Hello all, first post here but maybe I can get the quick answer I'm looking for.

After some evaluation and thought, I've decided to switch to wide-mouth stainless steel bottles in lieu of my wide-mouth Nalgene plastic ones. The reasoning behind this is first: you can boil water directly in a stainless bottle without much thought to it, and also you can use rock boiling if necessary. Second: stainless is more durable than plastic. It is possible to crack Nalgene, and also to melt Nalgene. Not looking for an argument here on which is better Steel or Nalgene.

Can anyone recommend a really great quality 1 quart, non-tapered Stainless Steel wide-mouth bottle? I am specifically looking for durable, lightweight, quality construction. (U.S. made preferable). It would also be great if someone had successfully (if not repeatedly) used their recommended bottle to boil water before... I've read some reviews about hard to remove metal dust, thin overseas construction, and just general lack of quality.

Thanks for any input you are able to provide.

Cheers,

-Mike

Nalgene palstic bottles are made in the USA, however their stainless steel models are made in China. This also goes for the Filzer Kewl bottle brands.

The Klean Canteen brand of SS bottles are marketed as designed in the USA..that does not mean they were made there.

Regardless, all three of these brands are comparable in quality and the respective companies have a lot riding on their product reputation so you really cannot go wrong with any of them. Also none of the newer bottle models do not have a plastic liner which hindeer their use for boiling water.

Of the three, the Klean Canteen is more preferable as is the lid comes right off the bottle, meaning it is not held on by a retaining ring to prevent you from inadvertantly losing the lid or have it fall down a 300' cliff... I have seen it happen. With a retaing ring holding the lid on, you would need to be careful that any open flame or heat source does not either deform or melt the lid. However if I was ever in the situation where I had to boil water in my water bottle I would just cut the retainng ring off the bottle.

I have both the Nalgene Guyot in the 32oz and the Kleen Kanteen in I think the 22 oz, both wide mouth. While I've never had the need to boil water in either, both are rated by the manufacturer for that purpose in an emergency. There are you tube vids with the guyot bottle boiling water as I viewed one prior to purchasing my bottle. If a person was going to boil water in either bottle they had probably better have heavy leather gloves, a pot holder or pliers to handle getting it off the fire.

I like the design of the Guyot the better of the two, it just feels more substantial, I love the design of the cordage loop between the bottle and cap-perfect for hanging the bottle off of gear and the 32oz is just a better size for me as well as the correct size in the case of the need for treatment tabs.

Also check this thread There are some good related ideas for water storage/carrying etc

Guyoet bottles are my first choice. If you can tug on a cord, you can get the lid completely off, it isn't that big a deal.

The straight sided 40oz is the same size at the 1L Nalgene, while the max dimensions on the 32oz are the same but it tappers a little to the base- my preference, easier to push back int the pocket one handed.

I know a lot of people like Kleen Kanteen- I don't, beucase they use a funny sized lid. The Guyoets use the same size and thread as the wide mouth Nalgenes, which works well for me with my other stuff for the Nalgenes.

And both of those, while designed in the US, are made overseas. Which sea? Go to the west coast of Japan, and keep going west. That sea- next stop, China. *sighs*

"Also none of the newer bottle models do not have a plastic liner which hindeer their use for boiling water."

--hang on, am I understanding this wrong, do they all HAVE plastic liners or insulation in their construction?

I'm not planning on routinely boiling in these, but it would be nice if this was a possibility, instead of "well, in an emergency I guess you could boil water in them..."

Thanks!!

OK I have two quotes from two different people...

"...The Guyoets use the same size and thread as the wide mouth Nalgenes, which works well for me with my other stuff for the Nalgenes..."


"...you can take the super light plastic caps off of any wide mouth bottles (Nalgene..etc) that you own and put them onto the Guyot..."

Problem is: bought the 40oz Standard Guyot bottle and tried another lid from the wide mouth Nalgenes on display next to it, and lo and behold it doth not fit. Threads on the steel bottle are slightly different from the ones on the plastic Nalgenes. Still a great bottle, but would be nice to switch to a smaller lid... Any thoughts, or am I out of my mind and I should have tried a couple more lids with it...?

-M

-M [/quote]

The threads are spaced wider on the Guyot Bottles, yes. But the Nalgene Caps go on just fine. The Nalgene Stainless Steel bottles are made by Guyot for Nalgene. They all fit for me like a glove.

Here's a picture straight from the Guyot's own Flickr Group account showing the compatibility.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19330304@N05/1927807338/in/pool-527246@N24/

[/quote]

OK... Went to EMS today and tried some more lids for this bottle... Bought one of the replacement wide-mouth Nalgene lids. I DID see the pic you posted, looked great to me. But then I tried again and I hate to admit it (because you seem like an upstanding guy), but my first thought was "is this guy on glue?" LOL... Anyway, here are some pics of what the result was. I don't know if they changed the thread pattern, or if I got a lemon, or what. But here you go. (I'm about to write Guyot and see what their take on it is.) Am I losing my mind or is something here amiss?

I agree with Izzy, it sure doesn't look like my guyot bottle.

Wiggy's bottles are sometimes mentioned as a good option for boiling water. The have steel lids.

http://wiggys.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=22

HJ

I've been doing research for a Guyot bottle PSK article for the next issue of Survival Quarterly magazine. I say get the 38 oz "Standard" model. Thanks for the info on the Backpacker model. I wondered what that taper is all about!

Dave Canterbury had a video of him makning tea in his bottle. He had the Standard model.

The regular plastic Nalgene cap will not fit on mine either but I use the Humangear Cap instead!

My kit is based on the 10 x 4 Maxpedition bottle holder. I got the 12 x 5 holder for comparison purposes.

Pots and cups nest well in the 10 x 4 and "standard bottle." KK just came out with a 64 oz bottle. Its a good fit in the 10 x 4 holder, but you have to put your hand down in the bottle to grab and remove! A tight but acceptable fit! Ya can't take the bottle out for drinking! Of course it fits the 12 x 5 holder also.

There are other reasons to go with the Guyot. Looking inside the Guyot, I can't see any metal seams. I can with the KK!

How ya gonna take it out of a fire? The Guyot has finns that allow many options, the KK is useless here!.

The Guyot is thicker than the KK. So weight vs strength! Now the 64 oz KK will take regular nalgene caps but still, go with the Guyot!

I reaaaaally hate to admit this, I bought the bottle at Dick's (gasp!) had a gift card. You don't suppose Guyot are making crap to sell at the Wal-mart of outdoor stores, do you? This brings up another key issue-- I bought the bottle not only so I could ditch my Nalgene with steel cup, and that it would still fit various filters and purifiers designed to fit the standard wide mouth threads. Did they just make their product basically useless to me? Does anyone know anything about a change in manufacturing here? Also, not a defect,tried several others at the same chain again. Soooo it's either they're making two lines of product to sell or they've changed the product completely...

I can't vouch for anything Guyot designs makes for any other company, even nalgine but I can vouch for their bottles from their website plus their customer service has been beyond outstanding. I have many 32 oz bottles from them including a free one because they shipped one that had a dent in it plus they sent me a bunch of those plastic spill inserts for free. They have made a life customer from me due to the way they treat the customer and such a outstanding product. I can put any cap on mine that will fit a nalgine standard threads, I use my combi water filter on it, I use a steripen in it, I've boiled water in it and keep one in my work backpack, one in my BOB and one for normal traveling. I won't buy them from the store, I go and buy them from the website due to the great customer support and how they stand by their product, a few dollars savings isn't worth it for the support giving. You can't go wrong in my opinion, and I believe they have done Izzy right in the past from a dented bottle if I'm not mistaking.

Hey Izzy I don't know, I've tried several different lids and bottles both to and from Nalgene and Guyot at both Dick's and EMS and come up with the same result, so clearly something has changed in the design. Whether they know about it, that is the question. I've sent an email via the contact page on Guyot's site explaining that the actual bottle does not fit the claims in the FAQ on the Guyot site. Hopefully I didn't sound too irate, but this is probably something that should be addressed. The only other thing I can come up with is that perhaps it is the Nalgene products that have changed (?) and not the Guyots. Either way there is a substantial gap between the lip of the Standard Guyot bottle and the first thread. If you guys that say the bottles you have are maybe different, please post a pic if you have any free time to do so... Thanks!! Will let you all know how it turns out. Didn't really want my first string of posts to be a gripe session, but I thought you fine people would be the folks to come to for an answer or three...

Cheers,

-M

Oh yeah! That's what I'm looking for. So. Did some digging again, I think you might be onto something with the formula change in the lid manufacturing. I tried some other Nalgene lids, one of which had an integrated straw and small-mouth cap, and the other had a flippy ring/cover (which could break rendering your bottle useless but that's besides the point)-- and both fit the Guyot perfectly flush. It seems the basic no frills Nalgene wide-mouth lid is the change here, perhaps not the Guyot bottle. Furthermore, I think it is the thread pattern on the inside of the Nalgene wide-mouth basic cap itself, not the thread pattern on the outside of the Nalgene wide-mouth bottle. Baffles the mind. Now I feel like a first-class @sshat for complaining to the Guyot people. Ah well, you live and you learn.

Guyot Designs is the way to go. Lots of options to suit whatever needs you have.

Are you sure it is a Nalgene made lid?

There are people who make 63mm mouthed bottles and lids, that don't quite match. I have a really neat little 20oz bottle that has the right size mouth, but I didn't screw my funky EDC bottle's lid onto it to check. It looked close.

Close. Not quite. But for Guyots, yeah, real Nalgene lids work. It's SOP for me to make the swap for those because that wonderfully subtle texture on the Guyot caps become miserably untextured when wet or wearing gloves. My one grumble.

And, for that matter, the Guyot bottles themselves, while sturdy, are hardly lightweight. It is lighter to fit a titanium cup on the base of your lightweight plastic canteen (not Nalgene!). The cheap light weight canteen is a recycled quart Gaqtorade bottle, the expensive variation is a one liter Platypus. You can boil water and cook, and also keep some of your water cool, all for less weight....

OOoooooK.

Long story short. Cara Guyot told me that the plain old Nalgene caps don't fit their bottles. Whether they changed the design once, twice, who knows. Either way, she agreed with me that the person wanting to know if the filter they'd like to buy will fit their Guyot bottle-- will most likely just try the Nalgene cap on the bottle on the store shelf next to the Guyot. They will more than likely be misled because the Nalgene lid is now a different thread pattern, and may possibly not purchase the Guyot bottle thinking their new filter won't fit based on this comparison. Unfortunately, this sucks for Guyot. They're great products, and I think they need to add a disclaimer telling people that Nalgene screwed around with their cap and it is nolonger a size that will fit the Guyots. This will solve some confusion. A case of one company not telling another company what they are planning.

Cheers.

-M

I'm a Guyot convert. Used Nalgene for years, dumped the fleet of them after I bought a couple of test bottles from Guyot directly. That said, I very much favor the 40 oz, "standard" bottle. I have a backpacker as well. But unless they're going to be in a car drink holder all day, I can't see giving up that extra stability (and they are slightly less stable), nor the reduction in capacity. My standard guyots fit my OR covers, the SS cups, and everything else I had to go with my nalgene fleet. After my test run, I turned back around and ordered a dozen for my fleet.

True enough, the SS cups can be used in fires. But I sometimes like a warm drink with my hot meal. A SS cup AND the guyot are the perfect combo for me.

And I've carried 2 full hiking for hours. Are they noticeably heavier...absolutely. I just prefer them and love the adaptability.

The cons:

1) they are heavier. I'll manage. The tradeoff is that things stay a lot cooler even after baking in ahot car for 6 hours. I add a lot of ice and drink and I often have ice when the car has been in the sun superheating for 6+ hours. But if weight is your main concern, it may not be for you. I carry these all day almost 6 full days a week. If I'm going to be away for a while I carry two.

2) They're metal and will ding up a bit. I've never had them compromised after about 3 or so years of HEAVY use and ABUSE. I say this as someone who broke 1-2 Nalgene bottles a year.

3) I'd love to see them do something with the tops. An inert, safe material with some sculpturing would help a LOT. Since they can get a bit of a vacuum seal when opened hours later, and opening them wet is common (weather, from a cooler, etc), it would be a nice addition.

4) Made in China. For me, this is the biggest single drawback. I'd love to see them made in the US...or even India.. but CHINA? When I bought in, hardly anyone was making SS bottles and those which were available had a much less desirable design. YMMV...

Now my question from the readings above...do the filtertops actually fit the Guyots? I've yet to try this and would love to know.