Despite being lucky enough to have reviewed hundreds—possibly thousands—of products over the last 35 years, from utensils to Unimogs, I’m not the least bit jaded. I still love doing it, and I still get excited whenever a box shows up at our mail depot with some new bit of kit to try.
I am, however, harder to impress than I used to be. And I’ve noticed that certain types of product—lightweight stoves, backpacking tents, binoculars, 12V fridges, and camp seating come immediately to mind—tend to go a long time between genuine innovations.
Until recently that was the case with portable water containers. You had your blue steel NATO can—my longtime standby—the Scepter, the Reliance, and a host of generic plastic five-gallon/20-liter clones. The Lifesaver can stood out for its purification function, but otherwise it was pretty much a standard H2O jerry can. The Rotopax was innovative in terms of its shape and mounting hardware, but (very) expensive as a system, and again more or less just a container. (It’s also, through no fault of the company, become something of a caricature as a de rigueur external accessory to announce that you are driving an OVERLANDING VEHICLE.)
Then, at this spring’s Overland Expo West, I was introduced to Dometic’s new GO Hydration Water Jug. Two minutes into the rep’s spiel, I knew it was different. Revolutionary might be too strong a word, but it’s got genuinely clever innovation in every feature. After the show, for the first time in a long time, I actually pestered my contact at Dometic to get a review sample. It took a while because it seemed others had been impressed too: the units frequently sell out.
Why was I so impressed? Let’s look at the product and the thinking behind it.
First, the designers realized that a full five-gallon jerry can of water, which weighs 45 pounds give or take depending on the container, is an awkward thing to carry, not so much due to the weight as the awkwardness of having the weight all on one side. So they essentially cut the dimensions of a jerry can in half. Turn a Dometic jug on its narrow side and stack another on top of it. The two take up just about the same space as a single standard jerry can, and in fact will fit in many jerry can holders. Yet each jug holds 11 liters, 22 for a pair. That’s 5.8 gallons, more even than a NATO can. Despite that, two full Dometic jugs, one on each side, are far easier to carry than a single jerry can with less capacity. One-and-a-quarter inch (removable) webbing straps help with comfort.
Upright, the jug is stable, and two grooves in the top rim facilitate securely strapping it down (or you can use the carrying straps).
There are two openings in the top. The smaller one is, cleverly, a standard 63mm Nalgene size and thread, which means you can screw any one of a number of water filters directly onto it to fill the can with filtered/purified water. Remove the cap and you’ll see a rubber flow control plug, which allows you to tip and fill small containers without spillover. A groove in the bottom of the can provides a secure grip for your bottom hand. Remove the flow control to quickly empty or fill the jug. In addition to the cap, the Dometic jug comes with a twist-valve replacement cap, to allow simple gravity feed with the can on its side.
The other, larger cap, unscrews to reveal an opening large enough to insert your hand and forearm for scrubbing when necessary—something few if any other water containers allow. It’s big enough to allow filling the can from a bucket with little if any spillage. The cap itself incorporates a screw-down breather, to avoid vacuum lock when dispensing from the tap or pump, and a CPC quick-connect fitting that is connected to a silicone feed tube which reaches the bottom of the can.
The fitting is used with the Dometic can’s nifty option: a USB rechargeable pump that dispenses water with a double tap on a touch-sensitive switch, and automatically shuts off after one liter or one minute, in case you set it to fill a pot and wander off and forget because you’ve just noticed the black bear rummaging through your Dometic fridge. The pump has a magnetic base, and comes with two plates which you can affix with adhesive pads to the can itself or anywhere else. The pump will also obviously stick to a steel bumper, tailgate, or the edge of a truck bed. (Land Rover and newer Ford pickup owners will need to use the stick-on plates.) An LED lights up the spigot area in the dark. Nice.
The Dometic Hydration Jug is made of food-grade (did they need to tell us that?) LDPE, and these things are stout. I stood on top of one that was erect, then I stood on it laying on its side. It didn’t squeak. Yeah, I’m probably lighter than the average American these days at 150 pounds or so, but you get the picture.
See why I was impressed? And in use, every feature functions just as it’s supposed to. The rechargeable pump is neat, but you don’t really need it; the included twist valve and gravity feed works just fine, especially given the breather.
A single Dometic Hydration Jug would be worth having even if you already have bulk water storage in your vehicle. Having a portable 11 liters of water with either a spout or a lighted pump would be handy in many situations—carry it to a picnic table if you’re transiting and staying at Jellystone Park. In fact, with the pump you could easily rig one of these as an impromptu shower.
Dometic has released a flurry of well-designed new products in the last year. The GO Hydration Jug is one of the best. Highly recommended.
Find Dometic here.