Fjallraven Water Bag

Excellent solution for water storage and carrying—lightweight, compact, and durable.

Before purchasing this bucket I'd been using the Russian-made water bucket of such kind for 6 years. I was very satisfied with such solution, because it makes carrying the water from a nearby source (up to 10-15 liters / 20-30 lbs at once) and its storage in your camp extremely easy.

Fjallraven Water Bag demonstrates its freestanding ability with 10L (20 lbs) of water inside

Unlike various plastic water storage solutions, the weight and folded dimensions of such bucket are naught. I can also praise its durability—not a single leakage after six years of use. The bucket design simply doesn't have any seams which are prone to leakage over time.

The only disadvantage of our old water bag was lack of freestanding ability—to save the water, you have to hang the bucket slightly (lifting its upper part from the ground is enough). While we have our bicycles for this purpose, sometimes it's not possible to hang the bucket in direct vicinity from the stove.

Several months ago we purchased Fjallraven Water Bag to replace our old and good bucket. Its design is mostly the same (rated for 15 liters), but it has a vital improvement: a closure on the top with narrow opening. This makes the water bag fully freestanding, and its hanging is not required anymore. Using the closure is optional (for example, you may close the bag for a night or in heavy wind), the bag is freestanding even in opened state. There is a second soft strip of VELCRO to save the hooked part from getting dirty when the closure is opened.

Unlike other designs of freestanding buckets, there is no rigid ring on the top, so the folded bucket is still very compact, like a human fist. It's very lightweight too, only 65 grams (2.4 oz).

The bag is made of durable 70D Nylon fabric, and I'm sure that it will last long, unless somebody punctures it with something sharp. It didn't happen during the last 6 years though.

But VELCRO closure (in theory) may degrade over time, so it's best not to put the bucket into dirt. In fact, the VELCRO strip may be easily replaced without altering the water resistance. 

Our old water bag (not freestanding)

To obtain the freestanding ability, this bag has quite narrow bucket opening—about 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. Still you won't get any problems with filling it from the tap or using the pot or large mug. Note that a soft bucket cannot be used to fill water from lake on its own—you'll need a pot or mug for that.

But this bucket is not suitable anymore for storage of snow and ice, like pictured above. Also you cannot use it to load water from a well, hanging the bucket on a rope and putting a stone inside for some weight (once I've got such experience). 

Nevertheless it's an excellent product.