Ultraspire Formula 250 Bottle

So I will start by saying this might be a bit of a rushed review.  I am sitting at my house getting prepped to go to work tomorrow for the next 3 days straight as hurricane Matthew is heading towards us.  I live in the Charleston SC area and I am an emergency room nurse and guess what doesn't close during hurricanes?  So I will be away from my family and friends living in the ER for the next 3 days straight.  But I said I would do this review and dammit I'm gonna do it!

So for starters, prejudgements...

I hate squishy bottles.  I don't own collapsible bottles.  If I put two in the front of my vest when I run I feel like a chick wearing a water bra.  Sloshy I can deal with, but squishy on my chest....




First impressions....

So it looks a bit like a sex toy or something, and once I filled it with chia it felt even more like something that my wife might use when I'm not around.  It just needed a little vibrating motor.

I tried filling it with water and that was a funny but horrible mistake.  Being made of super soft high quality silicone is great for durability and not getting that nasty smell/taste that some plastics can get.  But as for being able to drink water from it... I felt like the Hulk grabbing a regular squeeze bottle.  I was just smashing it even with my most gentle force and getting an uncontrolled blast of water into my face and going about the room.  Ultraspire suggests that you hold onto the gray hard plastic cap or the top blue rim of the bottle which is also hard plastic to allow for the cap to screw to something.  I suggest not using thin liquids at all!  That is what regular bottles are for.


Then I tried it for what I think it was made for.  Thick liquids like gels and my own chia mix which is very thick and gelatinous.
  
And then I came to appreciate the design.  Kind of like trying trail shoes on concrete.  These suck, oh wait let me try them on the actual soft trails they were meant for! Light bulb!  They are actually awesome.

Once the Formula 250 Bottle (250 as in 250 milliliters!)  was filled with an appropriately viscous liquid then it began to shine!

I took it out on several runs and even took it into work once filled with chia for a quick liquid lunch on the go, not the 1950's martini liquid lunch.  It was performed brilliantly and better than I could even have expected with my pre-bias against squishy bottles.

It is simple to use.  Kind of like some big condiment squeeze container.  Just pop the cap, squirt, recap, go.  It seats well in all of my race vests I have used so far, I did try putting it in my shorts pocket but it felt way too weird...

Cleaning was easy too.  The material lends itself to shedding materials and water so it was basically swish water and clean.  I didn't even worry about soap in the bottle because the silicone is a very nice grade and I do not for see it absorbing odors.  Sometimes when you use soaps in plastics they will retain the smell/taste.  As a former scuba diving vendor and a current emergency room nurse I deal with a lot of silicone based products.  High and low quality is very easy to distinguish and this is high quality food grade.

There is a very stout ring loop on the bottom of the bottle that is apparently meant for hanging it to dry.  There is also a ring attachment on the blue plastic mouth of the bottle that can again be used for whatever you want to do.  Wear it as a lanyard?  Make it into a very large key chain fob?  I figure if I cut the extra loop of the bottom of the bottle and the side I can save 26mg of weight with will mean 0.25 calories less burned thereby shortening my race times by an average of 3 thousandths of a second!  Or I will keep them and hand lucky charms off them to ward off the Evil Trail Spirits!

Final thoughts...

I would never have thought to buy this.  I was asking around for stuff to review and Ultraspire said this is what they had.  I was reluctant but did it.  And now I am glad I did.  I have a new fuel pod in my arsenal and it has become my favorite.  I used to use Amphipods little gel flasks but the Ultraspire Formula 250 is not my gel fuel flask of choice.   Very glad for the chance to review a product that I really thought I would hate.  Also kind of scary as a reviewer.  How am I going to say something nice about this product to not burn my bridge with a company but retrain my integrity as a reviewer, since I don't make any money at all off this site.   I am very glad that it turned out the way it did.  I will still not change my stance ion collapsible water bottle for now but I will say that squishy bottles are awesome for gels.  So thanks a lot for ready this everyone but I gotta run!