Not so technical but still geeky so I think it counts for posting here.
Regular readers will know of my love of Kickstarter and memobottle is one of my great successes from the platform. Disclaimer I am a (very, VERY) small investor in the business.
The Background and Kickstarter Campaigns
The original memobottle was a series of reusable water bottles in sizes that matched paper sizes (well anywhere but US paper sizes) such as A7, A6 and A5. These were (and are as they’re still available on the memobottle website) great and I still use my A7 and A6 constantly. The latter until I dropped it one day and it somewhat unexpectedly shattered.
This was delivered in 2017 and wind forward to 2021 and memobottle came back with another campaign. This time it was to deliver the same sized bottles but now in stainless steel with a brushed black or white finish.
The campaign was successfully funded in September 2021 with an estimated delivery of April 2022. They missed this by some nine months as they were actually delivered January 2023. That’s longer than the average project I back takes to deliver but at least they did deliver what they set out to. It’s still worth remembering that Kickstarter is a stock market not a super market.
What are they like?
The bottles are packed in very simple brown boxes and when you get them out two things are immediately apparent: they look amazing and they are very heavy compared to the plastic versions.
To give you an idea I weighed the new stainless steel A7 against the old plastic equivalent. As you can see from the image below the new one is more than 110 grams heavier. You really feel that additional weight.
Curiously the new versions are every so slightly different sizes with the new stainless steel A7 being chubbier. It is smaller in height (base to cap) and fatter in depth. I assume that this was to do with the manufacturing process, necessitated by the change in materials. Surprisingly this has also led to an increase in volume with the new A7 holding roughly 250ml compared to 200ml for the old variant.
The finish on the bottles is teriffic and feels fantastic to the touch. They really look and feel high quality and quite classy. I have the matt black variants but it they are also available in white. I wondered how much the latter would show up the dirt so avoided them. memobottle have assured backers that tests have been done to ensure that this paintwork doesn’t chip and spoil the look but only time will tell if that’s actually the case in real world usage. One thing I think I can be sure of is that it’s definitely not going to shatter if I drop this one. Not sure about dents though.
Of course being opaque it is no longer possible to see how much fluid is left in the bottle. I guess you can sort of feel the relative amount of liquid in them.
Conclusion
These have been a while coming but I really think that they have been worth the wait. They look and feel great and while they are heavier than the old versions I suspect that’s not going to be an issue when it’s tucked in your bag. One issue may be that there isn’t anywhere to secure a bottle strap any more. The plastic versions had a protruding neck which prevented any strap from slipping off. That’s no longer the case and so you have to either pocket them or put them in a bag which is a shame.
Finally, well done to memobottle as many don’t make it to the finish line so that’s a great achievement in itself and something to be proud of – just like I am my new bottles.
Likes:
- look fantastic
- welcome increase in capacity
Dislike:
- heavy compared to the old plastic version
- nothing to attach a strap to
