Gear Review: Geigerrig Rig 1600 Pressurized Hydration System
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Regardless of how you choose to carry your water with you while hiking, it’s pretty safe to say that the primary use of that water is going to be for staying hydrated – drinking.
Whether you carry it in lightweight bottles in the side pockets of your backpack, in a spare Platypus type bladder inside your pack, or in a hydration bladder configured with your pack it’s highly likely that you’ve practiced and perfected the art of getting to it quickly and easily when you need to drink – at least I hope you have…
While the primary purpose of your carried water is for hydration, there are several other important demands for water in the back country that you may not be planning for or considering when looking at a hydration system. I’d like to take a look at those “other” scenarios to see how a pressurized hydration system, like the Geigerrig 1600, can help to provide quick and efficient access to the water when it’s needed.
Flushing a wound with water
Being outdoors and backpacking in the wild is not without its share of risks. It doesn’t take very much to get cut or scraped while on a trail and if you do it’s going to need to be cleaned and dressed. Most of us carry topical ointments or creams that we can put on a cut to disinfect it, but it’s well known that the best way to clean an open wound is to thoroughly flush it with a steady supply of clean water. This is especially important if you have dirt or debris in the wound.
If this were to happen to you or a trail partner, would you be able to use your water to easily clean the wound? If it’s in a bottle or small container you could easily pour it on to the wound, but if it’s in a standard hydration bladder it’s not going to be quite as easy. In this scenario a pressurized hydration system will not only let you target the wound with water quickly, it will help force out any debris in the wound using the increased water pressure – flushing it properly. You’re also a lot more likely to use less water this way that you would by pouring it out of your bottle or bladder.
Washing Your Gear and Personal Hygiene
Cleaning cooking utensils
Another very typical use for water on the trail if for cleaning or washing. Whether for washing your hands or face, brushing your teeth, or cleaning your cooking utensils after making a meal, you’ll need to have some clean water handy. Unless you have a huge supply of water to use for camp cleaning tasks, you’ll want to perform your cleaning by using as little water as possible.
Pouring clean water out of your bottle for cleaning will empty your water reserves very quickly. If you have access to a good water source and a way to filter or purify it, this may not be an issue, but if you need to preserve the clean water that you have and make it go as far as possible you’ll need a way to control the water and trickle it out carefully. I found this very easy to do using the Geigerrig hydration system. With its squeeze nozzle and pressurized bladder I was able to squirt my titanium SP600 mug with just enough water to clean it off without wasting any. I’ve learned to be pretty stingy with my water over the years and the Geigerrig made controlling the water very easy.
Sharing Water With Others
Hydrating Coco on the trail
There are also like to be occasions when you’ll need to share some of your water with others, if they’ve run out or if they can easily access their supply. A classic example of this is when I am hiking with my chocolate Lab, Coco. Even though she carries her own gear and food, I haven’t been able to find a good solution for her to carry her own water supply (manufacturers are you listening?). Most of the time it’s not a big issue because, unlike us, she can drink from just about any water source without getting sick – and she does, a lot!
There are times though when there are no water sources available and the only option to get Coco hydrated is to share my water. Despite how much I love her, I do not want her licking all over the end of my hydration tube or my water bottle – yuck. The pressurized reservoir of the Geigerrig lets Coco get really close to the end of the water nozzle while I spray the water into her mouth – making it easy and hygienic!
The Bottom Line
There are many advantages to having a pressurized hydration system like the Giegerrig Rig 1600. I've gone over just a few of them here, but I'm sure there are many more reasons why having a system that can squirt the water out under pressure, instead of having to suck it through the tube, is a better solution. Coco definitely agrees!
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I use my Rig every camping trip to clean up after meal prep. It’s also my go to system for washing up before meals. I think I probably use the pressure spray more than I realize too. So I will try to track it this weekend at Havasu Falls. I bet there are more instances than I realize.
Great review Brian!
I initially thought that the additional “tech” of the Geigerrig system was just over the top, what’s wrong with having to suck through a tube? Now though, having used it for quite a while and in various situations I’m sold on the concept even to the point where I wonder how I made do without a pressurized hydration system until now. Technology advancements move on and I guess I’ve hit that ae where I’m beginning to sound like my dad: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” – well this is a perfect example of fixing something that ain’t broke and for the better!
Luckily I haven’t had to use my GeigerRig to irrigate any wounds but I have used it to share with my dog on the trail to keep her sloppy tongue off the bite valve. I actually got to use it a couple weeks ago to clean the windshield of my truck when I ran out of wiper fluid.
It has it’s benefits…
Brian, have you tried the RuffWear Palisades pack with Coco? It has 2 hydration bladders (not pressurized) which kind of help keep the dogs cooler as well. We’ve been pretty happy with it.
Nathan, no I haven’t. In fact I wasn’t aware of any dog packs that built-in hydration capabilities so this is really exciting. Coco wears a Kelty Chuck Wagon pack for large dogs. It has ample room for her food and toys but not much else. She’s so comfortable with the idea of wearing a pack now that she get’s excited and puppy-like at the sight of it.
I’ll check out the Palisades pack shortly, thanks for the heads up! ^BG