I sense this becoming another quest, like my quest for the perfect messenger bag (Patagonia Half Mass and Minimass, forever).
The last couple of years I've been more hydrated than I ever was before, since I started carrying around with me and drinking from a water bottle. I used to not particularly like the flavor of water, but it seems that now I find it amenable.
Anyways, being very much a form-follows-function kind of person, this means I demand *functionality* from my water bottle, as I do with other things I'm picky about (mechanical pencils, messenger bags...)
Ideal features (bottle designers, listen up!!):
Dishwasher safe
Drinking spout with flip top
Plastic
700ml to 1L capacity
Aesthetically appealing
Will fit in the side pocket of my Minimass (and Half Mass)
Can fit in a standard bicycle bottle cage
Wide enough opening so you can add ice
The last couple of things are slightly less important but would be nice.
The water bottle that I've been using, which has most of these features, has been a smartwater 1L with flip top drinking spout added from a different size smartwater bottle (the flip tops only come on the 700ml size, I think). These are meant as single-use bottles, but I think they hold up remarkably well to reuse (even if perhaps it's not exactly good to reuse single-use bottles for chemical reasons or whatnot). Although I'm pretty happy with my current bottle choice, it would be nice to have a bottle that's actually meant to be reused. If smartwater sold a reusable, slightly sturdier version of their 700ml size bottle, I'd be all over that. Although I realize their business is predicated on selling single-use bottles.
Why a drinking spout and flip-top is great
A drinking spout is a bit easier to drink out of, in my opinion, and the flip-top is more convenient to open than a typical screw top. The flip-top also serves to protect the drinking spout from getting dirty. The smartwater flip-tops seem to be pretty durable and the top hasn't broken off on me yet, and I've even put them through the dishwasher on the top rack and they've turned out fine. Once, a top did come apart after an unspecified time of prolonged use, but overall the design is solid.
I don't get why reusable bottle designers can't come up with what's basically a slightly more rugged smartwater bottle? Looking at you, Contigo and Nalgene... etc. etc. etc.
seems like other people share my affinity for the wonderful functionality and form of the smartwater bottle
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