Like I wrote, this is a big plus for Keego bottles, where you can take the cap apart as well.
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Haha, yeah, even after a good year of going to the gym to train my weak hands and arms, I still find the Keegos harder to drink from.. 
and have started to use the Elite bottles specifically because of their squishiness.
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You know I honestly don’t think I’ve ever paid actual money for a water bottle. I can’t say I’ve found anything of any real difference between any of them. They have a nozzle, they hold water, I squirt it in my gob. Is there really any more to it then that?
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Some people really like them.I was thinking of making a list that listed the properties of the bottles (e. g. no matter if you like it or not, Elite bottles are the softest I have tried and Keego bottles are stiffer), and separately state personal preferences.
Perhaps there are other bottles I have not tried yet, but might be worth trying.
Where do you get your bottles from? Events?
Family favorite: Camelbak podium (insulated or not), for wife, kid, and myself. Fully leak proof. Comfortable, soft spout. Squeeze to drink, no need chipping off a tooth to open the spout. Also relatively child proof: the soft rubber spout can take some chewing, and the lock/close position is way easier to handle than e.g. the annoying one from Tacx. Quite scratch resistant, even in metal bottle cages. A wide variety of colorful, yet relatively simple designs, to match any bike or outfit. Affordable. Dishwasher proof. Downsides: plastic (could the metal variant be an alternative? TBD); not locally manufactured (like Tacx).
Alternative: Zefal. Had one a while back, loved the spout. But difficult to find here, or boring designs.
Hate: Tacx. Crappy cap (difficult to open; wants to “auto-close” and then keeps the bottle in squeezed shape), waxy/plastic smell that leaches into the water quickly. Too cheap: why does everyone keep giving these away?
Looking forward to: a Bivo one - but the price (and current bottle collection…) makes me doubt.
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Events, freebies on occasion with ordering other stuff like nutrition, that sort of thing. I only ever really put water in mine, so they don’t get gunked up. I lose them long befor they wear out tbh. I’ll tend to just use the one (my only 750ml one left) and the others are spares or for the odd occassion when I might want two.
Re the Elite Fly bottles. While they are light and work well initially, I find that after being repeatedly washed in the dishwasher they lose their shape and begin leaking when drinking from. I have purchased 3-4 of them and it has happened every time. I never get more than a year out of them, and for the sake of the environment, I don’t want to treat a bottle as throwaway within such a short period.
I have given up and purchased bottles with thicker plastic that can stand up to a dishwasher. Such as Elite’s own Jet range.
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Pull harder. It does require a bit of force (it would be a choking hazard if it was prone to coming off easily), but it does come off with a firm tug.
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Same. I liked the older style Podium, but i just don’ get along as well with the newer style. I’ve transitioned to Elite Fly bottles in both 750 ml and 500 ml.
Typically get a a few freebies each year, usually Specialized, so I guess that’s my “go to”. Don’t like black or other dark colors because it is hard to tell if they are actually clean. Wish for a nozzle that doesn’t leak after disassembly/reassembly. I like bottles that have a nozzle cover for gravel and mtb. Don’t like the dust appetizer and if you make stream crossings in farm country you never know what might be in the spray off the wheels.
I bought the MTB version of the Elite Fly bottles because they come with caps. The cap does a decent job of keeping dust/dirt from the nozzle but it does add a couple more steps to the drinking process, which I am fine with.
elite fly for beautiful design (it’s all about the looks) and they are available without much print on them. but the nozzle starts leaking after some time.
or camelback podium. also nice looking, no print version available. absolutely leak proof but complicated to take apart
That’s perhaps another criterion: if you want bottles with a custom design/print, it seems your best options are Specialized and Elite. My former team in Japan had very nice Specialized bottles made. I’m nursing my last bottle (the others got too disgusting to use).
Or are there other makers that allow for custom designs?
I will add an anti-recommendation for the EVOC bottles. No matter what you do, they will leak on you after you finish drinking.
I have recently updated my Podium Chills from very old ones to the current. They seem less squishy, but perhaps that’s just because they are newer.
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Elite Fly
Easy to clean cap (just pull out off) and that’s the most important part.
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Same, Elite fly - cheap, light, plain colours, easy to clean, easy to squish and the new models have a grippy textured surface.
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That was my experience, too. Also, the first revision of the caps was a lot harder to twist (from open to closed or vice versa) than the old Podium Chills. Camelbak has since resolved that.
+1 to the peloton of Elite fans, in particular the Fly series. Light, easy to clean, available in 500 and 750 ml sizes and even insulated (though only marginal benefit). They even offer a small “fixture” that can be used for steam cleaning in a microwave that works great if you’re careful to check power settings/time, not so great if you just hit the timer at max and overcook the very thin walled bottle 
I tried putting the bottles in our sterilizer (for baby bottles), and while I haven’t had any issues with the lids and nozzles/nozzle assemblies, I have lost one Podium Chill bottle, because the plastic contracted. I haven’t tried it with Elite bottles, but I wouldn’t. The lid, though, should be ok if you put it in a sterilizer.
I’ve been using the Podium and Podium Chill bottles since they first came out. I think the lids are easier to take apart now than they were when they first came out. There was one generation of lids between the current generation and the first generation that was a bit weird and that I really didn’t like, but I got rid of those. I have a single Elite bottle, a small one (500ml?) It’s nice, and fluid flows well out of it, but on the road I really don’t notice any real difference in squeezability.
I’m just glad that we no longer have to use the plastic bottles that were out in the mid-to late 80’s any more. The taste of warm water coming out of those on a hot day was……..memorable but not in a good way. When I was playing little league baseball, one of things you could get at virtually any concession stand was wax bottle (or some other shape) filled with sweet, but not natural, juice or drink on the inside. You’d bite through the wax, drink the fluid, and then ( a lot of kids) would then chew the wax bottle). Those wax bottles, sans juice, tasted better and more natural, than the water out of plastic water bottle in 1985.