This is the first in a continuing series of ‘Design Spotlights’ where I review a product I am using that displays excellent design.
Starting this series is the Nalgene N-Gen Bottle. I have two of these bottles. One of them I keep at work, and the other, I have dubbed “The Traveler.” The mouth size on this bottle is perfect - when you’re really thirsty, you can tilt your head back and quickly consume a lot of liquid. But its not too big, like the older generation Nalgenes, which would spill all over you (if you do have one of the older Nalgene’s you should get one of their easy sipper inserts).
In the mornings, I fill it with hot water and brew a nice cup of tea. In the afternoons, I give it a quick rinse and refill with cold water. No left over tea taste at all! Now that’s pretty impressive.
The bottle fits perfectly in my hand and has a pleasing shape that tapers smaller as it moves toward the top. The bottle also has a convenient loop for holding with a finger or attaching to a carabiner, and it has a great rubber feel that aids in gripping it when its wet.
All this and you can just throw it in the dishwasher, or boil it when it gets really dirty.
All in all, I’m going to give this bottle a 10 out of 10 on my Newly Created Design Goodness Scale (TM).
11 Comments
If it fits perfectly in your hand, normal people must need two hands to grip it. Also it seems they have ripped off what i like to call “a water bottle”. These things you can buy for 1.50 and then keep on filling up. They come in 1000 different shapes and sizes. I give nalgene a 10 on the newly created “If we call it a different name and make it colorfull people will spend money on it” scale.
Are they indestructable like they claim, or is that the old ones?
I was going to comment on your blog. However I have a screaming eye ache due to the poorly contrasted colors I am forced to write on. I have to go now, my head is cracking open and my brain matter is oozing onto the key pad and into my boxers. I wonder why Nalgene doesn’t come in white, grey, “orange cream-cycle”, or “camel”?
Justin,
While I appreciate your enthusiasm for contrarianism, you are completely wrong on this one.
I too once thought like you but the difference here is in the materials used to make the Nalgene bottle. The bottle that I am talking about is marked on the bottom as (PC). This means it’s made from Polycarbonate which some people know as Lexan which is what a lot of people use to make things bulletproof. So its exteremely tough. Not indestructable of course (if man can make man can break it) but really tough.
The cheap water bottles that you compare it to are typically made from a low grade PET and are marked on the bottom with (1). This stuff imparts a plastic taste to whatever is in it and does not hold up well over time.
The Nalgene line of bottles comes from the Nalgene Nunc company which has produced Labware for quite a long time, things that were designed to house chemicals, acids, bases etc. So these guys know their material science and can reasonably claim a premium on their bottles.
Also just so people are aware I don’t have just one comically oversized hand.
-Josh
Leigh,
Fine. Be that way. I’ll play around with the colors a little bit more. It’s not like I have anything else to do but please you’re freakin’ perfectionist aesthetic eye, right?
I was all excited to leave a post referring to Josh’s oversized hands, alas, I was beaten to it.
Josh, one thing you forgot to mention about the new design (and I can’t tell from the picture) is about the lids.
One of the crappiest things about the old design was that the lid was connected to the bottle by an extremely inflexible and thick piece of plastice. I know that whenever I was drinking out of a nalgene bottle, I would have to pin the lid down while I was drinking and if it slipped out of my fingers, the lid would come crashing back and hit me in the face. Are the new lids connected to the bottle or can you take them right off.
Adam,
Theres nothing connecting the lid now so your nose is safe.
A very wise man once said “plastics are forever.” Well I am sure i could make a cheap plastic bottle last long enough to quench my thirst and still be able to pass it on to my kids. Now my grandkids might not use be able to use the bottle but by then we will all be in lexan bubbles to protect us from the elements.
I will assume that these bottles cost 1000 times more money then the cheap ones and essentially do the same thing carry liquid. Will it last 1000 times longer? Does it make the water taste a 1000 times better? Or is it just because it is a 1000 times cooler then cheap bottles?
bottle snob
Justin,
I would like to see the plastic bottle that you made. It would probably look something like this.
I don’t get it. Justin wants to make a singing naked cowboy bottle? For what? So he can finally wrap his hands around a singing naked cowboy and bring it to his lips in order to drink mightily from the spout of a singing naked cowboy?
That’s just weird.
I would like to state that extremists, or Nalgene Fundamentalists, believe that never under any circumstances should a person put any liquid other than water in said container. It is my understanding that plastic absorbs the essence of all parties. I have also heard that using soap of any kind to clean the water transpotation/nourishment device, could lead to soapy tasting water. A safe alternative for cleaning: Baking soda and hot water. Shake it.
Since 1999 my Nalagene bottle has traveled across the country with me twice, seen a quarter of the national parks, traveled overseas on two occasions, accompanied me to work for years, and was only washed in a dishwasher once by mother without my permission.
These new bottles have a sleek appeal. I look forward to purchasing one, only drinking water from it and never washing it.
yeah the company is great if you like companies that kill bunnies.
Check this out.