Best Slings for Hydro Flasks

Our Review of Hydro Flask’s Carrying Pouches – Which is the Best, and What are Good Alternatives?

3/3/2023

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Our Review of Hydro Flask’s Carrying Pouches – Which is the Best, and What are Good Alternatives?

Content Overview:

Intro
Link to our Video Review
Hydro Flask's Packable Sling
Hydro Flask's Tag Along Sling
Hydro Flask's Slingback Bag
3rd Party Bottle Slings to Consider

Products Mentioned in this Post:

Hydro Flask Packable Bottle Sling
Hydro Flask Tag Along Bottle Sling
Hydro Flask Slingback Bottle Pack
More Storage – Wild Wolf Bottle Sling (32oz)
Leather – HikerPouch
Budget – BottlePro’s Neoprene Sling
Paracord Sling – Wontego 2.0 Paracord Bottle Sling
Just a Handle – QeeCord Paracord Carrying Handle
Best for the Gym – Bottle Caddy

Which Hydro Flask Bottle Sling is the Best?

Hydro Flask has two bottle slings, the Packable and the Tag Along. We’re reviewing how they are different, which one you should get, and whether any alternative options could be better for you. The short answer is that different pouches are better for different situations, and at the end of the post we’ll give our opinions on why you might want to pick one over another.

Video Review

Our YouTube video covers the same information in this post, so click the link if you'd rather see the video. Otherwise, keep reading the full post below!

Review of Hydro Flask's Packable Sling

Hydro Flask's Packable Sling

See Amazon Listing

First, we’ll start with Hydro Flask’s Packable sling. Some benefits are:

Lightweight: It’s just under 2 ounces, so you’ll hardly be adding any extra weight on your walks.
Packable: As the name says, it’s very packable. You can even fold it up into a built-in pocket, which certainly helps save on space and makes this a great option to stow in the car, a bag, or wherever else you might end up needing it.

But there are a few downsides to keep in mind.

Shoulder Strap: The shoulder strap doesn’t have any extra padding, so it’s not as comfortable on longer hikes with a heavy bottle.
Lack of Large Pockets: It doesn't have a built-in larger pocket that's meant for your phone, keys, or other accessories.
- Side note: you can technically use the pocket that's meant to let you pack the sling into itself for stowing, but the pocket is a tight fit for larger phones.
Durability: We’re not sure how well this pouch would hold up to continuous use due to the thin plastic construction.
More Difficult to Insert the Bottle: We found it a little difficult to get the bottle into the pouch because the material is so flexible, but maybe this is something that just takes some getting used to.
- Side note: this definitely got easier as we tested out the pouch more! It helps to hold the pouch at the connection points with the strap.
Expensive: The 32oz size shown here is currently $24.95, which seems steep for what you get, but it’s a Hydro Flask product so you can expect to pay a premium for the logo.

All-in-all, this bottle sling is successful in what it was primarily designed for, which is to be super portable and stowable. This makes it a great choice for certain situations like keeping it in your car or pack for whenever you might need it, but this is not the best sling for daily use.

Review of Hydro Flask's Tag Along Sling

Hydro Flask's Tag Along Sling

See Amazon Listing

Next we’ll look at the Tag Along. Some benefits are:

Easier to Use: It’s easier to get your bottle in this pouch compared to the packable sling, which makes it quicker and simpler to use each day.
Phone Pouch: We also love that they added a pouch with a flexible mesh material to hold your phone. It comfortably fit this iPhone which is roughly 3” wide and 6” tall, but anything larger than that would start to be a tight fit.
More Comfortable Shoulder Strap: The woven strap feels much better and is more comfortable compared to the packable sling.
Still Lightweight: At 4 ounces, the Tag Along pouch is heavier than the packable sling, but it’s still super lightweight and great for longer hikes.
Easier to Clean: The fabric is coated with what feels like a plastic liner. The intent of the coating is to make the pouch easier to clean, and in that way Hydro Flask succeeded.

But this also leads to the first downside.

Plasic-y Feel: There’s something about the synthetic, plastic-y feel of this pouch that doesn’t feel right to us, though we acknowledge that’s just our preference.
Strap Could Be Better: Although the strap is more comfortable than the packable sling, it still doesn’t have any extra padding so it might get a little uncomfortable on really long hikes with heavy bottles.
Two Clips that Many People Won't Need: There are also two clips that let you attach the bottle pouch to a Hydro Flask Day Escape Soft Cooler. This sounds like a cool feature and we wish we had the budget to buy a cooler to test it out, but instead we just ended up taking out the clips so the sling was more comfortable on our backs.
Expensive: The 32oz size shown here is currently $39.95, which like with the packable sling seems steep but is to-be-expected for a Hydro Flask brand product.

Overall, the Tag Along bottle sling is a really good option for daily use. It comes in two sizes, so be sure to check which one is good for you.

Hydro Flask's Slingback Bottle Pack

See Amazon Listing

One Hydro Flask brand option that we didn’t review was their newer Slingback bottle pack. This thing looks really cool and seems like it would be the best option for longer hikes and walks because of the extra storage and padded strap. We hope to test it out in the near future.

Summary of Hydro Flask Sling Options

Overall, we recommend getting the Packable Sling if you’d like to store a carrying pouch in your car or pack for whenever you might need it.

But for everyday use, the Tag Along is the more user-friendly and useful Hydro Flask sling.

And definitely consider trying the Slingback if you’re looking for more of a backpack for longer hikes or walks and let us know what you think below.

3rd Party Slings for Hydro Flasks

Before you buy a Hydro Flask product, you should also look at the competition. Here are a few ones to consider.

Wild Wolf Outfitters Bottle Sling (32oz)

More Storage

Wild Wolf Outfitters has a great pouch that gives plenty of storage and has a more rugged look with a padded shoulder strap. This is a great option for longer hikes.

See Amazon Listing

BottlePro's HikerPouch

Leather

Our HikerPouch is the best option if you’re looking for a leather Hydro Flask carrier. Each HikerPouch comes with a tin of leather conditioner to keep your sling in good shape for years.

See Our Amazon Listing

BottlePro's Neoprene Sling

Budget

For a more budget-friendly option, you can also look at our neoprene slings which are currently $9.95.

See our Amazon Listing

Wontego's Paracord Sling

Paracord Sling

Paracords and Hydro Flask's have a colorful history together! For man color options for paracord slings, consider Wontego’s shoulder-strap paracord design.

See Amazon Listing