Padded Hip Belt Pocket Online now

We present for your consideration the humble but useful Padded Hip Belt Pocket. When we introduced the Le Grand Derriere (LGD), some folks who planned to wear it as a hip/waist/lumbar/fanny pack for hiking asked if we’d someday offer an optional external water bottle pocket for the pack. We rather stubbornly said no at first, then we wondered why we were being so stubborn. Not being able to come up with a rational explanation for our stubbornness and realizing those folks were offering up a great suggestion (special shout-out to Jennifer M!) Nik decided to make a sample of such a pocket.

We tested it on hikes and it was pretty great: stowing the water bottle in the Padded Hip Belt Pocket freed up a lot of space in the main compartment of the LGD. We even used the Padded Hip Belt Pocket on occasion to carry other objects to which we wanted quick access: dog treats, monocular, GPS, Reese’s, etc. 

The Padded Hip Belt Pocket slides onto the LGD hip belt through a pass-through on the backside of the pocket. Snug it on to the padded section of the hip belt and you’ll be good to go. We’ve tested it with water bottles/travel mugs ranging from 8oz to 17oz; bigger bottles may fit, but could feel a little too big and unwieldy. Compression straps on the sides allow you to snug the Pocket so it hugs your water bottle. 

Is the Padded Hip Belt Pocket just for the LGD? No way! You can use it on any of our padded hip belts, including: the Brain Bag Padded Hip Belt, Shadow Guide Padded Hip Belt, Guide’s Pack Padded Hip Belt, and 1″ Padded Hip Belt. 

For carrying smaller items such as a monocular or dog treats, there’s a convenient magnet at the top of the Padded Hip Belt Pocket; pull the pocket open, stow the small item in there, and let the magnet closure snap shut.

Does the Hip Belt Pocket work if you’re carrying the LGD as a shoulder bag or sling bag? That’s just a straight-up no. And what’ll happen if you’ve got a large water bottle in the Hip Belt Pocket that’s secured to the hip belt of the LGD and you unclip the bag and let the heavier side of the bag containing the water bottle dangle down? Well, the Hip Belt Pocket and the water bottle may slide off (gravity and all.) To avoid this, be mindful when unclipping your LGD hip belt: put one hand on the side of the hip belt that has the Hip Belt Pocket + water bottle and grasp the hip belt, unclip, and keep hold of the LGD until you’re ready to hang it up or set it down. That’s all probably rather obvious but just saying it for the record.

You might be wondering why the Hip Belt Pocket slides onto the padded hip belt as opposed to securing to the compression straps on the sides of the LGD. Here’s our thinking on that one: because the hip belt of the LGD is compressed against your body, securing the Hip Belt Pocket to the hip belt offers more stability and balance than securing it to the side compression straps of the LGD. Think of it this way: securing a heavy water bottle to the LGD side compression straps will pull the entire weight/mass of the LGD itself down, whereas securing a heavy water bottle to the hip belt/your own center of gravity won’t do that as much.