Last Updated on April 29, 2023
Last week I found myself far from home and in quick need of a water bottle for my bike. I was lucky enough to find a friendly bike shop and had taken the precaution of taking my debit card out on the ride with me so for the first time in many years I actually bought a bottle.
You might be wondering why buying a bike bottle was such a big deal for me, but the truth is I’ve long wondered why anyone would pay for a bottle when High5 bottles are almost always available for free (or very cheap!) I’ve had so many High5 bottles over the years they’re littered about my house being used to grow plants in, hell, I had so many at one time I stopped buying toddler drinks bottles for my daughter and gave her High5 bottles to use instead!
So what’s the big deal about actually forking out hard-earned cash for a bottle? Can they really be all that much better? Well the first hint came when (back in the saddle) I took my first drink from my new Camelbak bottle, and nearly drowned. I’m used to having to really crush hydration bottles while sucking hard enough to start a porridge syphon, so a bit of a squeeze and a suck on the Camelbak was a bit of a shocker.
Once I’d figured out how to drink from the bottle (without emptying my hydration fluids over my ugly mug) my new bottle and I got on very well indeed. These bottles are sort of always open, but kinda also closed. Lordly knows what the technology behind the valve is but I did appreciate the large nipple that I could use to make sure I had hold of the bottle when drinking, I’ve lost bottles plenty of times on busy rides, something potentially lethal to those around me.
Camelbak Podium Hydration Bottle – review conclusion.
On the whole I don’t think the moderate investment needed to secure yourself a few Camelbak bottles will revolutionise your cycling experience, but they are very nice, and I will be buying some more. I’m not going to be letting my daughter use them though…
If you made it to the end of this review without snorting in a ‘fnar’ type way then you’ve done well.
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