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Polar Bottle is the original insulated water bottle. It was an innovation that was so simple I’m betting a lot of companies were wondering why they didn’t do it first. Take a regular water bottle and put some insulation around? I bet it seemed too easy and simple that nobody gave the idea merit. Turns out, they were all wrong. Tons of companies have their own variations but there can only be one original. It’s finally nice to go out for summer rides and not be drinking 90 degree water when I’m done.
Polar Insulated Bottle Features
- Capacity (fl. oz.): 20 or 24 fluid ounces
- Average weight: 5 ounces (20 oz bottle), 6 ounces (24 oz bottle)
- Material(s): Polyethylene
- Water bottle cap type: Push/pull
- Bottle opening: Wide
- Fits in cup holder
- Fits into standard cycle bottle cages
- 100% BPA free
- Price: $10 (20 oz), $12 (24 oz)
Polar Insulated Bottle Review
The Polar Insulated Bottle is essentially your standard water bottle with an insulated jacket on it. The cap is your standard bike bottle type with a push/pull cap that is easy to open and close with your teeth on a ride. The bike friendly design fits securely into bike water cages and provides a comfortable area to grip if you decide to run with it.
The key differentiator is the insulation. The bottle features double-wall construction with a foil-lined insulation layer in between the walls. The double-wall construction acts just like your vacuum sealed thermos keeping your beverage cold (or warm) with a layer of air insulation and protected from the swings in outside temps. The foil liner reflects solar heat which is awesome on the cloudless days of summer. The claim is that it will keep your drink cold twice as long as a conventional bike bottle. I didn’t break out the lab coat, thermometers, and stop watches but I will say that my drinks stayed colder a lot longer than regular bottles.
The less touted use that I found recently is keeping your drinks from freezing when it’s cold out. I just tested this on a 10 degree F bike commute. The water in the bottle didn’t freeze. Yeah there was a little bit of icy build-up trying to keep the cap from opening, but it was still pretty easy to open. Now that winter is full-on here I’m excited to still be able to bring water on the commute and not worry about it freezing solid. Coming up soon I have a sub-zero commute so we’ll see how it goes.
The Polar Insulated Bottle comes in 20 oz or 24 oz sizing. The foil liner comes in different designs so you have some options to choose from. The bottle is 100% BPA free. It also comes with a plastic carry loop but as soon as I received my tester bottle from Polar Bottle I took it off. It’d be nice if you were going hiking or any other time you’d want to clip it to your bag. Oh yeah, and it’s made the USA.
The Good
- Keeps your drinks cold (or warm in the winter)
- Simple, time tested design
- No gimmicks
- Secure, bike-friendly design
The Bad
- Really couldn’t think of any negatives
Bottom Line:
The Polar Insulated Bottle is definitely a step up from your standard water bottles. It’s worth throwing down the extra cash for the insulation. The first time you finish a hot ride and your drink is still cold (or when your bottle doesn’t freeze in the winter) you’ll be glad you did.
Buy Now: Pick up the Polar Insulated Bottle
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The only negative I’ve experienced with this bottle is that occasionally, the lanyard loop will push against your face when drinking or can get in the way of opening the nozzle. Other than that, I agree with you. Great bottles for sure!
Yeah, when I filled my bottle up for the first time I took the lanyard loop off. I knew it’d get in the way and at some point annoy me. So far I haven’t missed it.
Post Update – I did take the bottle out on my -5 F bike commute today and there wasn’t that much of a temperature variation from when I left to when I arrived at work. Granted, my commute is relatively short, however one would expect a big difference with temps that cold.
Pretty sweet bottles for sure. The inside has little beads on the sidewalls of the bottle, kinda weird. But hey, they wash well and amazingly keep water cold. I love mine for the kids on hot days in the New Mexico.