Australia’s best thermos: The Montbell Alpine Thermo
This modern insulated flask is among the best we've seen - so it's no surprise it's an Outdoor Industry Award winner.
Who's the Alpine Thermo Bottle for?
The Alpine Thermo Bottle is perfect for everyday use by individuals venturing into mountain peaks and are after lightweight equipment. It is designed to maintain the right temperature for a long mountain mission while also to be enjoyed at the office with some home-brewed tea. In addition to daily use, the Alpine Thermos is ideal for hiking, camping, travelling, skiing, snowboarding, cycling, and running.
Design
The Alpine Thermo bottle isn't designed like any old flask; it has intricate details that makes it suitable for the toughest peaks and a variety of activities. It features an inner chamber surrounded by a vacuum within two stainless steel walls. In addition, to the super thin vacuum via metal spinning, the inner chamber is also lined up with a copper plate so that it'll reflect heat back.
In any ordinary flask, the cap is a weak point for maintaining heat temperature. To overcome this issue, Montbell has injected an insulation filling into the walls of the cap to limit heat loss from the top of the bottle.
Finally, it has a convenient three-part system; the main body of the thermos, an inner sealed cap, and a top outer cap. Turn the inner cap clockwise 180° to start pouring, and use the outer cap as a cup to easily drink your liquids from.
Capacity and Weight
In the harsh conditions of alpine surroundings, weight and ease of use become incredibly important. The Montbell insulated thermos comes in four different capacities of 350ml, 500ml, 750ml, and 900ml. This makes it big enough to be useful for a number of kilometres on the trail whilst also being suitable for day-to-day life.
Respectively, each one weighs 241g, 266g, 355g, and 374g. To compare how incredibly lightweight these thermos flasks are, the Klean Kanteen TKPro 1L weighs 723g, and the Sigg Hot & Cold 1.0L Flask at 728g. Montbell was able to minimise weight by optimising the thickness of the inner chamber by going one step further than others with a process called metal spinning.
Temperature performance
The Alpine Thermos can keep your drink hot or cold for as long as 24 hours. If you start the day with a beverage in the 900ml thermos that is 95°C or hotter, you should drink something at least 61°C or warmer the next morning. On the other hand, if you started with a 4°C drink, it shouldn't have risen much higher than 10°C after 24 hours. Of course, everything depends on how frequently you open this to drink from and the environment temperature.
