Are Narrow or Wide Bottle Openings Better?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. Links are given to the Amazon listings for each product. Thanks for your support! Narrow Mouth vs Wide Mouth - A Video ReviewIf you'd rather watch a video than read our post, then check out our Youtube video below! We review the same information and give our recommendation on whether narrow mouth or wide mouth bottles are better.
Factor #1 – How Easy is it to Drink from a Narrow vs Wide Mouth Bottle?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. 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. Lids to Prevent Spills
Alternative: Splash Guards
Factor #2 – How Easy is it to Clean a Narrow vs Wide Mouth Bottle?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. So when it comes to ease of cleaning, wide mouth bottles are the clear winners.
Factor #3 – Adding Ice and FlavoringsMany 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. Accessories to Add Flavoring (Narrow Mouth)
Accessories to Add Flavoring (Wide or Narrow Mouth)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.
What about the Cost?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. Our RecommendationSo 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! Buying a Wide Mouth Bottle? Keep us in mind!Check out our Amazon store for fun and helpful accessories, like fruit infusers, cup holder adapters, and carrying slings.
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Which Hydro Flask Lid Should You Get?Congrats, you have a Hydro Flask (or are thinking about getting one soon)! It's hard enough deciding which Hydro Flask bottle to get, but have you also thought about which lid you'll use? Hydro Flask has four (4) lids available right now on Amazon: Flex Cap, Flex Sip, Flex Straw, and Straw Lid. In this video, we go over how each one works, what we like and don't like about each design, and how we use them. If you'd rather read through the review than watch the video, see the written summary below. SummaryHydro Flask has four lid options, and you might be asking which lid is best for you. We've reviewed and tested each lid extensively, and here's what we think. Links are in the description. Which one is best for you? Well, it depends on how you want to use it, but we can tell you how we like to use them.
Flex Cap
Make It Even Better with a SplashPro Splash Guard Flex Sip
Make It Even Better with a FlavorFuze Steel Flex Straw
Make It Even Better with a FlavorFuze Straw Infuser Straw Lid (Original Design)
Also works with a FlavorFuze Straw Infuser Want to take your Hydro Flask to the next level?Check out our Amazon store for fun and helpful accessories, like fruit infusers, cup holder adapters, and carrying slings.
With summer in full gear and news of heat waves across the country, make sure you stay safe out there. Keep cool by adding ice to your bottle, and if you're using a Hydro Flask with the Flex Cap, use SplashPro to keep your ice at bay. Designed specifically to fit wide mouth Hydro Flasks. It also fits Iron Flasks and Takeyas, but not Nalgenes.
Follow along as we tackle this tough, but fun hike!Located in Palisade, Colorado off of G Road.
Hydration products we used (follow the links to Amazon) 1) Hydro Flask 40oz Wide Mouth 2) BottlePro Cup Holder Adapter 3) SplashPro Splash Guard 4) HikerPouch Leather Bottle Sling Click the link below to see the video on InstagramMy Soda Habit Story
I'll be 35 years old tomorrow, and I've had a soda habit since I was a kid. Growing up, it wasn't uncommon for me to drink 2, 3, or even 4 sodas per day. As you might guess, I've also been overweight most of my life too, which is certainly not a coincidence. But at 35, I finally kicked my soda habit. I'm down almost 10 pounds this year, and best of all, I feel like what I'm doing is sustainable.
Here's what's working for me, and hopefully it'll help you on your journey too. Step 1: Know the Problem
If you're reading this, then you've likely already heard or read about the major health issues that can result from regularly eating or drinking high levels of sugar.
And a lot of other people have too, judging Google Trends. The interest-over-time for "Low Sugar" has been slowly-but-steadily increasing over the last several years.
Google Trends - Searches for "Low Sugar" for the Previous Five (5) Years
Of all the ways that consumers regularly ingest sugar, sugary beverages are the primary culprits. These include:
According to the American Heart Association, the maximum recommended sugar intake is 36 grams of sugar per day for men. For women, it's 25 grams. Each one of the drink examples above is either right at those limits or way above them, all from one drink.
Seeing how bottle and can sizes vary, it's also interesting to look at the sugar concentration as shown below. One of the more surprising realizations for most people is how most fruit juices really aren't good for you. Sure they provide some benefits like vitamins and other nutrients, so in that way they are better than sodas. But the sugar content per ounce for Minute Maid orange juice is essentially the same as a Coke!
There are plenty of people smarter than me that study this topic for their day jobs, so I'll leave it to them to provide additional details and research about sugar and health. Here are some of the more helpful articles we've read.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Guidance on Added Sugars WebMD: How Sugar Affects Your Body American Heart Association: How Much Sugar is too Much? Healthline: 11 Reasons Why Too Much Sugar is Bad for You And keep in mind that diet sodas aren't free-and-clear of problems either. There is growing evidence that drinks with artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose are bad for you as well, as discussed here. Step 2: Find Your Real Motivation
You can always have a combination of motivations, and many of these are related (like weight loss and long-term health). But whatever the situation, the key is to figure out what primary focus and goal really motivates you.
A Personal Story - My New Motivation
After reading articles about how sugar essentially acts like a poison and how sodas in particular are "empty calories" that provide no nutritional benefit, I knew it was in my best interest to quit.
Each time I tried to change, I would start off a few days or weeks without sodas, but then I would slip and start drinking them again. The most common backfiring strategies I used were:
The reason that these backfiring strategies worked on me was that I hadn't determined what my real motivation was yet. I said I wanted to lose weight, and that can work for many people. But the problem, for me, is that I'm fairly comfortable in my own skin already. Also, I have always been overweight so it's not easy for me to truly realize how much better I might feel to achieve a healthy weight. It was more abstract. But as I got older, something happened. I started thinking more about how little time we truly have, and how chronic diseases that we always read about and learned of back in school are very real. And then someone very close to me passed away. He smoked most of his life, and though he was finally able to quit a few years ago, by then the damage was done. He developed cancer and passed away earlier this year. He urged me to improve my habits now and to learn from his life experiences. This changed my motivational focus.
Instead of just wanting to lose weight, my new focus became achieving better long-term health. This seemingly small change in my focus and goals made all the difference for me.
Step 3: Strategies for Change
Once you know what really motivates you, it's time to start thinking about how you'll make changes.
There are many strategies that you can use to cut out soda from your diet. Here are a few.
A Personal Story - My New Routine
Honestly, I've used all of the strategies listed above to varying degrees. But the ones that helped me the most are #1 and #4. By drinking more water, I've been able to feel fuller and am less likely to drive to the store for a soda. And by using a flavored drink alternative, I can still take a break from "boring" water each day and satisfy my need for flavor.
This is what's working for me.
Need another bottle? Check out Hydro Flask's Amazon store.
Step #4 (If Needed): Don't Be Afraid to Reset
Stopping any habit can have its ups and downs. It took me over a dozen attempts over the years before I reached sustainable change. Don't feel ashamed if you don't succeed initially. Re-evaluate your motivations and strategies, and keep trying.
![]() After debuting just over 10 years ago, Hydro Flasks quickly gained traction as the go-to insulated water bottle. For many people, the simple benefit of having a bottle that is vacuum-insulated was enough of a selling point. For others, it's the clean, yet stylish design. Whatever the reason, Hydro Flask continues to build its following and shows no signs of slowing down. It's only natural what happened next. A whole range of accessories have been developed with the goal of making life with these amazing but cumbersome bottles a little easier. We here at BottlePro got involved in this niche early with our cup holder adapter, so we've seen it grow over the years, including new notable accessories coming available fairly often. Here are some of our favorites for the best accessories for Hydro Flasks in 2022 (focusing on 32 and 40 ounce bottles). ACCESSORIES FOR GETTING AROUNDThe most common accessories for Hydro Flasks involve making it easier to bring your bottle wherever your adventures take you. These include cup holders, bottles slings, and handles. #1: Cup Holder Adapter
#2: Stylish Bottle Sling
#3: Heavy-Duty Bottle Sling
#4: Leather Bottle Sling
#5: Paracord Handle
ACCESSORIES FOR PROTECTIONNext, consider investing in something that can help keep your bottle looking great for years to come. #6: Bottle Sleeve
#7: Bottle Boot
ACCESSORIES FOR FLAVOR AND ICENow that your bottle is easier to bring along with you on your adventures, it's time to think about ways to improve what you're actually drinking! #7: Flavor Infuser
#8: Ice Alternative
#9: Splash Guard / Ice Stopper
ACCESSORIES FOR CLEANINGIt's not the sexiest category, but you should certainly put some thought into cleaning your Hydro Flask. #10: Brush Kit
Bonus: Bottle Tablet Cleaners
(As an Amazon Associate, BottlePro earns from qualifying purchases.)
Have you ever been driving along on a hot summer day and need a sip of water, and when you go to take a drink from your wide mouth bottle, all of a sudden you hit a bump in the road? Or maybe you're the passenger and the driver brakes or accelerates unexpectedly? More often than not, you may end up with water in your face. And if anyone else in the car has seen Airplane!, odds are you might hear a snarky comment like "do you have a drinking problem?"
Splash Guards to the Rescue
While most major bottle manufacturers do not tend to sell splash guards within their own brands, a number of 3rd party companies have filled the gap (pun intended). Not only are these great little products for limiting splashes, they can also be used as ice-stoppers.
The problem is that some splash guards work better with certain bottles. We're here to help clear up any confusion. Best Option for Hydro Flask
Best Option Specifically for Nalgenes
The Original
A Great Alternative
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