Packard
Member
Before I retired, I drove 62 miles each way to and from work each day. About 30,000 miles per year, and a little over 1 million total miles.
On each of those trips, I drank a cup of hot coffee. I consider myself an expert on the subject of travel-worthy coffee mugs.
Contigo mugs are at the very bottom of the heap. Apparently, designed in a design studio and never field tested. When I used it, the bottom of the mug would hit the ceiling of my compact SUV and kept half of the contents of the mug inaccessible. A hard pass on that.
Yeti had some pluses and minuses. On the minus side, early versions quickly lost their vacuum and were not truly insulated. More of a double wall, than an insulated mug. Later production was better. It also failed to fit in any standard mug holders, and some form of adapter was usually required.
On the plus side, later versions were well-insulated and for desk top use, they almost never tipped over. Weird sizing: 10 ounce and 20 ounce when most retailers were selling 12 ounces or 24 ounces. So either you got cheated out of 2 ounces or 4 ounces on each purchase or the barista thought you were a thief for ordering the smaller size.
Several retailers are offering free Yeti mugs with purchases, so since the company I worked for ordered a lot of supplies from vendors that made that offer, the Yeti mugs were a no-cost item. https://www.google.com/search?q=free yeti mug with purchase&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m
We got the free mugs for purchasing from Uline (cartons, mostly).
Thermos’ Funtainer is, hands down, the best insulated mug I’ve used. With two caveats: They expressly state that it is not suitable for hot beverages, and for carbonated cold beverages they are problematic too. What happens with either of those liquids, is when you pop open the mug it will spit hot coffee or cold Coke at your face. The solution is to remove the straw, which renders it unusable for sipping, and slip a sipping straw through the silicone mouthpiece and drink through the sipping straw. The added advantage is that you no longer lift the mug to the point that it will obstruct your forward vision. So a plus there. You do have to keep a supply of straws (only use the 1/8” diameter straws, not the cold drink straws.
The other problem is most of these have silly children’s characters on the bottle. I can find plain ones on occasion, or I am OK with Batman. You can find these on sale for as little as $10.00 each.
My latest find is the best. OWALA. Well insulated, with a truly leak-proof sipping lid. It comes in 10, 12, 20 and 24 ounce sizes and a variety of colors. They sell gasket kits for the lids so probably no leaky lids in the future. The drinking angle on this mug does not obscure my forward vision and it fits in standard cup holders.
Apparently, these are “adult-only” mugs as schools across the country are banning all metal mugs (they get used as weapons in school fights).
At any rate, the best of the best at this point is OWALA. Available from Amazon for $20.00 to $30.00. Strangely, the selected color affects pricing.
On each of those trips, I drank a cup of hot coffee. I consider myself an expert on the subject of travel-worthy coffee mugs.
Contigo mugs are at the very bottom of the heap. Apparently, designed in a design studio and never field tested. When I used it, the bottom of the mug would hit the ceiling of my compact SUV and kept half of the contents of the mug inaccessible. A hard pass on that.
Yeti had some pluses and minuses. On the minus side, early versions quickly lost their vacuum and were not truly insulated. More of a double wall, than an insulated mug. Later production was better. It also failed to fit in any standard mug holders, and some form of adapter was usually required.
On the plus side, later versions were well-insulated and for desk top use, they almost never tipped over. Weird sizing: 10 ounce and 20 ounce when most retailers were selling 12 ounces or 24 ounces. So either you got cheated out of 2 ounces or 4 ounces on each purchase or the barista thought you were a thief for ordering the smaller size.
Several retailers are offering free Yeti mugs with purchases, so since the company I worked for ordered a lot of supplies from vendors that made that offer, the Yeti mugs were a no-cost item. https://www.google.com/search?q=free yeti mug with purchase&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m
We got the free mugs for purchasing from Uline (cartons, mostly).
Thermos’ Funtainer is, hands down, the best insulated mug I’ve used. With two caveats: They expressly state that it is not suitable for hot beverages, and for carbonated cold beverages they are problematic too. What happens with either of those liquids, is when you pop open the mug it will spit hot coffee or cold Coke at your face. The solution is to remove the straw, which renders it unusable for sipping, and slip a sipping straw through the silicone mouthpiece and drink through the sipping straw. The added advantage is that you no longer lift the mug to the point that it will obstruct your forward vision. So a plus there. You do have to keep a supply of straws (only use the 1/8” diameter straws, not the cold drink straws.
The other problem is most of these have silly children’s characters on the bottle. I can find plain ones on occasion, or I am OK with Batman. You can find these on sale for as little as $10.00 each.
My latest find is the best. OWALA. Well insulated, with a truly leak-proof sipping lid. It comes in 10, 12, 20 and 24 ounce sizes and a variety of colors. They sell gasket kits for the lids so probably no leaky lids in the future. The drinking angle on this mug does not obscure my forward vision and it fits in standard cup holders.
Apparently, these are “adult-only” mugs as schools across the country are banning all metal mugs (they get used as weapons in school fights).
At any rate, the best of the best at this point is OWALA. Available from Amazon for $20.00 to $30.00. Strangely, the selected color affects pricing.
