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Reviews > Hydration Systems > Bottles > Sigg Classic 1L Bottle > Test Report by Jennifer Pope
Initial Impressions & Product Description (back to top)This bottle is pretty much what I expected-- a lightweight metal bottle.Description I received the bottle in Silver which has a nice shiny, metallic finish. I think it looks sharp. The stopper is in black. My bottle appears to be from the "simply ECO-Logical" line since it has that phrase along one length of the bottle. On the other side it has the phrase, "Friends don't let friends drink from plastic." Luckily I happen to share SIGG's environmental position. I'm sure the SIGG marketers would be happy to know that after less than a week of use that phrase has already stirred up a lunch time discussion of why aluminum is preferable to plastic. If readers are interested, SIGG makes these claims on their website.
This bottle appears to be very well made. The surface is smooth with no scratches and the stopper seals very tightly. The mouth of the bottle is quite small. I typically filter my home drinking water through a faucet filter and store a jug in the refrigerator so I have cold water to drink. I can fill the bottle easily through the faucet-mounted filter but pouring from the jug of water take a bit of concentration. The bottle is also just the right size to fit underneath the spigot of the water cooler at my office. The inside of the bottle is coated with a gold-colored material. I assume this is SIGG's special coating that purports to keep funky tastes out of liquid consumed from the bottle.
I quickly realized how good of a conductor of heat metal is compared to plastic. Before my first use, I filled the bottle with hot tap water and a couple drops of dish soap to clean the bottle. The bottle quickly became very hot. This bottle is clearly not intended to hold hot liquids and then be touched by bare hands or lips. SIGG makes a separate insulated bottle line that would be more suitable for this purpose. But the same can also be said for adding cold liquids. When I add cold water from the jug in my fridge the bottle becomes cold as well. Not too cold to touch. The stopper presents a nice way to carry the bottle if I don't want cold hands. After less than a week, the bottle has already been dropped. I was holding the bottle under my arm with a jacket on and it slipped out landing on the concrete below. As expected there was a small dent. The bottle landed right side up so the dent actually looks more like a slight bulge on the bottom rim of the bottle. It's barely noticeable unless inspected closely. In addition there are some really small divots in the bottom of the bottle where it looks like the bottle picked up the texture of the concrete. I will continue to monitor how that dent holds up and if I incur any more dents.
Field Conditions (back to top)My SIGG bottle accompanied me almost daily through the 2-month testing period. This included trips to and from my office, around town, on a few flights, to the gym and to the yoga studio, and on three day hikes All three day hikes were below 1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level. Temperatures have been fairly mild with lows in the 50s F (10 C) and highs in the low 80s F (25 C). I have experienced rain but I haven't used the bottle while being exposed to the rain. Field Experience (back to top)My experience so far has been positive overall. The bottle is very lightweight on its own. It's a good size. I like the cap and it facilitates easy carrying for me. Most of the time I use the bottle I carry the bottle with my finger in the loop. It's comfortable to carry the bottle that way even when full. Since the bottle has such thin walls I've found it to be very easy to damage. I don't normally think of myself as someone who's particularly hard on gear but I suppose I can be a little on the klutzy side and my bottle bears these battle wounds. I have dropped the bottle on a few occasions. The first drop I mentioned in the beginning of the report. That scar is shown below. It's barely noticeable in the photo which translates into how much it's visible in person--barely. There are a few scrapes on the side and bottom and a slight bulge.
The 2nd drop (also onto concrete) was more damaging. It was from basically the same height (my arm height) and onto a similar surface but the angle of the drop must have been more severe. I got a similar bulge on the bottom of the bottle but this one caused the surface coating to crack and wear off. Immediately after the drop, there were some jagged edges where the surface coating was peeling off. I manually scraped them away with my finger and now the surface is again smooth. Although it is still clearly visible that the surface coating is peeled away. This new bulge also causes the bottle to be a bit unstable when sitting upright. It stands fine but when touched it does rock back and forth. This sometimes makes refilling the bottle a bit tricky.
The cap seals very tightly. I have not had any issues with leaks at all. If the bottle is screwed very tightly while at least partially full and moved around a lot, the seal breaks similarly to a carbonated beverage in a bottle. It's doesn't spew everywhere but it does make a noise and some liquid does leak out. This is a very small amount of liquid and a very minor complaint. The bottle packs well. I have often carried the bottle inside the main compartment in a day pack and in my purse along with many other items with no ill effects. The bottle holds up fine to this kind of use. I have also packed the bottle inside of my checked luggage for a flight and it made it through without any problems.
Field Conditions (back to top)My SIGG bottle accompanied me almost daily through the final 2 months of the test period as well. This included trips to and from my office, around town, to the gym and yoga studio, day hiking and on one car camping trip. The day hikes and camping were below 1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level. Temperatures have been fairly mild with lows in the 50s F (10 C) and highs in the 90s F (35 C). I have experienced rain but I haven't used the bottle while being exposed to the rain. Field Experience (back to top)I don't have too much to add to what I stated in my Field Report. On the car camping trip I used the SIGG bottle to transport milk in my ice chest for the trip. This worked well for this purpose. No water from the ice chest leaked into the milk and the milk tasted completely normal. The only other additional item to comment on is that during this test period I noticed a slight grimy build up on the white rubber stopper piece of the top (can be seen in the picture of the top above). I'm not sure at what point this build up occurred because I know I didn't notice it right away. I was easily able to remove the grime by just running the top under warm water with a drop of soap and rubbing it off with my hand. It came off very easily and looked as good as new. I didn't notice any off taste or any other adverse effect from this.Fortunately, I didn't drop the bottle at all during the last two months so I don't have any new dents to report. The previous dent on the bottom of the bottle does make it difficult to pour water into it. I have to hold the bottle while I fill it. I would like to try some of the aftermarket add-ons for this bottle; specifically the sport top and the bottle cover which adds insulation. Summary (back to top)This is a well-made bottle suitable for carrying and consuming a variety of cold and room-temperature liquids. Its lightweight construction and thin sides make it susceptible to dents which mainly only cause cosmetic annoyances.Thank you to SIGG and BackpackGearTest.org for allowing me to test this item. Read more reviews of SIGG gear Read more gear reviews by Jennifer Pope Reviews > Hydration Systems > Bottles > Sigg Classic 1L Bottle > Test Report by Jennifer Pope | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
