****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
***************************FINAL UPDATE*******************************I've had this water bottle for three years now but haven't used it as a thermos for about the last year and a half. Ironically, the biggest problem with it--that it doesn't retain heat but instead radiates it quickly and powerfully--turned it into a good hand warmer on cold winter nights. We fill it with hot water, wrap it in an old gym sock, and keep it on our desk or in our laps. We discard the cold water and dry it out every day. Today, I happened to look inside to see if I could find out why it never kept beverages hot. I'll let you judge for yourself from what I found (see pics of inside of thermos air-dried overnight). We've never used any abrasive cleaners on this thermos--just mild soap, warm water and a vigorous shake or occasional pass with a soft silicone bottle-brush. But the interior has been peeling. In just three years. Hardly the lifetime use you expect from stainless steel. I wouldn't trust this brand anymore to hold our family's drinking water, let alone to keep our beverages hot.*******************UPDATE 2************************In the past month or so, I've had to stop using this thermos. I used to fill it with coffee in the morning as I began work, keeping it in the kitchen sink (lined with white porcelain that's now an ugly mottled brown from all the sloshing coffee since the lid doesn't pour smoothly...). But now the thermos' outside gets immediately hot to the touch and the coffee gets cold within a couple hours or so. I'll be on a call, then reach for some coffee. Lukewarm. Bleh.At the same time or just before I bought this Klean Kanteen "luxury" thermos, I'd bought a cheap 12-ounce stainless steel thermos (all ss, including the lid). I've dropped that thing a dozen times but up to now it keeps coffee hot far longer than the Klean Kanteen AND pours more smoothly (less of a mess). In this case, higher cost didn't mean better quality or customer service.I'm back on Amazon searching for a thermos with all stainless steel interior parts (including lid) but with a smooth-pouring spout. You'd think that with how popular coffee is and all the news about new, suspect chemicals in plastic leaching into beverages, a company would have already perfected such a design. I'll never trust a label that just because plastic is "BPA-free," it's safe. We've called Klean Kanteen FOUR TIMES in the past three months to find a solution. No reply. Sad we can't rely on Klean Kanteen anymore.*******************UPDATE 1************************I've been using my Klean Kanteen for over a year now. I fill it every day, even in the summer, with hot beverages. You can read my original review below about why I like Klean Kanteen, but over the past six months, I've found a major problem with my thermos. I fill the thermos with piping hot coffee and within thirty minutes, the outside of the insulated thermos is so hot I can't touch it. Even before I noticed this, my hot coffee was becoming lukewarm within just a couple of hours. I think something in the insulation system is broken. Disappointing.The minor problem I've discussed below--that the lid sloshes liquid all over the place no matter how carefully I pour. Since I'm working at home now, I keep the painfully-hot-to-the-touch thermos full of coffee in my kitchen sink and pour from the sink to make the inevitable clean-up easier.A quick note. Within the first week of getting my thermos, I contacted the company (Klean Kanteen) over my concerns with the lid. I even mentioned I'd be willing to buy an upgraded thermos (one with a pour-through lid) if they could reassure me that one would pour better. They "noted" my concerns but said nothing else. This company used to have stellar customer service--and that's what kept our family going back for our thermos/water bottle needs. But even before the pandemic hit, Klean Kanteen seems to have gotten large enough not to be invested in working with customers to solve problems anymore.All in all, I'm really sorry that I can no longer recommend Klean Kanteen. I've been with them for about a decade, but our latest experience with this 32-ounce thermos and the company's customer service representatives (June 2019) have prompted us to look for another stainless steel bottle supplier.******************Original Review***********************I've gone through about a dozen stainless steel water bottles in the last 20 years--four of which I still have/use. This is my third Klean Kanteen product. I often try to save money by buying something cheaper but I always get burned in the end doing so. My other "stainless steel" water bottles all have rust spots inside them. My oldest Klean Kanteen bottle, a single walled stainless steel bottle, is about ten years old and is still kicking, true to this company's advertising. I traveled all over Asia with that bottle and even dropped in from great heights while hiking mountain paths. And it has returned, whole, with me to the US. One of my older Klean Kanteen insulated bottles (small, 12-ounces) finally died about seven years into owning it. I must have left liquids inside it too long too often because it fell apart at the bottom. I take responsibility for that.After another cheap stainless steel water bottle's cap failed on me recently (flooded with water inside, unable to remove it), I noticed it was covered in rust inside the bottle area in under a year of use. I'm sure the massive intestinal troubles I had recently that coincided with finding the sloshy bottle cap resulted from my drinking contaminated water... So I returned to Klean Kanteen. This time I'll be more careful with this bottle and dry it out thoroughly between uses. I also won't submerge the lid as that seems to be the weak point for most bottles.So far (just received), I especially like the bottle's tight cap seal--with TWO silicone rings and Klean Kanteen's new screw-cap system. The cap screws on without a hitch even if I slightly misalign the body and cap. As I type this, the bottle is sitting upside down full of hot liquid on my desk. While there was initial dripping, once I tightened the cap until I couldn't tighten it further, the dripping stopped. I hope the need to tighten the cap so much won't lead to structural failure. The cap's sides are plastic but the surface that abuts the liquid is stainless steel surrounded by one silicone ring. I do notice the plastic is wet when I unscrew the cap so I think liquid is coming into contact with the plastic then falling back into the main compartment below. I really dislike plastic caps inside the water bottle at all and it surprises me Klean Kanteen didn't engineer a stainless steel cap option for this bottle.One other caveat, for me, is also a plus: the nicely rounded lip of the bottle. While drinking from the machine-smoothened lip is very comfortable, I'm finding it hard to pour without spilling liquid. I work partly from home and partly from a university. I always have my bottle with me in class or in my office in my lab. These are very bad places to spill things... I'm not sure yet how to solve this concern. I could have invested $10 more in Klean Kanteen's upgraded thermos with "pour-through" (lid) function, but I thought this bottle would suffice. Hopefully Klean Kanteen will have an idea how to solve this problem.So if it's not a huge deal for you that pouring hot liquids might lead to some spilling, and you don't mind the plastic sidewalls of the bottle cap (I'm already looking for an all-stainless steel cap replacement like my other Klean Kanteens bottles' caps), this is a solid bottle. And the company's warranty is outstanding. How do I know? I've called them in the past about another bottle and they went above and beyond to take care of me. That kind of customer service earns my business for life. You can feel safe investing a bit more in Klean Kanteen's higher quality products AND their commitment to actually helping their customers (instead of just processing orders).All in all, I'm happy with the purchase though I'll be looking for a better cap, if the company carries one yet. I'll update my review if anything major changes.
