A good water bottle for a hike makes a good difference! You’ve probably heard of this brand (or probably not) but I’ve seen it a lot when I come across trails or outdoor influencers’ social media accounts. Hydro Flask offers a wide array of insulated bottles and before this bottle I’m going to talk about, I’ve never owned a bottle of theirs prior! But, I can see now why the brand lives up to its hype.
Hydro Flask bottles are not cheap as you may know when you see them in stores or even on their website. They’re a bit on the pricier side and for the longest time, the price deterred me from buying my own. This review post, by the way, is not sponsored by Hydro Flask by any chance and it was solely purchased by me.
Hydro Flask Trail Series
Hydro Flask came out with these series meant specifically for hiking. It is also known to be lighter than their other products like the regular bottles that have been sold for years. The trail series bottles are 25% lighter than the regular ones.
I figured, since I am always looking to go on a hike, that this would be the most appropriate bottle. I do not like to carry around something heavy in my hands when I am focusing on hiking! Not only is it better for you to carry around, but you can definitely still feel yourself going for more miles.
There are 3 kinds of bottles for Hydro Flask’s Trail Series: the 21 Oz Lightweight Wide Mouth Trail Series, the 24 Oz Lightweight Wide Mouth Trail Series, and the 32 Oz Lightweight Wide Mouth Trail Series. They range from $39-$49.95.
I have bought the 24 Oz Lightweight Wide Mouth Trail Series and I would say it’s just perfect for me. It fits right into my cupholder when I’m driving in my car and it fits right onto the open sleeve of my hiking/travel backpack, which might not be ideal if I went bigger. I also chose the Topaz color because I love the color of aqua-green and the shiny color reminds me of water.
Hydro Flask claims these bottles keep beverages cold up to 24 hours and hot beverages up to 12 hours using the TempShield insulation system it has.
The functionality and design
As I mentioned, these bottles are known to be lightweight. On their site, it says they’re “Light but mighty.” Indeed, they are. The lightweightness of these bottles is the biggest plus about it. It does use stainless steel but you will almost forget it is because of how easily light it is. And I mean really light! If there weren’t any liquids in the bottle, you can easily knock it over, but it won’t harm the bottle doing that either unless it gets scratched on its surface. Choosing to add a Hydro Flask silicon bottom accessory on the bottle can make it more stable on the bottom.
The bottle uses 18/8 pro-grade stainless steel walls to make it thinner and the bottle itself already comes with the Wide Mouth Flex Sip Lid, which is great. The cap is so lightweight. The cap contains a rubber flexible handle that is ready for carrying and because the design of the aluminum-pivoted cap is very light too, it is easy to carry. The bottle is also listed to be BPA-Free and Phthalate-Free.
You are able to switch out the cap if you buy the Wide Mouth Straw Lid if you prefer to sip right out of the bottle than unscrewing and screwing the lid on.
Testing the Hydro Flask Trail Bottle
I first took this bottle with me on my trip to Oregon and Washington. I used it throughout the whole week through the hundreds of miles I drove in my road trips and I used it on the 5 hikes I went on that week.
It has made hiking easier for me and if I happen to carry a heavy backpack with my camera gear in it and other things, I can also just choose to carry the bottle in my hand.
I used this for my hike to the Tamanawas Falls Trail in Mount Hood National Forest, which is one of my favorite hikes I’ve done so far in Oregon, and since not having my backpack with me at all BUT a crossbody bag, I have carried the bottle in my hand at all times and my hand did not get tired throughout the 2 and a half hour hike.
It only got sweaty but I easily switched the bottle in my other hand. A woman passing by me on the trail also noticed my Hydro Flask and complimented it and was shocked they came out with this new design! I also noticed that after carrying it around on elevated trail ways and letting the bottle swing back and forth, no water leaked out of it at all.
For an Airbnb that I stayed in during my time in the Pacific Northwest, there was no fridge there at all so I had no way to refrigerate my water. However, I still had cold water in the bottle and it stayed throughout the night for 6+ hours while I was asleep! I even had that water until the morning of and it stayed amazingly cold.
My final thoughts on the bottle: Is it worth it?
For the price of it, I would say it is worth it! I’ve had this bottle for easily 2 months now and I use it so much so I am really making use of it. For my first Hydro Flask bottle ever, it was a great investment and I am very satisfied with how I made a superb decision to make this my first Hydro Flask bottle experience.
Even if you are not always outdoors like I try to be, I would say this makes an excellent bottle just to travel in a city with, to run errands with, or to take to the office and the versatility of that is great.
I love how it did live up to its expectations of being able to keep the beverages cool for many hours (okay, not sure yet about the 24 hours one as I didn’t test it for that long!).
The company recommends not to dishwash these bottles and to keep them hand washed. I hand wash it all the time and then let it dry with its cap off. I love the simplicity of being able to do that. From my experience of unboxing the bottle from my package for the first time, I did not notice a strong plastic or chemical smell from it at all!
Lastly, I also placed a lot of vinyl stickers all over the bottle to make it look so much more fun (after the pictures you see here were taken), and the stickers have stayed put.
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