Saturday was a beauty in Cape Town, and a sunset hike up Lion’s Head was a great excuse to test the BlueDesert SmarTube for myself.
Use any bottle – the SmarTube comes with two different adaptor sizes.
The kit comes with two bottle-adaptor caps and the smaller option screwed perfectly onto my store-bought bottle of water. Setup was quick and easy – I just inserted the tube through the adaptor cap, screwed it tight, and placed the bottle upright in my bag as instructed. I shook it around upside-down a bit anyway, just to see what would happen, but no water leaked out. Good to know.
The mouth piece is also leak free. My usual bladder pack doesn’t have a separate cut-off valve and water does tend to drip a little, especially when I’m running. The SmarTube mouth piece didn’t drip when open, but it can’t hurt to have an extra value just in case.
The path wraps around Lion’s Head, with beautiful views over the city.
The straw/tube itself is one metre long – plenty long enough to get to the bottom of the two-litre drinking bottle and up over my shoulder. All-in-all it worked exactly as I would expect it to – as good a drinking system as any normal hydration pack, just a lot easier to stow. A normal hydration bladder is something I need to remember to pack in advance, but this little tube can live at the bottom of my day pack and I know it’ll be a handy companion on plenty of future hikes.
Sunset views from Lion’s Head.
Remember. subscribe to Getaway during September and you’ll get one of these SmarTubes for free. If you miss the offer, you can still pick up a SmarTube from their online store.
