Lightning Review: PACE Lid

At least once a month I have the “Why didn’t I think of that?” question when I encounter a product. One I had back in February was around a Kickstarter (that I eventually backed) for a modification to a very common item, one that most of us have: a Nalgene bottle.

Construction

The PACE Lid is basically a simple replacement cap for wide-mouthed Nalgene bottles that has a sealable chamber. It is watertight, which is important so you don’t spill your beverage. The PACE Lid functions as a replacement for the existing lid.

The PACE lid will contain up to ten ounces of whatever you want to put into it. Keys, snacks, bandaids, or whatever small items you may want to carry. It also has a small loop on the main body so you can dummy cord it to something.

Sorry for those of you that have narrow mouthed bottles–there is not a PACE Lid model for you.

The designer of the PACE Lid put together a short video about it (originally for the Kickstarter):

Observations

The first observation that comes to mind is “robust.” This thing is solid. The material reminds me of the composite used in tortilla warmers (https://www.amazon.com/IMUSA-MEXI-1000-TORTW-Tortilla-Warmer-8-5-Inches/dp/B00164SI8K if you need a point of reference).

The name is a play on the PACE acronym (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency). I suppose that it’s use case can fit into any of those categories, depending on what you put into it.

You do have to remove your existing lid (and likely the retaining ring). My biggest fear would be losing the lid to your bottle while climbing or something. Since the original lid is secured to the body of the bottle with a ring that fits over the neck, you are less likely to lose it. My solution is to wrap some duct tape around the body of the bottle (since tape is always good to have), and loop a small hank of 550 cord, which I can then attach to the PACE lid.

Conclusion

Personally I’m going to use mine for water purification kit (and maybe some emergency fishing kit; line, some sinkers, and hooks).

While the Kickstarter campaign is now over, you can buy one directly from their website for around $20: https://pacelid.com/. They also have some preloaded options that contain basic survival or first aid items.

Doc Rader

Tom is a former Navy Corpsman that spent some time bumbling around the deserts of Iraq with a Marine Recon unit, kicking in tent flaps and harassing sheep. Before that, he was a paramedic somewhere in DFW, also doing some Executive Protection work between shifts. Now that those exciting days are behind him, he has embraced his inner “Warrior Hippie,” and assaults 14er in his sandals, and engages in rucking adventure challenges while consuming copious water. To fund these adventures, he writes all manner of content (having also held editor positions at several publications) and teaches wilderness medicine and off-road skills. He hopes that his posts will help you find the gear that will survive whatever you can throw at it (and the training to use it). Learn from his mistakes--he is known (in certain circles) for his curse...ahem, ability...to find the breaking point of anything. You can follow him at https://linktr.ee/docrader.