Camelbak Octane XCT

 Looking to buy one of these for a trail running.  Have had a look at them in the shop and it seems great for what I need size wise.

Does anyone own one, if so how do you find it?

Of the very limited reviews by runners I can find online the only problem is the straps keep slipping,

Cheers - Greg

Seems to be a problem on all the lightweight camelbak's in my experiance. Whenever the water bottle is close to full the straps seem to come loose which results in a nasty bit of skin rubbing if you are wearing a vest. Annoying really because they are great bits kit. 

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RunningBlog - RunTheLine.com

I got an Octane XCT last week and this afternoon was my first run with it.

I found the whole water reservoir a little bit fiddly. The massive filling hole which is kinda on the side makes it really easy to spill water all over the place when filling the reservoir. It also makes it easy to leave too much air in the reservoir, which meant it sloshed during the whole run, which was very annoying. However, I think by holding it upside down and drinking from the tube until you get air will empty as much of the air as possible. I'll test this hypothesis tomorrow!

As for the straps, I had the reservoir completely full, and the straps did not slip significantly. I only ran for about half an hour and tugged the straps a tiny bit a couple of times to tighten them, but it wasn't a major hassle. I was mostly fiddling with the straps to figure out the most comfortable tightness.

Anyway, these are only first impressions. I will endeavour to return and update my opinions after a few more uses. Also, if you have any questions about specifics, please do not hesitate to ask.

Rikki

 I got mine a few weeks ago now and I love it. 

As long as you hold the opening level when you fill it you wont spill a drop and can be filled right up.  If you turn it upside down and squeeze and suck the air out there will be no sloshing.  

The straps do slip but thats not really a problem and its really easy do adjust while running.

The only problem  i have is having to drink near boiled liquid in the warmer weather from my body heating up the reservoir, I may try icecubes at the weekend hoping it will keep cooler for longer though i doubt they will last upto 4 hours in this weather.

Greg

Cheers for your feedback Greg. The upside down trick did indeed fix the sloshing problem, so that's made me happy.

The only thing I'd say about the Octane XCT is there isn't very much cargo space. The section on the back (not the bit that holes the reservoir) is much smaller than I thought, especially as a full reservoir makes it a very tight squeeze to get anything in. The two waist pockets are reasonable, but mostly mesh so I doubt they'll be too good in the rain.

I'm not complaining, as it holds everything I wanted it to (just), I'm just managing expectations of any prospective owners