Hydro Flask Water Bottle Review
Whenever I get a request to review a product where it seems nearly impossible to innovate any more, I’m always surprised at the proposed product. The Hydro Flask water bottle is one of those products. I’ve gone through my share of water bottles, most of the time it’s not necessarily because they broke, usually because I’ve lost interest and found a newer/better alternative. Prior to the Hydro Flask, I was using a common looking Nalgene water bottle. Some of the things I liked about it was the color (light blue), size (32 oz), weight (179 Grams), BPA free and durable. The one thing it didn’t do very well was keep water cold. Depending on how thirsty I am that day, it can take anywhere from 30-1.5 hours to finish 32 ounces of water on any given day. What that means is by the time I’m almost done, the water has cooled off to near room temperature. I actually don’t like ice cold water since it’s harder to drink and sometimes hurts my teeth, but warm water is just terrible! And this is where the Hydro Flask, stainless steel vacuum insulated water bottles comes into the picture.
When requesting a sample of the Hydro Flask, I wanted to make sure I get the same 32 ounce version so it’s an apples to apples comparison. The first thing I noticed when I held the Hydro Flask was how much heavier it weighed (402 grams), that’s more than twice as heavy as the Nalgene! This page shows the exact technology behind the Hydro Flask, which helps keep liquids cold up to 24 hours and hot liquids up to 12 hours. One thought I had was, ‘how is this different from a thermos?’ But then I remembered how much condensation buildup you get from keeping cold water in a thermos. The only time you’ll get any liquid on the outside of the Hydro Flask is if you forget to close the lid all the way (which does require quite a few rotations, which helps keep drinks hot/cold). You’ll never experience any condensation with this water bottle. I’ve tested the bottle only with cold water and it definitely works! I tried keeping the same water in the bottle for a weekend and it was still pretty cold by the end of it. I know one major test is when you keep water in a car during a run/hike and come back to scorching hot water. I’ve tested that as well and came back to very pleasantly cold water!
One of the reasons it took longer than usual for this review is that I needed to order a replacement for the cap. Within the first week of use, I noticed a tear in the loop that connects to the cap so you can uncap and let it hang. The plastic of the loop is very tough, so bending it back and forth must have cracked it. When I went to the product page of the replacement cap, I started to see other reviews with the same experience as me. Like I said earlier, it’s a great product, but these caps definitely need to be fixed. Fortunately, the replacement cap had held together for weeks since I received it (free of charge, which is nice).
Overall, I’m very pleased with the Hydro Flask. It works as advertised, it looks really stylish with the powder coating and logo. As long as caps sold last as long as the water bottles!
Even better, Hydro Flask gives back 5% to various charities for every purchase made on their site. Learn more about it here: http://www.hydroflask.com/pages/5-back
