MSR Packshower - 2007 BCS

This is one of the most durable Solar Showers I've ever used (and I have tried several). I'm currently using it in Iraq and it puts up with a lot of abuse! Because it's so big (at least two to three times the size of most solar showers) several of us can use it without a refill. My only complaint would be with it's extremely long hose. Even when I hang the shower 7 feet above the ground I have to literally crouch down on my knees to wash my hair otherwise gravity won't push the water out faster than a slow trickle. I would have to hang it around 8/9 feet to avoid crouching and that's not an easy thing to do. You can make the hose shorter by rolling it up and fastening it (via attached velcro straps) to the shower, but that greatly reduces the amount of water that is pushed out of the nozzle. The long hose aside, even when I can't hang the shower up very high I would still take this any day of the week!

i've had one of these for at least 10 years and use it very often. nothing has broken or failed but i like it so much i want one of the new ones with clear windows and nice and clean for pictures of my camp.

I rate it low because I have not yet used it and even after reading the instructions not sure I know exactly how to use it. It almost seems more designed to store items to keep dry in kayaking or such. I am taking mine on a Colorado River raft trip for 2 weeks to warm the 48F water up to a tolerable shower temp. Since there will be nothing to hang it from probably will have to have a buddy hold it higher than my head for time to take a shower. That might get a little tiring. Will rescore it after the 2 week raft trip. Experience from any other reviewers would be useful at this point.

By: ame100369504
1 minute ago

I was looking to find this pack shower specifically, as I had bought a similar one (from a different maker) like 10 years ago. This model is designed better in many ways-- this has a joint/connection feature where you can remove the tubing to clean it/wash it, which is helpful. It is a good size; it holds several (5) gallons of water. This pack shower is way better than all the others on the market due to the large opening; It is much easier to fill, and it hangs on a tree branch very nicely alone or with a caribiner. Anytime we go camping we set it up; it works great for a hand/face washing station, rinsing dishes or showering.
For backpacking, this pack is great-- you can gather your water from the source in the pack shower then move it away from the water source to filter your drinking water with less risk of contamination than trying to filter water directly from the lake or river.
It is made of durable material. My only dislike is the older model I have has a mesh pocket affixed to the front that is convenient to hold soap, sponge or whatever. This one does not have that feature, but it has two velcro fasteners that allows you to position/secure the hose/nozzle. One caution-- while the little shower nozzle plastic piece fits fairly securely in the plastic tubing, but ours has fallen out (we lost one in a river) so watch out for this and make sure it's still attached and accounted for as you move or port the pack around.

This is the only way to go. EASY to fill up. Doubles as a gear (dry) bag. I like stuffing my sleeping bag in it & strapping to the outside of my pack since it's light it doesn't present a counter-weight problem. I saw an old timer that made his own out of an old dry bag on Mt. Rainier once. He melted snow in it, washed his dishes with not-freezing-water, and took a short shower with warm water. Sun was out of course, but this bag works great and builds itself into your pack/camp system well.

We chose this one over smaller capacity ones but keep in mind it is very heavy to get the full or even 3/4 full shower up into a tree or wherever you choose to hang it, for us it was a two person job. The nozzle creates a very gentle flow and indeed the long hose meant that when we used it we had to crouch down to shower to get the force of gravity. Sturdy construction, love that it can double as a dry bag.