It’s officially March Madness! This doesn’t really mean anything at WashU! While we aren’t a Division One basketball school, we are super into the environment. We don’t have plastic water bottles available on campus, which means that the only way to be hydrated (and avoid those weird metal water bottles that are probably a good idea but make me super uncomfortable) is to use a reusable water bottle.
Reusable water bottles are handy, helpful, and good for the earth. But don’t just settle for any water bottle! You could form your own opinions about what water bottle to use, or you could just listen to me! As a coffee fiend who therefore needs a lot of water and who also grew up at summer camp, I’m an expert.
Follow along with each round of Water Bottle Madness (Environmentally Friendly Fiasco? The Green Games? Hydration-Mania?) to learn all my very specific opinions. Real March Madness pairs the highest seeds with the lowest seeds and then moves toward the middle, but I think that’s stupid so I’m going to pair similar level water bottles with each other.
Round 1
Camelbak vs a Tumbler
I’m not including a brand name for the tumbler because they’re probably all the same. Even though you have to clean the straw in both options, having a straw makes it significantly better. These water bottles are both very medium seeds, but I personally like tumblers because you can also put iced coffee in it. I guess you could put iced coffee in a Camelbak, but that would be weird.
Winner: Tumbler
Nalgene vs Contigo
These are both super solid options. Personally I’m always afraid I’m going to spill water all over myself with a Nalgene. This one is great for hiking because it just holds so much water, but it’s unnecessarily inconvenient the rest of the time. Contigos, however, have a button to open them which is super fun and also makes them leak proof.
Winner: Contigo
Hydro Flask vs S’well
Both of these are insulated and metal, which is great most of the time, and very terrible if you bump it against anything, which creates the loudest sound in the world. In my own probably very biased opinion, S’wells are overrated. They fit nicely in backpacks, which is good, but they’re annoying to hold and not big enough and way too expensive. Hydro Flasks have a straw option, multiple sizes, and are easy to carry.
Winner: Hydro Flask
Any Glass Water Bottle vs Any Free One
Both of these have upsides and downsides. Glass water bottles look really cool and classy, but also they’re glass. Which seems stupid. Free water bottles are free, which rocks, but also sometimes they’re really low quality and the plastic isn’t BPA free.
Winner: Any Free One
Round 2
Contigo vs Hydro Flask
Again, both great options. Contigo is better for working out and significantly lighter, but it won’t keep water cold the way a Hydro Flask will. To keep a day’s worth of water cold in a beautiful water bottle, Hydro Flask is the move.
Winner: Hydro Flask
Any Free Water Bottle vs Tumbler
This one is hard. Tumblers can hold iced coffee but free water bottles are free. You can find insulated tumblers that are super cute and fairly expensive, and then you can know for sure they’re BPA free.
Winner: Tumbler
Round 3
Tumbler vs Hydro Flask
Both cute, both useful, but you can only knock over one of these and know that your ice cold water won’t spill.