With all the scary news floating around about Bisphenol-A, a dangerous chemical that’s been linked to everything from low sperm counts to early puberty to DNA damage, it’s easy to see why smart sport bottle makers choose to stick to strictly BPA-free materials. But just because there are a crop of BPA-free reusable bottles now available, that doesn’t mean you should just buy the first one you see. All of your stipulations for good, ergonomic, easy to use, sustainable design should still apply in your search for the perfect water bottle. thinksport recently sent us their rather elegant-looking 750ml insulated bottle to put to the test – read on to check out what we loved and what we thought could be improved and see if this is the water bottle you’ve been searching for!
Right off the bat, the most obvious benefit of thinksport bottles is that they’re free of BPA – but they’re also free of phthalates, cadmium, lead and PVC. So if you’re worried about dangerous hormone disrupting chemicals leeching out of your water bottle and into your system, you’re not going to have that issue with a thinksport. And we probably don’t have to mention this to you if you’re already on the hunt for a reusable bottle, but drinking water out of one of these puppies instead of buying bottled water will drastically cut down on the tons of plastic waste that goes into our rivers, streams and dumps every year.
But let’s get down to business. What made the thinksport bottle stand out to us? Well, first off, it’s beautifully designed, easy to hold and feels like a quality product that will stand the test of time. After all, what’s the use of dishing out 16 bucks to buy something that’s going to break after a year?
Another awesome feature of the thinksport is that it’s double-walled – meaning that it won’t “sweat” and drip all over your bag if you put cold water inside. It’s also vacuum-sealed and can keep your iced tea nice and cool the same way that it can keep your coffee hot. Now, a lot of other sports bottles have this feature but they forget one important thing – what’s the point of being able to maintain the temperature of your drink if you can’t get it hot or cold enough in the first place? The thinksport doesn’t have this issue, since it has a nice wide mouth big enough to drop ice cubes right into and even comes with a mesh strainer that drops right into the lip of the bottle to strain tea leaves so you can pour your hot water right into your bottle. But we all know how annoying it can be to drink out of a wide mouthed bottle – so thinksport thought of that too! The secondary spout top gives you the option to sip out of a smaller opening (which also makes it safer to drink from if you’re driving or on the go).
I’ve had one of these for almost a year, and it’s a great bottle! Couple of minor issues though. The plastic connector to the lid is extremely poor quality plastic and fractured after about 2 months. I ended up cutting it off completely. There is also something inside my bottle that rattles around that wasn’t there when I got it, which concerns me slightly. It’s GREAT at not sweating and keeping my water cool though. I frequently have unmelted ice 6-8 hours later. My only wishlist item would be some sort of carrying loop or something. It’s hourglass shape makes most commercially available carries not work very well. I managed to rig up my own with some paracord and a carabiner, but a loop on the lid or something would be a great addition. Highly recommend this!