Overview
When elk hunting in the backcountry for multiple days straight, chasing them up and down mountains, there is nothing like a nice shower to revive and bring you new life. A hot shower can be a little tough, but several portable shower options use the sun to heat the water enough to give you a warm shower. I purchased the Advanced Elements 5 Gallon Summer Shower because it was well-priced and received good reviews on Amazon. I took this to Colorado for 9 days, and it was a godsend to have with me.
Be sure to check out the video review!Key Product Feautres
Advanced Elements 5 Gallon Summer Shower
$35.495-gallon capacity suitable for at least 3-5 quick showers. Velco straps and mess “pocket” for holding a washcloth, soap, or other shower products. Sturdy handle to hang shower as needed. The bag has a built-in temperature gauge to know when the shower is warm enough. The bag uses solar and reflective material to heat water in the sun.
What we liked about Advanced Elements 5 Gallon Summer Shower:
This shower bag is exceptionally compact, folds up when empty to lay flat, and takes up minimal space. It is well-built and can be hung by the handle in a tree or on a pole. The shower is easy to turn on and off and delivers a steady water flow. I could get the water up to 100-110 degrees by sitting in direct sunshine, which was more than enough for a warm shower.
Who we think will like this product:
Hikers, hunters, and campers would get good use out of this. It would also work well at the beach to rinse off sand and salt water. When empty and folded up, it fits well in a backpack and doesn’t take up much space. It beats a sponge or towel “bath” and does an excellent job of getting water to a warm temperature.
Pro tips:
- If you want to turbocharge the temperature, you can heat/boil a small amount of water (use caution/at your own risk)
- We used this at base camp, and I could fill the bag up and put it in the truck to get it to camp instead of packing in the 5 gallons of water in a different container and then filling it up at camp.
Pros
- 5-gallon capacity allows the bag to be filled at camp and used for multiple showers
- Durable construction and will hold up in the woods
- Easy to fill and use and doesn’t take up much space when empty
Cons
- This bag does a good job warming the water in the sun, but once the bag is out of direct sunlight or the sun goes down, the water cools back down very quickly as the bag is not insulated to hold heat in
- Showers are best taken in the middle of the day when the bag is in direct sunlight.
- The shower hose is also not insulated, and the first “shot” of water can be pretty cold if you don’t drain the hose first to get warm water to the front (also a pro tip!)
Video Reviews
Nick Zinsmeyer
Nick is a lifelong Texan and hunter of native big game, exotic animals, predators, waterfowl, migrator birds, and fur-bearing animals. Nick is an expert in hunting with several legal means, including archery, black powder/muzzleloader rifles, and long-range rifles.
He has hunted in several states across the United States, both on private and public land. He spends most of his time hunting all over Texas, including several years in the storied South Texas Brush Country, Central Texas Hill Country, and West Texas. In addition to hunting across the country, Nick runs wildlife management programs on multiple ranches in Texas, focusing on conservation and quality deer management.
Nick was published in Texas Trophy Hunters magazine in 2020, where he told his story of harvesting a trophy whitetail from a public land drawn hunt, and again in 2022 for a DIY Elk hunt in Arizona where he harvested a 358 net-inch bull.
