The MSR Deluxe Dromedary Bag is a monster of a water bladder. The useful sizes for us (ruckers) are their 2 liter and 4 liter models, but they have 6 liter and 10 liter models as well (good luck with one of those on a Challenge.) It’s made out of 500-denier and 1,000-denier Cordura so you know it can take the abuse and it includes a limited life-time warranty (which I’ve never had to take advantage of.) This review will be about the 4 liter model so the sizing and fit sections will probably be different if you’re only looking for a 2 liter bladder.
Size/Fit
The bladder is sized very well at 19 inches tall and 10 inches wide. It fits easily within the main compartment of the GORUCK GR1 but it does not fit in the bladder pocket. It doesn’t fit because of the way the hose comes off of the bladder in a perpendicular direction. This makes it too wide when trying to slide it back in there. Because of this you need to keep it in the main compartment which is only an issue if your ruck is stuffed to the brim… but if that’s the case you probably have bigger issues.
Quality/Durability
As far as I can tell this bladder is as durable as they come. I’ve used it plenty in training sessions and my wife ended up using it in a GORUCK Light event as well. There were no rips, tears, and anything resulting from these experiences… it actually still looks brand new. For the price I really do think you’re getting a good piece of equipment.
Mouth Piece
Ontario Geardo pointed something out in the comments that made me remember one of the reasons I dislike using this bladder so much for endurance events. There is no cover on the mouth piece and the mouth piece is made by soft plastic that can easily get dirt in it. This means that when you’re on the sand you either have to be extra diligent to ensure nothing gets on it or you’re going to have a fun time sucking sand out of the bladder.
Overall
Overall this is a great quality water bladder especially for the price. While I could see this doing amazingly well camping or hiking I’m not sure if a GORUCK Challenge is the place for this bladder. There’s a few reasons for this one of which is that it does not fit within the bladder section of a GR1. In addition, filling it can be a hassle as the bag can collapse on itself when empty. The collapsing feature is nice because it progressively takes up less space but when you’re trying to fill it up quickly sometimes it can be impossible. See below for a picture of it collapsed. Add all of that together with the mouth piece that you need to protect and I’d say this bladder works great for hiking but not so great for endurance events like the GORUCK Challenge.
If you’d like to buy the bag you can do so from Amazon.
Events
The MSR Deluxe Dromedary Bag (4L) has been used in the following events:
GORUCK Light 067
The wife loved the bladder during GRL 067. It did everything it was supposed to… namely didn’t break and supplied her with water.
Great review! I used a 2L Dromedary for my GoRuck challenge and it performed well. The only modification I made was to add a Camelbak mouth piece cap so that when we got wet and sandy it stayed out of the muck.
I also have a 10L bladder for when I go camping. I like that the Katadyn filter I have and the MSR filter can connect directly to the bladder without exposing the filtered water to the elements.
You have a great blog here. Keep up the awesome work!
Great call on the Camelbak mouthpiece! How hard was it to attach? One of my least favorite parts of this bladder is that there is no covering for the mouthpiece.
Super easy actually. Just pulled it off my Camelbak HAWG and slid it on the MSR tube. Easy as pie :)
Great review. Love the site. Please keep up the good work.
Thankx