Posts Tagged water bottles
Camelbak Groove Insulated Water Bottle With Filter
Camelbak follows up on its built-in filter bottle with an insulated version that keeps water cool longer.
I recently reviewed the groundbreaking water bottle called the Camelbak All Clear, which takes tap water from places you’re not supposed to drink the tap water and makes it safe for you to gulp down. This Groove Insulated bottle has a filter in it, but it’s not meant to be taken that far. Rather, this is a bottle meant to wean people off their commercially filtered bottled water that’s dinging their wallet and destroying the environment. Picture the last time you had to dump out your water bottle before going through security at the airport, then were faced with the prospect of spending another $3 on the other side to duplicate it. With this Groove bottle, you just fill up at the water fountain (remember those things?) and you’re good to go.
I just spent three weeks in Eastern Europe and used this bottle daily, not once needing to pick up a bottle in the supermarket. You can drink the water there and sometimes it’s natural spring water that tastes great, but with this I could fill up anywhere and never get hit with the taste of chlorine.
The way it works is, a tubular filter in the middle is attached to the spout where you suck out the water. The force of that pulls it through the filter and it comes out the other end tasting neutral. The way the insulation works is, there’s a double wall of plastic. That’s not as effective as stainless steel, so don’t expect the kind of stellar “ice cold for hours” results I got with the Under Armour Thermos bottle I tried out last year, and it only holds 20 ounces (6/10 of a liter), but it’ll fit into most backpack pockets and water carriers.
Eventually you’ll have to replace the filter and the only way to know that time is here is when you can taste that it’s not doing the job anymore. The specs say it’ll go for 48 gallons on one, which is a good stretch. Replacement ones are $10 for two, $25 for six.
Camelbak has a good reputation for quality and they back up these bottles with a good replacement warranty. I did find this bottle to leak at the top sometimes, but overall I’ve been happy with it otherwise. It takes a lot less suction force than I expected to use it, so the filter part hasn’t been an inconvenience at all. I once bought a no-name brand bottle with a filter like this before a hike a few years ago and was ready to stomp it to pieces by the end of the trek: it kept coming apart where the filter meets the spout. No such troubles with this one as it’s much more intelligently designed.
The Groove Insulated bottles come in the color you see here plus a gray/black version and an aquamarine version. This one is easy to find in stores or shop for it online with these direct links to Backcountry, REI, Altrec, or Amazon.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on May 23rd, 2012
Vapur Flip-top Element Anti Water Bottle
Want to buy a water bottle? There are a zillion of them out there to choose from, with variations on the color, materials, and opening. There’s one that really generates some double-takes when I use it though: the collapsible water bottle from Vapur.
I reviewed the original Vapur collapsible anti-bottle late last year, so why am I returning to it now?
Well, this one has a different top. Yeah I know, that doesn’t sound like much of a big deal and I didn’t get all that excited when a rep handed one to me on the floor of a gear trade show I attended. Was it really that hard to open the original one?
Not really, but this one is a whole lot more convenient because you can open it with one hand, without using your teeth. And there’s no little plastic cap to lose. See with this new flip-top version, you can pop it open with the same hand that’s holding it, which is great if your other hand is holding a camera. Or a walking stick. Or a ledge on the side of a cliff you’re climbing.
Since the flip-top keeps the water from leaking out, you can drink straight out of this without sucking. Simpler and quieter, plus you don’t have to feel like a baby. The top assembly screws off for cleaning and drying. There’s an attached plastic ring on the top
Like the original version though, this water bottle has lots of advantages. It can roll down tight to store in your bag when you’re not using it—like when you’re going through security or checking a bag. If it’s half full, it doesn’t still take up the same amount of room as when it’s full. And the really cool part is—pun intended—you can freeze it. Fill it up with water, put the whole thing in the freezer, then you’ve got ice cold water while you’re hiking, for hours. Or you can use it as an ice block in your cooler. After it melts, you’ve got fresh water.
The one downside of these is they’re more bag than bottle, so when they’re not full, they won’t easily go into a bike cage or some backpack holders. So they do better playing back-up than the lead role. On the plus side, kids love the novelty.
These Vapur Element bottles come in four colors representing fire, wind, and water. There’s a 1-liter one, but it’s much easier to find the regular size, which is 7/10 of a liter. These retail for $11.99 if you buy direct from Vapur, but check prices online at Summit Hut too.
See more water bottle reviews from this travel gear blog.
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Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Kids and Family, Travel Light on May 2nd, 2012
Camelbak All Clear Water Purifying Bottle
There are tipping points in technology where a seemingly simple innovation can have a huge impact on human behavior. I’m hoping this All Clear water bottle from Camelbak is one of these moments.
First their were iodine tablets, then less nasty purification tablets, then pump filter and cup filters. None were all that practical: they either made your water taste bad, they took too long to work, or they were bulky to carry around. Then came the SteriPen and suddenly we could purify water with a little battery-powered wand. It looked like magic, but it worked. The newest version is not much longer than a finger and recharges by USB.
This Camelbak bottle is the next stage in that evolution, using ultraviolet light to kill anything living in the water, but combined with the convenience of a water bottle that can be zapped pure with its own cap. Here’s a video demo on how it works:
What you don’t see in that video is that this UV cap is rechargeable by USB cord. After it runs out of juice (which is going to take a while—it’s supposed to go 80 cycles on one charge), you plug it into a laptop or just use an adapter and plug it into a 110 electrical socket. A few hours later you’re good to go again.
If you don’t want to watch the video, here’s a quick rundown on why this All Clear bottle is something special. You fill it up with tap water in a place where you normally can’t drink the water. You turn it on, shake it around a bit, and 60 seconds later you’ve got pure water you can drink straight from the bottle. A second cap comes with it (but without a drinking spout, unfortunately) that you can screw on, leaving the purifying one behind in your room for the day.
The bottle is a standard Camelbak size, so you can buy whatever kind of cap you want for the top or switch one from another bottle you have. It’s BPA free of course and fits into most standard water bottle holders or pockets, holding 3/4 of a liter.
And I’ll answer the inevitable questions: yes, I’ve been using this myself and yes, my digestive system is doing just fine. (But thanks for asking.) I’ve been traveling through Mexico for more than a week without purchasing a single bottle of water, in four cities. I just fill this up, hit the zap button, and I’m hydrating carefree.
It’s only available in the U.S. for now and just getting into the marketplace. It retails for around $100, which may sound a little pricey, but if you add up how much it would cost to buy 80 bottles of water in a convenience store or restaurant when you’re traveling, you’ll see you could have this thing paid for before the first charge runs out. After that it’s paying you back every week. On top of that, Mother Nature will thank you and your karma meter will rise significantly…
Get the CamelBak All Clear Water Purifier Bottle at REI.com.
Related review: A Camelbak bottle that makes your water taste better
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Kids and Family on March 28th, 2012
Vapur Collapsible Water Bottle
We’re regularly preaching on here about the evils of single-use plastic water bottles, so we like to keep an eye on water bottle designs that make it easier to avoid this marketing-driven environmental disaster.
This reusable, collapsible bottle from Vapur got on my radar recently when I was at an adventure travel trade show and several companies (including Eddie Bauer) were handing them out as promos. I’ve used one a few times now and while it’s kind of an unusual thing to get used to, it has some big advantages.
The main one is that you can pack this thing without taking up any space. Since you can’t go through security with a filled water bottle anyway, you can stow this in your carry-on and then use it at a water fountain on the other side of the TSA security theater. It’s also freezable, so you can have very cold water later on a car trip or even use it as an ice pack in transit. The plastic is BPA-free of course and the top pops off for easy washing. You can buy replacement tops too and keep using the same bottle.
Now you might think this wouldn’t stand upright, but the way it’s designed it will stand up until it gets pretty empty: there’s an extra section on the bottom that expands when the bottle is filled. It also comes with its own carabiner threaded through a whole, so you can hang it on your pack filled or not.
These run about half the price of a stainless steel quality plastic bottle, but there are some disadvantages. Like the Sigg kind of metal ones, this has a narrow opening at the top. That makes it harder to wash if you’re putting something besides water in it.
The other problem is you can’t use this with a SteriPen water purifier. You’d have to purify the water in something else and transfer it to here. Or use a pump filter. This only matters in countries where you can’t trust the water though. Just go from the tap if you’re in the first world.
You can buy direct from Vapur (and order ones with your logo on it if you’re a trade show exhibitor) or check out the selection from Amazon, some of them with cool artist drawings like the one at the right. Or check prices online for other retail outlets.
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Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Kids and Family, Travel Light on December 22nd, 2011
Tricked-out Hydrapak Jolla for Long Bike Rides
Is your one-liter water bottle coming up short? Need to carry more than what will fit into the pocket on the back of your cycling jersey? Hydrapak has the solution.
I’ve never been sold on the need for hydration packs when hiking. It’s not like it’s hard to pull a water bottle (or two) out of a pocket when you take a break beside the trail and those pouches are no fun to clean. But when you’re on the back of a bicycle, maybe trying to avoid traffic or watch for potholes, it can make sense. This is especially true for long rides, times where even two bottle carriers mounted on the frame are not going to cut it.
This Jolla bag is the largest one from Hydrapak, a company that lets you put three liters of water inside your bag and still have plenty of room to spare. I’ve gone on a few overnight or multi-night rides where I was carrying everything I needed on my back and this Jolla one would be perfect for that. With 1,100 cubic inches of space (18 liters) it’s not going to cut it for days on end, but enough for a couple changes of clothes and some toiletries.
For this company it all starts with the hydration pack and this one solves a lot of problems people complain about with these things in general. The way it’s designed, you can fold the whole thing inside-out to clean it (picture a dry bag construction with a plastic zip-up mechanism for good measure). 
Plus there’s a clip-and-magnet system that allows you to mount the hose end anywhere on the strap and keep it in place. No need to tuck it into a strap or to clip it in an awkward place that doesn’t fit your body type and pack placement. (See a video on how it works here.) In my tests the high-flow drinking valve rarely leaked much, but there’s a twist control on it to shut it off completely if you want.
The pack itself is well-designed and comfortable, with ergonomic straps and ventilation foam in the right places to keep the sweat from building up on your back. I’ve been using this while baking in the hot Florida sun the past couple months and it has performed well in the heat. It’s got loads of pockets in multiple compartments, plus the obligatory MP3 set-up with a headphone port—though use that at your own risk in traffic. There are compression straps, plenty of places to hook things on, and straps for your waist and sternum if you want. There’s a handle on the top for picking it up, with I always appreciate. All made from rugged ripstop nylon.
The place where you stow all your gadgets inside is attached by a Velcro strap and is a removable pouch. That means you can leave your pack one place and take all the things that are really worth a lot with you.
This pack has a thin profile and with all the compression straps you can keep it more narrow than your body. So it shouldn’t create much drag if you’re biking through wine country or doing a daily commute.
This pack lists for $150, which isn’t exactly a screaming bargain, but you can probably find it discounted by following these direct links for Department of Goods, or Amazon. Or you can just get the Hydrapak hydration pouch from Amazon and stick it in your own streamlined backpack.
See other smaller pack sizes at Hydrapak.com.
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Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on November 16th, 2011
