Klean Kanteen 18oz Water Bottle Review by Green Gear

Ahh, The reusable water bottle. The vexillum communis of treehuggers everywhere. Reusable water bottles landed on college campuses in 1997 with greater force than Ani Difranco, and since then they have become more and more popular. Nalgene lead the way with those hidious giant watter bottles that people kept dangling from their north face backpacks and since then due to a needless scare over BPA in plastics bottles made of aluminum or stainless steel have become the new universal standard of eco-bots.

So, not being one to give a product their due, I made my way over to Generation Green in Columbus, Ohio and picked up an army green 18oz. stainless steel Klean Kanteen for review. I bought this for 18.98, which to me was a little high, this can probably be found for closer to $14 or $15 at big box retailers, but Mr. Green Gear believes in supporting local business.

I have to say, I’m not a big fan of the Klean Kanteen. It looks very nice and is made of strong sturdy stainless steel, but honest to god it makes a really poor water bottle, especially when you consider some other options available.

From a green standpoint, the benefit here is that using this product will cause you to not need to use disposable containers, which make up A LOT of waste. This is the same with all reusable water bottles. But, while stainless steel requires less energy to produce than comparable lined aluminum products from SIGG, it still requires much more energy than reuseable plastic bottles that went through an efficient and simple extrusion process. In addition, this product, as with most of its competators, was shipped from China. Klean Kanteen makes a big deal on its packaging and website about being “responsibly made in China” but in its mea culpa for seeking lower production costs there is no detail givin on how it is sustainably produced in China, only that they promise (because they visit china once a year) that this product won’t harm due to poor production standards.

Now, I like water bottles, so when I review one I want it to be functional, easy to use, and durable. Unfortunately for this product, it only gets points for being durable. First off, because its made of single walled stainless steel it does two things really well… Sweat and make my water warm. So if you like cold water, as i do… this might not be the problem. The sweating thing is to be expected… My camelbak does it, but this thing sweats like a dog in a chinese resturaunt. Also, if you use your camelbak when its cold, be prepared to reinact a scene from A Christmas Story, only with your hands. Poor Flick…

In addition to that, each and EVERY TIME i want a drink with the Kanteen, I had to unscrew the lid, take a drink, then rescrew it… so if you use this on the go, forget it! Now, Klean Kanteen has solutions to ALL THESE PROBLEMS, you can get an insulator… for a price, you can get a plastic (gasp!) sport lid… for a price. Getting my point? If you want this even up to the fuctionality of water bottles that cost less you need to spend more… Too bad.

Check out the Video Review