MOLLE Water Bottle Pouch 500 ml

Water on your belt, not buried in the pack.

Water in the bottom of your pack is water you do not drink. You tell yourself you will stop at the next break, the break comes and goes, and by the end of the shift you are hours behind. Dehydration starts as a headache, turns into cramp and slow thinking, and finishes with somebody making a poor decision around a machine. The bottle was there the whole time. It was just too much trouble to get at.

This is a MOLLE bottle pouch. It weaves onto the PALS webbing on a pack, vest, chest rig or duty belt and carries a 500 ml bottle on the outside of your kit, where you can pull it one-handed without dropping the pack off your back. Shock cord down both open sides lets it close on a slim bottle or open out on a fat one, and a drawcord over the neck stops it bouncing out when you are moving.

It comes in two carry styles at the same price, and the colour list is how you tell them apart. The six lettered codes are the closed-front pouch — a shaped nylon body with a moulded retention hook over the neck strap and a hook-and-loop patch panel on the front. The four spelled-out colours are the open webbing cradle — a bare frame of nylon webbing with two D-rings at the top and mounting straps that close on metal press studs. Each code carries its own photograph, so you can see exactly which one you are picking.

Neither style is a bottle. The supplier prints it on their own size panel in plain English, and every flask in these photographs is there to show scale.

What It Does

• Mounts to PALS webbing: weaves onto a pack, vest, chest rig or duty belt, so the bottle rides on the outside where your hand goes.
• Carries a 500 ml bottle: that is the fitting every option on this listing is sold in.
• Takes more than a bottle: the supplier photographs show the closed pouch holding a handheld radio with the antenna out, and a torch alongside it.
• Adjusts around the load: shock cord laced down both open sides pulls in on a narrow bottle and opens out on a wider one.
• Holds the neck down: a drawcord and moulded cord lock over the top, plus a retention hook and neck strap on the closed-pouch style.
• Drains and dries: the sides and base are open webbing, so water, sweat and grit fall straight through instead of sitting in the bottom.

Key Features

• Nylon fabric and nylon webbing throughout, bar-tacked at the load points
• Closed-pouch style measures 185 mm high and 105 mm wide laid flat, off the supplier’s own dimension panel
• Moulded polymer retention hook over a webbing neck strap on the closed-pouch style
• Hook-and-loop patch field on the front of the closed-pouch style
• Two vertical webbing straps on the rear that weave down through PALS rows and tuck back into the pouch
• Open cradle style adds two D-rings at the top and mounting straps closing on metal press studs
• Shock cord lacing with moulded cord locks down both sides
• Open, bar-tacked webbing base — nothing to hold water
• Ten colourways across the two styles, all one price
• Bottle not included

Limits

What this pouch will not do, so you are not surprised when it turns up.

• It is not a bottle: the supplier’s size panel states that the flask is not included, and it is not. You are buying the carrier only.
• It does not insulate: there is no foam, no lining and no insulation of any kind. It will not keep a drink cold on a hot day or hot on a cold one.
• It is not waterproof: it is an open frame with open sides and an open base. Rain runs straight through it, which is the point — it drains rather than holds.
• No PALS on the front: you cannot hang a second pouch off it. The closed style has a hook-and-loop patch field on the face and the cradle has bare webbing. Neither is built as an attachment point for other gear.
• No internal dimension published: the supplier gives an outside height and width for the closed pouch and nothing at all for the cradle. There is no stated bottle diameter and no stated maximum bottle height.
• It needs PALS webbing: the mounting straps have to weave through something. On a smooth pack panel with no webbing rows there is nothing to thread them into, and the cradle’s D-rings are the only fallback.
• No load rating, no certification: nothing on this pouch is tested or marked to any standard, and none is printed on it. It is a carrier for a drink bottle, not a piece of rated equipment. Do not clip it to anything that is holding a person.
• The bigger sizes are not stocked: the supplier’s panel shows this pouch in 350, 500, 850 and 600 ml fittings. Every option on this page is the 500 ml.

Q & A

Does a bottle come with it?

No. The supplier prints “does not include kettle” across their own size panel. Every flask, thermos and drink bottle you can see in these photographs is there to show scale and nothing else. You are buying the carrier.

Which colour is which style?

The six lettered codes — B, CP, G, H, K and MC — are the closed-front pouch with the moulded retention hook and the patch panel. The four spelled-out colours — Black, Green, Grey and Khaki — are the open webbing cradle. Same price either way, and selecting a code brings up its own photograph.

What size bottle will actually fit?

500 ml is the fitting this listing is sold in. The supplier publishes no internal diameter and no maximum bottle height, so here are the outside figures to measure against: the closed pouch is 185 mm high and 105 mm wide laid out flat, and the shock-cord sides give it movement either way. Hold a tape against your bottle before you decide. No dimensions at all are published for the cradle style.

Will it fit my pack or my belt?

If it has PALS webbing — the rows of horizontal webbing stitched down at intervals across a pack, vest or duty belt — yes. The rear straps weave down through those rows and tuck back in. The cradle style also has two D-rings at the top, so it can be clipped to a carabiner or a strap where there is no webbing to weave into.

Will it hold a radio or a torch instead?

The supplier’s own photographs show the closed pouch carrying a handheld radio with the antenna standing out of the top, and a torch tucked in beside it under the side lacing. That is what the shock cord is for. It is a general pouch that happens to be sized around a bottle.

How long does delivery take?

10 to 14 days from the day you order, and allow up to three weeks. Regional and remote addresses take longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs