I had this bottle-holder in my shopping cart's "save for later" section for several years before buying it, as I couldn't see spending the money for such a single-purpose item. Well, it _is_ pricey and it _is_ highly specialized. But it's still not all that bad a buy, either. The material is thick and tough-feeling as can be, and the layout seems practical and useful. While mine is mostly intended for use in a car keeping a roadside hot-beverage kit together I happen to also have another Maxpedition product with a shoulder-strap on hand, and when using this nicer, longer strap the bottle-holder carries surprisingly well. So well, in fact, that the holder may well eventually replace my older rectangular pouch entirely for "utility" type use. My only significant gripe is that the zipper in the bottle-retention compartment is terribly stiff, so much so that I almost returned the carrier. But I decided that it'll probably "break in" with time as other reviewers report. (I've heard that rubbing it with a crayon or candle helps, but sadly I have neither available.) This may be helpful to some of you... I bought this larger size bottle-holder specifically because I want to use a 64 oz stainless bottle. (Mine happens to be a Klean Kanteen, but there are other excellent makes of roughly the same length and diameter.) My Klean Kanteen fits in the holder perfectly, but I had an absolutely miserable time finding a cup/pot suitable for heating water that would nestle between the bottle and the holder without being such a tight fit that it'd wedge itself in place on one or the other. The Vargo 900 ml titanium cooking pot-- it's a short, wide 900 ml model-- does the trick. Yes, it's still a bit snug inside the holder. But acceptably so in my opinion, and maybe this, like the zipper, will ease up in time. This cup/pot also cost me nearly twice as much as the bottle-holder, sadly. But at least it fits where nothing else I found would work at all. I pack the bottle-holder by nesting the cup under the bottle with the lid (handle down) tucked flat on the bottom under both. This leaves room in the top for a Triangia-style alcohol burner, and along the sides for a 6" ferro-stick and striker, and a tea-ball-on-a-stick thingie also about 6" long. That leaves the entire side-compartment free for the burner's cross-stand, a little extra fuel, coffee/tea, sugar, etc. There's still room to spare in both compartments with everything aboard. Not a lot of room, mind you. But some. (Those who might wish to copy this setup should beware that it takes the stove about twenty minutes to bring a 3/4-full pot to a full, rolling boil. I'm actively looking for something both faster and small enough, but no luck yet.) At any rate, I'm happy I finally spent the money. It's been fun putting this project together, even if it went way over budget, and I'm confident that it'll see plenty of use.
