Gear Review: Hydroflask with Filtration Straw

Hydroflask and filtration straw

I am a water snob, I admit it. I love cold water, the colder the better. And I love water that has no chemical taste to it. Short of spending a fortune on bottled water, I generally make do with filtered water in a glass which eventually gets warm. This is where Hydroflask enters the picture. Hydroflask has double-walled stainless steel flasks that keeps cold liquids cold and hot liquids hot. Hydroflask recently came out with a filter straw to fit into their flasks to filter tap water while keeping the water at the temperature I like.



Hydroflask’s bottles are double-walled and vacuum sealed using a high grade stainless steel that doesn’t impart any taste to the water. The bottle comes with either a plug seal lid with rubber o-ring or the new filter straw which also has an o-ring. Hydroflask has three different opening sizes; narrow mouth, standard mouth and wide mouth. The filter straw fits on the standard mouth size. It has a deployable straw on the outside of the lid. Inside the lid, the straw extends most of the way down the flask with a carbon filter screwed onto the bottom of the straw that reaches the rest of the way to the bottom of the flask. Alternatively, the filter portion can be removed and a straw extender used in its place to allow the straw to reach the bottom of the flask.

Hydroflask in Canyonlands

The vacuum sealed double walled nature of the Hydroflask means hot liquids can stay hot for up to 12 hours and cold liquids can stay cold for up to 24 hours. This also means that the flask doesn’t split when used under freezing conditions. I have on a few occasions placed the Hydroflask in the freezer with just the plug lid and while the liquid eventually freezes, I haven’t had any issues with the flask splitting or cracking.

I have used the Hydroflask quite a bit at the gym allowing me to refill at the fountain and not worry about the taste of the water. The Hydroflask definitely keeps my water cold for the length of the exercise and even for several hours afterwards. I am not a fan of the straw though. The straw is a hard tube of plastic that deploys up from the lid. I have to wrap my lips around the straw to drink and it acts exactly how a straw would behave. The liquids fall down the straw to about the level of the water in the flask, and if I tip the flask upside down while the straw is deployed water will leak out.

Hydroflask on dayhike

The temperature regulation of the Hydroflask is pretty good as long as I begin with ice cold water or boiling hot water. I have noticed that water from the fridge will be almost warm by the end of the day when I fill up in the morning. Ice water or a frozen bottle will last for up to three days if I keep drinking the thawed water. It doesn’t quite make two days if I leave the entire ice block inside the Hydroflask.

When I was using the Hydroflask with the filter straw, I noticed that the filter straw does take up a fairly large volume within the flask. Since I was using the filter straw in a 600 mL flask, losing any significant portion of the volume drastically drops the volume of water. I found that the best way to fill the flask when using the straw is to fill the flask and then draw water up into the straw before topping off the flask again. This way I feel I was getting as close to the 600 mL capacity as possible. I didn’t notice any significant decrease in flow volume when using the filter straw. I do have to draw the water up the straw with a little more suction but I don’t feel like I have to work too hard for the water. I also have not noticed any substantial increase in tap water taste yet so the filter seems to have a pretty good filter life to it.

The Hydroflask has been great on day hikes especially when it is pretty hot out. Having cold water to enjoy on hot days makes drinking easier. Being able to filter on the go is also great. I can refill the Hydroflask anywhere and not worry about how the water will taste. The insulating quality of Hydroflask was really apparent when I left the flask in the car on warm day in the sun. While the Hydroflask itself was almost too hot to touch (as was the straw), the water itself was still cold and enjoyable. This was really apparent after a three day backpacking trip down in the desert southwest. I had left the filter flask in the car with cool water and by the time I finished the trip, the water was still drinkable and not superheated.

I like Hydroflask, it works well at keeping liquids cold or hot for long periods of time. I have used both the narrow mouth and regular mouth openings and both were comfortable to drink from. I think I personally need a larger volume flask than the 600 mL flask I was using just to save me from the constant refilling I was doing. I don’t care for the filter straw but it does do the job and worked as a straw should. I really liked being able to filter tap water on the go and keeping my drink as cold as possible for as long as possible.

Manufacturer	Hydroflask
Sizes	Narrow mouth, regular mouth and wide mouth Ranging from 12 to 24 oz with a growler size coming soon
Price (MSRP)	$19.99 to $29.99

This story was originally posted March 18, 2011.