Which hydration vest to use for a trail half marathon race? (Read 43 times)

For something like a half, you may not need to have a full-on vest, especially if there are aid stations every 5 miles or less. Maybe a good waist belt like Nathan VarporKrar (I use it for runs up to 2 hours in the heat, holds a 500ml without bouncing and a lot of other stuff).

BUT, gear junkie that I am;

Something light and compact, without the big water bladder capacity in back would be "best" for a race. Several companies make vests like this, and Salomon seems to be the favorite for comfort. Sense Pro 2 would be my choice. Ultimate Direction race vests are very nice and the Race Vest 5 is on sale for $75! I think all the vests are pretty stable these days, no bouncing unless you overload them.

At REI the other day, I noticed in their "garage sale" area (returned/used gear for sale), there were MANY REI brand running vests, so obviously they don't agree with a lot of people. Also a few Salomon skin 12 vets; probably because they were way more than needed for running (12l capacity) or way less than needed for fast-packing.

Avoid vests with straps that touch your body, look for ones with fabric between the straps and your shirt. That fabric waist also provides another pair of pockets for stashing stuff. Also avoid a bunch of extra layers that make it look "sturdy". It should wear and feel like a t-shirt, not a 80l backpack. You're only going to be stashing a few pounds in it.

also, no matter what vest, get soft flasks. You suck out the air and that means ZERO sloshing.

I can't give a review on any of the vests available today because I still use a Mountain Hardwear from 10 years ago, and have no need/desire to replace it. I only use it for efforts that are going to be 3+ hours without any other water sources.

I second the sof water flasks.  For the exact reason of water sloshing. I’ve also had some hard bottles rub my chest and it bugged me enough to consider buying new stuff.  

On my ultimate direction vest it has a cinch cord to tighten down the soft flasks. I tighten it down then with the loop crested put it over the top of the bottle and wrap it around the next.  Habit I saw in a video to help keep them from jumping out. 

with soft flasks the vest effectively shrinks when you drink from them.  You might notice the vest bouncing more along a run. I give the straps a slight tug when it feels ‘not as tight as it once was’ along a run. When I refill (you won’t have to) I sometimes need to readjust the vest, and a good quality vest will make this easy. 

also think of where you’ll store gels. Keys can sometimes be an irritation if they’re in the wrong spot. Phones too. I’m sure a Nokia 5150 would be uncomfortable in some vests. 

as for the 1-2L bladder on the back. I find it to be a personal preference. I liked having mine for my ultra.  I filled it with my electrolyte drink so I wouldn’t need the race stuff. Sometimes on longer runs I’ll take JUST the bladder as it’s maybe a little easier to drink from the hose than bend over and drink from a bottle. Personal preference.

For a 2 hour race I would skip the fluids unless it is going to be 75+ and you are not heat acclimated, but that's just me.

I personally don't like the soft flasks as they are a pain to stuff back in once you pull them out (at least if you are trying to move fast on technical terrain).  I would go with either a hand held or a vest with bladder. 

In terms of vests, I've used Salomon and Ultimate Direction.  Both are good quality vests but the UD one is a little lighter, breathable, and less complicated (which also means less features).   If in doubt order a few kinds, try them out fully loaded (minus using the flasks or bladders) and return what you don't like.

Thanks all for the recommendations. In the end I've settled for the 3L ultra light from RaidLight.

flatfooter - The race starts at 10:30am, if it were in the early morning I'd probably be able to forgo hydration too.

Bill - You bet, I'm gonna be wearing it every day until race day.