a bigger price tag.

The Best Water Bottle

These bottles are cheap, super durable, easily replaceable and can be found at any grocery store or gas station across the country. Bonus points that the best backpacking filter out there also fits the threads of the Smart Water bottle. So ditch your bulky water bottles and your old school pump filter and make the switch. You’ll thank me later.