Retail Therapy Test Drive: Vapur's Anti-Bottle reusable beverage container

The world of reusable water bottles has gone through a metamorphosis (or two) in the past several years. Many of the changes were owing to the BPA (Bisphenol A) scare that centred on the nearly ubiquitous Nalgene brand plastic bottles and the possibility that the harmful chemical might leach into drinking water.

One of the starkest changes since 2008 was the shift to lightweight aluminum bottles in the months following the BPA story, with the Swiss manufacturer Sigg perhaps benefitting the most, even while Nalgene and other plastic bottle makers made the switch to BPA-free materials.

The new Anti-Bottle resuable, well, plastic pouch (look, it’s a bottle — it stands like one when full of water, it has a cap, you drink from it), is made by Vapur, a U.S. company that appears to be positioning itself as a straight-up competitor with the rigid Sigg and other aluminum bottles.

Our first thought was to try it out in an inline skate context, where it performed well. The soft nature of its exterior allowed for maximum comfort, even while striding down the trail and, once it was empty, the bottle felt like it wasn’t there at all, clipped to my belt. As light as aluminum can get, it can’t compete with this.

The version I tried was a 16-ounce container, or almost 500 mL. But that was with the smooth movements of skating: I couldn’t see this thing bouncing off of a runner’s leg and it being comfortable, especially with the sharp plastic edges. Camping, all-day concerts and commuting seem the most likely uses for a bottle that can be rolled up and shoved in a small bag after it’s empty.

Before that, of course, it’s almost as bulky as a regular bottle, and I couldn’t help but worry about the risk of puncture, having lost a camera to another bottle’s leaky cap last year. In that vein, it’s worth noting Vapur’s product doesn’t have a rubber seal under the cap, but that the plastic itself does seem fairly durable and resistant to sharp objects.

The Anti-Bottle can be frozen with water in it, and it is also dishwasher safe, but I did have some misgivings about how to hand-wash it and ensure cleanliness, due to corners on the inside of the product where residue would inevitably accumulate. When I showed it to a friend, she grabbed it, and said “What’s this?” And asked immediately after: “Is it wrong that it feels like I should throw this out?” That’s our worry as well: This product is engineered to help replace the practice of buying bottled water, and Vapur itself has a “Made Green in the U.S.A.” manifesto of sorts, which is great, but the end result is that it will have to end up in landfills, too, at some point.