Product:

BearVault BV300 (company site)

What's Good:

Black and Grizzly Certified, Great Seat, Water Proof, See-Through

What's Bad:

Lid Lip Catches on Safety Latch, Scratches

Last year I had the pleasure of using two BearVaults for a few shorter trips in the summer. I posted my review here. I lucked out and actually had the pleasure/fright of having a bear try to get my food. The product performed wonderfully, the bear was thwarted and we still had our food in the morning. This year I put my old BearVaults, and a new model, to a much bigger test. A big enough test to deserve it’s own review.

My two previous BearVaults were standard issue first generation BearVaults. (Model BV200). This year BearVault released a new upgraded model (Model BV300) and a smaller version (Model BV250) for smaller trips. I got my hands on both the new and improved larger model and the smaller model. While I haven’t had an honest chance to put the smaller one to the test, I did have an extraodinary chance to test the larger model.

In late August a group of friends and I traversed the Blow-Me-Down Mountains and the Lewis Hills on the big island of Newfoundland. It was a week long trek that took us 70km through bogs, rivers, cliffs, and canyons. It was spectacular. We didn’t see another human being. Each member in our group carried a full sized BearVault. The others having the older model and me having the new model. While we were not attacked by bears the vaults proved to be very much worth their weight.

The new model of the BearVault has a differently molded body and a completely redone lid. While the new body didn’t make a big difference to me the new lid did. The new lids are far easier to get on and off. There is a more definitive “snap” when it locks into place, and it is a little thicker for those of us with larger hands. The only issue with the new lid design that I noticed is that when screwing the lid on you need to watch that the lower lip of the lid doesn’t catch on the safety latch. I had this happen quite a few times but once I took note of it I was able to avoid it.

The Bearvaults really came in handy on this rugged trip for a couple of reasons. These reasons are not specific to the new model.

Sitting: It’s a blessing to have a nice, reliable, flat, non rock, place to sit. Especially in the “kitchen” where your vaults are for the majority of the time.

Dry: It rained the majority of our trip. Our food was always dry, dry, dry. The Bearvaults are virtually waterproof. Not having to worry about your food becoming waterlogged was comforting. I also would stick other moisture prone objects in the vault to protect them. Camera, Electronics, books, etc.

See-Through: This is one of the big selling points of these cannisters over the competitors. You can actually see what is inside of them! That helps a lot. While it helps to sort and find your own stuff in a group it became invaluable. Most of the time we were able to figure out who had that meal we were wanting to eat without having to open the lids. As the cannisters get a little more scratched up I think this will become a little harder.

All in all the BearVaults were once again a plus. While they didn’t fend off bears this time around they made our backcountry travel that much more enjoyable. They gave us peace of mind from water and animals, and a comfortable stool to rest a weary behind on after a long day of hiking.