Thursday, June 12, 2014

Hydrapak Wooly Insulated Bottles

I have resently acquired a pair of Hyrdapak's insulated Wooly bottles.  I requested 21oz bottles so I could hopefully fit them into a pair of running handhelds. The above picture is the 24 oz version. 

 I don't like the taller bottles in handhelds because the narrow portion is lower down on the bottle shifting your grip more the the middle and adding a nagging torque to your wrist.  Think about running holding a hammer right under the head verse midway down the handle. 
Here they are! They look deceptively normal sized but true to their Wooly name they are of mastodonic proportions . 

This is a comparison of the cap sizes.  The other is a Nathan TruFlex bottle. The Nathan cap will fit inside the Wooly.
Side by side you can really see the difference in girth with only a slight increase in height.

I am a transparent person so I will always tell you guys what I get free and what I buy.  These were sent to me free to review.  So on to the actual review!
As you can see I got them to fit in my Ultraspire Isometric Pockets.
Why these bottles? Because they are insulated ! Why do I care about insulation? Charleston South Carolina where I live becomes a steamy jungle in the summer.  Cold liquids while you are running in 100 degree weather with 100% humidity tastes like cold beer after a long day.

Prior to using these bottle I experimented with various combinations.  Polar bottles, neoprene beer coozies on the handhelds, and neoprene handhelds.  I was not a fan of the polar bottles (I have the tall 24 oz versions) and any of the neoprene options kind of suck becaus neoprene is notorious for holding odors.  So sweaty nasty stink that you are bringing up to your face at regular intervals.

So along comes Hydrapak's Wooly... Initially I was drawn to the old bottles with 
the mammoth logo
The caps look different too. The newer model has a much taller, deeper cap.
The bottles are insulated using Primaloft, a synthetic down analog made of recycled materials.  Basically it's high tech fluff!  I think it's made from baby unicorn fur or something.  Anyway it is super light, compressible, and has a very good volume to insulation ratio which means you need less thickness.  So Hydrapak makes a fluff sandwich between two bottles.  The result, cold stays cold longer and hot stays hot longer.  
 
I loved these bottles.  They have gone into my handhelds and are likely to stay there for my entire summer training season.  The best part...
Big nipples!  The large bore silicone spout is great! Easy to bite and pull and they have really good flow. Plus  the nozzle can be removed for cleaning.  This feature is key for me since I often mix chia seeds in my bottles and they can get stuck in other style spouts.

My liquids remained cold and refreshing for an hour, which is the longest run I have down with them so far.  You really can't feel much temperature transfer from the bottles.  The caps do sweat and that condensation does indicate thermal transfer from the environment.  This was only noticeable when the bottles were filled to the top were the liquid had contact with the uninsulated cap tops.  I wonder if returning to the shorter caps would help this problem or make it worse

Pros: 
They are light
Insulated
Removable large spout
High flow
No plastic odor or taste 
Not much taller than most other bottles
Price only  $10.99,That's the price of some uninsulated bottles!

Cons:
Large girth 
Lack of cap insulation
Deep cap seems like it could be shorter
Would love to see the Mastadon logo back!

All in all I would have these as a recommend. They are not game changers and are not going to replace your regular handeld running bottles (they will be replacing some of mine though!) but as far as insulated bottles for running there are the best I have seen and used.  Where I believe they would truly excell is for people who use water bottle belt holders and running vests with bottle holders. In those cases they would be awesome and would be game changing.  Like having a small refrigerator for beverages! The slight increase in girth would not be as noticeable.  But like I said they are a strong recommend if you are looking for an insulated running water bottle.  

I would like to thank Hydrapak for allowing me to review their product and I look forward to more reviews in the future.  Now if you will excuse me...I gotta run!

         

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