Review: Collapsible Waterbottles for Travel
Last year I decided to upgrade my ability to take water bottles through security, trying out several collapsible bottles to replace my usual routine of empty plastic bottles that took up space and got rather battered over the course of a trip. I know some prefer rigid insulated bottles that can take a beating and maintain cold or hot temperatures, but for me and my usually overful laptop case, that’s space I’d rather save. Being able to fold it up when empty has actually encouraged me to drink more water while traveling.
I’ve been trying out two for several months, both of which were perfectly sufficient, each with their own pros and cons, but better than disposible bottles.
Beckly Collapsible Roll Up Sports Water Bottle
Since I don’t care what color my waterbottle is, I went with the cheapest option at the time, which was the pink for $13 (looks like the blue is currently the one on sale at Amazon). It’s made out of BPA silicone, and despite my worries, was in fact leak proof even when squished in between electronics and notebooks, etc. My version had a silicone loop in addition to the plastic carabiner which made rolling and holding it really easy — I didn’t have to make sure anything was aligned.Â
No plastic tastes even when it had been sitting in the sun for several hours or in my bag for a day or two (though I try not to do that). When you open the cap it self inflates, making it easy to refill and easy to stand up even when it was almost empty. Also no problem after several months of sticking it in the top shelf of my dishwasher.
What I didn’t like was the texture of the bottle! It’s kind of silky smooth, but just felt weird in my hand, particularly when partially full. And once it was less than half full, it felt like you had to milk/crumple it to get the remaining liquid.
Vapur has several different styles in different sizes and textures. After deciding to try Vapur, I picked the one that was the cheapest for the .7 liter size since the reviews suggested there wasn’t a big difference in quality. Mine was only slightly opaque and made of BPA-free polyethylene & nylon. No problems with cleaning in the top of the dishwasher and no chemical tastes when exposed to heat or kept for a few days.
It rolls up quite small and its oval shape makes it easier to fit in my laptop case when full. But it didn’t self inflate, which meant I needed to manipulate it when refilling to make sure I maximized the volume and I had to be deliberate when setting it down to make sure it could stand up.
One down side was the lid has to be aligned so the carabiner can be used to secure the bottle when rolled. Using it is more like a juice bag, a gentle squeeze to extract the remaining liquid, but a small issue was the plastic/nyon material makes a crackly noise when you’re doing that. And an unexpected problem were the somewhat rough edges — if you have dry or delicate skin you run the risk of papercuts when reaching into your bag.
I’m happy with both, though probably the Vapur bottle a bit more because of the Beckly bottle texture. 🙂
Do use Vapurs of various configurations for travel, as they are especially good for cargo pants pockets. They have worked out well.
I really want to find an easily disposable bottle of water that is meant for travel, light and accommodating