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When hiking or backpacking the two most important items that one always carries are their cell phone and their water bottle. They both need to be easilly accessible and secure. Hilltop Packs makes a very nice cell phone and water bottle shoulder pouch. In this review I will discuss the products themselves, information about Hilltop Packs and I will show these products on mounted on two different backpacks.
These products interested me because I once lost a cell phone in the woods. I ordered another phone and then found the original so then I had two phones. 🙁 And another time, I didn’t properly secure my water bottle while backpacking a very remote area of West Virginia. The water bottle fell out of the holder on my pack at one point. I didn’t discover this until 5 miles later and at the end of the day. I had a second water bottle that got me through this trip. But I wasn’t about to hike 10 miles to find the water bottle that fell from my pack.
About These Products: Both the cell phone and water bottle shoulder pouches are made by the very talented seamstresses and seamsters of Hilltop Packs in Waynesburg, PA. The water bottle shoulder pouch is approximately 4″ by 8″ while the cell phone holder shoulder pouch is 4.5″ by 8.5″. They are both available in basic black or a custom design fabric. They both have upper and lower elastic straps in the rear that will slide over most backpacking strap widths. They both come with a Z-clip at the top to keep the pouch stationary while hiking. Hilltop Packs also offers an optional shoulder strap pouch adapter to facilitate various shoulder strap configurations. If in doubt about whether the pouches will work with your backpack, I would advise getting the adapter. Both pouches include water proof material for the storage area. The phone shoulder pouch has a zipper for the storage area that should keep your phone dry. The water bottle shoulder pouch includes a top strap to keep your bottle from falling out. Both pouches have a mesh area with a draw string and cord lock to store small items.
About Hilltop Packs: Hilltop Packs was founded by Ben McMillen, a professional photograher, in his family home basement in 2019. Ben made backpacks and other outdoor accessories and posted his products on social media. The business then took off. They moved from Ben’s house to a commercial location in 2020 and, nine months later, moved to an even bigger location. Business has been good. Ben has expanded into coffee roasting, a coffee shop and a metal fabricating business. And he still has the photograhy business. At last count there were 15 employees as the business continues to grow.
My Evaluation: Originally, I was going to attach the phone holder and bottle holder pouches to my day pack. It’s a 35 year old Eddie Bauer Day pack that looks to be 30 liters. However, I didn’t have a cross strap on the shoulder strap. So I couldn’t successfully mount the holders to my day pack. If the holders are not anchored to the pack straps, they will slide up and down while you are hiking. So I researched this some more and discovered that most older and inexpensive day packs do not have cross straps on the shoulder straps to support these products. Only the more expensive day packs and most backpacks do. One could use binder clips or safety pins to solve this issue. But it wouldn’t look good. So I think that I will have to get a newer and more expensive day pack.
OK, I have two back packs: One is an Osprey Atmos 65. I have had it since the early 2000’s and have probably logged about 500 miles on it.The other is a Red Fox Summit 70 backpack that I received about three years ago to do a product evaluation on. I admit that I have not taken it on the trail…yet, but I have used it on some of my WV VIPP trips. Each of these packs do have a loop on the shoulder strap that one can mount a bottle holder or a phone holder to.
First, the Atmos 65: When trying to fit the bottle holder over the shoulder strap I had to detach the shoulder strap from the bottom of the pack, then slide the holder up the strap. I could not attach the holder to the loop because it would cover up the sternum strap. So I moved the the holder further up and attached it to the upper strap holder. That seemed to work. It took me about 10 minutes but I got the Z connector to attach directly to the upper strap and didn’t need the accessory strap. I repeated this procedure for the other side strap and you can see the results on the image above. Now, one could use the accessory straps to move the holders further down the shoulder straps. It’s just a matter of adjusting them until they are the correct height for you. I tweaked my shoulder doing yard work a few days ago and can’t raise my left arm above my head so I can’t model these pouches on a pack. But I will show them. Note- I discovered while placing the pouches on the next backpack that the sternum strap is up and down adjustable. So I could have mounted the pouches to the loops on this pack by just sliding the sternum strap down..
Next, the Red Fox Summit 70: The installation of these products was similar to the previous pack. A again had to remove the shoulder strap to where it attached to the bottom of the pack and then slide the phone holder or water bottle holder up the shoulder strap until I got to the cross loop on the shoulder strap. This pack was definitely easier to mount these pouches to each of the shoulder straps. For this pack I used the accessory adaptors to secure the top of the pouches. So please order the adaptor straps just to be on the safe side. Again I can’t model this pack because I injured my shoulder and can’t raise my arm above my head. I hope this heals soon. So again, you can see the pouches mounted on the Red Fox pack above. Note: I had issues getting the shoulder straps detached from the bottom of this pack. It looked like they threaded the loop of the bottom buckle, than sewed them together. They were impossible to get through the buckle. I had to cut them shorter to get them through the buckle in order to thread the pouch along the shoulder strap.
In Conclusion: I think that the Hilltop Packs Cell Phone and Water Bottle Shoulder Pouches are well made products that are designed to fit almost every kind of backpack (as well as some day packs). They are made in USA by a family owned business. I would recommend them. Just be patient during the installation as you may run into some challenges with certain packs. If you are interested in purchasing these products or just want to browse the Hilltop Packs website, simply click/tap on one of the links below:
Mike C
Hilltop Packs
Website
Cell Phone Shoulder Pouch
$37.00
Water Bottle Shoulder Pouch
$31.00
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