Wasted $60 on a cheap bear canister... learned the hard way

I bought a no-name bear canister off Amazon for $60 last spring before a trip in the Sierra. First night out, a raccoon popped the lid off in about 20 minutes and scattered my food across the campsite. Ended up having to hike out a day early with nothing to eat. Has anyone else had a budget piece of gear fail at the worst time?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_flores2818d ago

You said "a raccoon popped the lid off" but that's actually not a raccoon thing to do haha. Raccoons are smart but they don't have the grip strength to pop off a proper canister lid unless it's really flimsy. More likely the lid just wasn't locked right or the latch was too easy to push open. I had a similar issue with a cheap canister where the locking mechanism broke after one trip. A real bear canister should need a coin or tool to open it, not just your fingers. Raccoons can be a pain but they didn't pop your lid, that was just bad design.

harper_murphy18d ago

Used to think a locked lid was enough but this post convinced me otherwise. A raccoon prying it open in 20 minutes shows how bad the latch really was on those cheap cans. Definitely looking at spending real money on something with a proper locking mechanism now.