Wal-Mart's "wannabe a Yeti" water bottle
Jul 7, 2018 16:31:29 GMT -8
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Post by Shorttime on Jul 7, 2018 16:31:29 GMT -8
Every year, on the first really hot day of summer, I go to work, and sweat so hard that I can't possibly drink enough water to keep up. So, I get dehydrated, and spend the last 2-4 hours of my shift in Migraine Headache Hell. Because for me, all roads lead to a migraine. The only thing I can change is how long it takes to get there.
The next day, I buy the inaugural bottle of Gatorade, and from then on, refill it until the end of really hot summer days.
This year, I decided to try something different. Part of the problem is that, if I'm off in some corner of the plant, working on something, I don't want to be the guy who has to fuck off every two hours to go get a drink. I also just plain forget, or try to grunt it out, because I'm busy.
If I had one of those fancy water bottles, I could fill it with Gatorade (work provides 1-gallon dry mix, we just have to add water), put it in my truck, and maybe not half kill myself, quite so often.
This is my overcompensating-big brushed stainless steel vacuum insulated water bottle.
How overcompensating is it? 34 ounces, thank you very much.
So fucking what? How big is it?
(Big enough) Eight and one half inches, from table to lip.
Or, about one and one half Sunwayman P-25C's
The Sunwayman is about as much as you want to clip to your pocket, too. Here it is, next to one of those Zebra pens.
The lid is the standard black plastic screw-top type that we're all used to. It's got seals at the top and bottom, which is nice. The handle seems reasonably sturdy, but the reality is that this thing is too bulky and heavy (when filled with delicious beverage), for you to want to lug it around all day: it's going to stay with your vehicle, or it's going to live in a pocket on your backpack.
I didn't want one of those fancy pushbutton pop-top things, because Gatorade is hella sugary, and it would eventually get goobered up. I would have to take it apart, one of the springs would disappear, or some other plastic thing in there would snap.
I didn't want to spend on a Stanley, or a Yeti. This is something which is going to bounce around on the skiing seat of my truck, it's going to get dirty, and I didn't want to have to treat it like something precious.
Ten dollars at the local outpost of Sam Walton's little shop of horrors. Normally, I don't like to give the Walton family my money, but when it comes to stuff that I take to work, the rules are a little different.
The Good
34 ounces isn't quite big enough to get me through a whole shift, but one of the constraints is that it had to fit in my cooler for entering and leaving the plant. I didn't want some giant-ass 64-oz Growler, because there's enough junk in my truck, as it is.
It keeps things plenty cold. I leave it propped on the middle bench of my truck, and the outside is warm to the touch, but whatever I'm drinking is the same as when I poured it in there.
The top seals tight, with no BS. I bring it home, rinse it clean, and it's ready for more. I imagine it would get nasty in a hurry if I let it sit, but I don't intend to do that. Even if that happens, it's easy to wash, which was one of my top priorities.
The Bad
It's not ever gonna fit in your pocket! Obviously, this is a large flask. I need that, because it can easily be 110 degrees in some of the places I have to work in. But if you're out for a day hike, or escorting the kids through an amusement park, get something smaller.
Same way, it's heavy. If you're determined to carry it around with you, find space on your pack, or get a dedicated carry sling (yes, they make 'em). Trying to carry this thing in your hand is just awkward.
The Ugly
This little bastard right here:
Or rather, Wal-Mart's own-brand's shitty QC.
They evacuate the air from the space between the inner and outer walls, then the bottom gets compression fitted. There is an internal seal as a result of the compression fitting, but it leaves this gap. I had a $40 Stanley thermos lose it's vacuum seal on me, so I knew what could happen.
The one in these pictures is actually the second one I brought home: the first one started bubbling around that gap, while I was washing it under warm (not hot, warm water). Total ownership time, about 30 minutes.
Those bubbles mean the seal has failed, and air is getting into the interstitial space. After the vacuum is fully compromised, have you a really fancy fucking drinking glass, which isn't worth shit as an insulating vessel. I took it back, swapped it for another one, and gave it the same warm water wash. It failed to fail, so I kept it.
I've had this one about a week, and it's become my favorite drinking glass, here around the house. When the seal finally does fail, maybe I'll treat myself to a Yeti, or hope that something mid-tier comes out to compete with them.
Is it worth the price? Hell yes. IMO, it's probably worth twice as much, if you get a good one.
Is it a good value? Well, no. You're rolling the dice on whether or not you get a good one, in the first place. Then, there's no guarantee of how long it will last. The outside is thermal cycling on a regular basis, but the inside is staying at a steady temperature, for a long period. So, you have two pieces of metal, which are expanding and contracting at different rates. That is not a good place to be, for any kind of airtight seal, and I think it's a matter of "when" it fails, not "if". If you're not worried about getting long life out of it, or if you just need something that's cheap because it's going to get dented and dirty, then this may be the way to go. But be warned that some day, you're going to reach for a cold beverage, and you're going to be missing the "cold" part.
