Review; CamelBak Relay

CamelBak products have been a staple in my household for years…probably close to 15 in total. Not bad considering they have been around themselves for 27! So when they asked me if I wanted to review their new Relay Pitcher I of course said yes. The Relay arrived a few days later and without further ado I put it to use.

From their website;

“CamelBak® Relay™ reinvents home water filtration with a unique Double Filter Technology that allows you to filter at the speed of your faucet. The innovative double-filter design removes chlorine, taste, and odors twice—every time you fill and every time you pour. Made with plant based activated carbon, each Fresh™ Filter lasts twice as long as the leading competitor—up to four months. With its spill-proof locking lid and space-saving design, Relay goes from your faucet to your fridge in a snap. It's so fast and easy, you’ll discover all kinds of new uses for filtered water, from making your morning coffee to washing fruits and vegetables. 10-cup (80oz) capacity. Dishwasher safe (top rack). “

Unboxing was easy minimal packaging (a good thing) with simple and easy instructions to follow. As you can see from the photo above there are three parts; the pitcher body, the pitcher lid and the filter.Obviously the technology is in the filter and the fact that it filters the water as you fill it up and as your pour it out! Rather than give you a paragraph of text to read here is a little video which probably answers all your questions.

Ok the next step was to set the handy dandy filter reminder dial to March; to remind me in four months of its age. Filters are predicted to last 4 months so I could turn this to July to remind me to change it then, it’s a decision on whether I want to time travel backwards or forwards.

The instructions told me to run water through the filter before using it and washing out the pitcher before use. So that I did. The big claim to fame is the actual filling time, as quick as your faucet is the claim…here’s the video test;

So that works then! 

The form factor is pretty minimal it fits nicely in a space in my fridge, the only downside is that it doesn’t play nicely with a quart of Milk in the fridge drawer. Which means that the kids can’t easily reach it. But I have a French Door Fridge which only has doors in the top half and it’s not super wide so the door width is not as wide and you 60/40 vertical split fridge freezer door. And yes that is bacon you can see!

Talking of fridges you may think hang on I have a filter in my door and so do I. But it costs $30 to replace every 4-6 months. Replacement Relay filters are available in packs of 3 for $28.50 so there is some cost saving, actually somewhere around $60 a year…put another way that’s 25-30 Gus!! In addition the Relay is attractive enough to sit on your patio table.

So that covers the cost what about the results. If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed I like coffee…a lot. I am not a coffee snob but I would say that having freshly filtered water does improve the taste of the coffee. The same can be said about filling water bottles for the bike, the 80oz is just enough to not overfill 3 large (26oz) water bottles and with the fast filtration the wait for the fourth bottle, two per bike, is less than a minute!

Simple effective products are always the best and this falls into this class, easy to use and does exactly what it says on the box!

The Relay is available in 3 colors; Charcoal, Aqua and Purple, it retails online at $36.99 via the CamelBak website, Amazon or in bricks via Target.

This Product was provided by CamelBak. See previous gear reviews in the Reviews tab above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me atquadrathon@gmail.com.