Added problem is micro plastics. The twisting motion of sealing a lid makes micro plastics through friction. It could also happen with rubber. The best sealing method is the old bottles with the wire lever and rubber seal. No twisting motion. The first 316 SS bottle with this seal get's my money.
I’ve wondered about this. But do you know if micro plastics can theoretically be released as long as you have that cap or is there a point, after so much use and washing that the microplastics stop being released? Also wondering bc I’m doing away with plastic single use water bottles, how much better is a plastic cap vs stainless cap? Is it marginal and splitting hairs or truly worth finding stainless?
the amount of micro plastics from our bottle is far from what's polluted our environment and then digested into our system. I'm not saying you're wrong, but if you look at the broader picture it's much more terrifying than just a chipped plastic from our water bottle.
most gaskets are silicone, silicones have much simpler and more resistant (thermally and physically) structure than plastics, they don't work like plastic so no hormonal problems.
It’s a problem no matter what the plastic constantly leaks into the water and if it says BPA free the it’s just leaking BPS or BPF don’t drink from plastic at all if you can
There are double walled 316 SS bottles with 2 18/8 SS caps, one after the other, WITHOUT any rubber, plastic or silicone. The tolerances are tight enough for the water to not leak if shaken upside down. It's just a bit heavier. We have come a long way.
On stainless steel if you have coffee stains, vinegar, baking soda, and a bottle brush will get rid of it all. And no your drink will not taste like vinegar
Those are oil/wax surface deposits, not stains. They are easy to remove by adding boiling hot vinegar, 1/2 tsp table salt, and 1/2 tsp clear dish detergent and letting the bottle (or coffee urn) sit overnight. They will wipe out with a sponge or paper towel. Alternatively, baking powder is an excellent scouring agent.
glass is literally goated, i use milton or borosil(brand started by corning and indian scientist) bottles, they are surprisingly strong, one time my friends were doubting its durablity and saying plastics are durable, since then my bottles have fallen many times without any damage, but one of the friends dropped his plastic bottle mid conversation and it broke, spilling water everywhere i found that quite funny.
@@theqrent really, every one of their bottles are good, just check is they are listed as borosilicate. otherwise they are all same, just different design.
I’ve used them before as well, with a fabric sleeve but I do find borosilicate glass products do break eventually, the price you have to pay for the benefits. My borosil was fine for dropping but cracked when someone dropped a table spoon in 🤷🏻♀️. Still, if you want to transport tea glass is the only way to go imo.
The best combination I've ever found is a glass water bottle wrapped with a thick silicone sleeve (plus a stainless steel cap with a silicone seal). Although I've had mine for years and years without issue, I can't seem to find an exact replacement anymore. Hopefully I don't need to
Specifically, I prefer ceramic bottlees with silicone sleeves. None of those metallic or silicone aftertaste and you can accidentally drop those at a reasonable height without worrying about it breaking.
@RoguePC4U it's super rare, and when there is one, it could hold only the size of a drinking glass with a non-threaded silicone lid. Maybe because most ceremic glass/bottle are handmade. I would pay a premium just to get a decently sized ceramic bottle.
but what about a glass bottle with a copper outer coating surrounded by a vacuum chamber of titanium-aluminum alloy fused to said copper coating, with a stainless steel lid and a silicone seal??
Get a purist bottle, it’s with a glass like interior with the same features of glass but unbreakable and because it’s like 60 manometers. It also has a stainless steel exterior.
Interesting video. I'm a big fan of my stainless steel water bottles, I just wish they didn't get marked up so bad when I drop them. Guess it's better than glass breaking all the time!
All this debate over the safest material for water bottles seems a bit overblown. After all, the water in your bottle has already passed through steel, copper, and plastic pipes before reaching you. By the time it gets to your water bottle, it has already been exposed to potential contaminants.
False dichotomy. Just because the water's been exposed to contaminants doesn't mean it's not beneficial to further mitigate exposure. On top of that, it's now common to filter or distill one's water to get rid of contaminants, and you don't want all that work that to go to waste by storing it in a container that reintroduces them.
I use Kleen Kanteen water bottles and thermoses. They've held up really well. I've got them on my sailboat, and last year I took a water bottle and thermos, as well as a Stanley tip proof mug also SS, on a three month salt water sailing voyage. (Small boat) Zero issues with corrosion. Often when I'm traveling I'll get a Smart Water so I can reuse the bottle. As soon as they get some wear on them I replace them. Even if the plastic is good, it'll still begin to break down, chaff off (bending and crushing making those white stress lines? That's shedding plastic. Decades ago I followed the mantra 'You have to get Nalgene, you have to get Nalgene' . Then at REI I noticed that there was at least three completely different types of these bottles. Seemed really suspicious. Medical supply nalgene seems to always be the soft frosted plastic. I don't really know. But why use plastic when you can use stainless steel. All food cans have plastic linings. Never use a food can as a cooking pot. Something else about plastic. Every 'safe' plastic seems to be inevitably condemned as toxic, carcinogenic. Take epoxy. 25 years ago it was recommended for use around food and babies. Then bis phenol A was identified as not only a carcinogen, but it basically acts like large random doses of estrogen in our bodies. Epoxy resin is about 90% BP A. Things made out of epoxy are safe, but not for cutting food on, or that a baby might suck on. (Of course we're all still here.... cancer is being cured more and more but the rate of it keeps climbing.) Cleaning. You've got that plastic Smart Water Bottle. Your trip is only three more days, but it's starting to stink.... what I've done time and time again is wipe as much as you can reach with your finger and a paper towel or cloth through the opening. This seems to clean up 90 percent of whatever is making that smell. (Of course if you're in the middle of a cholera or typhoid outbreak, or someone with Hepatitis just drank from it... don't trust this.) I've never gotten ill. For stainless I use a bleach cleanser (Comet) and some scrubbing. I've brushed out plastic hummingbird feeders growing big mold spots with a strong bleach solution. The mold always comes back. But when I soak them for a few hours in the bleach solution, the mold doesn't come back. So I soak, lightly brush and rinse. My SS water bottles do great with just the Comet, and only about every three months or so, and mostly to get the coffee build up out. You missed one type of material. Silver. It kills bacteria. People in the 19th century used silver water canteens. I don't know if the silver leeches, but if you consume a lot of silver you turn deep blue and I guess it never goes away.
If you use the HDPE Nalgene bottle, you can in fact boil them as they were originally used in labs. They are almost impossible to permanently damage by dropping or driving over it. They are lighter than the Tritan Nalgene. I prefer that HDPE over the others. I do use several types of YETI but don't take them hiking; more everyday use. I think mostly it's too expensive to use brand name bottles in public due to loss or theft. Won't be too upset for losing a HDPE Nalgene that cost less than $10 when I bought them. But my workplace provides us w Tritan plastic bottles and Stanley insulated bottles so losing or throwing them away to replace is no big deal.
The plastic bottle section of the vid isn't exactly accurate. Tritan/"BPA-free" plastic still leaches chemicals with estrogenic effects on the body. From a 2014 study: "Many unstressed and stressed, PC-replacement-products made from acrylic, polystyrene, polyethersulfone, and Tritan™ resins leached chemicals with EA, including products made for use by babies."
That study you referenced was from a biased source. George D Bittner owed a plastic company that made "EA free plastics" based on his definition of EA free. But his company lost a lawsuit after fasely claiming that Tritian had EA. Tritan is different from other BPA free plastics as it doesn't have BPS & other BPA equivalents.
Bpa's are just the tip of the iceberg, microplastics and Tritan can somehow or possibly cause cancer when exposed to too much sunlight, UV rays , microwaves growth of the cancer cells from the Tritan extract occurred after the plastic was exposed to the stressed state of simulated sunlight. Only one out of three Tritan products showed estrogen activity in an unstressed state, for instance when they weren't exposed to microwaving, heat, or UV rays.
Recommend you get to the point and say the recommendations upfront at the beginning of the video and then say if they want more details about the type of bottles that the audience maybe using they should review the rest of the video.... thank you about this very important review.
I like my copper water bottle but I only drink out of it a maximum of one bottle per day then I switch to something else like glass. I feel I get some benefit from the copper that way.
thank you for this! im kind of curious, though, there's this growing trend with ceramic coated bottles that claims to be better in removing unwanted tastes. curious on your thoughts on it
All I know is that someone has to be crazy to spend $10 and up for a water bottle. Since the water you put into a bottle for a daily hike really doesn't stay in a hard plastic repurposed iced tea bottle to leech much of anything, I'd save the money that I'd piss away on a water bottle and put it in the bank. I'm in my 70s and grew up in a house with iron water pipes...then moved to a house with copper water pipes...and have drunk tap water all of my life. I also gardened for a living and drank from hoses daily after letting the water run to clear out the standing water. I'm still alive, very active and have no major health issues. Nobody should be keeping water in any bottle for longer than a day anyway.
The feel of glass is by far the best but I am sure I will break it sooner or later. Titanium looks like the best bet as I exclusively use my bottle for drinking water but alas, the price is off the charts I won't mind stainless steel but it gets dents and usually comes insulated which makes it heavier and bigger for my purposes
All good points. I'm hoping to find a cheaper titanium option at some point because it looks like a really good material, and I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing more bottles made out of it within the next few years. Maybe I'll get one as a celebration when we hopefully get to 1000 subs, haha.
Interesting video. But about silicone, I have bought a silicone ice cube tray/maker, all the ice produced these white stuff when melt into water. Maybe it was some non brand on Amazon, but I’m not trusting any drinking silicone product until proven otherwise.
Thank you for the comment. That sounds disgusting. I'm assuming you washed it well before use, and if the ice was discolored after that then it's definitely a concern. Sounds like a manufacturer issue maybe? If more people have had issues like this, I hope they'll comment so I can have a better idea if this is more common and then update this video if needed.
Thank you, I hadn't heard of those. That's a really interesting looking shape. I see more glass options online. Is it more traditionally ceramic/clay and not glass?
Yea most lids have plastic underneath unfortunately. I have a video coming up in a month or two that'll focus on sharing the bottles I know of that have stainless steel under the lid.
This was super helpful. Thank you for sharing!! I have been using plastic bottles etc.. and I DO NOT want to use them anymore so it sounds like glass is a great option. (What are your thoughts about the Stanley Stainless Steel bottles) ? I see them all over.
I have 2 aluminium insulated bottles (or are they stainless steal?🤔 don't remember, too many years passed already😅) for carring with me, a glass one at my bedside table and a plastic one to carry around the house😅
Yea, most homes are like that here in the US too. That or plastic. Copper is generally fine because the water in public supply lines shouldn't be acidic (unless there's something terribly wrong...). But I thought it was interesting and worth mentioning that article from Washington State that recommended running water for a minute or so before drinking if it's been sitting in copper pipes too long. I'm also planning to do some leach testing with bottles later this year, so that could be interesting. Copper bottles are probably fine though as long as you don't drink acidic drinks...it just looks like more maintenance is needed and there's more risk, so I ranked it lower.
My understanding is that thermosteel is just another term for dual-wall vacuum insulated bottles that some companies use for branding/marketing, but I could be wrong. I haven't looked into them much to see if there are actual differences in the material or construction, so hopefully someone can comment below who knows more. If they are different, that could be a cool topic for an insulation test!
Copper is tricky. I didn't give it a good review in this video, but I honestly need to look into it more. Thinking about doing a dedicated video about it as a deep dive topic.
For metal based bottles I would definitely not recommend a cheap one from China, which may contain traces of lead in their alloys, if you are unlucky. That is much worse than using plastics.
Agreed. Sticking with "known" brands is recommended. Very new brands with few reviews would be risky, and the company could disappear easily if issues come up then reappear under a different brand name.
copper isnt new one dude... in India, copper water bottles/containers were used since 2000 years... it has medicinal properties which is good for you and is used in Ayurvedic medicine... which ofcourse your brain will say dubius because no one know better than you americans "how to live on packaged food and still its good for you"
Silicone is a kind a plastic. Also, many plastic types are and have always been BPA-free, including the milky white low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bottles that made Nalgene famous in the first place. For reasons I won't understand, the popular market shifted to their clear polycarbonate bottles, despite the fact that these are more brittle and crack-prone in addition to the (likely overblown, especially if you don't fill them with hot liquids) BPA concerns. I agree that copper is a terrible material for a water bottle; it's the most reactive of any of these options, it's expensive, and is nothing but a scam. I think the concerns over plastic are wildly overblown, but especially anything made from polypropylene, PET, or polyethylene should be just fine for anything except for heated drinks even if you're being cautious. Get a metal water bottle if you plan to transport hot drinks, especially a double-wall vacuum insulated one.
you dismissed single use plastic bottles but these can be refilled and reused many times and can last for years. but I dont know if this is safe to do so.
Yea, I suppose you could technically refill single-use ones. It'd be better than treating them like single-use, and it'd for sure be less expensive than buying a dual-wall SS bottle. I'm not as familiar with the plastic on those though, like PET.
Your assessment of copper was shallow and therefore unreliable, I've been researching copper myself for a week and i can say more than what was presented here
Yea, I had a longer video at one point that went into more detail, but I cut it down for RU-vid after getting a lot of comments about my videos running on too long. Would be curious to hear if you found whether any of the (in my opinion) hocus-pocus benefits from the Amazon listed copper bottles I highlighted are actually legit.
They're all safe except for glass. Other than that don't worry about the material of the water bottle. If you're one of those that stresses about leached chemicles, just stop. You are exposed to 1000 times more chemicles in everyday food packaging and food ingredients along with other everyday exposures than you ever will from a water bottle. So find one that you like, wash it thoroughly before first use and enjoy. There are plenty of things way more important to worry about.
Copper bottles are not good? Give us a break. Indian wisdom says it's one of the best and people have been using it for thousands of years. Many Yogis too use it. Get scientific studies done from reliable institutes. The West must learn from the wise East in many ways.😊🙏
I laughed when he said copper is new material used to store water 😂😂😂.......it's been used for meliniums by Eastern civilizations !......also there is specific washing process to be followed for copper bottles. The study he referred to is based on water that passes through rusted pipes, obviously that water will not be good. But if you use a copper bottle and keep it rust free with the specific washing process, you can get immense benefits!
The choice of bottles is a bit flawed, if you think about where the water comes from. If you have drinkable tap water, your water will be in contact with pipes a long time as well and you cannot avoid that. If you run it through a filter, you need to make sure it isn't breeding bacteria in the filters what can often happen. So in the end, how much better did you really make the water quality situation? And does it really have a measurable impact. Also, your body should come in contact with bacteria anyway or your immune system will have no training, which is why it's not recommended to use hand sanitizers all the time, as some paranoid people do - not realizing they are harming themselves rather than doing something good. It's all a double edged sword.
Very good comment. There's almost always more to any story, and water quality is a big factor I didn't discuss here. Aging water infrastructure, microplastics, and PFAS are each huge stories that affect most people nowadays regardless of which bottles they use. I've started posting more about topics like these and hope to post more soon. PFAS in particular is a major issue where I live (one of the highest rates of groundwater contamination in the country). But when your drinking water supply is a fixed variable, controlling what you can by deciding which bottle to get can have an impact.
there is a reason we eat from ceramic plates for the most part and not metal, plastic, or aluminium... obviously there are exceptions... but ceramic and glass are non-porous, heat resistant, and easily cleaned...
Why are the lids and bottles made of plastic when research is showing how much plastic humans ingest from plastic water bottles? Especially the lids, as these screw tops shed heaps of microscopic plastic bits from the surfaces rubbing together. Steel tops would be a lot better.
well , my family has been using a copper jar to store drinking water for day to day use , for decades now , and there has been no health issues or any special health benefit , its just normal... but when I purchased a modern copper bottle and started using it , I did noticed the colour of my pee becoming much more darker which was not a good sign and hence I stopped using the bottle, one difference i have noticed in the Jar and the bottle i bought was , the jar use to get accumulated with greenish-blue colour in after like 1 or 2 month and my mom would thus clean it with lemon and salt once a month . but with the copper bottle it never happened . this makes me think how authentic the copper bottles in the market really are, or do they add additional layers/chemicals to the bottle.
Thanks for posting this comment. I admit I may have discounted copper more that I should have in this video, and I did that after reading some listings that promised way more benefits than seemed possible. Copper can certainly leach, but there are a lot of factors that play into that like the pH of the liquid, how long the drink is stored, how well the bottle is maintained (like what your mom did), and like you mentioned, it's unlikely that all copper bottles are created or manufactured with the same quality. I haven't seen the same kind of possibly issues or questions with glass or stainless steel, so I'd lean towards those materials personally. But I'm sure I have more to learn about copper bottles, and there are probably more situations where it makes more sense to use than I originally considered.
I started using Kleen Kanteen bottles about 15 years ago, and have never had a single bad experience. I prefer non-insulated/single wall, because I do sometimes put my bottles in a fire to boil the water. while the fallacy that insulated bottles will "Explode" if you put them in a fire seems to have it's own life, and just won't die. the insulated walls WILL expand, and seams will rupture. not explode, but open the seams to basically ruin the bottle. I don't like plastic ( I have used Nalgene, but don't like them) because not only can you not boil water in them, but if they fall in the wrong way, or on the wrong surface they can crack. this is counter productive in wilderness environments. this is also why I won't have a glass bottle. I have seen Nalgene, and similar bottles break and they always do it at the worst time. several of my Kleen Kanteen bottles have multiple dents, and carbon "burn in" but they work perfectly. As to the "health benefit" claims form ANY product sales company. I don't believe anything I hear/read out of hand. Unless I can find actual credible research, I just don't buy it.
Very good comment, and all good points. I'm planning a video or series later this year to seriously look at some hydration and bottle myths like hydrogen water and structured water. I'm personally skeptical whenever someone claims massive, hard-to-prove benefits like that, so it could be worth a deep dive given all the claims by companies and listing on Amazon. And I hadn't heard about the exploding vacuum bottle myth. Might be worth a video fo its own by doing insulation tests before and after boiling.
I'm not drinking from any petroleum origin product material bottle. also stop trying to sell us 24usd tablets just use salt and a brush if u really need hydrogen peroxide just buy it for a buck from a pharmacy and use it like that
Bacteria and mold are probably the biggest issue. Cleaning your water bottle thoroughly and regularly is the best defense. Some bottles have too many books and crannies for microbes to hide.
Coke in a glass bottle is usually sweetened with cane sugar whereas in the can it is usually sweetened with high fructose corn syrup so it's possible that is the difference you are tasting.
A friend gave me a Nalgene to try after expressing concern with drinking water from plastic. I tried it for a week or so and got a strong 'plastic' flavor from the bottle. I've heard "BPA-free" means they removed the BPA and replaced it with a similar compound. It sounds like you're onto that. I'm currently looking for a 304 stainless insulated jug with silicone cap.
I don't trust that stuff. Borosilicate glass, or regular "soda glass" bottles for me only. I'm no mountain climber, but my life has plenty of sports and adventure involved. Use good steel if your life depends on it. Otherwise glass is superior.
Makes sense glass is the best. It’s used in the scientific field all the time because it can hold almost any chemical and has been around for a long time. I’m surprised silicone really has no downsides, but that’s a good thing if we’re looking for plastic bottle replacements.
The problems with plastics stem from the fact that they are basically carbon chain molecules - the same as proteins and other bioactive components of human body, which means they often interact with it in unforeseen way, like that estrogen mimicking situation video mentioned. Silicone on the other hand is inorganic chain molecule and thus do not have a potential to influence us in such way.
So true! We talk a lot about options to avoid plastic, but it's usually part of a larger video like it was for this one. Might be helpful for people to have a video where the sole focus is 100% plastic-free options, so that's something we have in the works.
Titanium is only stronger than steel if comparing by weight. If you are comparing by volume (ie two things that are the same size and shape) steel is much stronger.
Uncolored HDPE is common, stable and FDA certified as food safe. There are +1500 common plastic compounds, less than 50 that are suitable for molding inexpensive bottles. Few of them contain materials that can leach out and are harmful - including BPA. Ignoring them is throwing out the bottle with the water. Btw stainless steel is not a completely stable material. Itks corrosion resistance comes from forming a grey/tan oxide coating. If stainless it stays shiny then the oxides that it would normally form of nickel and chromium are being leached out into the liquid.
Stainless steel can leach nickel which can be highly toxic. I had a bio comp metal test and I am extremely sensitive to it . I was putting lemon in my water as well and it was causing me a lot of pain. I switched to glass and feel much better .
Smartwater bottle is #1 hiker pick (used over and over until lid breaks). Hoping that benefits from fresh air and exercise offset negatives of plastic.
@vidyavathi3969 that greenish stuff is what kills bacteria and micro-organisms. Copper piping has been used for ages for water lines, and it was never a problem in the past.
Hi I think you should go in to Indian culture ! They using copper water bootle for centuries! If you find out anything interesting please share and let me know what you think ! Love to hear !
Yea, that's something I've learned about a lot from the comments and wish I knew more about before I posted this video. Hoping to do a followup video about it later this year. Thank you!
Agreed. We have a lot of bottles since we do these reviews and tests as a business, but I think most people should really only have 2-4 depending on how they'd use them (coffee, hiking, infusing, long-haul drives, etc). We do the reviews to try and help people hone in on which ones they want. I actually talked about this in video awhile back (3 reasons not to buy a Stanley hydro flask or yeti) and how your first reusable bottle helps your environmental impact the most but each one after helps less and less. At some point it's too many bottles and is actually detrimental. I'm planning to post another video later this year that reiterates this point.
