CamelBak M.U.L.E. 5 Hydration Waist Pack with 50oz Lumbar Reservoir, Stable Carry and Smart Storage for Mountain Bike and Gravel Riding, Dusty Olive 2.0

Works great! I am a motorcycle instructor and spend many hours outside, on my feet and have difficulty getting the water for hydration that I need. I decided to try a Camelbak and the waist pack seem the most simple. There is not a lot of room for extras, other than some small snacks, lip balm, and a few other small things. But, the hydration pack side of things is the best. It works well. Carries 1.5 liters of water that is easily used. In addition to the main water bladder, there are pockets that hold a SmartWaters easily and well. Recommended.

I know this pack is meant for cyclists, but I'm an avid hiker with RA in my SI joint, EDS, and two post surgery shoulders in rehab, and carrying a traditional pack on my back has been impossible. Enter the Camelbak: it distributes the weight entirely on the hips, so no low back strain. I can carry snacks, electrolyte packets, water, my phone, a light jacket, emergency blanket and a little first aid, if I pack carefully. This actually makes back country hiking a possibility, and now my husband isn't burdened by carrying supplies for two. And it makes me feel self sufficient, which is a great boost to my self esteem. I can't rave about this pack enough. It's sooo comfortable, too... The air padding actually makes my back feel better😂 Hubby likes it so much, he's getting a second one for himself! Highly HIGHLY recommend!

Good waist pack, but you really can’t fit much in it when the bladder is full.

Absolutely love this pack. I've been using it primarily for quick MTB trips near my house, but I've also been using it for family hikes. The hydration features are just as you'd expect. It's comfortable to wear, and the pockets are great. I wish the side pockets were a little larger to accommodate current cell phone sizes (my iPhone 16 Pro just barely fits, but I'd prefer it to be easier) but I can always just put the phone in the main pocket. There's a deceptive amount of room for snacks, tools and other must-haves. So far it's held up quite well to a lot of activity. I've taken at least 2-3 falls off my bike and it's not showing any longer term wear yet. It gets an enthusiastic thumbs up.

We do a lot of biking, hiking and foraging and I don't always appreciate having a hydration backpack to weigh me down. This pack is really nice and with a few subtle improvements, could be truly amazing. First the opportunities for improvement: The magnetic holder for the drinking tube could be a bit stronger. It stays put during biking and walking but if you tend to go off-trail, it can get knocked loose. The bladder itself sits sideways and doesn't allow for it to be completely filled, and there is no paddle-style handle like on other Camelbak products so it can be a pain to remove to fill and clean. Finally, the drinking tube comes uninsulated, so I had to add that myself. I think that is a must-have to keep water in the tube even reasonably cool in direct sun. The good far outweighs the bad though. The materials and construction are top quality. The mesh back and thick padding make it easy to carry and it doesn't shift with movement at all. The extra pouches to carry things are nice as well as you can fit bug repellant, sunscreen, pepper spray, etc. in them nicely. The zippers are good quality as well. Overall, this is a great pack if you want lighter weight hydration in something way more convenient than trying to schlep around water bottles and deal with the waste after drinking.

It's way too small in volume. It is misleading to call it a "5L" capacity lumbar pack because once you subtract the 1.5L for the bladder, you've only got 3.5L left, and then about 1L of that is open compartments for storing bottles in which nothing else will fit safely without falling out, plus an open pocket on the side that you could not put anything valuable in without it being at risk of falling out on the trail too. There is no dedicated phone pocket so you need to cram it in with all the other stuff in the main compartment, and not one part is waterproof part and no cover is supplied, so good luck with your electronics if it rains or if you end up in the water. Most of the pack is taken up by the "Air support pro" padding which really is just a marketing gimmick that becomes completely useless the moment you hit the trail because 1. it doesn't actually keep you any cooler or less sweaty and 2. mud and debris enter it immediately and then are extremely difficult to clean out. Also, the tube on the bladder is too short for taller users (over 6ft), so that again takes away from the one decent part of the product, which would otherwise have been the bladder. I really wish Camelbak would let real athletes and consumers who will use these packs give input in the prototype and design stages so that they would create decent products. This is the third pack that I've bought from Camelbak that is functionally horrendous but I buy because I want the bladder from it. Unless Camelbak change to being much more functional in future I'll just buy the bladder or go for another brand that has the end-user in mind.

Works great and versatile. I’ve taken this on a few mountain summit hikes and a Grand Canyon hike (rim to rim) and it is perfect. For shorter hikes, I use the bladder and straw. For the rim to rim, since there’s lots of water stations, I used the water bottle pockets so I would have more room for snacks. Light weight and comfortable.

This is the right size for me for 3ish hour sessions. The H2O bladder is a nice size and easy to access. I can fit a few tools and snacks inside the pack, with a few treats in the bottle pouches on the outside, all of which allows me to keep the bike frame clear for single track trails and features riding. The pack is comfortable to wear and, in my experience, much nicer than wearing a backpack (including my camelbak lobo).