Overview of the Nalgene Water Bottle
It’s no secret that Nalgene water bottles are extremely popular. I mean, just go to you’re own gym and you’ll see them sitting everywhere. Go to the local high school track, and you’ll see thirsty athletes guzzling out of Nalgenes like crazy. This begs the question, what’s so good about Nalgene water bottles and why are they so popular?
In this article, we’re going to be going over everything that has to do with Nalgene water bottles and what’s so good about them. Here are a few things we’re going to cover:
- The Simplicity of Nalgene Water Bottles
- The Durability of Nalgene Water Bottles
- The Community That Surrounds Nalgene Water Bottles
- Nalgene Water Bottle Accessories
- Nalgene Water Bottles and Stickers
- 3 Reasons Why You NEED a Nalgene Water Bottle
- Nalgene’s Rising Competitor
In short, Nalgene water bottles are both durable, and affordable. In fact, most Nalgene water bottles are around $10. This is partially what makes them so popular, however, that’s not the entire reason. Nalgene has built up a community around their water bottles so much so that when someone buys a Nalgene, they feel a sense of belonging to the Nalgene community.
The Simplicity of Nalgene Water Bottles
One of the first reasons why Nalgene water bottles are so popular is because of their very simple design, see an example of one here on Amazon. If you compare Nalgene water bottles to some other water bottles by other brands, you’ll notice a big difference.
If you look at a Nalgene water bottle, all you see is a bottle with a single lid on top to be connected to the water bottle by a plastic strap. Look at other water bottles and you see straws, lids that flip up, and many other things that are not only hard to get clean but break easily as well, thus causing you to have to replace your water bottle sooner.
In fact, we can tell that Nalgene made their water bottles in a simple fashion on purpose. Here’s how Nalgene describes their most popular water bottle, the 32oz wide-mouth:
If you’re looking for a water bottle that will keep you well hydrated, hold up against bangs, bumps, and drops, and not leak a single drop ever, then the iconic 32-ounce wide mouth is your water bottle. There’s a reason why we haven’t changed its design in decades—because it works (extremely well).
nalgene.com
Since Nalgene water bottles have such a simple design, they hold up for an extremely long time. This brings us to the durability of Nalgene water bottles.
The Durability of Nalgene Water Bottles
Because of their simple design, Nalgene water bottles are extremely durable! This is partially what makes them so popular among people who love to spend time outdoors hiking, camping, or just spending a day at the park. Nalgene water bottles can be dropped, stepped on, and even…wait for it…driven on by cars! And if you don’t believe me, just watch the video below.
In fact, Nalgene gives its water bottles a lifetime guarantee. So in the event that one of their water bottles do break, you can ask for a replacement bottle using a form on their website and most times, they’ll give their customers a brand new Nalgene, for FREE!
Here’s what Sutitan on Reddit had to say about his experience with Nalgene customer service:
Just wanted to give Nalgene some praise for their customer service and how they warranty their bottles. Typically their bottles are incredible durable. Ive dropped them over 50 feet onto rocks/hard ground and had them survive. This past time, It only dropped about 20 feet onto jagged rocks, but it was incredibly cold (well below freezing) so I imagine the plastic doesn’t flex as much. The bottle shattered into a few pieces. On Nalgenes contact page, they have a menu for replacements which takes you to a simple form where you enter in some really basic info and upload a photo. A few hours later I get an email from them notifying that they’ll be sending me a new bottle in the mail free of charge.
Sutitan’s Original Reddit Post
I know a lot of times dealing with these warranties mean digging up incredibly old receipts, returning the broken item, and paying for return shipping. Nalgenes process was almost too simple. I hope this isnt something that ends up getting taken advantage of. But it seems that if you buy one, you’ll always have one for life unless you end up losing it.
The Community That Surrounds Nalgene Water Bottles
While the Nalgene water bottle is affordable and durable, this isn’t the only reason why people absolutely love them. Part of the reason is the community that surrounds Nalgene water bottles. When someone who owns a Nalgene water bottle sees someone else with one as well, they feel like they know that person. While this may sound weird, it’s true. Nalgene water bottle owners feel that when they own a Nalgene bottle, they’re apart of a community–a community of people who are active and love the outdoors as much as they do.
And this wasn’t done by accident, this community was created purposely by Nalgene as a company. For example, if you go to the Nalgene Instagram account, you’ll see Nalgene sharing photos of their water bottles being used by the people that own them. Each water bottle has it’s own unique personality, reflecting the water bottle’s owner.
Nalgene Water Bottle Accessories
Another reason why Nalgene water bottles are so popular is because of how much people like to accessorize them. If you go to Nalgene’s official website, you’ll find replacement caps, easy sipper lids for their wide mount bottles, sleaves, and stickers. But that’s only a few of the accessories that Nalgene officially offers. If on the other hand, you go to Amazon, you’ll find an entire collection of Nalgene water bottle accessories. Check out these cool accessories on Amazon.
A popular way people like to accessorize their Nalgene water bottles is with paracord. Paracord can be used to braid an extra handle, or just to make the water bottle look cool. Check out the video below on a cool DIY way to accessorize a Nalgene water bottle with a small amount of paracord.
Nalgene Water Bottles and Stickers
If you’ve ever seen a Nalgene water bottle in the wild, which if you’re reading this article you most likely have, then you would have noticed that a lot of Nalgene water bottle owners attach stickers to their water bottles. Now, this isn’t just done with Nalgenes, you might also do it to your water bottle as well, but people absolutely love to plaster stickers all over their water bottle to give it their personality. When you start putting stickers of your favorite brands and places on your Nalgene water bottle, it becomes more than just another Nalgene water bottle–it has your special water bottle. Here’s a cool sticker pack on Amazon.
3 Reasons Why You NEED a Nalgene Water Bottle
If you’re very active outdoors, have a very active job, or just have trouble breaking your water bottles, here’s a few reasons why you need to get a Nalgene water bottle. Here’s the one I use!
- Like we covered, they’re extremely durable! People have dropped these bottles 50 feet onto jagged rocks and they come away just fine, aside from a few scuffs.
- They’re very affordable. Coming in at around $10, Nalgene water bottles are, in my opinion, a steal!
- Nalgene is very good at replacing damaged bottles. For just $10, you can have a water bottle for life!
Nalgene’s Rising Competitor
A lot of companies are starting to adopt Nalgene’s simple, water bottle design. And one of those companies is called Hydro Flask. In fact, you’ve probably heard of them. Hydro Flask was founded in 2009, and for a comparison, Nalgene was founded in the 1940s, however, Hydro Flask is growing in popularity quickly.
For example, when you start doing a few Google searches related to Nalgene water bottles, you soon start seeing Hydro Flask water bottles. When you search for Nalgene accessories on Amazon, you start seeing Hydro Flask accessories.
So is Hydro Flask better than Nalgene? Well, here’s a little bit on how both of them compare to each other:
- Nalgene focuses on making flexible, plastic water bottles. While Hydro Flask focuses on making vacuumed sealed, stainless steel water bottles.
- They both have the same, simple design that includes a unibody bottle, a lid that easily unscrews, and tether that holds the lid to the water bottle.
- Both companies advertise their product to the same target market, people who love to spend time outdoors hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting.
- Hydro Flask has a way bigger line of products that include coffee mugs, tumblers, coolers, food storage, and more. Nalgene on the other hand mainly focuses on water bottles, however they do have a few other items such as lunch boxes and traveling kits when flying.
If you found this article helpful, I’d appreciate it if you would share it! What do you think about Nalgene water bottles? Are they worth it?
