ALEX Bottle
| August 27, 2010 | Filled under Biking, Bottles, Stainless steel, Work-out Ready |
The minute I saw this bottle featured on a design website, I knew I had to try it out. The guys over at ALEX Bottle were so kind to send over a couple samples of the bottle (both the 32oz and the smaller 20oz) for me to test out and see how I like it.
The masterminds behind the ALEX Bottle set out to solve a common gripe among water bottle users – the mold and gunk growing at the bottom of the bottles that are hard to reach. Even my sister recently complained to me over the phone, “My water bottle is growing mold and I can’t reach it, so I don’t use it anymore.” It’s definitely a common deterrent for people to continue using bottles because of the mold situation. I’ve already reviewed 2 bottles that end up having mold growing in various places, which makes me not want to use them either. In a world of convenience and limited time, we want something simple, easy to clean, and ready to go. Cleaning mold out of a plastic ring is most likely not something we pen into our calendars.
Enter ALEX Bottle.
ALEX stands for Always Live EXtraordinarily. It’s a bottle that twists open in the middle so you can easily access both sides of the bottle from its widest possible opening to clean it thoroughly. Once again, I was given two sample bottles to test out, just FYI. The white bottle is the 20oz and the black bottle is the 32oz.
What I like about the bottle:
- Remember the time when you realized how fun it was to bite off gummie bear heads of different colors so you can make dual colored gummies? Well, it kind of feels like that with the bottles. Combining the top and bottom of 2 different sizes can yield a new 26oz bottle, which I found was the perfect volume for a 3 hour plane ride.
- The bottle twists open! Washing a water bottle has never been easier.
- I really like how you can pack the bottle in itself. It screws into itself by stacking it like a russian doll and makes travelling with the bottle a cinch. I recently took it on a trip with me and really liked how I essentially carried half a bottle inside my purse until I went through security. Then it was show-off time as I whipped out my half-stacked bottle, unscrewed the bottom half, and put the bottle together while onlookers by the water fountain stared in amazement. Yes, I did.
- The sturdy cap strap makes carrying the cap and bottle around easier. This is one thing that many bottle designers seem to miss because like I said before, I don’t want to carry a cap around in case I set it down on a dirty surface. Plus, the strap is 100% made from recycled plastic water bottles!
- The silicone seal in the middle of the bottle helps keep water from leaking out of the bottle and when you buy the bottle, they give you an extra silicone ring that’s removable and replaceable.
- There are 7 different color combinations to choose from and it’s made of stainless steel but has no steel taste.
- All bottles are made from BPA-free premium 304 stainless steel and the cap and twisty area (CST) are made from BPA-free polypropylene #5.
- Both sizes fit perfectly into a standard bike bottle cage, which means that you can take it with you on bike rides. It fits snug and doesn’t fall out (even among the hills of San Francisco). The 32oz bottle fits better than the 20oz, and if you put the top half of the 20oz on the bottom half of the 32oz, it’ll be a pretty perfect fit in a bottle cage.
- Suitable for: biking, gym, traveling.
What to keep in mind:
- If you don’t watch out when you screw the two halves of the bottle together, water can leak out the side (read: I didn’t double check the seal).
- On top of that, after putting it in the dishwasher or after multiple uses, the middle part where the two halves come together WILL leak a noticeable amount. I’ve experienced this on both of the bottles even after screwing it extra tight (and asking my husband to further tighten). I checked the rubber ring several times to make sure it’s placed correctly but it still leaks. It doesn’t pour but a drop or two will come through every couple of minutes. UPDATE: Recently the company behind the ALEX bottles have emailed out to all who purchased their bottles in the earlier stages (before 9/15/10) that a very small percentage of the bottles were leaky and the tops should be replaced. If you are one of them and find your top leaky, go here and fill out the form!
- The cap and side rings of the white bottle can become grey very quickly from dirty hands or just regular handling.
- The silicone ring in the middle seem to dislodge somewhat easily, which means that when I try to fit it back into its place, it seems a little derailed still. So use a toothpick or something small to make sure the whole ring fits into the seal well or else you can have a leaky bottle.
- The 32oz bottle is actually pretty big. It’s not suitable for shopping or light walking around because it gets pretty heavy and ends up sitting at the bottom of a tote or bag most of the time. The 20oz would be a better choice.
- Because it is still made with stainless steel, it does take on the taste of whatever your water tastes like. When I filled it with tap water, it tasted like the chlorinated tap water for a long while. When I filled it with the filtered water from my water filter pitcher, it tasted like filtered sweet water.
I think overall, this new ALEX bottle was designed with the end user in mind and really wanted to address a common issue and make water consumption easy yet sustainable. Perhaps the slow somewhat minute leak (when put in a bag, it can get the insides of the bag wet) can be further addressed.
How the company contributes to the society:
I don’t know if the company contributes to society in any philanthropical way yet, but they’re still a pretty new company so I’ll wait and see.For every bottle sold, ALEX donates $2 to Charity:Water!
Characteristics of the bottle:
- Top rack dishwasher safe
- 100% recycleable bottle, 50% made from recycled stainless steel
- 4 types of designs: Timeless, Pop, Fresh, and Naked.
Where can I buy it?
You can get your ALEX bottle online directly from their website, www.alexbottle.com. It is $25.95 for the 20oz and $29.95 for the 320z.
Per the instructions that come with the bottle… you are supposed to wet the silicone seal before screwing the two halves together to prevent leaks. It works.
Thanks for the extra tidbit Ashley! Yeah, it worked for the smaller bottle but when I was mixing and matching, it started leaking =/
Just a little though. I’ll try wetting the silicone seal every time the bottle is unscrewed and see what happens!