Our decide
This slim, powder-coated stainless-steel tumbler matches simply in fingers and cup holders, and that’s why we like it. The tumbler now comes with a closeable—although not fully leakproof—plastic lid to scale back the chance of spills.
Our favourite tumbler is Hydro Flask’s All Round Tumbler (20 ounces). In contrast to a water bottle or a thermos, a glass shouldn’t be for tossing in a bag. It retains each warmth and chilly solely for so long as you’ll want to get from one place to a different, and it allows you to sip simply whereas on the transfer. The tumbler is the final word commuter vessel.
5 tumblers stood out throughout our cold-retention Slurpee check, and an earlier incarnation of the Hydro Flask was in that high 5. The Hydro Flask took second place in our heat-retention check, bested by a single diploma in temperature, so it would simply preserve your espresso scorching in the course of your commute. However the aesthetics had been why folks cherished this tumbler. We chatted up a dozen (or extra) folks over dinner round a campfire, they usually all agreed that the Hydro Flask was simpler to carry and extra visually pleasing than any of the opposite 16 fashions we checked out—and that actually mattered to tumbler devotees. On the time, the Hydro Flask had the slimmest, most covetable form of all of the tumblers we checked out and got here in eight pleasing powder coats. (We want these to plain stainless-steel tumblers as a result of these get uncomfortably scorching to the contact if left within the solar.)
The present (mid-2022) equal of the Hydro Flask tumbler we examined—it now holds 20 ounces, not 22—is about an inch shorter than the unique and barely greater in girth. It’s not uncomfortably so, however it’s nonetheless perceptibly bigger in circumference than the outdated model. (We measured about 3 inches from the bottom because the spot the place we discovered ourselves naturally greedy the tumblers.) The development stays the identical (double-walled stainless-steel), and the tumbler nonetheless is available in eight powder-coat colours in addition to three different sizes: 12 ounces, 16 ounces, and 28 ounces.
The largest change is the plastic lid it comes with: not the unique insulated lid, with one bigger sipping gap and a smaller, anti-glug gap reverse, however an insulated lid with a slider which you could open and shut. The lid nonetheless has the same old anti-glug gap, which implies it’s not solely spillproof—we’d by no means toss the tumbler in a tote bag or backpack—however the slider can scale back, as an illustration, bumpy-road spillages.
Hydro Flask affords a lid with an built-in straw for its tumblers. We’ve tried that lid on the bigger model, and it’s nice: safe, simple to take away and clear, and fitted with a versatile silicone mouthpiece to forestall soft-palate jabbing. Nonetheless, the brand new slider lid’s drink opening is giant sufficient to accommodate a straw; the earlier model’s was not.
Lastly, though prior to now the corporate had informed us that washing its tumblers within the dishwasher or soaking them in scorching water would possibly discolor the powder coat, it now says that the tumblers and their coatings are dishwasher protected. (Though it’s best to put the lids within the high rack.) We’ll begin washing ours within the dishwasher and can report again if we’ve any issues.
Runner-up
The stainless-steel tumbler itself is similar to our high decide, apart from a barely wider taper (it feels extra like a pint glass) and a grippier shade coating. It now comes with a straw-only lid and a metal straw with a silicone tip.
The 16-ounce Klean Kanteen Insulated Tumbler resembles our high decide in some ways, from its insulative efficiency to its minimalist aesthetics. The 20-ounce model we initially examined was in the very same group of finalists in our chilly checks because the Hydro Flask, although it didn’t do as effectively at conserving warmth; after 2.5 hours the espresso was 139 °F, 13 levels cooler than within the Hydro Flask. That was sufficient for us to bump it to runner-up standing, however it’s nonetheless an excellent choice, as 140 °F is snug to drink, in response to the Nationwide Espresso Affiliation.
Klean Kanteen has since eradicated that 20-ounce dimension, although, and as of 2022 affords solely 16-ounce and 8-ounce tumblers. We in contrast the present 16-ounce tumbler with the outdated 20-ounce one, and other than the sizes, the 2 are equivalent: identical grippy shade coating and identical pint-glass-style taper. Now, nonetheless, within the place of an everyday sipping lid, Klean Kanteen’s tumblers include a straw-specific lid and a metal and silicone straw—the exact same straw, in actual fact, that’s an also-great decide in our information to reusable straws. The lid nonetheless nestles down into the cup, leaving the sting of the metal tumbler uncovered; we didn’t discover any metallic style, however if you happen to don’t like ingesting from metallic tumblers, this could be a dealbreaker. The lid is less complicated to placed on and take off than the Hydro Flask’s, due to its a lot bigger thumb tab, and it closes with a delightful softness. The lid additionally has a silicone gasket which you could take away for cleansing. (The Hydro Flask’s gasket isn’t detachable.) In the event you get any of the 4 coloured tumblers, the coating feels extra tactile than the Hydro Flask’s, prefer it’s been rubberized.
Nonetheless, at 16 ounces, that is the biggest tumbler that Klean Kanteen at the moment makes, and it nonetheless doesn’t have an insulated lid, which may account for it not holding warmth in addition to the Hydro Flask (simply hypothesis—too many issues may have an effect on efficiency for us to make a name). Additionally, if you happen to want to not drink with a straw, it’s a must to purchase a separate sipping lid. (It is usually uninsulated and has a detachable gasket.) For these causes, the Hydro Flask stays our high decide.
Additionally nice
A wider profile makes the stainless-steel Yeti really feel at house on a farm, at a building web site, or at camp. Its MagSlider lid reduces the chance of spills, although it’s not leakproof.
True to the Yeti picture, the 20-ounce Yeti Rambler Tumbler feels ultra-utilitarian attributable to a wider physique form than that of our high picks. Since a lot of what made one tumbler preferable over one other in our analysis needed to do with the way it felt within the hand, we determined to advocate the Rambler for these folks (a number of had been at our campfire dinner) who wouldn’t be caught lifeless holding something lower than a burly ingesting vessel.
Efficiency-wise, this double-walled stainless-steel tumbler was on a par with our high picks: It was a top-five finalist in chilly retention and in a position to preserve espresso scorching at 144 °F over 2.5 hours—just a few levels shy of what we’ve outlined as heat, however nonetheless good.
The Rambler used to come back with a regular lid—one you might truly match a straw via—similar to all the opposite tumblers. Now, nonetheless, it comes with a MagSlider Lid, which snaps shut neatly and in addition has a straw port (although it’s not leakproof). In the event you actually need the usual lid, you should purchase it individually, in addition to a devoted straw lid or perhaps a mug deal with to assist with carrying (which to us is tiny proof that the slimmer shapes of the Hydro Flask and Klean Kanteen tumblers are higher for many fingers).