CamelBak Palos 4 LR Hydration Waist

Almost perfect hip pack and may never go back to shoulder packs again.Takes a few rides to get a feel for how to adjust the hip straps for your taste. Personally, I ride with the strap around my belly button (just above my shorts), and with the pack hanging a bit lower. No bounce or movement for me climbing or descending. I will since the bladder straps once in a while to pull everything tight.A few changes:1. I have velcro so I chose to cut off the velcro that keeps the tool pouch from flopping out the sides. In its place, I zip tied some washer magnets into the mesh. Clean and simple2. I don't care for the elastic strap guides CamelBak always provides. These stretch over time and become more hassle than they're worth. Cut them off and just tuck away the ends of the straps3. Hydration hose was way too long and the excess bouncing during a ride would actually overcome the magnet clip that retains the mouthpiece to the pack. I measured how much hose is actually needed and trimmed off a section4. Doesn't fit an iphone6 or samsung s6 well in it's side pockets so I usually just don't bring a phone if I'm with others.What I bring:1. small first aid pack with butterfly closures and zip ties2. bundled common allen keys with T253. chain breaker with masterlink4. valve cores with core remover5. 2 2oz stans sealant6. 2 co2 cartridges with inflator7. lezyne carbon road pump8. topeak dxg shock pump9. usually 1-1.5L water in the hydration bladder10. snacks and keys in the side pouchThe only reason I would use my shoulder pack again would be for longer rides 20+ miles where I would need more water (no access to streams for sawyer filter) and/or know trail maintenance might be required (where I would bring my silky gomboy).

This pack works OK but far from great. It doesn't work as well as it should give the very high price. The strap comes loose and there is no good way to stop that from happening (I tried many different solutions that I learned from Youtube videos. They helped, but nothing actually solved the problem. The water gradually leaks and gets the pack all wet. The pockets are poorly designed and organized.I use this for mountain biking and I don't know of a better waist pack, but I was hoping for more from this one.

This has some nice features, but the biggest issue is that the straps just don't stay put. You find yourself stopping and cinching down that little bit numerous times throughout a ride. I only used it temporarily due to a shoulder injury which prevented me from bearing weight on my shoulder, and for that use it was adequate. Longer term and I think it would get annoying to the point you'd stop using it. There is a newer version out, and I would assume they improved the strap tension issue, but I haven't used one personally to be able to vouch.

Doesn’t work for aggressive mountain biking, even strapped as tight as possible it still slips down. Quality product and great size, but it needs suspenders.

I like the concept. Unfortunately for some reason Camelbak used the worst possible buckles to adjust the strap. They do not work, at all. Today during a mountain bike ride I felt the pack slowly come loose and hang low on my waist. I even used zip ties to keep them in place, that barely helped. Buyer beware!

The hydration hose gets in the way and tends to fall off the magnet when I stand up to pedal or when I dismount. But I secured it behind me and it is no longer a problem. Also worth noting you can put a lot of stuff in this thing. 2 tubes, mini pump, tire levers, rain jacket, multi tool and two cliff bars all while the bladder is full. Way to bring the fanny back.

I haven't tested it fully yet, gonna go with 4 stars for now. The strap digs in a bit around my waste but the whole bag is built well. It has an ok amount of space after filling the bladder, which is in fact 1.5L despite what others have stated in their reviews(which I think is due to the way the volume markers are printed on the bag). The "tool roll" is a nice touch as well.

Product holds water. The way the hydration hose is positioned leaves extra hose no matter how you place it. Seems to slip alot.