The CNOC Vecto 2L Soft Water Container is a roll-up soft bottle that’s compatible with the Sawyer Squeeze and Sawyer Mini water filters (which 80% of backpackers use). Like the Platypus Big Zip, one side opens up completely, by removing the bottom slide, making it easier to fill from water sources that don’t have a current, like ponds, lakes, puddles, and cattle troughs. The bottom slide also makes it easy to hang in gravity filter mode or roll up and squeeze to force water through a Sawyer filter.
CNOC Vecto Soft Bottle
Sawyer Water Filter Compatibility
Easy to Fill
Easy to Squeeze
Easy to Clean
Specs at a Glance
- Weight: 2.7 oz
- Volume: 2L
- Material: ePTU (BPA free)
The Vecto has three components: a 2L soft bottle, an orange cap, and orange slider which seals the bottom. The easiest way to fill it, is to remove the orange slider along its base and dunk the wide end into flat water or into the current of a stream. In flatwater, like ponds or lakes, you’ll need two hands to fill it, one to dunk the bottle under the surface and the other to hold it open so it fills up. While you can drag it along the surface, it’s hard to fill up one-handed. You’ll also want to find a place where the water depth is sufficiently deep so you can submerge most of the bottle in order to fill it. If that isn’t possible, you’ll need some kind of water scoop ( a plastic sandwich bag can work) to fill the Vecto.
Once full, you fold over the base of the bottle once, before sliding the slider back on to seal it. If you want to filter, you remove the orange cap and screw on a water filter like a Sawyer Squeeze. That’s pretty much it. The slider makes it easy to roll up the base of the bottle as the water empties and force it through the filter. If you lose the orange cap, a smart water bottle cap fits it perfectly or you can buy a replacement from CNOC through their website.
It’d be nice if the orange cap was secured to the bottle like it is on Evernew’s soft water bottles or the slide was attached to the bottle like it is on the Platypus Big Zip. But neither of these omissions is a show stopper if you’re careful about where you place these two components when you take them off the Vecto water container.
The slide handle also makes it easy to use the Vecto in a gravity configuration, when suspended from a tree. You just need some kind of lanyard or ‘biner to hang it from. When filling the bottle, be careful to wipe it off before hanging it in a gravity setup, since you don’t want “dirty” water dripping down the exterior surface of the bottle to contaminate water that’s run through your filter.
Recommendation
The CNOC Vecto 2L Water Container makes a great “dirty” water container in a backpacking hydration system when coupled with a screw-on Sawyer filter and water bottles for carrying your “clean” filtered water. I’ve found that seal between a Sawyer filter and the Vecto to be nice and tight without any leaks, although you need to thread them together carefully and not put too much pressure when screwing them together. I don’t use the Vecto as my primary “clean” bottle, although there’s no reason you can’t. I just find it easier to drink from hard-sided soda or Smartwater bottles.
While I haven’t had any issues with the durability of the Vecto soft bottle in the field, the first version of this product I ordered was defective, with a torn seam where the soft material meets the cap. While the company was quick to send me a free replacement and has excellent customer service, I’d still caution you to test all of your backpacking equipment before taking it on an extended trip so you can be confident that it will perform as expected.
The author purchased this product. Published 2019 Klaatu Barada Vecto.
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“Klaatu Barada Vecto”
Thank you for not destroying us.
Just received mine. Your two recommendations of the attached cap and connected slider have been added; shoppers be aware.
These issues were addressed in a later generation of the product. All better now.
Do you use your CNOC Vecto to carry water inside your pack? I thought this being a container that water goes in, meant for the backpacking crowd, that it’s a no-brainer to say “yes” to this question… yet CNOC themselves, on their 2022 FAQ specifically say they “don’t recommend putting your full Vecto inside your pack if you’re concerned about leaking”!!! So what the heck? I don’t get it. A water bladder for hiking that you CAN’T put in your pack if there’s water in it???
I don’t. I use mine as a dirty bag and filter water into bottles. If I have to do a long water carry, I carry the full Vecto in an external open pocket, but never inside the pack. I think most backpackers use it the way I do.
That’s the way I do it and have done so the last few days while hiking in Wyoming. I don’t trust any bladder inside my pack but have no problem with sticking a full one in the mesh pocket. I use my CNOC as a dirty water bag.
Hi Philip, I’m attempting to emulate your CNOC dirty water bag connected to a sawyer that is then connected to a Smart water bottle -> using gravity -> and not trying to squeeze filtered water into the Smart bottle. That way it’s all once piece and don’t have to worry about any toppling as I move on to other chores. The outflow thread on the sawyer don’t thread to the Smart water bottle and I can’t seem to find an answer googling. Thanks
I don’t thread it on – I just aim. Even if you could, there’s no way for the air in the bottle to escape when being replaced by water so the flow will crawl if at all.
Hi Steve,
Sawyer has a blue coupling which you thread to the outflow of the Squeeze and Mini. Now you can attach a bottle for gravity feed. It cost $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018NJC1A6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
Hope this helps you.
CNOC’s Vesica bottle lets you avoid the air pressure Phillip mentions. The Vesica is a collapsible bottle, so before attaching it to the “clean” side of the filter (with the blue coupling Ric mentions), you simply collapse the bottle and remove as much air as possible. Water flow re-inflates the bottle with no significant back pressure created by trapped air.
The Vesica is also freestanding when full, and remains so until it’s about half empty.
I use 2 Vesicas and a 1L Vecto, but that’s driven by the pockets on my REI Flash Air 50 pack: the Vesicas fit perfectly into the water bottle pockets, and the Vesica fits perfectly into one of the side pockets. I usually need to carry only 1 bottle; when I need to carry extra to a dry camp, I put the second Vesica in the water bottle pocket and the Vecto in the opposite side pocket, which maintains the balance of my load without a lot of re-packing.
That should read that the Vecto (not Vesica) fits perfectly into the side pocket. I’m old, I occasionally have to cycle through my granddaughters’ names until I come to the one I want, too. :)