The Sister of the Camelbak M.U.L.E.: The L.U.X.E

Camelbak has long been an industry leader at creating gender specific hydration packs, especially models designed specifically for women, and the L.U.X.E. is one more pack using this same idea. Billed as the “sister” pack of the very popular Camelbak M.U.L.E., the L.U.X.E. is also a large pack, carrying a three litre reservoir and providing an additional ten litres of cargo space, this is a big pack meant for women going on long mountain biking trips. However, despite the amount of space available, the compression straps allow the pack to be reduced in size very easily, whether or not the wearer uses all the space provided.

The basic statistics make the L.U.X.E. sound very much like the M.U.L.E., so what makes the L.U.X.E. specific for female users? There are basically three features that make the L.U.X.E. gender specific and all of these have to do with how the hydration pack is attached and worn. First, the sternum strap is positioned differently, taking a woman’s chest into consideration, a factor that makes the pack considerably more comfortable. The second female-specific characteristic is the length of the back panel, which is designed to be shorter for people with shorter torsos. Finally, the padded and foam harness is designed to curve with a woman’s body as opposed to a man’s providing a more comfortable wear and allowing the user to carry the pack’s weight more effectively.

Beyond the differences described above, the L.U.X.E. is almost identical to the M.U.L.E., which has long been one of Camelbak’s most popular packs. The L.U.X.E. comes with the standard Camelbak OMEGA Hydro Tanium Reservoir, along with everything this entails: the hose, bite valve, and other elements of the hydration system that has made Camelbak and industry leader. Like most Camelbak hydration systems, there is also a reservoir specific pocket which is insulated to help keep the water cold and so on.

The rest of the pack – aside from the gender-specific alterations described above – are all fundamentally the same as one would find on the M.U.L.E., the H.A.W.G. or the other larger hydration packs offered by Camelbak. These features include: the Dynamic Suspension Harness that helps to stabilize the load and balance it out along the wearer’s back; the air mesh back panel that helps to keep the wearer’s back ventilated; strap management and compression options that allow the user to resize the pack appropriately and stores away excess straps; a wide range of both solid fabric and mesh storage compartments; and so on.

As being a very popular pack, the L.U.X.E. is fairly expensive, but as with so much else in life, you really do get what you pay for. By almost all accounts the L.U.X.E. is well worth the money and people looking for a bargain can frequently find older models available at considerably less money. However, if you are – or know – a female mountain biker that likes to go out for major all day (or multi-day) rides, the L.U.X.E. is probably the best pack on the market today. It is just important to keep in mind that this is truly a big pack, so it really only makes sense for people that can use a big pack. Camelbak makes a number of other, smaller, female-specific hydration packs as well.