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(product provided by reuseit.com for reviewing purposes)
I commute to class everyday by bike and because of the structure of my schedule, I end up on campus for long periods of time with all that I need in a day pack. Being a college student, I’m trying to pinch all of the pennies that come my way. This means I’ve tried to recycle the disposable water bottles but they only hold up for about a week. When I received the Platypus SoftBottle I was thrilled because I knew that it had the potential to solve many of my problems.
Manufacturer Description and Specifications:
There’s not a hard bottle out there that’s cleaner, greener, and more flexible than a Platypus SoftBottle. Each one comes with our Clean-Taste Guarantee™ and it’s made with zero BPA. The SoftBottle is green, too, because it’s ultra-reusable and lightweight, it uses less energy and materials.
Finally, your SoftBottle defines flexible. It fits in a drink holder, a round pocket, a flat pocket, or any hand. When empty, it rolls up and fits anywhere you want it to fit. Plus, it weighs 80% less than hard hydration bottles.
Specifications: 1-Liter Closure Cap
Capacity: 34 fl. Oz / 1 liters
Weight: .9 oz /24 g
Width: 6 in /15 cm
Length: 13 in / 33 cm
Film: Nylon / Polyethylene
Spout Material: Polyethylene
Cap Material: Polypropylene
I took the SoftBottle on a short overnight trip along the banks of the Chatooga River on the South Carolina and Georgia state line. I decided to fill the SoftBottle before we headed out because all I had were iodine tablets to purify water once we got down to the river. I had planned to slip the SoftBottle into the mesh water bottle sleeve on the outside of my day pack that I was taking along with me. This proved to be troublesome, however, because the bottom edges of the film of the bottle are cut at right angles and would catch the mesh each time that I tried to put the SoftBottle into the water bottle sleeve.
Remembering that it was the bottle’s lightweight and streamline design which were my first fascinations with the SoftBottle, I decided to pack it in to the river unfilled. I took along another hard plastic water bottle in just in case the SoftBottle didn’t live up to expectations.
Having just received the SoftBottle, I do not have a lot of experience with it, but my favorite aspect that I have discovered so far is how small it will pack. If you roll it from the base to the cap, it packs to about the size of a cigar. That is a huge plus considering that something so small will hold a liter of liquid.
I ran into a little trouble with the bottle when I got down to the river to fill it. Because the SoftBottle is “soft” just like it says, the Nylon / Polyethylene film is not rigid enough to allow water to flow into the bottle when submerged. The pressure of the water on the outside of the bottle causes it to collapse. This makes the SoftBottle a little cumbersome to fill, especially where there is no current. I resorted to using a cooking pot to pour water into the bottle itself.
Having made the decision to pack the SoftBottle in empty, I had to use my iodine tablets to purify the water. I got a little distracted and forgot to shake the bottle to ensure that the tablets were completely dissolved. The creases at the base of the bottle formed by the plastic make the SoftBottle a monster to clean and the iodine settled in these creases and stained the plastic.
When it comes to drinking out of the SoftBottle, it can be somewhat awkward at first. But I found that after a few days, there was not a second thought about drinking from the bottle.
Overall I am very pleased with the Platypus SoftBottle. I think that its size and weight make up for some of the minor problems I experienced with it so far. The nature of the design of the SoftBottle means that it is going to have some limitations. Check back in about a month for my next review on the SoftBottle. I hope to get a lot of use out of it between now and then.
Interested in the Platypus SoftBottle or other reusable products? Go to reuseit.com and use the promotional code 4all to receive 10% off through November.
Kaleb
Many thanks to reuseit.com and 4alloutdoors.com for allowing me to review this item!
Update #1: 12/14/2010
I’ve had the Platypus SoftBottle for about a month now and I’ve put it to use almost every day that I’ve had it. I’ll say it again and again; the best part about the SoftBottle is how little space that it takes up. In my first review I showed how the SoftBottle could be rolled up to be stored and transported. I haven’t done that more than three or four times since. While it can still be done, I have found that for the times that I use the SoftBottle, I need the bottle to be filled. Most of my use of the bottle comes while using my day pack. I have a small sleeve in the pack for a water bladder or hydration system and the SoftBottle fits perfectly in the sleeve. When I take it on campus with me for classes I only fill it half-way and it takes up about as much space in the sleeve of my daypack as a small notebook. I store the bottle in my pack when I day hike but fill the bottle all the way and there isn’t much difference in the size of the bottle. I’ve made the mistake of not screwing the top on tight enough a couple of times and the bottle leaked into my pack. The design of the SoftBottle itself means that any kind of pressure on the bottle (when cap is not correctly tightened) will spill liquid everywhere. As is the case with any kind of water bottle or hydration system, make sure that anything you don’t want to get wet is separately bagged in something water-proof or at least water-resistant.
As I mentioned in my first review of the SoftBottle, the iodine tablets that I used to purify the water from the Chattooga River (NW South Carolina) stained the creases in the bottom of the bottle. While the stains can hardly be seen now, the slight taste of the tablets remains. It’s bearable, but not desirable. Iodine will stain almost anything and I think that is what happened here. I suggest that if you use the SoftBottle with iodine tablets, make sure that the tablets, when dissolved, do not rest in the creases at the bottom of the bottle (give it a good shake).
The bottle does show some signs of stress/wear on the nylon/polyethylene film. It doesn’t look like the integrity of the plastic film of the bottle is compromised, but I was still surprised to see the marks so soon. Below is a picture of the marks I am referring to.
I often use a SteriPen for water purification, and the SoftBottle’s mouth fits the SteriPEN perfectly. If you have ever used a SteriPEN, you know that a snug fit around the rubber stop makes the process much easier. Don’t know what a SteriPen is or perhaps are interested in more about it? Check out our reviews of two of their products: SteriPEN Adventurer Opti; SteriPEN Journey LCD. I use the SteriPEN Journey LCD.
Using SteriPEN with SoftBottle
Let’s review the SoftBottle since my last installment:
Things I Like:
- The small space that it takes up in my day pack
- How the small mouth fits my SteriPen perfectly
- Durability (no holes, cuts, malfunctions, etc.) **See below
Things I Don’t Like:
- Iodine tablets stain film of bottle and left slight taste (partially my fault)
- Signs of wear (see photo above)
Check back in about a month for my next review of the SoftBottle. Thanks again to Reuseit.com for supplying the bottle for reviewing purposes.
-Kaleb R.
Update #2: 1.14.10
The Platypus SoftBottle goes with me almost everywhere with me now. I have previously remarked how the SoftBottle can be compressed in a couple of ways that make it very easy to carry around. Whether it’s in my day pack for a day hike or with me when I go to classes, I have found the Platypus SoftBottle to be a very versatile and able water bottle, bladder, hydration device, etc (I have a hard time putting it in just one category).
If I am in public I almost always get a question or two asking just what the SoftBottle is, or why I would want a water bottle like this. I always get a chance to share what I like about the bottle and the few things I don’t. I was explaining to someone on a recent day hike in the snow (rare for Upstate SC) at Table Rock State Park about the drawbacks of the bottle having sharp right angles at the base which makes it difficult to insert the bottle into the mesh water bottle pockets that so many bags and packs have these days. They gave a suggestion for a simple solution: cut the edges off to a smoother curve to see if that would alleviate the bottle’s problems with catching the mesh as it is inserted into the pocket. That’s exactly what I did.
I was worried prior to cutting the edges that it would affect the bottle’s ability to be stable when it stands up, but so far I have not had any problems with this. I used a pair of scissors to make a cut in order to smooth the right angles of the corners and it seemed to do the trick. The SoftBottle slides into mesh pockets much easier now.
I mentioned in the previous update how the bottle had a residual taste left over from the iodine tablets that I used. The stains remain from the tablets; however, there is no residual taste any longer. I also mentioned in the previous update that the bottle had some signs of stress/wear on the plastic film it is made out of. These places appear to be larger but any holes in the film do not appear like they will develop any time soon.
I am very pleased overall with the Platypus SoftBottle. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to try out something new when it comes to hydration systems and water bottles.
-Kaleb R.
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