I’ve been using a reusable 36oz/1L plastic “flip lid” bottle from Bezos’s market - this is my third one (sadly replaced almost on a yearly basis) since I keep accidentally breaking the lids.
It practically comes everywhere with me - walking, cycling, in my backpack. This lid is starting to crack at the hinge and the latch though, but don’t really want to replace it with the same thing again.
How long have you had you had your current bottle, and how are you finding it so far?
Back in 2009, I went disc golfing with a friend and while walking back to the car, I saw a dark blue nalgene in the grass. I was poor and in college and had always wanted a nalgene bottle, so I took it.
Today at work, I filled that dark blue nalgene up with water and drank the whole 32 oz over the course of the day.
its been a great water bottle for these past 14 years.
I have nalgene bottles older than my kids!
I have bought 5 in my lifetime, the first 3 were lost (stolen) over the course of several years of use. Even though they had my name in sharpie, stickers making it clearly unique… they just seemed to get lost at events with lots of people. Then I bought two bright pink ones and somehow have not “lost” them since!
I promise I didn’t steal yours! It was completely bare haha
Get a good stainless one. Something with a wide mouth so it’s easy to clean, and from a good name like HydroFlask, Yeti, or Simple|Modern.
They are (mostly) dishwasher safe and they hold up forever. My yeti tumblers get used nearly every day for almost three years, get loaded into the dishwasher, and just show a little finish wear from scraping it with my keys or my wedding band.
My kids use Simple|Modern bottles and they hold up quite a bit more. The kid-style prints don’t last as long, especially with kids that drop and scrape them all the time. I have a SM one too (larger one) that has held up pretty good so far (and uses the same lids as the kids, but I’ve only got a year or two on it.
I buy aluminum exclusively, no plastic.
Plastic doesn’t age well and isn’t as recyclable.
Nalgene for life. Lifetime warranty, BPA free, and durable as all hell.
Nalgene sounds like something you shove up your bottom to cure piles
My only problem with them is that the little rubbery plug in the lid trap water. The trapped moisture is perfect for black mold to grow.
Example
Gross. I used the widemouth, so there’s now rubber gasket to trap water.
I have a free one I got from the Library that’s also BPA free and seems to last forever. I’ve had it for… 7-ish years maybe?
I’ve got a 1.5L stainless steel. It’s got some dents, but it’s still going strong.
I’ve got a few stainless ones and they are 15, some probably 20, years old and still fine. Couple dents maybe, some labeling scratched but perfectly functional.
Buy a hydroflask or other similar double walled insulated metal water bottle. They last forever (albeit with a few dents), you won’t be ingesting plastic, and it’ll keep your water cold for at least a full day.
And a company like Hydroflask offers replaceable lids. So if you do lose it or break it, you can replace just the lid rather than the entire bottle.
They also sell sippy straw lids if you lose the lid a lot
Have had my 330ml insulated bottle from a mystery brand for 7 years now. Paint is chipped and looks quite sorry in general, but I love it. I carry it around everywhere.
I also have a 630ml one from Quokka for very hot Summer days.
Lastly I have a 500ml Chilli’s for my job, which I also use daily.
For cleaning the bottles, I suggest using those tabs that are sold for cleaning dental accessories like retainers. If you use something to scrub them from the inside you can create little lines that end up catching bacteria.
It’s a glass jug, so forever.
Nalgene covered in stickers, as was the style at the time. Somewhere around 5-6 years old at this point? Been through quite a lot.
This. I bought a 32oz Nalgene when I was in high school. Lost it on a camping trip in my early twenties, and replaced it with the exact same one. I’ve had it and used it daily for over 15 years now.
Maybe six months. I had a flip-top one for a few years, but I wanted a wide mouth
I’ve got a ~20oz Yeti vacuum stainless bottle with the small-opening screw-on top. I think I’ve used it for, maybe 5 years at this point? A long while. It’s the right size for casual carrying at work and school, but I use a bigger non-insulated body when doing physical labor.
That poor yeti gets bounced off the back of ATV’s, thrown in toolboxes, left baking in the car, all sorts of shit. It’s dinged up and doesn’t sit flat on a table but still doesn’t leak so it keeps going.
I have 2. 1 from previous work which I’ve using from past 3 years and the other I got when I joined the new workplace. Fuckers asked me to choose between a coffee mug or water bottle so I chose water bottle.
I’ve had two Nalgene bottles for about 10 years, maybe more, and neither show any signs of quitting. They’re big, virtually indestructible, and water filtration pumps fit on properly (for camping).
My Nalgene has been with me for at least 16 years and still holding up fine other than the logo/printing wearing off!
I didn’t even think about it until now but I think it’s been about 4 years on my work water bottle
It’s metal and has lost a lot of paint and gained and lost a lot of stickers
Edit: At this point I don’t even know the brand as that has also worn off.
My job got everybody branded hydroflasks ~3 years ago. I don’t work there any more, but I pretty much never leave the house without that bottle.
My house bottle is a 1.5L Bubba bottle from Walmart. Had that about a year and a half so far and it is holding up well.
