The Clearly Filtered Athlete edition filtered bottle, the plastic version, has been our first filtered bottle ever, and while we can't travel now without a filtered bottle, we can't say that we were totally satisfied with this specific model as we will see in detail in the review.
We also saw that the Seychelle Water Filtration Flip Top Bottle "looks" exactly the same model as the Clearly Filtered Athlete edition Filtered bottle, in every part except the brand, so this review might refer also to the Seychelle Water bottle.
We verified the similarity not only on line, but also through a friend having exactly that specific model. I can't say if it's 100% the same, cause I don't know what's the mixture used inside the filter, but our review is not about the filtration technology, since we didn't do any lab test, but about the structure and design of the bottle itself, so I guess it's safe to assume that it can be referred also to the Seychelle Water Filtration Flip Top Bottle.
As I anticipated, after using the Clearly Filtered Athlete edition Filtered bottle, we understood the importance of having a purification system while travelling. And in fact while 5 years ago I was so many times sick while traveling in India and drinking local water not to waste plastic, on the last 9 months passed in Indonesia I had no health issues. Of course it's not only because of an occasional usage of the filtering system, but for sure it helped.
We used the two identical bottles we received from Clearly filtered, mainly to filter non drinkable tap water from our house, when we forgot to buy gallons of water. We haven't experimented with dirty polluted Indonesian rivers or other water sources.
Below the list of problems we have experienced during these months:
- In order to drink more easily, you have to squeeze the bottle. But by doing so, the neck of the bottle is also deformed, and it's spilling water all over you;
While squeezing the Clearly filtered Athlete bottle, water is leaking
- When the straw is closed in "resting position" the end of the straw is exposed to the outside world, collecting every kind of dirt, that is then sucked through the straw itself while drinking;
Detail od the straw in resting position
- After some time, the plastic gets moldy inside, in particular if you leave it forgotten for some weeks. It looks like this is a problem common to several brands, and easily fixable: we cleaned our drinking bottles using hot water, rice and baking soda;
Mold inside the water bottle
- The filter lasted much less than advertised for us, and after 2-3 months of non regular use, it was almost clogged, with one of the two dying earlier than the other. We still keep the bottles but just for emergency situations, since it's really difficult and frustrating to use the Clearly Filtered bottles now (I'm not sure if it might be also unhealthy);
- Replacement filters are quite expensive, after discount they cost 60% of the price of a new Clearly Filtered Athlete edition filtered bottle and they can be bought only in the USA, as far as I can say. So if you are planning to travel for some months, you should pack more than one filter, that adds up to the weight of the luggage. If you are living in the Usa and planning to use it for trips within the country, or travel of a maximum length of around 3 months abroad, then it might be a good product for you.
I'm not aware of any competitor products that might be available more easily around the world, if you know, drop me a line in the comments.
While the Clearly Filtered Athlete edition filtered bottle didn't meet our expectations, this review is not about the company itself, but this specific item, so other models from the same company might work better than ours, considering that the filtration system did its job well.
Davide Vadalà
