Hydro Flask 40 Oz Wide Flex Straw Cap Violet

There are a gazillion water bottle choices out there and Hydro Flask seems to have a very loyal following. My husband has had them for years. I've always opted for less expensive brands and have found that my bottles often out perform his as far as keeping ice for long periods of time. And he has lost the rubber gasket in the lids of his Hydro Flasks and has on occasion had major leakage issues because of it. One learns that the gasket is gone the hard way, as you end up with water, or coffee or tea all over the place, hopefully not in your lap! When I saw a Cyber Monday deal for Hydro Flasks here on Amazon, I decided to take this opportunity to try one out for myself. I got the purple one and the color is SO PRETTY. I do like the colors that Hydro Flask offers...so that's a plus. I don't have any major complaints about this bottle except for the lid. If I put my powdered drink mix into the bottle with water and shake it, the seal does seem to hold and stays dry (right now anyway). But when the top is opened to take a drink, liquid shoots out of the top. Pressure has built up inside the bottle. I guess it's not a deal breaker, but depending on what you have in your bottle, this could be a very bad thing. Also, I have found that when I take a drink through the extended flip-up piece on the lid, liquid shoots up out of it when I'm done. I can't be the only person on the planet that this has happened to. It is a design flaw in the way the lid handles the pressure inside the bottle as one drinks. Again...not a deal breaker, but I get sick of having water shoot up onto my face after I drink. I have found a way to deal with this by placing my tongue on the opening of the raised straw, but one shouldn't have to think that hard when they take a drink of water from a bottle. My other water bottle of a lesser known brand doesn't do this. The Hydro Flask has a slightly rough surface on the outside which makes the bottle easier to hold than if it was slick and smooth, but I ended up getting an outer sleeve made of silicone so that I'm less likely to drop the bottle. I have a friend who once dropped her Hydro Flask and it looks like it's been through a war...so they are not that tough on the outside. As far as keeping ice over a period of time, the Hydro Flask pales in comparison to some other brands. Corcksicicle brand holds ice FOREVER...I mean for DAYS!...and my Simple Modern brand 40 oz bottle outdoes the Hydro Flask by a landslide when it comes to keeping ice. I know this because I recently traveled with my Simple Modern while my friend and travel buddy had her Hydro Flask. Each morning we filled our bottles with about the same amount of ice. Her Hydro Flask ice was gone many hours before my Simple Modern ice was, so this was a side by side comparison. Of course the Simple Modern bottle was purchased at a fraction of the price of a Hydro Flask. All in all I'm happy to have a Hydro Flask, but I'm VERY glad that I didn't pay even close to full price for it. They simply are not worth the hefty price tag from a performance standpoint. The fact that you can get replacement parts for them (lids, straws and rubber gaskets) does make the investment more appealing.