Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Review: SIC (Seriously Ice Cold) Bottles


We live in a small urban community where almost everything necessary is less than a mile away but parking is scant, which means it is often much more sensible to walk than to drive and try to hunt up street parking.  This was, in fact, one of its attractions when we chose to live here - I am disabled and can no longer drive, and my exercise options are similarly limited (no pretzel-shaped poses for me, sadly).  So walking is important!

But, I do tire easily, and need to keep hydrated. Plastic bottles can be shoved into a crossbody bag, but they don't stay cold for long, and I have no interest in increasing the amount of waste I generate.

So, finding the right water bottle for everyday use has been a high priority.  My criteria selecting the right one, in order of priority, is:

- it has to hold enough to be worth hauling, but not so much that I'm burdened by the weight.
- the lid has to be easy to open and close properly, and it absolutely must not leak.
- it should be narrow enough to comfortably hold with my arthritic hands, and to fit into a car's cup holder.
- it has got to keep temperature for at least a couple hours.
- it has to be non-plastic and non-glass so it can hold up to usage without breaking.
- it should be versatile in how it can carried (by clip, in a bag or preferably, via a holster so it doesn't bang around when I walk.
- it should be aesthetically attractive.

The SIC water bottle, by the same people that make the SIC (Seriously Icy Cold) Glacier Tumbler, meets almost every one of my needs exactly, and I could not be more excited to have it for walks and car trips!

In addition to my listed priorities, it has one very important detail I'd not considered - it holds both cold and hot drinks, making it the perfect carrier for that oh-so-important big ol' cup of coffee for road trips, hiking adventures, or whatever you do that needs warmth and fuel.



The SIC Bottle holds 27 oz. of liquid (the Tumblers hold either 20 or 30 oz, depending on size), which is a good amount for a long walk, and while I'm not going to claim that a full SIC bottle is light, it is sleek and easy to hold and I find that it fits nicely into a cross-over bag without throwing off my balance.

The lid has a very easy to open and close clip for hanging on a belt buckle or bag strap, although I do find the bottle too long to comfortable transport it this way - it tends to swing and hit me repeatedly when I try.  This is the one and only thing on my wish list that wasn't met and I think it could be with a 3rd party accessory of some sort that would holster it in a more stable fashion. I haven't found what I'm looking for yet, but I am looking.

This hasn't actually been a big problem, because it is accessible enough being carried inside my bag, and the lid screws on and off quite easily without getting off-track, so I haven't experienced any leaking.  No leaking and no sweating means no ruining anything else I have in the bag.

That, by the way, is HUGE.  I have gotten rid of more travel drink containers due to being unable to put the lid on properly without a lot of hassle, and nothing messes with my day like suddenly wearing my drink because it leaked.

The ability to hold temperature for as long as it does was a really nice surprise - it completely lives up to its promise, with both hot and cold drinks.  In fact, I found their promised times to be on the cautious side.

We have a coffee pot that uses a thermal carafe. It makes a seriously excellent pot of coffee, and we enjoy not having that second cup tasting slightly burnt and the 3rd one tasting like skunk.  But, at best, the carafe keeps it hot for about an hour and a half before it's just a little too cool to add milk to it without needing to reheat.

We decided to pour some of a fresh pot straight into the SIC bottle and then deliberately let it sit untouched for about 6 hours.  When we opened it, it was still steaming hot and tasted as fresh as if it had been made right then. Impressive?   And how!

Obviously once you open it, it will be exposed to cooler air, and won't stay this hot at that point, but it will definitely keep that hot drink ready for you at the end of of good long walk, bike ride or drive.


I also found that cold drinks stayed nicely cold without any issue and gave it one last experiment - I added 3 ice cubes into the SIC bottle and than added not-particularly-cold water to fill it, just  to see what might happen.  Opening it 27 hours later, the cubes were gone - but the water was as cool as if it'd just come out of a chilled pitcher. Oh, yea!

The Stainless Steel double wall vacuum works perfectly, and comes with a Lifetime Warranty.



Finally, I can't leave this review without noting that both SIC Bottles and SIC Glacier Tumblers come in an array of beautiful durable powder-coated colors that make it a joy to wear and use.  Mine is Game Day Red, and really bright and pretty!

The SIC bottle is available on their website for $34.99, and I highly recommend them as possibly the perfect holiday gift for just about everyone on your list!  It even comes in a really attractive sturdy round cardboard tube style box that could be reused.

We don't generally rate products with stars on our site, but if we did, I'd give the SIC Bottle five shiny gold stars!



https://www.siccups.com/
https://www.facebook.com/siccups
https://www.instagram.com/siccups/




5 comments:

  1. I have heard about this brand before. It is refreshing to know that it actually lives up to its claims.

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  2. These are cool bottles! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. These bottles sound great, I really like that they stay cool so long, would be great for Travel, RV-ing, Hiking, Walking and more! #ProductReviewParty

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  4. I never heard of this brand, sounds like a awesome bottle to have especially that it keeps water cold.

    #ProductReviewParty

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  5. I've never heard of this brand, sounds like a great investment! For someone who sits at a playground for a couple hours at a time, it is always nice to have water that actually stays cold when you need it! I haven't found a bottle that does that yet

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