Eco Vessel provided me with a Aqua Vessel Ultra Lite filtration water bottle for the purpose of completing a review. You’ll find my complete, unbiased review here in this article — alongside the reasons I wanted to try this bottle myself. All comments I share in this post are my honest opinions of my experiences using the Eco Vessel filtration water bottle. 

Why Try the Eco Vessel Aqua Vessel Filtration Bottle?

I’ll Give You Seven Good Reasons.

If you find yourself identifying with the reasons I said ‘yes’ to this bottle, get yours here!

1. You Need a New Water Bottle.

First and foremost, the best reason to buy something is because you actually NEED it. And that was the case for me.

To start, I haven’t owned a good water bottle since… well… maybe I’ve never actually owned one worth mentioning.

I did the Nalgene thing back in high school, but those things always looked pretty beat up after a few months. In my recent working years I always had a Nike squeeze bottle at my desk, which, among other leaky quirks, had the habit of releasing a subtle — but definitely audible — high pitched squeaky sound at periodic intervals throughout the day. And after getting rid of most of our belongings before our full-time travel launch trip, I didn’t even have a water bottle to call my own anymore. So when I was asked if I’d like to review the Eco Vessel Aqua Vessel filtration bottle, it was an easy yes.

Another reason for me to try this bottle: Camelbak’s squishy bite-it tips freak me out. I’ve tried to drink from them and I can’t do it. It’s just. Too. WEIRD!

2. You’re an Active Outdoor Person.

Ian and I have been getting into more hiking and backpacking since we met four years ago. That’s a big reason why I was interested in testing the Eco Vessel filtration bottle.

3. You Travel to Third World Countries.

… or other places with notoriously unclean water. In addition to hiking and backpacking trips, Ian and I have been visiting our share of countries that offer up questionably clean water at the tap. With this bottle, you can (usually*) just pop any local-water-infused drink into it and drink up!

*Note from Eco Vessel website: “If traveling outside of the U.S. or for the highest level of protection, we strongly advise consulting a travel expert before using filter. It may be necessary to use supplementary purification tablets or water treatment drops for the region where you are traveling.”

4. You Don’t Like Waiting.

You won’t have to with this bottle. When it’s empty, just refill it at the nearest natural water source, and there’s no wait time required before you can drink it. We also have a SteriPen, which holds a noble “non-essential” spot on our list of travel essentials as minimalist packers, but compared to this water bottle, it’s kind of a pain in the ass — You have to stir your water for 90 seconds to sanitize it with a SteriPen.

It beats iodine tablets, too. And what’s that? Like a HALF HOUR of waiting?

5. You Don’t Want to Carry Extra Stuff.

You don’t need to pack iodine tablets (unless you’re headed to a place where EXTRA precautions are recommended), and you don’t need that expensive (and kinda bulky) SteriPen either.

The built-in filter DOES make the bottle a little heavier than a typical bottle of its size, but you will save on space on those hiking trips (or other travels where you pack a water bottle). And if you’re taking this bottle in place of a SteriPen, you’ll save on weight, too.

6. You Dislike Foul-Tasting, Orange Tinted Water.

I think iodine-sanitized water tastes and smells weird, and the orange tint is a turn off, too. Also — something about its taste makes me feel even MORE thirsty when I drink it.

(Can you tell I REALLY don’t like iodine? Yeah, THAT’S why we own a SteriPen.)

7. You Like Helping Others.

You won’t be the only one enjoying clean water as a result of your purchase. Eco Vessel has partnered with 1% For The Planet and donates 1% of annual sales to Water for People, whose mission is to provide long-lasting solutions to the water, sanitation, and hygiene problems in the developing world.

Review: My Experience with the Aqua Vessel Ultra Lite Filtration Bottle from Eco Vessel

My Eco Vessel bottle was waiting for me at my temporary urban home in Chicago when I arrived on June 1st. So I’ve been using it as my daily water vessel for a little more than one month. During that time, it’s been quenching my thirst in Chicago, traveled to 5 National Parks on our current U.S. road trip, and spent quality time in both the passenger side cup holder of our Yaris and riding along in the side pocket of my JanSport WatchTower backpack.

It’s a water bottle, so this was a pretty simple and straightforward test. Here are the highlights:

Features

The Aqua Vessel filters your water as you drink. The label boasts the bottle’s ability to remove >99.9% of parasites Giardia and Cryptosporidium, bad tastes, odors, and chlorine. It’s made of durable BPA free plastic and is dishwasher safe.

For First Time Users

(1) With a new bottle, a small amount of the first water filtered through will be gray from the carbon in the filter. It’s harmless to drink, but if you want to avoid drinking gray water, spit out your first few sips. I made Ian do it. — That’s what boyfriends are good for, right?

(2) The filter takes up a decent amount of space, which reduces the overall volume of water the bottle can hold. Save space for the filter when filling the bottle, or it’ll spill over when you screw on the lid.

A Quirk Worth Mentioning

As the bottle nears empty — at around a quarter full, or with about two inches of water left — I noticed the bottle becomes much more difficult to drink from. You have to suck much harder to get water to come up. I’ve tried repositioning the straw and unscrewing and replacing the lid, but I have the same problem every time I’m running low.

I suspect physics are to blame. The best fix for me was to just fill the bottle up again.

Note: It’s possible I got a quirky bottle. When I inquired about this, I was told they’d expect difficulty with about the last 1/4 inch of water, but not the last one or two inches

The Verdict

Eco Vessel’s Aqua Vessel Ultra Lite filtration bottle is a fantastically handy water bottle for two main purposes: (1) long hikes near water sources and (2) traveling in countries where drinking the tap water can be questionable. It is most certainly a beneficial tool for outdoor folk and travelers. It’s cheaper and easier than a SteriPen and tastes a hell of a lot better than iodine. If your tap water’s got that yucky chlorine taste I experienced growing up on my family’s annual vacations to Florida, this bottle may be a good everyday option for you, too.

Currently enjoying the Midwest’s notoriously tasty tap water, I’d still stick to a basic tip-up-to-drink bottle for everyday use — I’d personally rather not drink through a straw unless I have to — but I’ll be packing this bottle for almost all of our travels.

More About Eco Vessel

Eco Vessel is based in Boulder, Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The company donates 1% of each sale to Water For People, a global non-profit committed to providing clean water to underdeveloped countries.

You can read more about Water For People on the Eco Vessel website.