Review: Orange Mud HydraQuiver Single Barrel

Disclaimer: I purchased the Orange Mud HydraQuiver with my own money. I was not given this product to review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

If you've read any of my other posts or follow me on Twitter, I've been complaining recently about my hydration woes during my runs. I've been looking for a new hydration belt/pack/handheld/ANYTHING and I can't seem to find something that has:

A: A bottle big enough to suit me (I confess, I love to drink water while I run. Love it. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!)
B: A pouch large enough for all of the crap I carry- I have to carry my phone when I run. Even if I'm not listening to music, I feel safer when I have it. Plus I need space for fuel.
C: Some level of comfort

Enter the Orange Mud HydraQuiver into the conversation. I had done my research on different belts vs. packs and I always came back to Orange Mud. It looked so innovative! Then I started chatting with some runner friends on twitter and they ALL recommended it, so I thought why the heck not?! And I bought it.

My HydraQuiver came 2 days earlier than expected (WOW! P.S. Beth in customer service is AMAZING!) and I was super excited to strap it on and head out for a run. So I did.

I ended up doing using it for 3 runs in total and here is what I found:

Pros:
-Awesome front storage compartment that was definitely big enough for my phone
-Place to secure my keys
-Comes with a 25oz water bottle which is PERFECT for me
-Stretchy shoulder pockets which are excellent for holding fuel
-Not a lot of bounce during the run
-Water bottle was surprisingly easy to take in and out of the funnel opening
-It comes in 4 great colors. I chose orange, as that is my favorite color.

There were a lot of pros. Let me tell you. It seemed to be everything I was looking for. Especially the bottle size (I love my Nuun on long runs!) and the size of the front compartment.

But then I unfortunately started to think about the cons (for me at least).

My Cons: 
-I could never seem to get the fit just right. I watched at least 3 videos on the how it should fit, emailed a few people at Orange Mud (and they got RIGHT back to me!), and chatted with some Twitter friends about the fit. And yet, I was always aware I had it on to the point where I had to take it off during one run because it got so annoying to me.
-On the same line as fit, during one run my right arm went numb. Now, this very well could have been because it was too tight, but in my defense I loosened it and played around with the straps. I think part of it is just my body shape. I definitely have more rounded shoulders (I'm trying to work on my posture!) and where the straps sat just wasn't working for me.
-There was a lot of water sloshing going on. Not a huge con, but a little annoying.
-Maybe just a logistical thing I needed to work on, but if I used the headphone port in the back of the pack I always seemed to hit it and knock out my earbuds when I put the water bottle back in funnel opening. Maybe my cord was too long or I didn't set it up right. But annoying to me nonetheless.

Maybe should have loosened the straps even more?

My rounded shoulders at their best

The pack looks a little askew...

Bottom Line: After some thought and a lot of hemming and hawing, I decided the HydraQuiver just wasn't the pack for me. There are a LOT of pros and I would encourage people to try it out, but for me there were just too many cons as well.

So it's back to the drawing board for me!

Have you tried the HydraQuiver? What hydration belts/packs/systems do you use?

-Happy Running!