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Back to Journal  « Telltale Audio - July 2008 | Klean Kanteen FTW: Nalgene No More | "Dry Frugal with Death Rays," now at Futurismic » Klean Kanteen FTW: Nalgene No More August 3, 2008 So I'm an early adopter of at least one annoying habit. For eight or nine years now, I've carried around a 32 oz Nalgene water bottle almost everywhere I went. Work. Play. Home. Travel. Clarion. Bathroom. I'd fill it with water twice per day, on average. This. Is. What. I. Drank. Out. Of. I remember going to parties and Jen telling me to put my Nalgene back in the car (I brought it with me out of habit, on accident, I swear!! I do have _some_ social skills...).  I had to pry the Nalgene from Thor's cold, furry paws. I championed the Nalgene, because of its health benefits (hydration, hydration, hydration!), as well as the environmental and financial benefits (purchasing one kickass bottle every two years or so vs purchasing disposable water bottles wherever I went). Reasonable, right? Early adopter or no, I bloomed late to the health risks of the BPAs and the polycarbonite plastics Nalgene uses. I took the "sure, isn't everything bad for you in large enough amounts?" line. But post head injury, I've forced myself to become more aware of everything that goes into my body. And something that's bad for you in large amounts is probably bad for someone who drinks 64 ounces of it per day, almost every day, for the better part of a decade.  One of the "publicity photos" Jamie snapped for me a few years back. Wanted to capture the real me... So a few months ago, I finally switched to a 40 oz stainless steel Klean Kanteen. It's a clear winner, though not without downsides.  Hey, I watch your baby-picture slideshows. You can give five seconds to my water receptacles. My big concern was that the metal would make the water taste tinny, as drinking out of aluminum or eating out of a can does. It doesn't. It's as flavorless as glass, which makes water taste _better_ than the plastic Nalgene ever did. And there's no musty smell that I'd get ever after the third or fourth wash of new Nalgene.  Drink-holder desk attachment. Sorry, ladies. I'm taken. It keeps the water cold--or at least feeling cold--longer, the way a can of soft drink can feel colder than a 20 oz plastic bottle in the same refrigerated case. The 40 oz Klean Kanteen is the same width as the 32 oz Nalgene, so my two accessories (the shown desk-holder thing above and carabiner thing below--I think the latter's a Bottle Belt from REI) are compatible.  Thor finds love again. (The white rope to the cap is a homemade thing, to make it easier to carry, to keep me from losing the cap, and to keep me from having to set the cap down where the cats will lick it.)  One second rule: it's on the table for one second, so it belongs to Loki. The Kons of the Klean Kanteen? It's a little bit heavier (though I'm comparing a 40 oz Kanteen with a 32 oz Nalgene; there are smaller models). It's opaque, and there's no measurement lines to tell me how full it is. And I don't like (or at least I'm not used to) the cap options, compared with the wide assortment available for the Nalgene. FWIW, I did have a wide mouth Nalgene, so I don't know whether a small-mouth Nalgene's caps are interchangeable with the Kanteen's. So now I'm the annoying guy who carries 40 oz of water around with him instead of 32. I can live with that.  Sure, Loki likes the Kanteen's shine... ...but preferred (even as a baby!) the Nalgene's chewiness. Why not go with a BPA-free Nalgene? Yes, Nalgene now makes BPA-free plastic bottles. But seeing how they've insisted on the safety of their polycarbonite products up to and after replacing them with bottles they emphasize as BPA-free (as their largest selling point, even!), I think they've worn out any brand loyalty or trust I might have had. That's right, Klean Kanteen. Don't think you can phone it in and automatically keep my business. I'm a mercenary consumer! Note that there's been no recall and that polycarbonite Nalgene bottles still seem widely available in outdoor stores, etc; if you do purchase a Nalgene plastic bottle, look for an indication that the exact one you're purchasing is BPA-free. If I was going to go with BPA-free plastic instead of stainless steel (I think I'm too clumsy for glass), the Kor One looks promising. Supposed to come out this month. Given how much water I drink on a daily basis, I didn't think it would be a good idea to wait any longer.  You put your weed in there. Filed under Cats, Food, Health, Jamie Bishop, Journal, Kittens, Pretty Pictures, Vanity Smurf, Water, Well Awareness, World of Importance  
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, LCRW, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, ChiZine, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate.  
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