Vargo Titanium Water Bottle Review

[Andrew Marshall]

Companion forum thread to: Vargo Titanium Water Bottle Review

I bought the $85 Vargo titanium water bottle to see if it was worth it. The answer? It’s complicated. Here’s my review.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Just curious, why not use the BOT?  It can hold water and be used as a pot.

[Ryan Jordan]

The thing I don’t like about the Bot as a water bottle is that it’s as fat as a 1L nalgene and harder to stow and access. I really like the idea of skinny lower capacity bottles like this combined with soft bottles for more storage if/when needed.

[DWR D]

I find that titanium has a taste. Not terribly bad, but not what I want my water to taste like…

[Todd T]

Holy Toledo.  I don’t need to do a review–or read someone else’s–to give my conclusion.

I’m still using Gatorade bottles I repurposed in 2008.  So apart from enviro-virtue signaling, what else would I get for my $170?

[Eli]

How’s the slight unscrew trickle pour for butt cleaning performance?

[baja bob]

Just don’t lose it.

[BlackHatGuy]

What made you decide to choose the Vargo bottle? I’ve used a Keith Titanium 700ml bottle for a few years now, it was much less than the Vargo. And it comes with the neoprene sleeve instead of that being an extra cost.

I find Vargo titanium overpriced compared to other titanium offerings.

[Marcus]

Forget $85. That’s a ripoff. Same thing for $30

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32857222015.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.34474c6dHEyeVx&browser_id=ef13ebb0356147388a9739c3e5371e7a&aff_trace_key=&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=qyldgeiyo1ucayiq17bd32cd5d1d8a55f0ae2fb1f0&gclid=&_imgsrc_=ae01.alicdn.com%2Fkf%2FHf6790d7e861c46128cea8c65c3490a370

I have 2. Never use em. Heavy, tastes like metal, can’t backflush filter with them. This is a reminder I should sell them.

[karl hafner]

I had the titanium BOT but got rid of it.  Every time you would change altitude or your hot liquids would cool off you could not get the top off.  They recommend using a credit card to break the suction seal.  Who wants to carry a CC or destroy it trying to break a suction seal?  The titanium cap on a titanium bottle had enough friction that if you created a pressure differential it was impossible to unscrew the cap.  I had to even stop at a house and request a screwdriver one day to get it off.  This was not a piece of gear I could trust my life with.  Was a great idea water bottle and cook pot.  I believe that using a different material (plastic) for the cap may solve the problem.

[Bonzo]

Interesting idea, but yeah…expensive. I would have to be very sure of the benefit before committing to the number of bottles I would need to supply my water needs.  My average hot-weather, five-hour dayhike would require three of these.

So apart from enviro-virtue signaling, what else would I get for my $170?

This is a genuine question on my part: how does one virtue-signal with a water bottle?  I honestly can’t think of a method other than walking up to a person with a plastic water bottle and saying “You know, you really shouldn’t be using that”…but that method doesn’t signal any sort of virtue: it just signals that you’re a complete ass.

I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever paid a great deal of attention to someone else’s water bottle…except for this one kid that had a plastic bottle with dinosaurs on it, which I immediately wanted as soon as I saw it, because dinosaurs.

[Gary Dunckel]

I am with Todd about the Gatorade bottles. They are nearly indestructible. Another durable water container is the under-appreciated parmesan cheese container. You need to find a screw top lid for it, but there are several that work for them.

Lately I’ve been geeking out making cuben fiber insulated water bottle holders to give to friends for Christmas gifts. ( I still call it “cuben” because that’s what it was called when I last bought a few yards of it from Z-Packs several years ago.) The bottles that I am including are aluminum ones such as Brita (18 fl. oz.), which can be infinitely re-filled, as long as you don’t step on them when they’re empty. Being aluminum, they can also be used to heat up some water for tea.  The 2-cup capacity is plenty for my 2+ hour jaunts through my nearby open space.

I also picked up a Bot when they were selling at a discount early on at MassDrop. Karl was right on about how the lid can be REALLY hard to unscrew once things cool down. It took me 1/2 an hour to get it off, breaking a couple of finger nails in the process. I won’t take it hiking anymore, but I still think that it’s a unique piece of kit.

 

[Dustin V]

I’ve been looking at these things for awhile because I’d love to be able to boil water in a bottle on quick overnights and save the space of a pot. Outside of the cost, what stops me is that there isn’t a drink lid available. My other metal bottles have drink lids, so not having one is kind of a non-starter.

Has anyone found a drink lid that will work for this bottle? Either straw- or bike-bottle lid.

[David Thomas]

Bonzo: the virtue signaling can be real even if it is only ever in the purchaser’s mind.  I definitely see folks spending $12 on a high-end plastic bottle imagining how very many disposable water bottles they won’t use and then going for the $30 SS one that involves no plastic and is therefore morally superior.

All of which ignores the greater amount of energy that went into the heavy plastic much less the smelting and processing of the iron, nickel and chromium ore.

Often, long before it has really displaced its energy-equivalent in disposable plastic bottles, it’s been left on the car roof or trail and lost or left with a drink residue inside for weeks and gotten too funky for future use.

Whereas I dumpster dive for not the crinkly PEET bottle, but the name-brand PEET soda or water bottles, use them dozens of times and toss them back in the recycling bin when they get bunged up or funky.  So there’s ZERO impact to my choice of water bottle although I earn no eco-cred for that – I’m just known as being a cheap bastard.

[Arthur]

David. In the parched SW, we need to consider the amount of soap water it takes to clean out your dumpster bottles. That also applies to cleaning out food from plastic in order to recycle it. Which is worse here, plastic in the dump or wasting precious water to clean the plastic? Good question.

[Roger Caffin]

Ti water bottles for mega-dollars.
Amazing stuff!
The ‘benefits’ of extreme marketing are clear. Benefits to the vendor at least.
Me, I use 1.25 L rocket-base PET mineral water bottle, thus:

They are totally free (after drinking the fizzy mineral water), they last for years, they don’t leak, and they survive extremely rough treatment, like being dropped off cliffs. (A deliberate test.) And they come quite clean after use too.

Cheers

[Monte Masterson]

I can’t understand why titanium would be any better than aluminum for this application. Of course aluminum is much much cheaper and if I’m not mistaken it is slightly lighter than titanium on a per volume basis.

I do like the idea of a metal water bottle in cold, freezing environments though because if the contents freeze I can place it near a flame and melt what’s inside. Can’t do that with plastic.

Take this $8.42 Sigg aluminum 1 liter bottle on Amazon for example. Why would it be inferior to titanium. It weighs 146 gm, however it also has .4L more volume than the Vargo, so that makes the weight comparable. I understand the utility and advantages of titanium over aluminum for many uses, but someone please explain what would make titanium any better for a water bottle.

 

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

I can’t understand why titanium would be any better than aluminum for this application. Of course aluminum is much much cheaper and if I’m not mistaken it is slightly lighter than titanium on a per volume basis.

I do like the idea of a metal water bottle in cold, freezing environments though because if the contents freeze I can place it near a flame and melt what’s inside. Can’t do that with plastic.

Take this $8.42 Sigg aluminum 1 liter bottle on Amazon for example. Why would it be inferior to titanium. It weighs 146 gm, however it also has .4L more volume than the Vargo, so that makes the weight comparable. I understand the utility and advantages of titanium over aluminum for many uses, but someone please explain what would make titanium any better for a water bottle.

I agree.

[Iago Vazquez]

I do like the idea of a metal water bottle in cold, freezing environments though because if the contents freeze I can place it near a flame and melt what’s inside. Can’t do that with plastic.

I am not sure, but I seem to remember reading a few years back that Sigg bottles have some sort of lining or coating. I am not sure whether they still do and what the result of applying heat is…

[Roger Caffin]

A quick search on the web brought this up:

The classic, durable water bottles are considered almost unbreakable and are made from a single piece of aluminum, with no seams. They have an EcoCare liner to ensure no metallic aftertaste. Water tastes fresh and clean, and the high-performance lining does not transfer, absorb, or leach odors or flavors. The internal coating is resistant to almost all beverages, including carbonated drinks, energy drinks, fruit juice acids, and alcohol.

Sigg water bottles have been tested and are certified to not contain harmful chemicals. These BPA-free bottles do not have any volatile organic compounds or phthalates. They also meet European and American regulatory requirements.

My oldest SIGG water bottle, dating from the 1950s and bought in Switzerland, currently serves as a fuel bottle for my chain saws. It is still going strong, still has a good seal, but is too heavy for backpacking.

Cheers

 

[Andrew Marshall]

I feel like many of the comments/questions in this post about virtue signaling – and price – and the nuances behind environmental decisions – I addressed in my essay that precedes the review. But as always I appreciate people reading. Somebody somewhere is buying these things, and based on my use it isn’t just BECAUSE they are expensive and/or sexy. But as I said a few times, your mileage will vary.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Andrew, I think that your article was well written, and you laid out the premises very well.  Even with all the caveats, I think that the knee jerk reaction was the disparity between the cost of a Smart Water Bottle and the Titanium Bottle.   The Vargo Bottle is not for everyone, but it has a purpose.  One could say similar things about DCF tents (or for that matter stuck sacks!).  Not in my budget and not something that I foresee using in the near future, but someone likes them.  To each there own (or HYOH considering this a backpacking forum)

[Monte Masterson]

Thanks lago and Roger for pointing out the inner liner of the Sigg Aluminum water bottle. I wasn’t aware, but I did notice other aluminum water bottles such as those by Luken also have a “polyamide based inner coating”. Definitely not good to put a flame to a bottle like that, however, I do believe there are other aluminum bottles which don’t have the inner coating such as the SJR 750 ml aluminum. Weighs 139 gm so it’s 5.39 ml volume per 1 gm of weight, whereas the 650 ml Vargo titanium at 111 gm comes out to 5.85 ml per 1 gm weight, so the weights are pretty close really with the aluminum providing only 15% less volume per weight than the titanium. The SJS aluminum cost way way less though at under $7. And I’m not sure if the listed weight on the SJR 750 includes the carabiner.

Andrew, as far as price, the way I see it is if someone has the funds to buy something more power to them. I never saw the purchase as you trying to impress anyone with the price tag…not at all. No virtue signaling or anything else. If you can melt frozen water in the ti bottle (with flame) and also heat up water in it then I think it’s a great buy. I always say that the only expensive gear is the gear you don’t use. The Vargo ti bottle looks very nice really.

SJR 750 ml aluminum

 

[Shelley C]

what parmesan cheese container and what lid?

[Ross Bleakney]

Other than avoiding plastic (for health or environmental reasons) it seems like the use cases for this are pretty tiny. If you plan on cold soaking, then a Vargo Bot seems like a better idea. You can boil water in this thing, but it clearly isn’t meant for it.

I could see this as a lighter, less effective thermos. Maybe boil some water, make some tea, and drink it on top of the mountain, away from your base camp. You could make dinner, pour it in there, and then eat it later (on the trail). You can do the same with most pre-packaged meals, but if you are making your own, I could see that.

It is relatively easy to clean, which comes in handy for those who like to add salts to their water (to deal with heat). It is extremely hard to clean a Platypus, as well as many small mouthed bottles. But you can clean a Nalgene fairly easily too, so I don’t see much advantage there. Overall, this is clearly a niche product.

 

 

 

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