When you go shopping for water bottles, you are likely to see a ton of Nalgene bottles for sale. In fact, these types of bottles are by far the most popular choice among campers, hikers, cyclists, and climbers among others. Why are Nalgene bottles good?
The reason Nalgene bottles are so good is that they are easy to carry, durable, leak-proof, have a high capacity, are wide-mouthed, graduated, abundant, and customizable. The bottles’ thread is also standardized, allowing many water filter manufactures to easily pair their filters with them.
History
The Nalge Company was founded in 1949 by chemist Emanuel Goldberg in Rochester, New York to produce plastics. One of the things the company would produce is laboratory equipment out of high-grade polyethylene, such as beakers, test tubes, centrifuge bottles, and other various containers. Polyethylene containers were lighter and virtually indestructible, making them ideal for lab use over their glass counterparts.
By the 1950s scientists were taking the Nalge equipment from their laboratories and using them for outdoor use because of their durability and light weight. The company eventually picked up on this and began making products specifically designed for outdoor use under the Nalgene Outdoor Products banner.
In 1995 the Nalge Company merged with Nunc A/S of Denmark to form Nalge Nunc International. They are a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific. In addition to Nalgene Outdoor, they also have the Nalgene Laboratory and Nalgene Packaging product lines.
Benefits of Nalgene Bottles
Some of the benefits of Nalgene bottles are:
Durability – Most current Nalgene bottles are made of Tritan, an extremely strong polycarbonate material. This is pretty much the same material that some bulletproof glass is made out of. There are examples of people dropping these bottles off of mountains and running over them with cars and not breaking. You can also pour boiling water into the bottles without issue.
The wide-mouth – The wide mouth design makes using these bottles very easy and gives you the flexibility to do more than just hold liquid. You can fill them with water very quickly. If you need to fill your water bottle in a stream the wide-mouth will save you a ton of trouble. Companies such as Katadyn and MSR have designed their water filters to screw on the wide mouth Nalgenes directly, making no need for packing extra tubes. It also allows you to put ice cubes in the bottles.
They are BPA free – You can pour boiling hot water into Nalgene bottles and not worry about the carcinogenic chemical found in a lot of today’s plastic. The bottles are also chemically inert, so they don’t react with what you put in them and it doesn’t affect the taste.
Cheap: You can find Nalgene bottles for $10.00 or less and they are available in most department stores with a sporting goods section. They also last for a long time, meaning you aren’t spending money to replace them all the time. I’ve had the same Nalgene bottles for over a decade and they are still going strong.
Environmentally friendly – With individually packaged water bottles that are only good for one use, those bottles end up in the trash a lot or energy has to be spent to recycle them. Not so with reusable Nalgene bottles. In addition, the cap is attached to the bottle with Nalgene, so there is no chance of losing it like with other bottles. If you lose the cap the bottle’s main purpose of holding water is now gone and that lost cap is now litter that will take centuries to decompose.
Extremely versatile – There are graduations on the side of the bottles making them useful as a measuring cup. With the tight lid, you can use the bottle as a cocktail shaker too. The bottles don’t have to be used for liquids. As they do just as good a job of keeping water out as they do keeping it in, they are a good way to waterproof small items. I know someone who keeps their first aid kit in a Nalgene bottle.
Cool – There are a ton of different colors to choose from and they even make bottles with various logos and whatnot on them too. I’ve recently seen bottles with college teams and even a Spiderman one. My kid has one with Rocket Racoon. You can also use stickers to decorate your bottle however you like, as stickers stick very well to the bottles.
Made in the USA – All Nalgene bottles are made in the United States, which is something that is a huge selling point to a lot of people.
Dishwasher safe – Because of the strong material and the ability to withstand high temperatures, Nalgene bottles are top rack dishwasher safe. This makes them very easy to clean, especially if you are putting liquids other than water in the bottles.
Lifetime guarantee – Nalgene offers a lifetime guarantee on their bottles. If you happen to somehow break one, Nalgene will replace it for you.
Ultralite Nalgene
Nalgene bottles don’t weigh very much, but a lot of ultralite hikers like to shave weight everywhere they can. Nalgene recently introduced an ultralite option that weighs about half the weight of the normal 32oz bottle. The ultralite options weigh 108.33 grams. Somehow, even with them being lighter they can actually withstand hotter and colder temperatures than the regular Nalgene bottles, withstanding temperatures of -100ºC (-148ºF) to 120ºC (248ºF). They are still really cheap and can be found for under $10.00.
The ultralite versions are much more limited in color and design options than the regular Nalgene bottles, however.
Additions
There are also plenty of additions available for Nalgene bottles. There are quite a few accessories made by third-party manufacturers such as splash guards help keep liquid from splashing out when drinking while moving (Human Gear Designs makes a good one), insulated carrying cases, and the fore-mentioned water filters which screw on to the mouth of the bottle.
Nalgene themselves produces a backpack hydration system, similar to the popular Camelbak systems, which have earned quite a few positive reviews. Nalgene also makes the GoCup, which is a multi-purpose product intended to serve a lot of different needs for a backpacker. The GoCup has an inner insulated 18oz bottle that is ideal for hot liquids and a larger outer measuring cup. There are also clips allowing for the easy attachment of eating utensils and a carabineer to carry the cup. The entire bottle has a handle, allowing it to be used more like a mug rather than a traditional bottle.
Using a Nalgene Bottle to Keep Warm
Another use for a Nalgene bottle is using it to keep you warm on a cold night. What you can do is right before you try to go to sleep for the night; you fill the bottle with hot water and put the bottle in your sleeping bag with you. You can put the bottle in a sock to prevent you from burning any skin by accident and also keeping the heat in the bottle longer as well.
While depending on your needs there are some good alternatives out there, Nalgene bottles are by far the best all-around choices for water bottles currently on the market. Their price, incredible durability, and versatility make them an easy choice for a water bottle.