THE BIG QUENCH: Remember when a water bottle was just a bottle of water, its sole job to hold that water, in partnership with a hopefully leakproof cap? Today the water bottle biz is awash in newfangled vessels flashing multifabulous features competing for your mouth and your money. Which brings us to the big, bright BPA-free hard plastic “hydration” bottles from Fifty Strong. Among the 10 specialized styles, a stand-out is the 30-ounce Gym Bottle, which sports a pink or green rubber sleeve with an integrated credit-card-size pocket that stretches just enough to discretely hold some cash, a key or an ID. The airtight screw-on top comes with either a swivel-up plastic sip nozzle or a wider flip-open “chug” cap. Then there’s the Tornado Mixer, which comes with a spiral-shaped hard plastic insert designed to create a “cyclonic mixing action” for protein powders, meal replacement shakes or water flavorings when shaken. Each Fifty Strong Bottle has a rubber lanyard-like grip handle and a wide-mouth top for adding ice or other ingredients, and to make cleaning easier. The screw-on top are interchangeable, so buying multiple styles lets you switch between sip nozzles, chug caps and flip-up straws. Most bottles are either 24 ounces or 30 ounces, fit in most cup holders and are dishwasher safe. Prices are friendly, too.
Fifty Strong Gym Bottle with sip nozzle or chug cap is $11.99; Tornado Mixer is $7.99, at be50strong.com.
Judi Dash, Gear & Gadgets syndicate
