GSI Outdoors Cascadian Cup SPOTLITE REVIEW

[Ryan Jordan]

Companion forum thread to:

GSI Outdoors Cascadian Cup SPOTLITE REVIEW

[Dave .]

You know what's nice about Titanium though? It isn't plastic.

Is there any reliable information out there regarding the safety of drinking hot beverages out of polypropylene?

Personally I don't mind paying extra for a titanium mug. It affords me peace of mind!

[Ross Bleakney]

At least it is designed to be heated and used to hold water. The biggest danger from plastics is that people use plastic that isn't food safe or hasn't been designed (or tested) for hot food or water. I've made this mistake before, when putting food directly into a (non-food safe) grocery bag. I know that isn't a direct answer to your question (sorry).

[Ryan Krause]

According to current research and analytic techniques, polypropylene doesn't appear to leach.

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NEWSCIENCE/oncompounds/bisphenola/2003/2003-0205howdeshelletal.htm
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/101/plastic
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200311/lol5.asp

Glass transition temperature: -10C
Melting temperature: 173C

[Pedro Arvy]

Why do you need a cup?
I drink out of my cooking pot.

Scotch, coffee, soup it handles the lot!

[George Matthews]

How about this…

Two hikers. You both want a cup of tea, but are sharing one stove. Two cups faciliate your efforts.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Petras

> Why do you need a cup?
> I drink out of my cooking pot.
On day walks, of which my wife and I do many when we aren't off on a longer walk, I carry a Trangia kettle for morning tea. It is ancient and much loved, albeit a little heavier than some Ti versions. (No problem – keeps me fit.) And it has a wide base which means it is efficient in heating.

Now, have you tried to drink out of a Trangia kettle? Remembering it is aluminium, which is an excellent heat conductor too. And what does my wife drink out of?

Cheers
Roger

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

If you all haven't noticed, GSI has quite the new line out this year. They also have two style of nesting mug/cup sets. One is 20 ounces and round, the other is 14 ounces and triangle shaped. They are of the same material as the Cascadian mug.

For those concerned, Polypropylene is used in many items these days. It is what Fozzils and Orikaso dishes are made of. It is recyclable as well.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Been using a nearly identical cup for decades. It has 1/4 cup marking rings around the entire inside of the cup.

I use the cup for measuring water for putting into freeze-dried food bags, drinking coffee or tea etc. and I couldn't get along without it. Best type of cup I've ever used for backpacking.

That cup, my Cool Whip bowl and a long-handled Lexan spoon are ALL my utensils. (Yeah, a Cool Whip bowl – used 'em for decades also.) In winter I bring the Cool Whip lid to keep food warm whilst I'm chewing, drinking & attending other cooking chores. BUT, in winter I drink from a closed top insulated mug.

Eric

[Monty Montana]

"For reasons which utterly pass me by, the text on this scale is in mirror image"

Um…'cause it's made in China?

I'm glad you reviewed this item! I've been using a similar cup that was included in my Boy Scout mess kit for years and my only complaint is that it holds only 8 oz brim full, so a 12 oz capacity cup would be worth having 'cause I do enjoy a slug o joe in the morning.

[Phil Barton]

Monty, I have the exact same comment as you. I can finally replace my 8 oz. BSA cup of the past 40 years. I just haven't taken the time to find where to locate a $1.75 cup without paying $8 in shipping.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I had to laugh….the sad thing is paying $8 shipping will soon be cheaper than driving to a store to find one if you drive a typical American style vehicle.

[Kathleen B]

A well-known outdoor retailer is selling these in multiples of 4, with cups, bowls, and plates. However, I'd rather wait to see if Sarah will stock them on her freezerbagcooking.com site. For longer treks, it would actually be easier to use the non-zip sandwich bags to package the meals and then dump one into the bowl or cup to rehydrate, assuming it can handle seriously boiling water.

[Lynn Tramper]

I have something similar as well, only it holds 450ml and only weighs 37 grams. Cost me NZ$5 from Bivouac. I added my own measurement markings with an indelible pen on the outside…the cup is yellow so is JUST transparent enough for this to work. I don't go anywhere without my yellow cup, nor does my partner with the red version.

Why carry a cup?? As above, I mostly hike with my partner. Often when we stop for a brew, I'll have soup and my partner will have tea. In the evenings my partner might have some icky sweet orange drink while I tend towards whiskey while cooking dinner in the 2L pot. In the morning its coffee for me and tea for my better half…it would be world war III without our own mugs!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Kathleen, I think I will pick them up on the next order, which I will do after Memorial Day ;-)
Btw, thanks for the idea of getting them!

[Anonymous]

why assume titanium is safe to eat out of? It's not been around that long and many other metals have proved only years, or centurys later to be harmfull or deadly. If peace of mind is based on high cost is the space shuttle safer than my bicycle….Everitt

[Lynn Tramper]

I know of very few (OK, I can't really think of any) materials to make a food container/cooker out of that have been 'proven' to do no harm over the long term…living is just plain deadly and we may never know if that ceramic casserole dish, the clay grain storage, the cast iron pan or even that lovely glass drinking utensil are truly doing us no harm.

[EndoftheTrail]

Aren't titanium mugs lined with some sort of chemical coating as well?

This thread may be the first one about plastics where David and Sarah aren't fighting each other. :)

[Eric Blumensaadt]

A pox on Titanium backpacking vessles (likely carried by Titanium-loving, latte-sipping, carbon fiber pole-using, effete backpackers)!

Coated aluminum is better in virtually every way.

(Now lessee, where'd I put my Ti BushBuddy stove? Oh, there it is, beside my Ti Caldera Cone and my Ti Vargo burner.)

Eric

[Kathleen B]

Sarah – The red looks cool. Or anything but orange. If you get several colors, I may spring for 2 in different colors. Mr B's birthday is coming up, and I would be willing to spring a few bucks on him! Who knows, if you design a cozy for the bowl and/or mug, I may go really crazy and get that, too!

[Robert Blean]

My plastic 2-cup measuring cup meets all the pro's listed:
* Light — only 1.5 oz
* Cheap — at your favorite discount store
* Almost unbreakable — I still have my original, many years later
* Easy to pick up, even with gloves — and has a very nice size/shape for holding in your hands to warm them in cold weather
* Suitable capacity for walkers — 2 cups has always worked out to hold plenty without worrying about slopping over

— Bob

[John Coyle]

Just wanted to mention that several years ago I bought the GSI Bugaboo cookset for car camping which comes with the Cascadian bowl and cup. My cup and bowl are blue though. I have been very happy with the entire set, although I am a little concerned with the out-gassing situation with plastics, but it is my understanding that this is more of a problem with lexan cups than polypropyline. In any case, I am not concerned enough to stop using it! Not down with the tea though, coffee is my drink.

I appreciate your amazing expertise with stove issues also. Hope to backpack in your wonderfull country some day!

[Rod Lawlor]

The Australians on the list, you might like to check this out. I have also posted this on the bowl thread, but I know I searched hard for a cup.

You might want to check out the Decor range. This is their standard range, not the new microwave range, which is significantly heavier on my "one in each hand" scales.

The original range have good lids for solids, 100ml markings, stack well and let you compact down(stack) as you eat the cereal or crackers you store in them. (10 Weetbix in an 800ml rectangular container)

The 800ml in rectangular or round are about 46g plus 18g for the lid. cost around $3.00 at Coles or Woolies.

They do a nice, short round 350ml one which I think is around 29g plus lid (mine is at work at the moment. I'll edit on Mon) Very tip resistant due to the straight sides and low height. I've drilled a hole in the lid on one side, with a breather opposite, to make a drinking lid. No handle but the reinforcing rib around the seal gives a burn proof way to hold. In reality polypro transmits less heat than even ti.

The practical working temp (ductile, flexible semisolid) is around 160 C, so boiling water has no effect on stability of these containers, like it does on PET. Which leads me to the lightest, cheapest practical bowl I have found so far…….

The Coles brand 1kg honey container. Take the plastic bail handle off this and you have an approx 800ml polypro container with a pretty good lid. The jar is 27g and the lid is 10g. The wall thickness is less than the Decor, but even filled with boiling water, it's still suitably rigid. I haven't tried stacking yet, as I'm only half way through the second jar, but with my kids, I reckon on about ten days until it's ready. (I'm not sure how many of these I put in recycle before I realised how ideal they were.

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