There hasn’t been much innovation in the area of bear-resistant food storage for many years. When in bear country, hikers have long had to make a choice between carrying a heavier hard-sided container that takes up tons of pack room or a lighter bear-resistant bag that can wet through and isn’t as resistant to rodents.
Now there’s a new contender on the block. Designed in Ontario, Canada, the Adotec Ultralight Food Locker Grizzly Bear Resistant Bag combines some of the best features of other bear-resistant containers to offer a product strong enough to endure over an hour of attention from a grizzly bear.
Adotec Ultralight Food Locker 14L Grizzly Bear Resistant Bag At A Glance
MSRP: $95
Capacity: 14L (3 gallons)
Weight: 7 oz
Dimensions: 18” x 14”
Material: Specially formulated 6.0-ounce DCF product
Intended Use
The Adotec Ultralight Food Locker Grizzly Bear Resistant Bag is designed for the ultralight hiker. Its slim design ensures that no unnecessary bulk will be added to your pack. The IGBC-certified 14-liter version can hold approximately five to six days of food for a single hiker.
Circumstances of Review
Unfortunately, I received this bag to review in the depths of a snowy PNW winter when all bears were in hibernation. In lieu of taking it on a proper backpacking trip, I loaded it up and carried it along on some day hikes. I also left it outside for a couple rainy nights with some peanut butter in it to test it against the local rats, squirrels, and raccoons.
Adotec Ultralight Food Locker Grizzly Bear Resistant Bag Features
- Certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (14L model only)
- Rodent resistant
- Waterproof material
- Super-strong cinch closure
- Push-in corners to create a flat-bottom base
Bear Resistant vs. Bear Proof
The Adotec Ultralight Food Locker is certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) as bear-resistant. This means that the bag passed a live bear test with captive grizzly bears. However, no canister, pannier or bag is ever guaranteed to be bear-proof.
Certified products must be used properly, and the certification doesn’t guarantee that small amounts of the contents of the bag won’t spill out. It’s also important to develop good bear-aware habits, such as separating the areas where you eat, store your food, and sleep.
Adotec Ultralight Food Locker Pros
Water Resistant
One of the best features of the Ultralight Food Locker is the use of waterproof material. DCF is hydrophobic, meanings it doesn’t absorb water. You can hold this bag underneath a running tap and water will roll right off. However, because of the cinch-tie closure, the bag isn’t fully waterproof, as water can still seep in through the top opening. The tighter you can cinch it, the more protected your food is both from rodents and rain.
Water rolls right off the Adotec Bear Resistant Bag
Easy to Use
The Ultralight Food Locker is very user friendly. To use, the top gets cinched down as tight as possible with the straps crossed on the inside. Adotec recommends tying the bag with a double overhand knot followed by another single overhand knot.
The best part of using the Grizzly Bear Resistant Bag is that hanging isn’t required. Find a tree with a wide trunk and a branch about as high as you can reach. Bring the straps around the trunk and tie them together with an overhand knot as close to the trunk as possible.
I’ve been using this technique for years with my Ursack, and it’s such a joy at the end of the day to not spend extra energy trying to get a good bear hang.
Durable
The durability of this bag is incredible. In order to receive certification from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, the bag had to survive 60 minutes of “paws-on” contact with a grizzly bear and come away with no punctures, rips, or tears larger than 1/4 inch. Adotec has a video showing some of the highlights of the test, with two grizzly bears fiercely tearing at the bag with tooth and claw.
Even after minor contact with a grizzly bear, the Ultralight Food Locker Bag should last you a good long time.
The lower corners of the bag can be pushed in or flared out to create a flat-bottom base
Large Volume
The Ultralight Food Locker is one of the largest bear-resistant containers for backpacking available. With a volume of 14 liters, it beats all but the Ursack Major XL for capacity. Adotec also sells a 20-liter version that is currently awaiting certification from the IGBC.
The bag has a nice wide opening with a similar circumference to the BearVault containers, making it easier to dig through to find the chocolate bar that always seems to slip to the bottom.
Convenience and Peace of Mind
After an encounter with a raven in my early days of backpacking, I became much more cautious about my food storage techniques, even outside of bear country. It’s so much more convenient to use a bear-resistant bag. I love being able to tie the bag to a tree trunk anytime I’m around camp than worry about slinging rope over high branches.
With the Ultralight Food Locker, I’ll have even more peace of mind that my food will stay dry and will be safe from all food-motivated pests.
Adotec Ultralight Food Locker Cons
The Adotec Ultralight Food Locker next to my well-loved Ursack Major
Initial Stiffness
The material of the bag was incredibly stiff when I received it, so stiff in fact that I couldn’t get the opening to cinch tight. Before taking it out, I spent a bit of time working on opening and closing the bag, and eventually, the fabric became more flexible. With more use the rest of the material of the bag should become more flexible as well, but for now it’s quite stiff and rigid, sitting a little bit awkwardly in my pack.
Not Approved in all Parks
Certain national parks in the US have more stringent food storage requirements and don’t allow bear-resistant bags. The following national parks require backpackers to use a hard-sided bear-resistant container: Yosemite, Big Bend, Bryce Canyon, and certain areas of Olympic, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon national parks.
Overall Value
The folks behind the Adotec Ultralight Food Locker Grizzly Bear Resistant Bag set out to make the best bear-resistant container for thru-hikers. The bag combines all the best features of a good bear-resistant container, like extreme durability, water resistance, rodent resistance, and ease of use. It fits well in ultralight backpacks without adding the extra bulk or weight of a hard-sided container.
Adotec also offers the Ultralight Food Locker in 9- and 20-liter sizes (both still pending approval from the IGBC) as well as an even lighter-weight, slightly less expensive Black Bear Resistant version with a roll-down top for full waterproofing.
Shop the Adotec Ultralight Food Locker
Comparable Bear Resistant Containers
Ursack AllMitey
Capacity: 10.65 liters
MSRP: $181.95
Weight: 9.5 oz
Bearvault BV500
Capacity: 11.5 liters
MSRP: $94.95
Weight: 2 lb 8 oz
REI Traverse Modular Bear Canister
Capacity: 11.25 liters
MSRP: $79.95
Weight: 3 lb 9 oz
The Adotect Ultralight Food Locker was donated for purpose of review.
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