Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Everybody hates bear canisters. I hate packing them, I hate carrying them--well, you get the idea. But my wife and I do a lot of backpacking in the Sierras, where the rangers say you gotta have them. So, we've got one apiece. The thing to understand about bear canisters is that they are, of necessity, a compromise. They've got to be large enough to hold your food, but small enough to carry. So, any bear canister is going to be too small to carry all the food you'd like, and it's going to be too large to carry in your pack. That's just the nature of the compromise involved. The only question is how well a canister manages the compromise. The BV500 does as good a job as can be expected. It's large enough to hold food for one person for up to a week, so long as you pack only food that packs compactly, like Mountain House and beef jerky. It's larger than other full-size canisters, it lets you see what's inside, and it has a wide mouth, which makes it easy to get stuff in and out. At the same time, the BV500 is small enough that I can strap it to the outside of my internal-frame pack. If your pack has straps for attaching a tent to the outside, they should hold the BV 500--just use some mini-bungee cords to pull the straps together and keep them from sliding off the sides of the canister. Otherwise, use regular-size bungees to attach the canister to the back of the pack. A full canister is heavy enough that I do not recommend strapping it to the top of a pack. The BV500 is no easier or harder to open than any other canister. It can be a bit of a chore to open in cold weather, but I have found that sliding a pocket-knife blade under the catch makes it much easier to release. Finally, the BV500 is somewhat lighter than other full-size canisters. It's not as light as an Ursack, of course, but we hike in places where only canisters are permitted--no Ursacks. I have considered a carbon-fiber canister to get the canister weight down, but $200 seems a bit pricey. In short, I think the BV500 is the best at what it does. I still hate it, but can recommend it without hesitation.