Thursday, August 14, 2008

SIGG Water Bottle

When all the hoopla about some polycarbonate plastic #7 bottles leaching the chemical BPA hit the streets a few months ago I panicked. I adore my Camelbak and have found myself staying much more hydrated now that I keep one by my side at all times.

After reading one too many new articles about the ill-effects of these chemicals I decided I would shell out some hard earned money and give those expensive metal Sigg bottles a go.

Pros: Cool designs, I dig the colors.
Not plastic.
Aluminum keeps your water cooler, longer.
Small enough to easily stuff in almost any backpack or purse.

Cons: $22 for a water bottle?? Really? (And yet, I did buy one, didn’t I?)
That damn lid. The reason I adore the Camelbak is because it makes water so accessible and easy to drink! I never used my wide mouth Nalgene beyond the random outdoor excursion because I always ended up sloshing water all over my work clothes. That straw in the Camelbak has made all of the difference in the world, I swear. Sigg offers several lid options. I knew I didn’t want a screw off top. (Too reminiscent of the Nalgene.) I opted for an “active bottle top.” It has a flip-top lid and looks like it should let your hydrating liquid of choice flow easily. Except, it doesn’t. I end up screwing the whole thing off ½ the time (again, exactly what I didn’t want to do) to get a good sip of H2O. I would like to try their “sports 3 stage top” to see if that works better, but haven’t yet found one at any of the stores carrying Sigg.
At 0.6 liters, it is smaller than I’d like and I find I finish off a full bottle of water way too quickly.

Bottom line, I’m not sure, at this point if they’re worth the money. If they could find a way to make a better lid or work the beloved straw into the design I’d be sold. I find I do rely on my Sigg bottle over the weekends when I’m tooling around the city but my Camelbak is still by my side every single day I head into the office. (And, I hydrate way more through the work week then Saturday and Sunday combined. Coincidence?)

Average price: $22/0.6 liter sized bottle
Rating: 3 out of 5

2 comments:

vek said...

Man, you and I are on the same shopping schedule. I bought these little inserts so that when I use my 32oz Nalgene I don't always end up drenched. But I just ordered a Sigg with the flip lid because I realized the 32oz is too big. I never drink it all before it gets too warm. I thought the smaller 0.6L Sigg size would be ideal. Hmmmm. I will keep you posted.

Anonymous said...

I've been having the same water-bottle issues Kel. I went w/ the amazing camelback and drank more water than EVER...then got scared about the BPA and moved to Sigg. I felt cool but didn't like drinking out of it. The top issue was not so good either and whichever one I ended up w/ caused a huge spill in my tote which ruined all of my watercolor pencils!!! So, I'm back to camelback w/ the BPA free bottle. I LOVE IT!