Selecting Your Next Water Bottle
People can only go about three days without water. Having a reliable source of water is one of the three key parts of survival – the other two being food and shelter. However, just having a good source of water isn’t enough.
You also need something to store it in. Unless you’re using something like the Lifestraw, you can’t just drink from puddles, rivers, and lakes while you’re out surviving. You need a water bottle that can withstand anything you throw at it – something that can take absurd amounts of stress reliably.
If your bottle breaks while you’re in the wild, you’re in serious trouble, because you’ll have to find something to keep it in other than a tin can.
Nalgene is easily the most well-respected brand in the water bottle industry.
Their bottles are nearly indestructible, and they know it, because if yours breaks, they’ll send you a new one for free. Many people have dropped theirs from the tops of buildings or off the side of cliffs and retrieved them with nothing more than a few scratches. They can survive tumbles down the sides of rocky hills, or being thrown against a tree.
Nalgene bottles can survive extreme temperatures as well. You can pour in boiling water and they won’t crack under stress. You shouldn’t use them as a container to boil water, though, because they will weaken in a direct fire.
Nalgene water bottles are made from Tritan, a BPA free plastic that’s extremely strong.
BPA is a chemical that seeps from plastics into liquids and foods, and is potentially harmful to the human body. It also leaves an off odor after some time. Nalgene bottles are completely free of any such chemicals, and are stain and odor free. They’re made with strict quality control standards in the USA, so you can be sure that they’re truly BPA free.
These bottles come in all different sizes and colors. You can choose the standard 1 liter / 32 ounce bottles in a variety of colors, with both wide and narrow mouths. They can be as large as 48 ounces, or as small as 16 for children. Wide mouth bottles are easier to clean, but can spill easily. Luckily, there’s a simple insert designed specifically for wide mouth Nalgene bottles that makes them easier to drink from.
Guyot Designs Splashguards are inexpensive and come in a wide range of colors, and slip into the top of your wide mouth Nalgene bottles, allowing you to drink while on the move without spilling any water.