I'm a fan of the Guyot Design stainless steel water bottles, and own several of their Hiker model.
I was visiting my folks for the holidays, so I grabbed my ditch kit and put it in the tote that I had my clothes in. (My packing is pretty primative if I'm traveling by car.) Got there, and found water in the pouch that holds one of my water bottles. Grumble, figured the lid wasn't on tight. Take my kit out with me in the woods, come back, found water in the pouch again. THink a bad lid. Swap it out for a spare Nalgene lid I have at my folks in storage.
Few months go by, don't think about it. Then discover water in the pouch again when I'm swapping out food and batteries. Scowl some more, try out another lid. Shake the bottle, and I get water drops flying about. Swap the lid several more times. Conclude the following:
1, all the lids are good.
2, I kid you not, the bottle leaks.
Turn it upside down and a big bead starts to form just below the threads. What the heck? Email Guyot. Next day I have email from Cara Guyot, not just someone in sales, saying they will ship me a replacement, and a return label because they want to see this dripping, leaking freak of nature. This was Monday. It is in the mail Tuesday. Friday it gets to me. Tommorrow the defective bottle goes home to be studied. Any faster and they would have had to hand courier to me.
So, I guess the point of this tale is this:
1, check your gear. Even a solid piece of metal can be bad.
2, deal with good companies.
Guyot's design impressed me. Their customer service is every bit as good in my book. *thumbs up*
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-IronRaven
When a man dare not speak without malice for fear of giving insult, that is when truth starts to die. Truth is the truest freedom.