We all know that keeping hydrated is essential to staying safe on any outdoor adventure, and it’s that much easier when you have the perfect water bottle by your side.
Water bottles come in all shapes and sizes, colours, and styles, but only one kind can keep your beverage cold and delicious for hours. Insulated bottles keep your water cold and your coffee or tea hot. In this article, we’ll give five of the best you can buy.
Before we get into the reviews, let’s go over a few of the things you should know both before and after you buy so that you can get the most for your money.
Before You Buy
Like any type of specialized product, insulated bottles vary in their price, quality, and durability. Simple bottles focus on factors like material and coating, bladders focus on flexibility and ease-of-cleaning, and you can find the best filtered water bottle for the money based on filtering capacity, durability, and taste.
With insulated bottles, however, the things to look for are the heat-keeping and cold-keeping capacities. These refer to the amount of time that a hot liquid will stay hot and a cold liquid will stay cold in your bottle – and they make a big difference.
Most insulated bottles boast their ability to hold heat somewhere between 6 and 12 hours, and cold somewhere between 6 and 24. When looking for your perfect purchase, think about your bottle’s primary use, and how much money you want to spend for extra hours of icy refreshment.
After You Buy
Once again, any kind of specialized product has specialized needs to keep it functioning at the highest level. Luckily, water bottles fall in the “low maintenance” category, but there are still a few things you should keep in mind when you start using your new item.
First, cleaning is important! While it may be tempting to leave last night’s tea in there for the next seven days, don’t do it. Make sure to empty and rinse your bottle between uses with water, and wash between use with other liquids. Vacuum-insulated bottles aren’t dishwasher safe, so you need to wash them by hand. To wash your bottle, use a soft bottle brush with a light detergent or a mixture of baking soda and water. If there are persistent odours or tastes, soak the bottle and cap in distilled vinegar overnight.
Next, if you start to notice leaks in your bottle, don’t despair! If parts of your bottle, like the cap or gasket, start to wear out, most companies offer replacements for individual parts. Replacing these bits is easy, and can extend your bottle’s life by years. Once your bottle does finally bite the dust, make sure you dispose of it properly. Many materials, like steel and polypropylene, are recyclable and can be dropped off at recycling centres – which help reduce your personal waste and your impact on the planet.
Now let’s get down to the bottles.
1. Klean Kanteen Classic Insulated Bottle
The Klean Kanteen Classic is your one-stop choice for function, durability, and style. This 592ml bottle has a classic look that doesn’t oversell its impressive features. It’s made from high-grade 18/8 stainless steel with a BPA-free plastic lid that can be clipped to a backpack, gym bag, or anything else that suits your fancy.
Not only is this bottle classy, but it boasts an impressive 25-hour cold and 12-hour hot keeping time with its vacuum-insulated design. With a wide enough mouth to fit plenty of ice, you won’t be caught with a lukewarm beverage during any activity – and cleaning is ultra-simple.
The Klean Kanteen Classic comes in several colours and offers multiple cap styles for customization to your unique taste.
Camelbak Chute Mag Stainless Steel Insulated Bottle
If you’re looking for a bottle that’s stylish and functional, Camelbak’s Chute Mag is the bottle for you.
The Chute Mag is a one-litre bottle made from BPA-Free Polypropylene, with a wide mouth cap that not only makes drinking easy but also helps with filling (even with adding ice). Camelbak claims that the bottle can keep liquids cold for 24 hours (longer with ice) and hot for 6 hours. The many glowing reviews online seem to reflect these claims.
The niftiest feature of this bottle, though, is the magnetic cap and handle that allows you to easily keep the cap out of the way while drinking. There’s no chance of the cap flopping into your face while you’re drinking, and you don’t have to do any work to secure it.
S’well Stainless Steel Insulated Bottle
A high-quality bottle that you can feel good about buying? That would be the S’well Stainless Steel Insulated Bottle. This bottle is sleek, simple, and functional, with a heat keeping time of 12 hours and a cold keeping time of over 24. The body and cap are made from high-quality stainless steel which makes this 260ml bottle a completely body-safe way to get your 2-litres a day.
If the features of the bottle itself aren’t enough to convince you, the company’s commitment to the environment and clean water will be. Every bottle purchased through S’well sees a portion of the proceeds donated to organizations like WaterAid, Drink Up, and American Forests. Not only that, but the bottle materials are recyclable.
S’well insulated bottles are perfect for those who don’t want a lot of flash, but want their money spent on a worthy cause. These bottles come in several sizes and colours for any look.
Ecococoon ICONSPEAK Insulated Water Bottle
The Ecococoon Iconspeak Insulated Bottle is a winning combo of style, function, and price that’s designed at-home in Australia. This bottle is made from 18/8 stainless steel and BPA-free polypropylene, but it’s a step above other high-quality bottles.
Ecococoon has revolutionized drinking bottles with their signature valve cap, which eliminates mess, yanking, teeth-grabbing, and all the other frustrations of traditional drinking spouts. In addition to the ease of drinking, the Iconspeak keeps your beverages cold for 12 hours and remains condensation-free with a double walled vacuum insulation system.
Ecococoon bottles come in several designs, and the Iconspeak comes in three wide-mouth sizes for all your needs.
Thermos Tritan Insulated Bottle
If you need a high-quality, long-lasting product without breaking your budget, the Thermos Tritan Insulated Bottle is your product. This attractive 530ml protects your body and your wallet with double-walled insulation, a spill-proof design, and an open-top drinking spout.
Unlike the other options on this list, this bottle is made from BPA-free Eastman Tritan plastic that keeps your body safe from harmful chemicals while reducing the weight of a traditional steel bottle. The design shows both walls, offering a unique look that shows both its function and its fashion.
The Tritan comes in several laid-back colours to fit your look.
Fifty/Fifty 250oz/750ml Vacuum-Insulated Water Bottle
Another double-walled option that by all reports doesn’t sweat, this is a perfect bottle to throw in your bag on a hot day and not worry about getting its other contents wet. It’s made from 18/8 stainless steel and won’t leech any flavour into your beverage. Fifty/Fifty claims these bottles will keep your beverage hot or cold all day long, and the reviews seem to confirm this, though many people claim that it isn’t water they mainly use it for because it fits an entire bottle of wine. Whatever your choice of beverage, sounds like this might be a bottle worth checking out.
In Summary…
Staying hydrated is essential, and next time you go for your water bottle, make it one of the ones on this list. For ice cold or piping hot drinks without worrying about condensation soaking your hands, bag, or pockets, insulated bottles are the way to go – and these products are the best you can get.
Disclaimer: The above links are affiliate links, meaning I will be given a percentage of all purchases. This doesn’t mean you pay anything extra and doesn’t influence the opinions I have presented in this article in any way.
Got yourself an insulated water bottle? Which model did you buy? If you have any stories, updates or corrections, please let us know by commenting below.
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I would love to find a lightish thermos that is decently made – I have a great old school one that I will never part with, but it does weigh about 2kg. That’s why I read this post – which would be far more useful if the author had taken the time to test the manufacturer’s claims (a stopwatch and thermometer would do the job) – I really don’t see the point in just pasting the marketing spiel?
I would avoid the Klean Canteen insulated bottles – out of 3, only one still works after 6 months (they were not abused). Their manufacturing is simply not good enough as a vacuum flask should last indefinitely. Nor are their claims in a ball-park of true – in 10° you are lucky to get 2 hours of drinkably hot liquid. A large factor is the fact that the lids are not actually insulated – wrap one in a down jacket or sleeping bag and see how hot the exterior gets after just 30 minutes… Manufacturer’s claims for insulated bottles need to be taken with a LARGE dose of salt!
Hi Otter,
Thanks again for your input. This article was never meant to be an in-depth review, just a brief roundup of what’s out there, which is why Rebecca hasn’t tested the claims. You are right that manufacturers claims probably should be taken with a grain of salt. That’s true for nearly every product, though, not just insulated water bottles.
Cheers
Neil