 I'm looking for a shoulder strap mounted water bottle holder, the ones you get with the lowe alpine rush 25 bag are pretty much exactly what i want. I know raidlight do one but £18 seems extortionate! mountain laurel also do one for a reasonable price but then i've got to pay shipping. are there any other options out there?
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My Macpac Amp 35 - a precursor of the Macpac Amp Race 40 here - just uses a length of elastic cord, arranged into two loops about 10cm apart threaded through the webbing on the shoulder straps, tightened with a toggle. Useful for all sorts of things apart from water bottles - hats, gloves etc. If you had a known size of water bottle, two tight elastic loops might well be enough - forget the toggle.
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 Thats a pity I could have bunged it on my MLD order - which I made last night! A lot of MMarathoners do what ALS suggests.
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 Thankyou- will give that a try.
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Lifeventure do a water bottle holder that can be adapted for shoulder straps or put it on your waist belt. Or, how about the OMM chest pouch, that takes a water bottle as well as map, compass and snacks.
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 Golite do a waist water bottle pouch but its £20. The bottle is 600ml. Lot of dosh really, like the idea of just using elastic as most bottles have a thinner neck area and graded plastic moulding that should be held nicely by elastic.
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A few elastic loops dotted about all over your pack weigh almost nothing and can be used to secure, sometimes only temporarily, all sorts of stuff. I find ones on shoulder straps to be particularly handy.
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 I use the elastic loop method for holding gloves and hat, very handy. I often take my running water bottle as it has a strap arangement for strapping it to your hand which can also be strapped to your rucksack harness. It has a wee zipped mesh pocket for your house/car key when running and I like to stick a couple of Nuun hydration tabs in there. Thats why I take the bottle actually, as I use a source bladder but like to keep just water in there as some of it will be used for cooking with. Ill see if I can dig up a pic.
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| Edited: 22/04/08 11:39 |
 Ultimate direction bottle Cant see any pics on my Hard drive with the bottle in action as I walk solo and am not in the habit of photographing my chest
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| Edited: 22/04/08 11:46 |

Just took these, dunno if this helps?
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 Its just clipped on with two Alpkit mini clipper type carabiners.
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 thankyou everyone for your ideas- i had just ordered a lifeventure holder (it's actually a pouch not a holder, hence the lack of google results!  ) when i read tyhe elastic idea and cancelled my order  your idea looks good, bbf, that's exactly what i'm after. but i think i want something that i can get out of the holder more easily. i'm going to pick up a camelbak bottle ( the more sports type one not the nalgene type) and have a go at elasticating it. then i should be able to just stick my gob on it in the holder or get out for more rapid rehydration! i've just got sacked off with all the hassle that having a bladder entails.
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 I picked up a Raidlight bottle holder via Ebay last week. I think I paid about £8 for it. There's another one ending in about half an hour. Otherwise, as others have said, bungies and mini krabs are your friend.
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This is probably a stupid idea, but I wonder whether you could attach a bike type bottle cage such as any of these to your pack in some way. It would mean you could get the bottle in and out easily. Otherwise I imagine you need to use one of the drinking straw type AR bottles - which cyclists gave up using decades ago.
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 dammit, just missed the raidlight listing, it went for a fiver too 
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 The US Armed forces 2 quart bottle comes in a pouched holder-furry lined to keep water cool-and comes on a good robust strap too. They sell those at Nomad travelshops or online from the main Nomad website, or go to your local army surplus. I have always used those for years and years and years. They're fab! 
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 Hi-Gear sell a strap uniit that snugly holds a big supermarkets standard sized water bottle quite readily. It is a good option for water for walks, but not so useful an item for backpackers though maybe! Available from many High-Gear kit stockists countrywide or online from Travel Paraphernalia.com. 
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| Edited: 22/04/08 19:09 |
 Thankyou everyone- i tried the elastic option last night and it worked a treat- spent my money on a camelbak bottle instead. first impressions of the bottle are very good- i thought it was a bit of a gimmick and heavy too,(the nalgene not the sports type which is the one i got.) however in position in the elastics i cam reach my head over and suck at the mouthpiece ( there's a tube that goes to the bottom of the bottle.) the mouthpiece comes offf, and there's a stem i can stick a small section of tube onto for even easier access, combining the best bits of a bladder and a bottle. lovely.
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