I have both a garcia and an older model BV, mine is the BV200. Only in the Rae Lakes area is my bear can disallowed, and there are a lot of food locker (bear boxes) in that area. The newer model BV's are supposed to have fixed the issue where Rae Lakes area bears learned to pop the lids.

I like the BV a lot better than the Garcia. I agree that transparency shouldn't be an issue for bears; if they get close to your Garcia, they're likely to know there's food in there too, their noses are pretty darned good. Whether or not to use an odor proof liner is a separate debate, of course, but I'm not concerned about the transparency.

It is handy though --- even better is the wider opening, it's just much easier to pack and unpack the BV, and easier to maximize what you can get into it from the combination of those two things (transparency plus larger opening).

One drawback I've had with the BV is that any sort of dirt or grit that gets into the threads can make it hard --- sometimes almost seemingly impossible --- to open. I keep a short length of high friction cord (I use clothesline) with a little loop on one end --- wrap that around the lid to give a lot more twist-open power. The real solution is just trivial mainenance, i.e., infrequently clean the threads and put a light coat of vaseline or neosporine or something like that on them.

Offsetting the grit-in-threads issue is the fact that the contents always stay dry; the Garcia isn't water proof. That's no big deal either with experience --- just stand it upside down if rain is a possibility.

Bearikade owners all seem to love theirs, but it's significantly more expensive.