Bear Vault BV450 Solo Bear Resistant Food Canister

I'm a huge fan of the Bear Vault brand. I've used others that require tools and these are by far the lightest and easiest to pack. As long as you follow the recommendations by the company on how to store it at night, it should keep your food safe from bears and other animals. So far I've had no leaks and they work great as camp chairs. The BV450 is perfect for week long solo trips and fits great in a 3000+ cubic inch pack.

Good product, rugged and appears to be well engineered. It's nice to just leave the vault on the ground instead of fighting to hang your food. It's also nice to be able to see your food in the vault as compared to the black keg type that you can't see into. Bear proof containers are now mandatory in parts of the Adirondacks. Back at the trailhead a ranger informed us that some bears in the park have figured out how to get into the Bear Vault. We had no bear activity so ours is untested.

Maybe Adirondack bears are smater than those in the Cascades & Sierra Nevada Mtns (I doubt it) but this product has been tested and both black bear certified (by the Sierra Interagency Black Bear Group) & and grizzley bear certified by the IGBC, & is approved for use in Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks, for the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wilderness Areas and the Inyo National Forest, and, I believe in Olympic Nat'l Park in WA State.

Maybe Adirondack bears are smarter than ours here in the west, but this canister has been tested and certified against both black bears (by SIBBG, Sierra Interagency Black Bear Group) & grizzleys (by IGBG) for use in Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks, for the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wilderness Areas, & the Inyo National Forest. Sooooo-go for it!!

The looking mechanism quit working on mine. Spins off easily without engaging the lock. Maybe it broke somehow, i dunno, but if it can break easily enough that I didn't notice when it happened then how well is it going to stand up to a bear, eh? I wish I had not wasted the money on this thing.

i purchased this item thinking that i was protected from bears gaining access to my food. it was a false sense of security as i discovered in my recnt trip to the adirondack high peak region on 8/20/08. the bears easily opened the canister and ate all our food on the first night of a planned four day trip. we contacted bear vault and had a less than useless conversation with them about the poor performance of their product. if you want to keep your food safe, DO NOT BUY THIS CANISTER. IT WILL RUIN YOUR TRIP IF YOU ARE IN BEAR COUNTRY!

Be aware these are NOT allowed in NY, Adirondacks, the bears get them on the sides, get bouncing on them and the top pops off. The rangers will turn you back.

This bear canister is exactly what it should be... easy to use, transparent sides allow you to see what you packed. Nice wide opening to get stuff in and out. It also makes a great basin for washing back at the campground. You can see some photos from my packing of two of these canisters here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/i4mac/sets/72157606445652602/ Photos from my trip with them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/i4mac/collections/72157606739022805/ If you are looking for a canister, just by this one and be done!

Like most bear vaults, this one worked just fine in the high country. But like most bear vaults, it doesn't fit very well in a backpack. Someone ought to design a vault that packs well inside or even outside a modern backpack. My only major gripe with this product is that it's very difficult to open without a metal lever of some sort--a spork works fine, for instance. Very tough on the fingers to open without that lever. But considering most vaults also require a metal tool to open, I guess this is wash in the long run.