Guide 4 min
Water bottle or bladder: which container weighs the least?
A 2 L bladder weighs 105 g, or 52.5 g per litre; a 0.8 L insulated bottle weighs 366 g. Nine real containers, compared to the gram.
In the WildKit catalogue, the lightest water container is a 2 L bladder: 105 g, or 52.5 g per litre of capacity. The heaviest per litre is a 0.8 L insulated stainless steel bottle: 366 g, or 457.5 g per litre. Between the two, each litre of capacity costs you 405 g more.
You drink the water on the way. The container stays in your pack until you get home, full or empty. It's the only weight in the water item you really choose.
Which water container is the lightest?
The bladder: 52.5 g per litre for the 2 L Forclaz MT500. The soft bottle comes next, at 80 g per litre. Rigid bottles start at 162.5 g per litre, and insulated ones go over 447.4 g.
| Container | Capacity | Empty weight | Weight per litre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forclaz MT500 water bladder | 2 L | 105 g | 52.5 g |
| Forclaz Trek 900 compressible soft bottle | 0.5 L | 40 g | 80 g |
| Platypus Big Zip EVO | 2 L | 171 g | 85.5 g |
| Quechua Ecozen bottle | 0.8 L | 130 g | 162.5 g |
| Quechua MH100 aluminium bottle | 0.75 L | 126 g | 168 g |
| Nalgene Wide Mouth (Tritan) | 1 L | 178 g | 178 g |
| CamelBak Chute Mag | 1 L | 200 g | 200 g |
| Hydro Flask Wide Mouth | 0.95 L | 425 g | 447.4 g |
| Quechua insulated stainless steel bottle | 0.8 L | 366 g | 457.5 g |
Weight per litre settles the question between containers of different sizes. The 0.5 L soft bottle weighs 40 g, less than the bladder, but 80 g per litre: more than it. And the type isn't enough: two 2 L bladders weigh 105 g and 171 g, a 66 g gap for the same capacity.
To carry 2 L, what should you pick?
A 2 L bladder, at 105 g: no combination in the table weighs less for the same capacity. Four soft bottles make 160 g, two 1 L bottles make 356 g.
| For 2 L | Units | Empty weight | More than the bladder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forclaz MT500 water bladder | one | 105 g | nothing |
| 0.5 L soft bottles | four | 160 g | 55 g |
| 1 L Nalgene Wide Mouth | two | 356 g | 251 g |
| 1 L CamelBak Chute Mag | two | 400 g | 295 g |
| 0.8 L insulated bottles (2.4 L) | three | 1098 g | 993 g |
That's also how the configurator works: for the water item, it picks the container that covers your litres with the fewest units. A filter doesn't count: it treats water, it doesn't carry it (see should you filter your water).
Is an insulated bottle worth its grams?
Only if keeping your drink hot or cold matters more than weight: per litre, it weighs 405 g more than the bladder. The catalogue's two double-wall stainless steel bottles weigh 366 g and 425 g, for less than a litre each.
If you want your hot drink in the evening, take just one. Put the rest of your water in a bladder or soft bottles: you keep the comfort without making every litre heavier.
What to remember
- Per litre of capacity, a 2 L bladder weighs 52.5 g, an insulated bottle 457.5 g.
- For 2 L, a 105 g bladder against 356 g for two 1 L bottles: a 251 g gap.
- At equal capacity, two 2 L bladders still differ by 66 g: read the weight, not just the type.
The container counts in your total weight, like everything else (see how much your bag should weigh). The same per-litre logic applies to the pack itself (see how much an empty backpack weighs). Give your trip to the configurator: it works out the water to carry and picks the container that covers it.
Written by Thanaël Fontaine. Published .