I’ll admit it, I have an addiction. No, it’s not drugs, nope not alcohol either. It’s not even unhealthy. And my girlfriend might laugh at me for it. My addiction is dun dun dun WATER BOTTLES!
Yes, I’m always buying new water bottles and for that reason I can give pretty good insight on which ones you should get.
Hydroflask
Ah hydroflask. This is by far the most popular water bottle brand on the market. Chances are that you already know a decent amount about them.
They come in tons of different colors and styles. I’d say that’s their main drawing point. The customizability.
While their marketing tries to convince you that this is a product for the outdoor enthusiast – don’t try to take this hiking. That goes for all the insulated bottles on this list. On the brightside, hydroflasks are one of the lighter weight options of insulated bottles but they still are a really heavy weight in your pack. I’d delegate them to the campsite, or just leave them in the car for the after-hike recovery.
All-in-all Hydroflasks are a great option purely for their uniqueness. There’s so many options of sizes, colors, and lids to choose from that give you a really personalized bottle. At the end of the day though, they are very simple bottles and there isn’t much more to say about them than that.
Yeti
A relative newcomer to the scene is Yeti. Known originally for their coolers, they soon expanded into the insulated water bottle market. Man, I’ve gotta say that their coolers are the best you can buy – but I’m not as big of a fan of their water bottles.
My main issue is their weight. I bought the 36oz rambler bottle. This is a few ounces more than my 32oz Hydroflask, but wow it’s heavier. When both bottles are empty the Yeti still physically feels like there’s water in it, whereas you can tell the Hydroflask is empty. This problem makes it a bit more of a hassle to carry around.
Yeti also has different sizes than Hydroflask. Again, I had the 36oz bottle in Yeti and the 32oz in Hydroflask. When I filled the Hydroflask with ice, that ice stayed solid for a MUCH longer time than the Yeti. For me to keep solid ice in my Yeti all day I’d have to fill it 2/3rds with ice instead of my Hydroflask’s 1/3rd. Of course this could be from the Yeti holding more water than the Hydroflask, thus taking more ice to cool it all, but I don’t know. All I know is the Yeti doesn’t seem as good at insulating like the Hydroflask.
OK, I think that’s enough bashing on the Yeti. Alright then, why do I think you SHOULD get one?
Their durability. I mean, when I talked about how much heavier these are than the Hydroflask the reason being is they are a lot stronger. The steel walls feel thicker. If you drop that Hydro, chances are you’ll leave a nasty dent. While Yeti bottles are still double walled (which means more prone to denting) they can hold up to more abuse.
Another thing I like about Yeti’s are this cap.
Most of these bottles I’m talking about are wide mouth. That means they’re great for filling with ice, but much harder to drink out of. If you’re walking, you’ll probably spill all over yourself. This cap is different though. You can still fill the bottle with ice easily, but your drinking… spout? Is much easier to drink from.
Sidenote:
If you’re in the market for an insulated coffee cup, I think Yeti has the best one. It does a nice job of keeping things plenty hot and, again, the lid is great. The lid on their coffee cup is called Magslide. Basically it uses a magnet to flip open and shut. It’s really convenient and helps you not spill your drink everywhere if you’re moving around with it.
Nalgene
The dark horse water bottle. Bet you didn’t expect me to throw this bad boy in with all the insulated bottles. He has his time and place though.
If you don’t want to deal with denting your water bottle, get this. It’s literally impossible to dent, or even break really. I threw mine off a cliff on accident and the cap broke, but the actual bottle was fine. Caps are easy to replace.
If you’re hiking just… don’t even bring any of the others. Bring a Nalgene. These are incredibly lighter than all the other options. The single-walled plastic is pounds lighter than the steel counterparts.
In all aspects, this is the true outdoorsy hiking bottle.
Alright then, what’s bad about it?
For one, it’s not insulated. Say goodbye to the prospects of having ice cold water all-day, everyday. Some people might care about this, you might not care, that’s not up for me to say.
A big aspect to me in not using one of these everyday is that it’s made of plastic. Yes, the marketing helpfully does note that these are BPA free, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily safe either. There’s studies you can look into, but basically by being BPA free they aren’t using that type of plastic, just other ones which can still leach different chemicals in your water.
Plastics are everywhere around us and it’d be dishonest for me to say that by avoiding drinking my water out of a plastic bottle I’m really making a difference to my body’s chemistry. Unfortunately, the majority of our food and drinks are contained within plastic, so if I’m not getting those harmful chemicals from my water bottle, I’m still getting them from somewhere else. All that being said, I still prefer my water bottles to be stainless steel where I don’t have to worry about it at all.
I still do use Nalgenes. I use them when hiking and rock climbing where I need a lighter bottle. They might be fine to use every day too, I’ve just decided that taking that extra unnecessary risk isn’t for me.
Sidenotes:
Nalgenes are even more customizable than Hydroflasks. Check out their website and you can see what I mean. They even have a water bottle that can hold your medication in its cap! There’s tons to choose from.
Klean Kanteen
Yeah, it’s Klean Kanteen time. This water bottle is my daily carry and I’ll be 100% honest in saying that I might be a bit biased towards it. But I mean, I’m biased because it’s so good. Does that really make me biased? Anyways, just as a disclaimer I’d like to say I’m not sponsored by Klean Kanteen, I just think they make really good products.
I have a 32oz insulated wide mouth bottle. It’s not quite as heavy as the Yeti, and not as light as the Hydro. It falls in an acceptable sweet spot and the weight has never been an issue for me.
It feels more durable than the Hydroflask, and yet, less durable than the Yeti. Hmm, again falling into a middle ground.
Other than being completely inoffensive in those regards, what does the Klean Kanteen bottle have that’s unique?
For one, sustainability. Klean Kanteen is a certified B corporation which means that there are rigorous standards the company has to go through in order for them to have that title. Transparency and accountability are musts as well, with fair treatment of their employees and the environment in high regard. One reason we all buy reusable water bottles is to cut down on the single use ones we’d buy beforehand. Neither Hydroflask or Yeti are B corporations, so if that’s something important to you consider Klean Kanteen. Oh, Klean Kanteen is also a 1% for the planet member. This means they give 1% of their profits back to the community and sustainable causes. Overall, this is a very eco friendly brand.
ALRIGHT, they love the planet. That doesn’t make a good bottle though.
… But it is a good bottle. The Klean Kanteen insulates better than every other insulated bottle I’ve ever tried. I think that comes down to the cap insulating inside the bottle
All other bottle lids insulated over the bottles threading, and not inside. Of course I’m not a product designer so I can’t say this is for sure the thing that makes these bottles insulate better, I’m just going off anecdotal experience.
Another nice thing about these bottles is the drinking experience. It sounds funny, but it’s true. Remember how I said drinking out of wide mouth bottles is hard? Well these bottles make up for it with a rounded edge. This isn’t going to stop you from spilling on yourself but it’s honestly nicer to drink out of than the other wide mouth options. It’s such a weird thing to try and describe but the smooth edge is a really nice drinking experience.
Conclusion
That’s all I have to say about water bottles today. I know I might’ve sounded overly enthusiastic about Klean Kanteen’s but like I’ve said – I’ve tried them all. For years I used Hydroflasks and Nalgenes, and they’re great. Every option is great in its own ways. It’s all about finding which one works the best for you and your lifestyle. That is, unless you’re like me and you’ll never be satisfied with just one.
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