Hydrapak is the Manchester City Football Club to CamelBak’s Manchester United – less lauded, less glamorous but growing rapidly in effectiveness.
The new Morro model is perfect for rides up to and including the epic winter all-dayer, with enough space to cram in just about all the essentials.
It has a main compartment with a long zip that means you can lay the bag down and lift the front of it right out to expose the contents from top to bottom. No longer can errant 2mm Allen keys hide in those dark corners.
Add 13L of load capacity, a 3L bladder and a reasonably light 620g dry weight and you’ve got a highly useful pack. The plug and play hose is a great idea, as is the reversible bladder – especially for cleaning.
The Hydrapak Surge valve works well with good flow and no drips thanks to a positive action and lock feature. The magnetic hose clip takes a little positioning on the chest compression strap and a little practice to make using it second nature but once you’re accurate with it, the hose is never in your way.
The Morro likes to be opened while laying on its front, which gives great access to the main compartment and avoids getting the back panel wet on the ground while you search for whatever you need.
We’d have liked an external mesh pouch (or two) and maybe an elastic bungee strap, but neither of these is a deal-breaking omission on an otherwise sorted pack.