My husband purchased this for my bday as I currently use a hydrapak soft flask with straw (from my running vest) in my pouch during races for hands free drinking. He thought one designed specifically for my life jacket would be an improvement. Unfortunately this hydro bladder has deemed to be more hassle than its worth: 1. I have a second generation life jacket and the elastic designed to hold the drinking tube in place is too tight to let the bite valve pass through (this is not an issue for newer jackets). With the help of my local paddling shop, we created another loop by tying elastic bungee cord. 2. The bit valve has poor water flow, I ended up changing it for a hydrapak blaster bite valve for ease of drinking (the bite valve with Vaikobis 1.5 L hydro bladder for the back of the lifejacket it fine so suggest Vaikobi uses this bite valve). 3. because the hose is flexible, it is pretty hard to drink hands free - I suggest the next design has a better bite valve and a stiffer tube for hands free drinking and provide some bungee cord for older jacket models. I will probably use this for social paddles, where using my hands to help drink isn't an issue, but I will stick with my hydrapak with straw for races so I can just tilt my head down for a quick sip. If you have a newer model jacket, and are using it for recreational paddling, it will probably serve the purpose.
