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Reviews > Hydration Systems > Bottles > Nalgene loop-top bottle > Owner Review by Anson MoxnessOwner Review August 3rd, 2007 Age: 18 Gender: Male Height: 5' 9" (1.75 m) Weight: 145 lbs (66 kg) E-mail: anson dot Moxness at gmail dot com Location: Anchorage, Alaska US Backpacking Background: I have been a backpacker for my entire walking life. Most of my experience backpacking has been in the Chugach Mountains outside of Anchorage. I am experimenting in a more lightweight approach to backpacking and hopefully I will end up with around a 15 lb (6.8 kg) pack for shorter (2-4 day) trips. I try to seek out the most rugged terrain possible; in the Chugach I prefer steeper rocky terrain with some snowfield and glacier crossing. I mostly hike in the summer months but I do have experience in cold weather conditions.
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Review: The wide mouth allows for easy access to the contents. So, for example, it is easier to add energy drink mixes without spilling, or ice cubes over a narrower mouthed water bottle. The wide mouth of the bottle make it easier to use while wearing bulky winter gloves. Yet another aspect of the wide-mouthed Nalgene that I like is easy cleaning. Nalgene claims they are dishwasher safe, but I still just rinse the bottle out after a long trip and every once and a while rinse it with some dish soap to clean out any lingering scents that sometimes accumulate after a month or two of sitting in a car with half a cup of sports drink in it. I have only had two issues with my Nalgenes. The first is the lettering on the side, volume graduations or logos, slowly wear off in high friction areas, such as where a strap might hit it or I might hold it on a long trip. Though I have never used the volume markings to measure anything other than a full liter (32 fl oz), which is fairly straight forward even without markings. My second issue is with the loop-top that attaches the cap to the bottle. The attachment at the top of the bottle seems to not be able to withstand more than a full water bottle's worth of weight. If a full bottle is attached by only the loop and the bottle is jerked downward, sometimes the cap separates from the loop. This is easily replaceable with a new cap (MSRP: $3 US, available in multiple colors). In recent years there have been studies on dangerous chemicals that are contained in the polycarbonate of Lexan plastic. In one study, a similar plastic to Lexan released enough Bisphenol A to cause gene and chromosomal problems in mice. However Nalgene has stated that the amount of these chemicals that may leach into the contents of the bottle isn't enough to cause health problems. As with most current scientific studies there are differing viewpoints, and personally, I will continue using Nalgene bottles even though there are studies showing the bad effects of one kind of polycarbonate. In response to concerns, Nalgene released a High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) bottle, which is free of dangerous chemicals.
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