Twenty-One Reviewers Wrote About the Lid on This Collapsible Water Carrier With Tap for Camping UK

Three Reviewers Call It a Bucket. So Does the Maker.

Start with the insult, because it is the most useful thing in the review pile. Three of the 100 reduce the Colapz to a bucket, and each does it for a different reason. A 3-star reviewer, unhappy that the tap sits too high to drain the last of the water, concludes: Basically this is just a bucket. A 1-star buyer whose lid would not reseal after a home test reports having basically purchased a fancy collapsible bucket. A third, who opened the box to find no tap inside, writes that essentially I bought a collapsible bucket.

It really is a bucket with a tap in the side, sold as one in white type on a green box, and reviewers find their own uses for that: a 2-star buyer put off by the taste switched to washing up, a 4-star owner says it works well as a bucket since the handle is very comfortable to hold the weight of 8l of water, and one five-star camper set it up on a stepping stool as a water fountain for the dog.

So the argument is never about whether it is a bucket, but whether it is also a carrier. Twelve of the 100 use the word at all: nine plainly or as a compliment, three as a demotion, each for a different failing.

The Lid Sits On Top. It Does Not Lock Down.

Twenty-one reviews mention the lid. Fifteen report it coming off, refusing to seal, or letting water out. Two more come from five-star owners flagging the same design gap without having had it fail on them. Only four are neutral or positive.

Those fifteen are not a 1-star pile-on: five are 1-star, one is 2-star, five are 3-star and four are 4-star, and the descriptions line up closely enough that they read as one design decision rather than fifteen faulty units. A 3-star reviewer explains the mechanism better than the listing does: The lid relies on the silicone rubber seal and friction against the rim and as several others have mentioned it doesn't hold tight. The stated workaround: a bit of gaffa tape to hold it down when in use. A 1-star buyer is blunter, saying it places on top of the container, but in no way will it ever stay put.

The consequences are ordinary camping ones. A 4-star reviewer wanting to move it full found The push fit lid was not sufficient to keep all of the water in, so they carried it in a washing up bowl to overcome this. Another 4-star buyer docked a star for one reason: I would have given five stars if the lid could be attached to the bucket but it only sits on top which is a shame. Their toddler kept knocking it over. A 3-star reviewer moving water by car reached the plainest verdict of the lot, that this is a bit useless if you actually want to carry water any distance.

Not one five-star reviewer reports the lid actually failing. Two raise it anyway, one saying I am not sure I would trust the lid to stay on if it fell over full, but haven't had an issue with them when carrying them full, another simply wishing for a clip to make the lid more secure. A third calls it secure enough as long as it stays up right, which is the whole dispute in seven words. The same removability is why eight reviewers praise how easily it cleans and dries: a five-star owner likes that the lid comes right off enabling you to be able to physically dry it with a cloth, which you cannot do with a rigid jerrycan.

Seven Leaks in a Hundred Reviews, and None of Them Are Five-Star

Fifteen reviews use the word leak, and that number misleads on its own. Seven describe this container leaking. Six state the opposite, that they checked and found none. Two are describing a previous water carrier that leaked on them, not this one.

The seven land at 1 star four times, 2 stars twice, and 4 stars once, and that highest one is the mildest in the set: Love it! .. just leaks a tiny bit! The serious cases split between units that arrived damaged and two that wore through in use. A 2-star reviewer who used it lightly at first came back after three months of continuous use to report that it Has started to leak slightly at the seam below the tap, and downrated accordingly. Another found the faucet already leaks after three or four uses.

Against that, one of the six went in expecting trouble because of these very reviews. I was afraid it would leak, as other reviews said. But I ordered and tested it: Not an issue, writes one, after five days camping, and the same reviewer gives the advice outright: Order it, try it at home, and see yourself. Another reports the tap works perfectly, with no drips or leakage. Two more filled it at home before their trip and found nothing, one of them leaving it standing overnight. The listing badges the body as having Electronically welded seams, which is the maker's claim rather than an independent test, and the one seam failure in our 100 took three months of continuous use to appear.

Four People Taste Plastic. Six Say They Don't.

Eleven reviews mention taste or flavour, and this is where a raw count would mislead you most. Four report a real problem with how the water tastes. Six say explicitly that theirs does not taste of anything. The eleventh is a reviewer querying Amazon's flavour rating field: Not sure why there is a section for flavour here. Do not eat this. That review is a lid complaint wearing a taste headline.

The four complaints are specific. A 1-star reviewer who has camped since they were a young nipper and calls themselves no newbie reports that even after a right good clean, a fair few scrubs and rinses it still leaves a nasty chemical taste to your water. A 2-star buyer found The main problem is the water starts to taste of plastic after a few hours, and repurposed it: We ended up using it for washing up water, the tap worked well for this. A 1-star motorhome owner reports the same across three separate short breaks, and a second 2-star reviewer mentions a Slight taste to the water among larger grievances.

The six on the other side are just as direct. One bought it because previous plastic carriers had ruined the water and found The water from this container tasted fresh. Another says It doesn't leave a nasty taste in the water. A third, reviewing after a 1,500 mile trip, reports No funny tastes/smell from it. The listing badges the material BPA-free, food-grade plastic, again a maker's claim. Six to four, the odds are with you. Only one of the four ties the taste to how long the water sat, so refilling rather than storing overnight is worth trying without being a cure: another scrubbed and rinsed repeatedly and still tasted chemicals, and a third got the same result across three separate trips.

Nine Arrived Faulty, Broken or Missing the Tap

Keep this separate from everything above, because a design you dislike and a unit that turned up broken are not the same criticism. Nine of the 100 describe something wrong with the item on arrival. Seven rated it 1 star, one rated it 2 stars, and one still gave 4 stars because the seller sorted it out quickly.

Two of the nine opened the box to find no tap. The item itself looks great and sturdy but did not come with the tap attachment, writes one, which for a product sold as a water dispenser is a fair reason to be furious. Three describe holes or broken seals, including I filled it 10 minutes after arrival and it has a hole in it so it's as much use as a chocolate teapot and mine was delivered faulty and the seal on the valve was broken, it won't hold any water. One more says the top arrived broken and the folding creases would not come out.

Nine in a hundred is high enough to matter, and it is half the reason our score sits where it does. What follows is simple: unbox and test it the day it lands, not the night before a bank holiday weekend. One of the nine could not return a faulty unit because chronic illness pushed them past the return window, which is a hard way to learn that lesson.

Aftersales is mixed rather than uniformly bad. Three of the nine report poor or absent service, including one who says the seller never replied. Three others report the opposite: a 5-star buyer who contacted the company to ask a question and they were really helpful, the 4-star reviewer whose broken retaining strap was resolved fast, and a 3-star buyer who found Customer support were very nice while still concluding the product was not for them.

Caravans, Campervans and the Hose Through the Lid

Nine of the 100 mention a caravan, campervan or motorhome, and eight of those nine gave five stars. That is the clearest use-case signal in the sample, and it is a long way from the tent-and-festival framing you might expect. Nobody in the 100 mentions a festival at all.

The reason is the fully serviced pitch. One five-star caravanner asks why you would carry a 40 litre Aquaroll to a pitch that already has water, and wanted something small, reasonable capacity and with an opening big enough to accept our waterpump. That opening is the point. The listing photo badges the container Water Pump Ready and Truma & Whale compatible, and shows a hose running into a fitting in the lid beside a caravan.

Read that carefully: it is a compatibility claim, not a bundle. No pump comes with the container, and the two reviewers using it this way brought their own. One went further, adding a top filling float valve and tap washers so a caravan's external pump could draw from it continuously. The result is a compact, mains water system incorporating the caravan external pump. It works a treat. That is a modification, not an out-of-the-box feature.

The container in that photo also stands on a dark folding base, which the listing text never names as included, and two reviewers confirm it is a separate purchase. One five-star camper advises others to Consider adding the optional stand after ending up putting theirs on a table top, which was a faff every time we wanted to use it. A 4-star reviewer bought it with the plastic base to raise it and calls it fantastic. Budget for it if you want the tap at a usable height.

What to Look For in a Collapsible Water Carrier With Tap for Camping UK Trips

Three things separate a good collapsible water carrier with tap for camping UK trips from a merely fancy one, and the Colapz scores very differently on each.

First, does it pack down properly? It wins outright here. Twenty-six of the 100 mention how it folds, almost all of them approvingly, and the only complaint about the fold itself comes from a unit that arrived with creases that would not come out. The listing photo of it collapsed into a flat disc held in two hands is not exaggerating, and one reviewer puts it at 8cm in height folded. For a campervan locker or a car boot on a bank holiday run, that beats a rigid jerrycan that takes the same space empty as full. It comes with a storage bag, mentioned by six separate reviewers, plus a strap that holds it shut when collapsed.

Second, does the tap work? Also yes. Twelve of the eighteen tap mentions are positive, including two from reviewers who were otherwise unhappy. The tap is spring loaded and, as one five-star reviewer explains, can lock at the open position if tilted fully, which is what you want filling a kettle one-handed. The moulded scale reads from 4L up to MAX 8L in the listing photos, and the same reviewer likes the window above the tap so you can see the amount of water remaining. Two caveats: the tap sits high enough that a few inches will not drain out, and a 3-star reviewer warns that overtightening it can make it flip off.

Third, can you move it full? Only walked back upright from the standpipe, which plenty of reviewers do without trouble. Lifted into a boot, tipped, or knocked over by a toddler, the lid is a live risk.

On price, twelve reviews put a word to it and the split is close: six call it expensive or over priced, five call it good value or reasonably priced, and one is annoyed about a price drop rather than the price itself. Several hold both positions at once. One 4-star buyer says My only moan is it's very expensive and then says she would buy it again. Check today's price on Amazon before you decide, because it has moved.

Where That Leaves the Score

Our score is 4.0. That sits deliberately below the 4.4 lifetime average, and it is not because the thing is badly built.

Build quality holds up under scrutiny. Thirteen of the 100 call it sturdy, robust or strong, and only two question that in the same vocabulary. The words flimsy, thin and weak appear in just two reviews, both from satisfied owners, one comparing it favourably against cheaper carriers that were too flimsy. Six reviewers in total doubt its durability or reserve judgement on how long it will last. That is a small minority, and the loudest criticism in this sample is not about plastic quality at all.

The marks come off for two things: a lid that fifteen reviewers report failing them, across every star band from one to four, and nine units in a hundred that arrived faulty, broken or missing the tap. For a product whose purpose is carrying water, a closure that only rests on the rim is a functional limit rather than a nitpick.

Buy it if you camp with a van or caravan, pitch near a tap, and want something that dispenses neatly on a table then disappears into a locker. Buy it if storage space is your binding constraint and you have been putting up with a rigid container you resent. Skip it if you need to move water any real distance, if a plastic taste would ruin it for you, or if you want a lid you can walk away from.

A last note on what you actually get. The container, the lid with its screw cap, the tap and a storage bag are the product. The portable shower kit in the final listing photo is sold separately and the photo says so in small print. The folding base is a separate purchase. The pump is yours to supply. Judged on what is in the box, this is a very good collapsible dispenser and camp bucket with one design decision you will either work around or resent.