Hydro Flask 1 Year Later Review

When you pick up a HydroFlask you feel this certain amount of heft that extrudes quality and utility. Along with its sleek and cool metallic surface you now this is no ordinary water bottle it’s meant to back some serious temperature and hold back the heat. Hopefully this will be the one, your life long water holding companion. I had and still have the Hydro Flask 24oz Stainless steel color for about a year now and it’s still going. So I thought I’ll shine the light upon the humble water bottle that’s been with me through various cities and citadels.

Credit: Hydroflask.com

Aesthetics: Let's be honest you don’t wanna be walking around with a hideous water bottle, it just ruins the Instagram pics. Well have no fear because this is one of the better designed water bottles I’ve seen. The Stainless Steel 24 oz version, sports an almost reflective but brushed stainless steel finish. Kinda like a stainless steel sink, have no worries there are many other colors if not satisfied with stainless steel look. It can go from the sitting on top of an Fortune 500 Executive’s mahogany table to the side sling of an Mt. Everest ascend-er with no issues. You will look good drinking from this bottle! That’s guaranteed. 5/5 in this area.

Quality of Construction: As mentioned earlier when you pick this baby up, it's no lightweight Nalgene bottle that just holds your water. Hydro Flask means business, it belongs in the backpack of an adventurer where water means life or death. Or some Subway riding New Yorker who just hates slimy, lukewarm water. Also feels very sturdy as it should be since it’s made of 18/8 food grade stainless steel (if you don’t know what that means well neither do I). Need a hammer in a pinch? Need to club a cub grizzly while hiking the Appalachian Trail? Need to sneak some whiskey into an overpriced club via your cub club? This water bottle will get the job done with class.

Smell and Taste: When you get a water bottle especially for when used daily sometimes it gets this distinct funk + mildew smell. It happens to the best of them but with the Hydro Flask its super easy to clean out. Here’s what I learned from experience. The Stainless Steel interior is nonporous so it doesn’t hold smells! HOWEVER DO NOT use citrus based soaps on stainless steel,chemical reactions will leave your bottle smelling and tasting tart and metallicy.

The Top: Hydro Flask features a loop top but you can’t really for me anyways fit one of those plastic buckles into the loop, it currently measures about 1” diameter. I think once they change that this bottle will be perfect. The plastic itself is made very sturdy don’t see it cracking or breaking anytime in the near future. There are also reports of the cap leaking due to O ring seals, located underneath the cap where the Stainless Steel bottle meet the cap. However I’ve had mine for 2 years and have experience no such thing.

Here's Mine!

Sounds: Can’t afford cocaine so I’m on caffeine but there are sounds that this water bottle makes its almost soothing. So if you ever find yourself in an Airport terminal and all the outlets are taken, then you can drop the next most relaxing mix tape with this bottle. Take the bottle by the cap and very lightly hit the wall with the bottom edge of the Hydro Flask. It creates a very soothing hollow wind chime sound. Proceed and play with that as you wish. Notes vary with amount of water in the bottle, I find that it sounds best when empty.

Temperature Performance: It handles extremely well to lock in the heat or keeps the heat out. It’s one of the main selling points of this bottle. Whatever goes in stays the same temperature. During the summer I will put ice cubes into my water at night “just incase I got THIRSTY during the night” and when morning comes around the ice cubes will be around half melted. It also does not condensate so no more moist stuff in your pack. Here is a video running detailed experiments on temperature vs Hydro Flask.

Safety: I deem it to be safer than plastic water bottle of any kind since it’s made from metal a hard, non porous stable compound that's not that reactive towards many of the drinks we have, unless you're drinking acid or something which case you'll need rubber or glass. The only health issues I have with this is that if it's fully loaded and you drop it on your unprotected toes then you’re in for some pain. Otherwise you’re in the clear.

Here is My Care Guide

Worth It: Is it? Yes, it's definitely worth the $30 Check Amazon’s Current Price. Since I’m a numbers guy I’ll even break it down for you. A box of bottled water averages about $7 for a 32 bottle box, assuming you have a Walmart / Big box retail store nearby. You can finish that box in about 4 days going with the 8 glasses a day recommendation. You’ll get your money back in a month. Or if you’re going to NYC you’ll get your money back in a day.

Take a Look at other Reviews on Amazon