Source Hydration Update Kit

Over the years as a keen outdoorsman, and indeed as an airsofter, I’ve always been fascinated by the very mechanics of how our body operates, and what we need to do to maintain peak levels of performance. Probably one of the most important aspects of this is maintaining proper levels of hydration. I was once told by a top mountain athlete that “if you feel thirsty you’re already heading towards dehydration” and that has stuck with me.

I’ve tried many different methods of maintaining full hydration whilst on the go, and was an early adopter of the bladder system, where you carry your water inside your pack or on your plate carrier, utilising a hose and bite valve system to take water on board quickly and easily. About three years ago, I switched to using products from Source, and to date I’ve not looked back!

SOURCE was founded in 1989 by Yoki Gill and Daniel Benoziliyo and now employs more than 200 workers. It has always been a ground-breaker in hydration technology and has been well known in the tactical gear, hydration and travel accessories categories worldwide for over 20-years, currently selling in more than 25 countries. Designed by soldiers, Sources’ head designer and much of its key personnel are ex-officers from the IDF elite forces.

Over the years as a keen outdoorsman, and indeed as an airsofter, I’ve always been fascinated by the very mechanics of how our body operates, and what we need to do to maintain peak levels of performance. Probably one of the most important aspects of this is maintaining proper levels of hydration. I was once told by a top mountain athlete that “if you feel thirsty you’re already heading towards dehydration” and that has stuck with me. I’ve tried many different methods of maintaining full hydration whilst on the go, and was an early adopter of the bladder system, where you carry your water inside your pack or on your plate carrier, utilising a hose and bite valve system to take water on board quickly and easily. About three years ago, I switched to using products from Source, and to date I’ve not looked back! SOURCE was founded in 1989 by Yoki Gill and Daniel Benoziliyo and now employs more than 200 workers. It has always been a ground-breaker in hydration technology and has been well known in the tactical gear, hydration and travel accessories categories worldwide for over 20-years, currently selling in more than 25 countries. Designed by soldiers, Sources’ head designer and much of its key personnel are ex-officers from the IDF elite forces.

Mission statement

Source’s mission is to provide the infantry soldier around the world with a comprehensive state of the art load-bearing and hydration gear solution, so they can successfully perform their present and future combat missions. The aim to bring traditional textile oriented military gear such as backpacks, water canteens, combat vests and body armour into the next generation of high-end, innovative gear. Source is unique in their holistic approach, looking at the fighting soldier as an integrated platform/ system rather than a carrying mule that bears whatever is ‘loaded’ on it. All their products are produced in-house at their ISO 9001 certified factory, located in Tirat-Carmel, Israel.

At IWA this year I managed to meet in person with the team from Source, and they very quickly brought me up to speed with their very latest developments, and one that impressed me greatly was the ‘Hydration Update Kit’. The ‘ILPS 2L-3L Low Profile Hydration + UTA’ is their latest low-profile hydration reservoir design, conceived for ballistic vest integration, which holds 2L inserted in ballistic vest, 3L in a pack. Maximum utilisation of their low-profile technology reduces the depth of the carrier, making it a truly low profile hydration system.

Rapid refill

The upgrade kit also comes with their ‘UTA Rapid Refill Adapter’; up until now, as easy as Source bladders are to fill, getting more water into them has meant taking the entire thing out of your pack or the hydration pouch traditionally worn on the rear of the plate carrier. In the real world, this has become known as ‘NAGT’ (Not A Good Thing) as of course this means a stop, or at least a lengthy refilling process. Speaking to the guys from Source, they pointed out that if you’re with a buddy this can be faster, but if you’re on your own you’ll need to remove your pack, or indeed your plate carrier to carry this out; they also told me that snipers have learnt to watch for this happening and that they have actively targeted personnel in the process of refilling their system in the field.

With the UTA Adapter though you can refill your bladder directly through the drinking hose! By unplugging the ‘bite’ part of the valve, you can replace it with the UTA Adapter, which is a rubber ‘collar’ device that allows you to mate the tube with bottled water or indeed a tap. Holding a bottle up like an IV Drip allows gravity to fill the system, approximately 1.5-litres per minute; if you have access to a tap with decent pressure, you can load-on up to 2-litres a minute.

All of this can be achieved without removing your pack or plate carrier, and makes ‘bombing up’ with a water ‘replen’ a simple and swift affair. For the guys out there putting their lives on the line doing the job for real, this could quite literally be a life saver! Hopefully, this is never going to be an issue on the airsoft field, but using the Source Hydration Upgrade Kit will certainly make life easier.

My thanks got to the team at sourcetacticalgear.com for kindly supplying the test sample, and Source military products can be easily found in the UK by visiting www.uktactical.com.