WaterU FreshSip Filtered Water Bottle, Blue/Clear

I bought two of these bottles for my husband and me on our recent cruise. While the water on the ship is potable, it doesn't always have the same taste as the reverse-osmosis-filtered water we drink at home. I now grab this bottle anytime I'm going to be refilling it away from home so that my water has the same taste (or lack thereof) that I'm accustomed to.I looked at several different brands of filtered water bottles before settling on this one. Some didn't appeal to me because of the little cap that would easily be lost, some because of the sound made by the bottle when drinking, and some because one must bite on the spigot while drinking.This one is straight-forward: flip up the straw when drinking, and flip it down again when done. There's also a carrying loop built in, which made it easy to dangle from a couple of fingers or to thread through a strap or lanyard for ease of carrying. I tipped mine over a few times, and it did not leak while closed.As others have mentioned, the straw occasionally falls out when refilling, but that's a pretty minor complaint. What would make this bottle perfect in my opinion would be a cover like those on the Contigo Autospout bottles, to keep dust and such off the straw when it's closed. Still, for my purposes it works very well and I've continued to use it beyond my vacation. I'm a happy buyer.

WaterU is a brand that I imagine no one has ever heard of. That makes it harder to trust to buy, but makes the prices lower. I was deciding between this bottle and the Camelbak Groove.****Comparison to other bottles:****In the past, I owned a Bobble. No problems with leaking, but the sound it makes while refilling air became absurdly annoying. Not to mention how rude or uncomfortable it would be to take more than one sip in class or in the library. I think the sound got even louder with use. And my biggest issue is that when I was really thirsty, I would have to drink, wait, drink, wait, drink, wait...I did some research to replace the bobble (it was filter replacing time anyway). My choices were either to get another bobble or get a brita or get the popular (on Amazon) Rubbermaid bottle. The Brita was out because everyone said it leaks, it's just a matter of how much. I almost fired away and got the Rubbermaid after the great reviews, but then I sorted by date and realized pretty much every recent review complained about the new design of the filter that causes it to not filter some water and/or leak.So I dug deeper than the big 3 and found the Camelbak Groove, the WaterU FreshSip, OKO H2O Advanced, and Aqua Vessel Tritan Filter. The last 2 were too expensive at $20-25 for a brand that I don't know and for little reviews, plus I probably wouldn't spend that much even if it was made by a well-known company.So it came down to the Groove and the FreshSip. The Groove would be $17 for 20oz or $20 for 24 oz while the FreshSip is $7 for 24 oz. I have a camebak Antidote reservoir with an in-line filter for backpacking. Again, it's a filter not a purifier, so I could fill at a potable tap and just get better taste. The filter is a slim carbon cylinder which looks just like the one they put in the groove. The groove apparently has the bite-like rubber mouthpiece just like the reservoir. On a reservoir, a bite valve makes sense, so you can suck water when you want to and not have if drip out at other times. If you really want to, you can also close the chamber. However, on a bottle that you can just close and open a flip straw and isn't sitting on your back, the bite valve is a little overkill. Reviews were complaining about the force needed to suck water out. So for the reasons I laid out, coupled with the higher price (over double!), I figured I'll get the FreshSip and worse comes to worst, I'm out $7+tax.****Bottle Details:*****I received the bottle and proceeded to wash it out and run water through the filter like you do with any other carbon filter. The first time I drank from it, I still got some carbon bits in my mouth, but it's non-toxic so it's not a big deal. The bottle is hard plastic so it feels a lot sturdier than my bobble which always felt ready to break (though it never did). The straw with the filter pretty much reaches the bottom, so you don't have any unreachable water. One of the pictures on here and the wateru website shows blue in the middle of the bottle, as well as the cap and filter. Apparently that's an older model, now the bottle is clear and only the cap and filter are colored. Also according to WaterU and/or "DSC" (I guess the company behind WaterU), the new filter filters 40 gallons (about 200 bottle refills) instead of 20 gallons (100 bottles). After dealing with their quick and courteous customer service via email, it turns out that they're sending out the new bottles and filters even though the tag that comes with the bottle says 20 gallons. I thought I got the old bottle, so they sent me a new one without me even requesting it, and when I got the new one, I realized it was the same as the one I ordered. They confirmed that indeed they're shipping out the new ones on Amazon, just the insert that comes with the bottle says 20 gallon even though the filter is actually 40 gallon. Definitely 5* in customer service.*****So the actual bottle REVIEW:*****Here's what really makes these straw bottles (or at least the FreshSip) better than the other ones. Because it's upright, it means they can design another hole other than the water hole for air to go in as you suck water out! No more waiting for air to fill the bottle in between sips!!! The hole is surrounded by a piece of rubber (like an o-ring) and when you close the straw, a little peg in the side of the straw goes into the hole to block it from leaking - and indeed it doesn't leak. So you can't drink with the bottle upside-down (why would you want to?), but you can carry it upside-down when it's closed without a problem. The sucking has a little more resistance than a normal straw, but it's really not tough by any means. I would say drinking a Jamba Juice smoothie has more resistance than this bottle.No leaks, no noise, no waiting for air to refill, easy to drink, and inexpensive. What else can you ask for?

Our sink water tastes terrible and it can be a pain dealing with the Brita, so this has been a nice option for when I want to grab some water and go. The filter seems to do a great job removing ickies from the water and the straw reaches the bottom quite well.I checked out several filter water bottles and ended up getting this one and the Rubbermaid 20-Ounce Filtration Personal Bottle and prefer this one significantly over the Rubbermaid one. The Rubbermaid one required a lot more rinsing of the filter, which I didn't do and it (literally) left a terrible taste in my mouth. I've been a bit scared to use it after that.One of my biggest concerns with water bottles is leakage. I need to be able to pack it along with me, throw it around and have it at different angles without leaking everywhere. I was a little worried about this one because the spout looks like it would leak, but I've packed this thing along with me all over the place with no problems whatsoever.Since you drink through the straw filter, it can be a little difficult, but I wouldn't say it is a problem at all. In fact, it makes the water a little bubbly in a nice way so it tastes fresher and more aerated. I'd definitely suggest this!

As they say, you get what you pay for. I say, don't waste your money.The idea behind this bottle is great: a little filter at the bottom of the straw which fits into the tube in the cap; you suck water out of the spout which has open/shut positions...and viola! So simple.Not so much for me. In my experience, I couldn't ever get the straw to stay fitted securely into the tube so that I could actually suck water out of the spout. Ever. The hole in the actual tube/spout is also strangely small, so that I could only mostly get small amounts at a time. As for the taste of the filtered water - the few times that I could actually get the straw to fit into the tube...meh. Blah.I ended up just throwing the entire filtered straw away and keeping the bottle for my filtered water at home. Kind of a waste of $$ since I already have two CONTIGO bottles for the same purpose which are so much better and ultimately cost less.BOOO on this product!