BV500-Journey

I recently used the BV475 on a 5-day backpacking trip, and overall, I am very pleased with its performance. This bear canister is large enough to accommodate my dietary needs, which include aiming for 3000 calories per day, roughly equating to a maximum of 2 lbs of food. When packed properly, the BV475 provided ample space to store all my meals, ensuring I could eat healthily throughout my adventure. Pros: - Spacious: The BV475's capacity is impressive, easily fitting enough food for an extended trip. With careful packing, I had no trouble fitting in all my meals. - Durable: The canister is sturdy and well-constructed, offering reliable protection against bears and other wildlife. - Ease of Use: The lid mechanism is straightforward, making it easy to open and close even in challenging conditions. - Visibility: The transparent design allows for quick identification of contents without needing to open the canister repeatedly. Cons: - Weight: Like most bear canisters, the BV475 adds some weight to your pack. However, the peace of mind it provides is well worth the extra pounds. - Size: While the size is great for longer trips, it might be a bit bulky for shorter outings or if space is a critical concern. Overall, the BV475 is an excellent investment for any serious backpacker. Its capacity and durability make it a reliable companion for ensuring your food stays safe and secure in the wilderness. I highly recommend it for anyone planning extended trips into bear country.

The BV-425 is perfect for shorter backpacking trips. The size can easily store enough food for a weekend backpacking trip. Bear canisters play an important part in managing the wilderness and leaving no trace. I highly recommend. My scale weighed the canister at 27.45 oz or 778 grams. ** Bonus Tip on Opening ** This small size of this bear canister makes it the most difficult Bear Vault to open. When opening you need to both hold the bottom of the canister in place and rotate the lid. The small canister reduces the surface area and gripping area to hold onto while opening. Place the Bear Vault between your legs/knees to hold in place. Then take a plastic card (old credit card or used gift card) and place between the canister stopper and the lid nub. Position the card center with the lid nub. Then rotate the lid in a counterclockwise direction. This does take practice and sometimes the plastic card will fall out. I find holding the plastic card with one hand in position and rotating the lid works best for me. Practice is key. When the Bear Canister gets cold (normally in the mornings) you want to have this technique perfected. The cold temperature makes the lid more rigid and difficult to open. Good luck and happy trails!

Very spacious and good use for bear country! Used this for a 2 night backpacking trip and it held several mountain house meals, ramen, canned goods, and other small scented items. Made sure to put it away from our campsite and nothing got to it. Only if I knew about these during my Yellowstone trip! Couldn’t recommend enough.

Just took my BearVault on a two-week trip down the John Muir Trail. First things first. This product was completely unnecessary, because there are only smallish black bears on the JMT. For some reason, the rangers insist that you carry a bulky, heavy bear canister to do a job that a well-hung bag would do just fine. Now that that is off my chest ... This product works exactly as advertised, with three major problems. 1) The reviews stating that it can be difficult to open on the trail are correct. I had dismissed these reports soon after my vault arrived, because I found it to be very easy to open .... at home. Turns out there is a big difference between opening one of these things at home and opening one on the trail with cold, dried-up hands. I found that I needed to have a small, strong stick of just the right dimensions on-hand, and even then it was a pain each time. 2) Use as a seat. It can be used as a seat, but it specifically says not to do this unless it is fully closed (to protect the threads I guess), and because of problem 1, I tried not to close it completely unless I really needed to. So it ended up being sat on much less than I would have liked. 3) sheer bulk. This is probably a problem with all of these cylinders, but the BearVault seems especially big around. There seems to be no good comfortable way to fit it in a standard backpack. If it is empty you can carry it on top easily enough, but when it is full of food this causes an enormous weight imbalance that I cannot tolerate. Same situation for strapping it to the outside. So down it goes in the bottom of my pack, but then, even with a well-padded waist belt, I was still getting painful pressure on the small of my back. I was able to compensate by stuffing some clothing articles in between, but this was an annoyance throughout the trip. So, for its primary mission, keeping out critters, I guess it did just fine, although I was unaware of any critters trying to get in. It does hold (with devoted cramming) at least 7-10 days of food for one person. But the other annoyances keep me from giving it a full 5 stars.

Excellent for 2-3 days food max, more if you reduce packaging of freeze dried Mountain House packaging. The great advantage of this bear canister is the see through, both for seeing what needs removal and where to stuff a small item between others to pack as much as possible, I wouldn't consider an opaque canister any longer. Also excellent doubling as a chair in the back country, the manufacturer recommends fully seating the lid when used as a chair however I found it is well made and can support my weight when the lid is 95% closed and unlocked. The locking tabs can be somewhat trying to master but once done it is not terribly difficult to open, however when using the vault simply leave it in the unlocked position and lock it only when needing the bearproof feature. The lid can also double as a plate or a small place to keep items off the ground. I also liked the weight savings of this smaller size and can extend my backpacking time if I place my first days food outside this....and am confident that it doesn't impose a risk to me or the bear, in California the black bears are pretty tame. There are likely many other uses for this at home, I use it to store other backpacking gear such as utensils, nalgene bottles etc.

I used these for a canoe camping trip. I bought two of them for two people and a dog for a four day camping trip. Everything including dog food, our food, snacks, bug spray for us and the dog, sun screen, and medications all fit. We could have probably just done one for the two of us without the dog, so they have a decent amount of room. The locking lid is a little hard to figure out at first. I found it is easiest to push the locking piece down as you spin the lid toward it so that it is already down when the piece reaches the lock. The lock will also be stiff at first, and it will get easier with time. It is also relatively easy to clean. My fishing bait spilled in it, and I was able to wash it up and remove the odor of the synthetic bait. I would not use it for a stool though. It is durable enough, but it really isn’t comfortable to sit on, and I ended up sitting on the ground. I didn’t buy it to be a stool as its primary purpose though, so that’s okay. I can’t say how it would hold up with a bear. It seems durable, and based on the way bear barrels are certified using problem grizzlies from Yellowstone at a facility to test and certify them, I think it would do rather well with the black bears I have in this region. It is heavy to carry in a backpack, but I prefer that over hanging my food because its hard to find a good enough tree to follow regulations in the Boundary waters to secure the bag. The bear barrel follows all regulations and makes sure you aren’t accidentally feeding bears and other wildlife, causing them to become a problem and require removal. These bear barrels will make sure you are keeping you safe, other campers safe, and wildlife safe. I will buy again in the future if I need more for a larger group. I will also add that they do somewhat mask the odor of your food. I had gulp bait spill in it, and I couldn’t smell it until I opened it. Obviously a bear would likely still smell it, but at least it seems to dull the smell a little.

I'm very happy with my purchase! It arrived in great shape with all the necessary stickers and instructions. Wonderful service from seller!

Okay, so, I finally got my BearVault 450 and got to take it out on a 4 day backpacking trip. I almost didn't buy this cannister because of all the reviews where people said it was too hard to open. But, I sat down with myself, and I said "self, you're trying to protect your food from animals with varying levels of dexterity. If you have to struggle to open it, at least you'll have the peace of mind that your campsite won't be ransacked." I went ahead and bought it. All I can say is....woa! I had concerns about this thing to be a struggle to open, but it was so easy! The place above the tab where you are supposed to push is clearly marked with ridges, and I didn't have to hold the cannister down or pinch it between my legs. I used one thumb and one hand and had no trouble opening this. Maybe it is because I have small fingers and the hands of a massage therapist? Either way, I do question what is so difficult about opening this. I did see some reviews about it being harder to open in the cold. I was out on a night that dropped into the low 40s and didn't notice any change in the rigidity of the plastic or ease of opening. There might be a lower temperature threshold for that, and if there is, I haven't had the chance to test it out yet. I saw a few reviews about the threads getting stuck. While I was out on the trail, I did get the lid stuck once, but it got stuck on the corner of one of my food bags, not the threading. I made sure to tuck them in below the lip of the opening and never had any snags again! It seems like as long as the cannister isn't over filled and nothing inside is packed in a way that touches the lid, it has less of a chance of getting stuck. The next concern I saw people have was the weight. I packed this cannister for a 4 day trip for me and my dog, including meals, snacks, kibble, and treats. Kibble is not that light and my dog eats 2 cups a day! After all that, the whole weight of the cannister and food was only 5 lbs. I don't know what kinds of meals people are packing to make this thing weigh 10+ pounds for a weekend trip, but if you know your camping food and pack consciously, then weight shouldn't be a problem. Lastly, there are a lot of negative reviews for this cannister in the Adirondacks. In the research I did (assuming it is accurate), you can't legally use any bear cannister in the Adirondacks that isn't approved by the rangers or one you rent from a trailhead. While that might be limiting to this particular cannister, there are thousands of other places around the US that I would love to go where I can bring this cannister. If I ever go to the Adirondacks, I will go in knowing I need to rent one of their cannisters. Easy problem to solve. Other than that, the design is emaculate. The large opening makes packing, reorganizing, and finding what you need so easy, as does the transparency. This can hold a lot of food when packed correctly, and it fits perfectly in my 75L backpack with the rest of my gear. It also makes a nice seat/stool when needed. I'll be getting the BearVault 500 next!

This is the perfect size canister as it will JUST fit in sideways in most 50-60 L packs, yet carry 5-6 days of food. Love that it’s clear so you can locate your stuff better, and I don’t know why some people complain it’s hard to open. It seemed easy enough to me. It does work alright as a camp stool, although the lid kind of creaked and flexed a little which made me cautious (I’m 205 lbs). Highly recommended though even if a canister is not officially required on your hike. So easy just to pack up at night and set down somewhere away from your camp. I can tell you from experience that most hikers get lazy/tired and stop doing improper hangs after the first night or two on the trail (or there’s a lack of appropriate trees), so I really wish all hikers would just carry one of these.

Fits more than we expected and packs well on a motorcycle. Haven't had a bear try to get into it yet but will update if that ever happens...

Thankfully haven't encountered a bear yet but so far it's been great for keeping my food safe from smaller critters that have checked it out overnight. Fits comfortably into a Gregory Jade 53L bag with no issues (tested in a Gregory Stout 70L as well). So far I love it despite the added weight over using a bear hang bag.

Really like the product, just takes a bit to get used to opening it.

This is a good option for a couple days of food, however, I find it very hard to open. With cold or wet hands I couldn't open it at all one morning. Not sure if it is just me or ?