Review: Camelbak Hot Cap Vacuum Mug

 REI had a sale for the Hot Cap Vacuum Mug for $5.73. The normal price on Amazon was around $15, so this was too good to pass up. 

The most important feature of this mug is that it fits in a standard size waterbottle cage. I tested it by riding up Montebello road and doing the dirt traverse over to Page Mill road, and the bottle was never in danger of falling out. The lid mechanism is kinda clunky --- no pulling over the valve with your teeth on this one. And if you do extended dirt riding, the lid will definitely get dirt thrown on it by the wheels. However, I discovered that when I started the ride with the mug half full, I'd finish the rest of the coffee by the time I got above the cloud and switched to water instead of coffee anyway.

The claim is that the mug will keep hot coffee hot for 6 hours. I don't know how Camelbak did their testing, but it must have not been on a bicycle bottle cage. At speeds between 6-20mph, after just an hour the coffee had cooled to nearly room temperature, and after 2 hours (admittedly with a  high speed descent through fog) any residual coffee was cold.

The bottle body has a wide mouth, making it easy to clean. The mouth is not quite wide enough, however, to use an aeropress on with its funnel. For car camping I think it'll be good (no 20mph descents will probably keep the coffee much warmer). It's a bit too heavy for anything but the shortest day ride.

There's a 20oz version, but I think for 20oz, it's better to get the mag chute version. That's because 20oz of anything is going last long enough for you to get to the dirt traverse, and the mag chute cap will keep the mouth piece clean. The trade off is that I'm not sure I could get the mag chute cap on and off while riding.

In any case, I wouldn't pay full price for the mug, but at $5.73 it's a good deal. Recommended.