I had recently read an article in "best life" about plastics and their nastiness - a nastiness even so called recycling of plastic could not tame.
In the lab where i'd been working water bottles are ubiquitous - everyone, it seems, has the stay hydrated mantra. My main use of waterbottles had been for workouts - chuck some recovery drink in 'em, shake, suck back on the ride.
My two big-mouth Specialized plastic bike bottles - ancient by plastic standards - had just about reached the point of no return. I really like the Specialized design: the bottles are large - near 24oz. The cap is wide enough easily to get in ice cubes or scoops of powder, and the thing you bite down on is both easy to chomp down on to pull out while riding, and is likewise soft enough not to knock your teeth out if you hit a bump will chugging along. Mine were also clear but slightly frosted - easy to see how much water is in 'em. But alas, these bottles were of the plastic variety. Was my only choice for a replacement another non-recyclable, relatively short term material?
Enter the Klean Kanteen - stainless steal, lean and robust vessel. But enter also Camelbak's new polycarbonate water bottle,
The following overviews the pros and cons of each bottle, and why a plastic one, sadly, in certain key circumstance, may still be the only option.
Technorati Tags: camelbak, fitness, gear, health, klean kanteen
Klean Kanteen
The Klean Kanteen is a simple concept - a stainless steal flask that is for a 24% bottle, a smaller than usual circumference, so it appears tall and narrow. It is robust - preferable to the SIGG brand of thicker, wider, less abuse resilient Swiss (aluminum, coated) bottle. The Kanteen also comes with several choices of top: a child style spout, a flat canteen type top, and what is advertised as a "sport top." Herein lies the promise and the problem of the Klean Kanteen as a multi-purpose water-bottle. The top is styled like a sports bike bottle top where one bites down on the pipet and sucks back.
The bottle is a great idea - it's light, slim design and stainless steal finish is highly attractive. Unlike plastic it is possible to wash thoroughly AND get out any grunge that can accumulate in plastic - with an aftertaste even after soap that never quite seems to leave entirely. It's rugged, and has a wider mouth than most of its competitors - more the size of a classic military canteen - so getting ice or sports drink powder into it is no problem.
There are two issues with the KK, however, though they have nothing to do with the bottle. Its all in the Sports top. The first is that the top has an aerator - a wee plastic knob that is designed to release a bit of air while sucking on the drink so that the drink flows properly. It's a potentially good idea. It's just like sticking an extra hole in a tetrapak milk container to help the milk flow evenly out of that little spout. The problem with the aerator in the KK sport top is that it really does suck air. I've gone through three tops, and each one of them makes an audible sucking sound as soon as the top is put to use. A side effect of this noisy bladder is that even with the cap closed, if the bottle goes towards horizontal in your bag, pack or other, count on it leaking. Bummer.
The second issue with the sports cap is that the plastic is too hard to use while active - even with the bike up on a trainer (ie for all intents and purposes, stationary), pedaling made it impossible to use safely. A treadmill was even worse. This bottle is dandy for one sitting down at their desk, or stopping on a hike for a water break; it is sadly currently simply not usable in motion. Likewise if traveling with a full bottle in a bag or pack, the flat top will be needed to ensure that the contents of the bottle don't start hydrating the contents of the bag.
Because of these issues with the top, i mainly keep my KK's at work. Having the Kanteen there is still a great reminder (a) to go get water and (B) make sure i polish one off before lunch and another one afterwards. Their size also makes them easy to cart to meetings. The noise of the top, however, makes them occasionally just too conspicuous.
So a bottle that is otherwise an ecofriendly and well designed for abuse either from hitting the deck of getting jammed around in a pack is made less than useful for those "sport" (and not so sport) encounters for which it would otherwise be ideal.
I contacted Klean Kanteen about the cap, and they have said that they're aware of the too tough for teeth issue, and are working to design a new top. The quick response of the company to this query was very much appreciated. If you don't need a sports top - you use canteens now, then the Klean Kanteen single wall stainless steel canteen is well worth consideration: it's just a better bottle design for its weight to durability ratio than anything else.
Polycarbonate Non-recyclable Blues (greens, yellows, greys....)
But in the meantime of Klean Kanteen getting its sport top worked out, i need a decent sports bottle that has some of the environmental affordances of a steal bottle with the functionality of a sports-usable water bottle. Enter the Camelbak Waterbottle.
At about the same time i was looking for the non-plastic water bottle, Camelbak came out with its first model. Camelbak pionered the "hydration pack" concept - the plastic water bladder with tubbing that could be fed into a pack's pocket. The tube hangs of the pack strap, over one's shoulder. Biting on the tube end and sucking starts a highly respectable flow of water. These bladders are considerably larger than waterbottles, and so let people go for longer outings and still have confidence in not bonking from dehydration (or sun stroke).
It comes as some surprise then that the anti-bottle company would launch a line of bottles. But they have: they come in three sizes, the most common of which seems to be the medium at 27oz. Just about right for a hard one hour pound. The bottles are fitted with a large mouth top and their signature Camelbak bite valve. The top can connect to a straw (included) which means that the bottle does not have to be tipped up to get water flowing: just bite down and suck it up. The top also has an aerator in the top, but it is blissfully silent - as it should be. Also, the top is advertised as "drip proof" and it is: the bite valve folds down into the top when not in use, and even with violent shaking, it doesn't leak (i've tried). - little detail, the top's area where it is grabbed to be tightened or loosened has a rubberized effect, rather than plain plastic, making it easier to grab even if wet.
On the compromise side, the bottle is a transparent, coloured plastic.The plastic is polycarbonate. This is the same material used instead of glass for sun glasses and reading glasses, so it is a highly scratch resistant, durable material - even it it's still plastic. This means, although the thing is plastic, at least the material has the resilience to last years and years. At $12USD - about 4 times the price my old faithful Specialized big mouth - that's a good thing. If you still have a wide mouth sports bottle or Naglen to which you're attached and still want to try out the top, camelbak's web store sells these separately (including straw) for $6USD.
The camelbak is a great gym bottle. It fits nicely into those holders on the treadmills, and is just as comfy on the floor by the weights. And i also really do like being able to see the water level in the bottle - if i'm doing a run, it lets me know clearly how much water i have left, and so i can pace myself accordingly if a fountain isn't in clear sight. The lid also has a loop built into the area where the valve folds down, making it easy to hook through a finger for carrying, or hanging off a carabiner or whatever.
This is, sadly however, not a particularly great bike bottle - it doesn't fit well into the typical cage, whereas the Klean Kanteen does - KK also makes cages specifically for their bottles. One might argue that with the camelbak, if you want that system on your bike, use one of their bladders. But this does seem to be an odd shortcoming - those bladders while great are also a timely pain in the ass - if you do like to use a recovery drink for long rides, you spend considerable time cleaning out the bladder and hanging it out to try. The benefit is worth the maintenance cost for big rides or looong runs - but less so for a 27oz - sized outing.
Nothing, it seems is perfect. Klean Kanteen said they had considered a similar type bite valve as the camelbak, among other ideas which just weren't ready and reliable before they went to market. Their idea was to get customer feedback on the current sport top and make changes if and as necessary. They're currently looking at a pour design "so no sucking involved" - not quite sure how that will work on the move, and that's the critical issue: bouncing up and down on the trail or on the trainer. i'll look forward to updating this blog as soon as those new designs are available.
On the other hand, the type of plastic the camelbak uses is utterly evil. Even if it stays useful for a long time, it'll be around a lot longer as utterly un-useful. (the Camelbak is a dreaded "no.7" plastic) DAM! Now, that said, Camelbak claims that their bottle is recyclable " however some municipal recyclers do not have the capability to recycle the polycarbonate in our bottles. " - that from the downloadable FAQ on their website - sorry i can't give you a direct link - the site uses flash so getting at that link is not readily tractable.
What to choose in the interim of a decent Sport Top on a Metal Bottle?
If you're mainly interested in keeping hydrated at work, the klean kanteen is not only robust, it's rather elegant. If however, you're looking for a water bottle to use for both your workouts AND your work, right now the camelbak waterbottle would be the more appropriate all-rounder - except for the plastic issue.
A more sustainable solution might be to get the Camelbak top/straw combo, and get a bottle that's actually made from recyclable plastic. The ever popular Nalgene actually makes a bunch. The camelbak tops are currently available only on their website, but they say in their FAQ they'll be available at stores that sell the bottles "later this year".
Each of these bottles can be found in the US for a wee range of prices. The best price on the Kanteen is 13.50 USD (at greenfeet.com) - you can get the bottle even cheaper if you opt for the Greenfeet branded version of the bottle. Same product; different logo. With the Camelbak, the best price is around 12bucks, so these bottles are comparable. Some online stores will sell cheaper by a quarter or so, but beware postage and handling fees.
One further note on "recyclable plastic" that i learned from that Plastic Ocean BestLife article: no plastic is 100% recyclable/reusable. To make new plastic stuff (whether fleece jackets or new bottles), new plastic needs to be added. The metal in a Klean Kanteen is 100% reusable.
Happy hydrating.
Posted by mc at April 28, 2007 08:48 PM