I had been looking for additional Titanium water bottles ever
since MSR stopped producing them. I finally found a new
supplier:
http://www.vargooutdoors.com/Titanium-Water-BottleReview: They are made a bit cheaper than the discontinued MSR bottles although they appear to be almost as strong (I didn’t do destructive testing).It looks like they cut a few minor corners to get the cost down to $59-$69 range.
The lid is a bit on the cheaper side than I would like. For those of you familiar with the Klean Kanteen the threading isn’t as thick and seems of lesser quality (although the seal is fantastic). I just have concerns that it isn’t that rugged.
The major cost savings is that the bottles are not prewashed. They come incredibly dirty and require a bit of time to clean up. Once cleaned they are fine (oil and titanium dust). Thankfully, they have a wider mouth than the MSR
bottles which makes cleaning them easier.
Overall I have no complaints. They seal well and the specs are as advertised.
In the future, I will be testing them for heavy metal and radioactive contamination due to the country of origin.
-NIM
P.S. I don't have any connection to the company selling these.