Insulated steel or light plastic: which water bottle do you need?

Start with what you want the bottle to do.

• Keep a drink cold or hot: pick a stainless steel bottle with double-walled vacuum insulation, such as the Sistema Hydrate and Chic bottles.
• Carry a light bottle to the gym or school: pick BPA-free plastic, such as the Cool Gear Gravity, Cove and Tritan bottles. Some come with a freezer stick that keeps the drink cold.
• A tough everyday bottle: the adidas metal bottles are made of stainless steel.

What size water bottle should you carry?

Sizes on this page start at 280 ml and go up to 946 ml. The 280 ml Sistema Chic is the small one. The middle of the range sits around 500 to 650 ml: the adidas Tiro bottle holds 0.5 L and the adidas metal bottles with a straw or a screw top hold 0.6 L. For more water, look at 700 ml and up, such as the SevenYears Thermo Flask at 700 ml, the Sistema Hydrate at 750 ml or the Cool Gear Gravity at 946 ml.

Straw, screw top, flip top or pull spout?

The lid decides how you drink. On the adidas Metal Water Bottle Straw, the included straw makes sipping simple. A screw top is the choice for a bag: adidas describes the lid of its Screw Top 0.6 L bottle as leakproof. A flip top, as on the Cool Gear Flip N Flow lid, makes drinking on the go easy. The adidas Tiro bottle has a pull spout for breaks in training.

If you want one bottle for the gym, start with a 0.6 L adidas metal bottle with a screw top. For more gym extras, see workout accessories.