Review: Stanley Classic Legendary Bottle (1L)
My experience with Stanley began in high school. I bought one of their flasks at Walmart (I think it was this one), but I quickly realized three things:
1) Carrying a flask around didn’t make me look cool.
2) I didn’t actually like the taste of whiskey, I just had watched too many cowboy and James Bond movies.
3) I was not very good at sipping whiskey in front of girls and pretending to like the taste of it. (I always winced.)
So, I chucked the Stanley flask in my closet and forgot about it. Fast forward 10 years or so, and I was preparing for a trek up Argentina’s Aconcagua (22,837ft). I mostly had only ever used bladders and Nalgenes in the outdoors, but I needed an insulated bottle to keep my liquids from freezing solid in the cold weather. So I bought a Stanley Classic Legendary Bottle (1L).
That was over three years ago. I still have it. I’m drinking out of it right now. Here are some images of that.
Let’s review this thing. First: How about that name, huh?
I can understand calling it the Stanley Classic. I can see Stanley Legendary. I can see Stanley Classic Bottle. But Stanley… Classic… Legendary… Bottle?
Wow. Marketing team really went for it with that one. Pretty weird.
Anyways, there’s not a ton to say about this sucka. It’s just a water bottle. No bells and whistles, no integrated compass or thermometer or hand sanitizer sleeve or any corny stuff like that. So I’ll keep my review short.
If you want to go ahead and check this water bottle out, you can find it RIGHT HERE!
Design:
It’s a metal bottle, with a plastic and metal handle that sort of “unfolds” from the side. It’s not the most secure feeling handle, but I assume they built it like that to keep weight down. The outer lid screws off and doubles as a mini mug (tumbler-style) which is great for tea, soup, oatmeal, and so on. Once that outer lid comes off, there’s also an internal lid. Day-to-day, I usually just leave the outer (mug) lid at home, because it’s kind of annoying to have to screw off two lids to drink your drink.
Size:
This bottle is marketed as 1.1 quarts, I guess because Stanley is really trying to rep their American heritage. I honestly don’t really know what a quart is. Does anyone?
I looked it up though, and basically 1.1 quarts is a little over a liter. So it holds the same amount of water as a standard Nalgene. But this bottle is also available in a perplexingly vast array of other sizes. We have 1 quart, 1.1 quarts (1L) 1.5 quarts, 20 ounces (wtf? how many quarts is that?), 2 quarts, and 2.5 quarts.
I dunno what’s going on there.
For reference…
Here is the Stanley Classic Legendary Bottle next to a shrunken head that I got in Peru a long time ago.
Does that help you understand its size? It’s about three times as tall as a Peruvian shrunken head.
Now…
Here is the Stanley Classic Legendary Bottle next to my head, which is larger than a shrunken head from Peru, but still not as large as the Stanley Classic Legendary Water bottle.
Weight:
It’s pretty heavy. 1.85 pounds to be exact. If you drop it and it’s full, I could see it maybe breaking a toe, if you have weak toes. And yeah, if you hit your buddy in the head with it, it’d probably crack skull. Whew!
It’s so heavy that in 95% of cases, I would not take it backpacking. The exceptions are if it was a short hike, or if was going somewhere extremely cold and needed to ensure my liquids didn’t freeze. I mostly use it in my 9-5 daily life, going to the pool/beach, working at a coffee shop, grilling out, whatever. I also take it car camping all the time. Not sure there’s a use case for the typical shoulder season backpacking trip unless you’re a real primadona who needs that perfect temperature. Here in Alabama it just does not get that cold!
Here’s that little mug / lid I was talking about.
It’s small. It’s nice. I drink tea out of it when I’m camping and feel like a Zen master.
Price:
It’s $36. That’s more than the average Nalgene, but that’s also about what I spent on two airport beers last weekend (yeah - Christ).
This bottle has lasted me longer than any Nalgene (or airport beer buzz) ever has, and I’m not worried about microplastics with it, either. And it insulates, which Nalgenes don’t do. I’d say the price is worth it.
Function:
The Stanley Classic Legendary Bottle is a double-wall vacuum sealed water bottle (if you’re scratching your head at that, see below). It does the job. I’ve put cold water into it, and I’ve put hot water into it, but I’ve never ever had lukewarm water come out of it.
Conclusion: It’s Good.
It’s a rugged, well-insulated metal water bottle. At $36 for the 1-liter version, I would not hesitate to buy it. It’s heavy, so don’t expect to take it hiking or cycling, but if you’re looking for insulation, it does the job. Mine has lasted for 3+ years now and seems like it’ll be kickin’ for a while longer.
Some Frequently Asked Questions….
Do Stanley water bottles have lead in them?
YES! Yes they do have lead in them! Ah!
So yeah, there is a pellet of lead in the bottom of this bottle. I think Stanley does this to make the bottom of the bottle heavier so it doesn’t tip over. However, the lead is fully sealed inside the stainless steel structure. The lead is not in direct contact with whatever you put in the bottle, or you. My understanding from reading on Google about this is that you’re all good, unless you shoot your bottle or chop it with a samurai sword or run it over with a bulldozer.
What is double-wall vacuum-sealed insulation?
I’ve often wondered about this too. Usually I see marketing terms like this and my brain glazes over, but I did some research here. Basically it means that the bottle consists of three layers. In this case these are 1) an outer stainless steel layer, 2) an inner stainless steel layer, and 3) a blank space of open air in between them. When the bottle is made, all the air in this space is sucked out to create a “vacuum.”
This vacuum helps insulate the drink inside, because all the air molecules (which can transfer heat) are gone. So it’s actually like there’s a mini slice of outer space inside of your water bottle, surrounding your drink. Kinda cool eh?
p.s. Don’t click those little social links below. I don’t have a Twitter, I don’t have Pinterest, and I don’t use Facebook, but I can’t figure out how to remove the buttons. Sorry. I guess you can click the heart if you want to like this review. Thank you!
