​Klean Kanteen quickly became one of the leading bottle brands when it burst onto the scene with its stainless-steel bottles in 2004.  But more recently, other brands have caught up with, and in some cases overtaken, Klean Kanteen’s market share by introducing stylish bottles with dual wall insulation.  In late 2020, Klean Kanteen finally released an insulated bottle called the TKWide series.

So was the TKWide bottle worth the wait?  We purchased a 32-ounce TKWide with a chug cap to find out.  We’ll let you know our thoughts and what you can expect if you buy one for yourself.

​We’re fans of insulated bottles in general, so that’s a big plus.  We’ll be testing the TKWide’s insulation in a future video to compare it against bottles like Hydro Flasks and YETIs, but we expect the insulation is good for most daily activities.

​The other thing we noticed right away is the size.  This bottle is huge for a 32-ounce.  It’s because of the Impact Base Cap adding another inch or so to the height.  The bottle is also heavier than other 32-ounce bottles.  A 32-ounce TKWide is a full 5 ounces heavier than a 32-ounce Hydro Flask, or about 32%.  This isn’t a big deal most of the time, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re going hiking or on a long walk with your bottle.

​When you take off the cap and look inside, you’ll find the comically large instruction booklet translated into 8 languages.  There’s also a thank you note that reviews all the social programs and environmental commitments that Klean Kanteen is involved with, so if you’re into supporting environmentally-focused causes and companies then you’ll probably feel pretty good about your purchase.

​Hydro Flask just released a brand new cap in late 2022.  It’s called the Flex Chug, and it’s Hydro Flask’s first true spout-style chug lid.  We ordered one, and we have been testing it for a few days, and we’ll let you know our initial impressions as well as what to expect if you’re thinking about buying one for yourself.

Hydro Flask certainly needed a chug-style lid to compete with ones that many of their competitors already have, including ThermoFlask and Takeya.  But while we’re fans of most Hydro Flask products and have built our company around making complementary products for Hydro Flasks, we have to admit that we think they missed the mark on the Flex Chug cap.

When you’re buying a reusable bottle, one of the first decisions you’ll have to make is whether to get a narrow mouth or wide mouth bottle.  Virtually all bottle brands have narrow mouth and wide mouth options, so this is something you’ll need to think about whether you’re looking to buy a Hydro Flask, Nalgene, or any of the countless other bottle brands on the market today.  We’re going to review the main factors you should be thinking about when making your decision.  And spoiler alert, we have a pretty strong opinion on this one.

Please note that some bottle brands have different terminologies.  For example, Hydro Flask has a “standard mouth,” and that’s what we would classify as a narrow mouth design. 
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One of the most common reasons that someone might prefer a narrow mouth is that it’s easier to take sips of your drink, and this is certainly true with the base bottle.  With wide mouth bottles it’s not uncommon to take a sip of water and accidentally splash yourself in the face.  Then don’t be surprised when your friends and family make an Airplane reference about having a drinking problem.  Narrow mouth bottles help prevent this issue.

But if you have a wide mouth bottle, you can easily avoid this problem by purchasing a different style lid, like a straw, sip, or chug style.  For Hydro Flasks, see our videos reviewing their Flex Straw and Flex Sip lids to take a closer look.  Or get a splash guard, like a SplashPro for Hydro Flasks, or Guyot or Watergate for Nalgenes.
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So all-in-all, there’s not much of a difference here between narrow and wide mouth bottles, other than the small cost you might run into if you’re buying a different lid or splash guard.

First off, regardless of which bottle you use, we highly recommend getting a bottle brush to help make cleaning your big bottle more easy.  But in general, you’ll find narrow mouth bottles more difficult to clean than wide mouth bottles.

Narrow mouth bottles limit the size of a bottle brush you can fit, and with smaller brushes, the bristles usually aren’t long enough to easily reach the spot where the bottle widens just under the neck.  Wide mouth bottles can fit bigger brushes with longer bristles, so it’s easier to clean this area.
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So when it comes to ease of cleaning, wide mouth bottles are the clear winners.

Many people like to add ice or flavorings to their water to change things up, but if you get a narrow mouth bottle, you’re really limiting what you can do.  Adding ice is more tedious, and that’s if your ice cubes even fit.  Some bottles, like narrow mouth Nalgenes, have really small openings that don’t even fit most standard ice cubes.  And odds are you won’t have an easy time adding fruit or tea leaves since most infusers won’t fit.  You can add liquid flavorings and flexible tea bags to narrow mouth bottles, but that’s about it.

Wide mouth bottles are much more versatile than narrow mouth bottles.  Its easier to add ice, fruit and tea infusers, and other natural flavorings.  Our FlavorFuze Pod fruit infuser fits great in most wide mouth bottles, and you can fit many common tea infusers as well.  So when it comes to adding ice or other flavorings, wide mouth bottles are better than narrow mouth bottles.

Be sure to check your bottle's mouth diameter before buying an infuser.  But in general, most popular wide mouth bottles tend to have mouth openings that are at least 2.0 inches diameter.  So get infusers that are less than 2" around and you should be good.

​You might be asking if narrow mouth or wide mouth bottles are more expensive, but the opening style really is not much of a factor.  The variables that make the most impact on the bottle cost are the brand and bottle size, not the opening style.

So when it comes to deciding whether narrow or wide mouth bottles are better, our opinion is that wide mouths are the clear winners.  They’re easier to clean, they’re more versatile when it comes to adding ice and flavorings, and you can make it just as easy to take sips as a narrow mouth bottle by getting the right lid or splash guard.

Do you agree with our recommendation?  Let us know!