Bottlegate: which water bottle is the one for you
Kelsey Phillip ’25
Editor-in-chief of design
Scientifically speaking, all teenagers should be drinking at least 64 to 88 ounces of water a day. That translates to about two full 40 ounce Stanleys or Hydroflasks. It is not difficult to get your daily water intake - unless of course you are one of the students whose lost bottle ends up in the lost and found - , but what bottle should you be using?
In a survey of the students here at Louisville, the leading water bottle brand (48% of the student body) was Hydroflask. In second place was Owala with a lesser 31%, and third least popular was Stanley with 25%. Although there were some outliers like Ello and Simple Modern; Hydroflask, Owala and Stanley make up the campus’s big three water bottle brands.
Beyond the popularity, which bottles will do what they need it to - hold in ice and water? I put the podium to the test and compared what the companies have claimed about their water bottles. In the end, only one brand can win.
There were three tests: one for keeping ice cold, leakage and how portable it is (A.K.A can I hold it in my hand along with three other items at once).
First up is the third place competitor: Stanley. For my experiment, I used a 30 oz Stanley Ice Flow which has a tote-style handle and a collapsible spout. Although it is not the most popular variation of the Stanley, it is the only one I had and would have a disadvantage. Compared to the cited ice hold time of up to 48 hours, the Stanley was unable to hold ice for 9 hours. It made up for it by passing the leakage and the portability test. If you were avoiding Stanleys because of the rumored leak, I would go with their Ice Flow option.
Next to bat was the Owala. I used the 24 oz Freesip, which is their best seller. Although it does not technically state that it will keep ice cold instead of water cool for 24 hours, it passed by having half the ice after nine hours. Although it passed the leak test, the lackluster handle forced it to receive points off in the portability category.
Now onto the crowd favorite, the Hydroflask. I used a 21 oz with a Flex cap. The Hydro passed the ice test as it held the ice for as long as they advertised-8 hours. It passed the leak test along with the portability test.
In the overall competition, the Owala was the most successful in the tests. It's not about which water bottle is the trendiest or what stickers you put on it. As long as you don’t get dehydrated, whatever holds your water, the way you like it, is best.