Hydro Flask 18oz Narrow Mouth Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle

http://www.hydroflask.com/

Image courtesy of Hydroflask.com

Product provided by Hydroflask free of cost for this review.

Ok, so when I heard about this insulated bottle I was skeptical. I have come to believe that if I want an insulated drink container I would have to accept that it would be bulky and/or heavy. When I chose to review this item, I figured I would be getting a bottle that might keep my drink hot/cold for a few hours and figured at worst I would have something I could fill with boiling water and use to keep my sleeping bag warm. I chose the Narrow Mouth 18 oz version figuring it was big enough to be useful but maybe not so large and heavy that I would dread packing it. As for color, I could not decide so I asked that they just send whatever color they choose (it comes in 6 colors: Lychee Red, Classic Stainless, Green Zen, Black Butte, Orange Zest, & Tahoe Blue).

In addition to the bottle I chose, Hydro Flask offers bottles in three other sizes as well as a few accessories.

When the bottle arrived, the first thing I noticed was the strikingly bright orange color. The bottle is covered with a textured flat finish that I liked immediately! It is bright enough that I highly doubt I will be able to misplace it, while not being garish or gaudy. The textured finish feels good and should help prevent it from slipping out of my hand. The second thing I noticed was how light it is. I expected something more along the lines of a heavy thermos, but this is far lighter than I expected.

The 18oz bottle I received weighs 9.9 oz (280 g) is 9.5” tall (241 mm) and about 3” (76 mm) in diameter.

The bottle arrived with a hangtag that included the standard information (product name, manufacturer name address and contact information, major features, “lifetime warranty”, etc) as well as some information about their “FivePercentBack.org” participation. Apparently, the company allows purchasers to decide to what charity 5% of the purchase price of product will be donated. COOL!

Inside of the bottle was a small strip of paper with the ubiquitous “wash before using” statement…at least that is what I thought it was until I read it. I was partially right, it did include information about washing before using (hot soapy water, air dry, yada, yada…), and describes the unconditional lifetime warranty, but there was more. It included offers for owners to send in stories and/or pictures of the product saying they might use them on their web site “Wanna be famous?” It also went into some of the environmentally friendly aspects of the bottle as well as the manufacturer, and how the bottles are made in “meticulously chosen factories [in china] that practice social responsibility”. The company’s web site includes more information on their environmentally friendly practices. My impression of the company from the product literature and their website is of an environmentally conscious company that is a bit quirky (in a good way).

Aside from the double wall construction, which is not visible anyway, the bottle is a rather standardized shape and size. A lot like some of the aluminum fuel bottles I have for my liquid gas stoves. The top screws in/out and includes a gap in the treads that allows any pressure differential to equalize in a controlled way (e.g. slowly, rather than popping like a Champaign cork). The screw top has an opening allowing the user to secure the bottle and I found it to be a convent size for slipping my finger through.

Being a rather impulsive person, after receiving the bottle I washed it out (ok, I really just rinsed it with some warm water) and filled it with hot tea. About 2 hrs later I tried the tea and it was still too hot to drink, while except for at the very top of the neck I could not feel any heat coming from the bottle. I was impressed and tried an experiment. I filled the bottle with about 2 cups of boiling water and let it sit on my counter. After 6 hrs I opened it and found the water temperature was still 160F. Not bad. I also opened a 12oz can of soda, poured it into the bottle, put the cap on and left it for about an hour, when I loosed the cap releasing the pressure then opened it and took a drink. Still cold and carbonated.

The company’s web site describes the bottles as being “Sweat Free” and “Ouch Free”, in that the insulation will prevent the outside of the bottle from getting excessively hot or cold due to the temperature of the contents. They advertize that it will keep hot beverages hot for at least 12hrs and cold beverages cold for 24hrs or more.

I am looking forward to using this for hot drinks during my winter outdoor activities. I plan to take this bottle with me on some winter excursions including hikes and snowshoeing as well as daily use (at work, home, etc) for both hot and cold beverages as needed.

My initial impression is very favorable and I am looking forward to seeing how this container performs. I invite you to return in about 2 months when I will be posting an update to this report.

[Update 1]

Stacey finding my tea too hot to drink after being in the Hydroflask for hours

Since receiving this bottle it has rarely been further away from me than arms reach. I have used this bottle on a few show-shoeing trips. I have also been using it daily. I use it to take hot tea with me to work, when driving, and at home. At work and while driving I normally use one of my many travel mugs. These work fine, but despite being insulated they don’t keep drinks hot for all that long. So I often end up drink lukewarm tea. But not since I received the Hydro Flask!

This year we had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Tubbs Romp to Stomp out breast cancer event in Stevens Washington. This involved a few hours’ drive through the mountains in the evening to get to the hotel. I brought some hot tea in the hydro flask for the drive. The next morning I put a tea bag in the bottle and filled it with hot water from the dispenser in the hotel lobby. The water was “hot” but far from boiling. Just before reaching the half way point of the 5K trail we were on it started to rain lightly and the wind picked up for a short while to the point where it was hard to continue. The wind only lasted a few minutes, and was immediately followed by harder rain. We got to the halfway point and took a short break to enjoy a quick snack and drink before we continued. So here we were, sitting on the snow, in the rain. I pulled out my Hydro Flask, and despite filling it with only slightly hot water, hours later the tea was still hot!!! WOOT! Everyone else is drinking cold water and gathering around the small fire they had going, and here I am savoring my hot tea. I could not help but smile and feel a bit smug.

I do have one complaint about the bottle, and that is that I have more than a few times made tea only to find that when I want it, it is still too hot to drink. At work this is solved by pouring into a mug to cool off, but when I am driving I don’t have any choice but to wait till it cools off or do my best to not burn my mouth.

The finish on the bottle seems to be quite durable. I have not abused this bottle (yet) but neither have I babied it, and it still looks like new, not a mark on it.

One thing I am really looking forward to is using this while backpacking and/or snow camping. More often than not, I cook and eat out of the same container, so if I want a hot drink I need to make it before my meal then it is often cold by the time I want it. The other option is to make my drink after I have cleaned up, and rarely do I want to restart my stove just to make a hot drink. With this I will be able to heat water for a drink first then make my meal. The best part is I could make a hot drink while making dinner and not drink it until just before going to sleep if I so choose. Or even reserve it if I wake up cold in the night, when a hot drink could be quite nice to have.

I really love this product and for what it is worth, older daughter has been bugging me to get one for her…but I think I will hold off on that and make her earn it (should be worth some chores or even an A on her next report card).

Update May 12 2011

This bottle has been a joy to review. I really have no complaints. What I expected to be simply another insulated water bottle has turned out to be something I don’t know how I ever managed without.

Despite daily use, the bottle looked almost like new inside and out (that was until a few days ago, more about that later). I have been drinking tea out of this bottle almost every day since receiving it, and some days filling it multiple times. Most of my “stainless steel” travel mugs are stained from coffee and/or tea, however despite nothing more than occasional (every 2-3 days) rinsing with hot water, the inside of the bottle still looks like it did when it arrived. The same was true for the exterior. There were a few minor blemishes on the bottom, but that is about it, despite the bottle rolling around the floor of my vehicle, being stuffed into my backpack, being carelessly set (and laid) down on rocks and dirt, and general daily use in my home and office.

Just a few days ago, while heading out for a hike, my daughter dropped the bottle (full of hot tea) from my truck on to the driveway, then the very next day I dropped it (again full) on the kitchen floor. Now there are a few notable dings and dents in the bottle. This is significant for two reasons. First is that this abuse showed just how durable the finish on the bottle is. There are a few small chips in the paint (about the size of the tip of a pencil), where I believe it landed on pieces of rock when it hit the cement, but aside from that the paint is intact. The second thing is that now if I tap the side of the bottle, along with the normal ringing, I can also hear the sound of the inner and outer walls coming into contact. So it seems that one of the dents is just deep enough that it is almost touching the inner wall of the bottle. I don’t think this dent will have much of an impact on the insulation value of the bottle, but if the dent was much deeper causing the inner and outer walls to be in constant contact, it would reduce the insulation of the bottle. Therefore, my recommendation is to try to avoid dropping these on hard surfaces when full (“Thank you professor obvious”).

I took a late winter backpacking trip into the Ancient Lakes area (central Washington State) for a little R&R and to scout it out for some future hikes and/or backpack trips with my kids. The weather was unstable, and as it turned out it started to rain just after nightfall and then the skies cleared and temperatures plummeted. I awoke to find my tent covered in sheets of ice. Luckily, I had made hot tea before making dinner (about 7PM) and put it into my Hydroflask, I then put the bottle into my sleeping bag. During the night when the temperature dropped, I awoke to a rather chilly backside. I moved the hydroflask to the cold spot in my bag and snuggled up to it, with much joy. In the morning I awoke to find I was coming down with something (sore throat and general weakness) and so did not crawl out of my sleeping bag until about 9AM. By then the tea was lukewarm, but it had served its purpose (a comfortable night sleep despite some unexpected cold weather).

I have had one less than ideal experience with this product. It involves using it for carbonated beverages. I have found that when mostly or completely full of a carbonated beverage, it tends to spit or spray a bit upon opening as the pressure escapes. I believe this is due to liquid getting into the threaded portion of the lid. The seal for the lid is a rubber gasket at the top of the threads and so liquid can get up into the threads and then expelled when opening. I found if I remembered to loosen the lid slowly I could mostly avoid this, so it is not really an issue and I only include it here in order to be as thorough as possible.

I showed my bottle to a friend who does a lot of alpine climbing and told him about it. He liked the bottle, and a few weeks later when he just happened to be visiting Bend Or he went in search of them. He ended up calling the manufacturer and was invited to visit them. He ended up purchasing 3 Hydro Flasks. Also, while visiting Portland Or with my sister-in-law, she mentioned she was tired of her tea getting cold before she got around to drinking it and was wondering if one of these might be what she needed, and to our surprise the next day while exploring the Saturday Market we came across a Hydroflask booth. After looking them over, she ended up getting one for herself.

NOTE: While at the Hydroflask booth, the guy there showed me a water filter option they are planning to offer soon. I am quite interested in this option as it might allow me to collect nice cold water directly out of streams and enjoy it at my leisure. No more sipping lukewarm water on a hot dusty trail? I could go for that!

I really love this bottle! I am looking forward to using it for my next Mt Addams climbs where I plan to sit on the summit, smugly enjoying hot tea, or maybe I will go all out and bring hot coca! I plan to continue to use this bottle at home, in my vehicle, and at work, as well as on backpacking trips and hikes, and have plans to purchase some of these in other sizes.

I would like to thank 4AllOutdoors.org and the folks at Hydroflask for the opportunity to review this fine product!

Dave (the turtle) Wilkes

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