SIGG Aluminum Water Bottle Product Review
Written by Joel
The reduction in the use of plastic bottles in our lives is an aim I think most of us share. It’s all too easy to pick up a new plastic bottle of water rather than carrying your own, over 100m in the US alone are ending up in landfills every day. There are a few schools of thought, using aluminum bottles, steel bottles or corn based biodegradable plastic bottles (with or without a water filter). This review looks at one of those choices, a SIGG aluminum water bottle.
It’s an aluminum bottle. That’s pretty much it, it carries about 1 litre of liquid and does a fine job of it. At about 22.5cm (9 inches) in height, not including the cap (more about them in a minute) it’s a decent size to use on a walk, picnic, or gym, and just about fits in an average car cup holder. The bottles are fully recyclable at the end of their, probably long, life.
Who are SIGG? SIGG Switzerland dates back to 1908 when metal processing specialist Ferdinand Sigg established an aluminum product factory about 30 kilometers outside of Zurich. Still manufactured in Switzerland, they’ve been called the world’s toughest water bottles. Available in 144 designs with 22 bottle lids, some of the bottles are also displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. SIGG is also a member of 1% For The Planet – donating 1% of all sales to helping to preserve our environment.
What about leaching? Steel bottles do not usually leach, that is they don’t make the liquid inside taste of metal. Aluminum bottles do, so therefore need a lining, with SIGG’s being a water-based, non-toxic coating that is baked into the interior walls and remains flexible and crack resistant for the life of the bottle. The lining is taste neutral and resistant to fruit acids and energy drinks, and though it is FDA approved it would be nice to know generally what it’s made out of.
How as the bottle? I’ve had the bottle for a couple of weeks and found no problems with it at all. I like the fact it’s tough and I can throw it if I need to without worry. While using a dishwasher is not recommended as due to the small opening it wouldn’t get clean effectively, it seemed fine to me. The paint might eventually wear off though. There are a variety of caps that can be used, the default screw cap isn’t especially friendly, unless you need to attach the bottle to something, the sports caps are much more convenient for day-to-day use. After refrigerating the bottle can be too cold to hold (being metal and all), though they do sell sleeves and rubber handle grips to help.
An extremely quick video is embedded below, frankly after the written review I wasn’t sure what benefits and features I could show you, so I’ll be honest and say it’s not fascinating, but is short!
Starting at $16.99 to $24.99, SIGG bottles are available from from Amazon and through SIGG themselves. For more eco product reviews, please take a look at our Eco Reviews page.
I’ve looked at these before and almost bought one, but I already have a few Nalgene bottles that do the trick.
How would a Nalgene stack up against a SIGG?
Interesting. That is one fancy pants water bottle I must say!
Me, I’m a bit paranoid about aluminum. I know there’s a lining, but I’m crazy.
Like Levi, I do the nalgene thing, a whole lot cheaper that’s for sure. But besides the landfull issue, now there’s that whole “plastic causes breast cancer” or death or whatever thing and really, where does it end? So much fuss over what to drink water out of these days. lol
I have taken to re-using glass bottles (i.e. Fuse, Pom, etc.). Not as sporty, but good for most purposes.
Thanks for your comments.
Levi – I will get ahold of a Nalgene bottle. I am also getting a steel Klean Kanteen one and a corn based plastic bottle with a water filter. Then we can take a look at the whole “range”.
Oots – I’m not exactly light in the way I treat my SIGG bottle, but isn’t the glass a bit breakable for use in backpacks and out and about? Or is it sturdy?
I think it’s great people are using alternatives, with 60m out of the 70m plastic water bottles (100m overall) used a day in the US going to landfills then at least it’s a start!
I switched from carrying a plastic water bottle to a SIGG bottle last summer and I’ll never go back. I found that even ‘expensive’ water bottles like Nalgene tended to add a funny taste to the water over time, where as the aluminium SIGG bottles don’t affect the taste whatsoever. And my SIGG bottle is actually lighter than a similar sized plastic bottle believe it or not.
The screw on cap is fine for when you have both hands free, but there’s also a quick access sip cap available if you want to use it while ridiang a bike etc. Over the past few months my bottle has managed to acquire a tiny ding here and there, but it gives it character more than anything.
Thanks Andrew. There’s definitely no taste from the bottle I’m testing. Apparently there’s not in the steel ones too so I’ll let you know in my review.
Thanks Rachel, it is worth mentioning that the plastic taste you get with drinking from some plastic bottles is because of leaching – if you can taste plastic, you’re ingesting plastic. Can’t be good for you!
[...] Joel at provided some great details about these eco-friendly bottles last week. This post was originally published on Thursday, February 21, 2008. (Disclosure: SIGG has advertised on the GO Media [...]
I have been using a Sigg Bottle for the last several months and I love it! It is a great bottle. Completely leak proof and its very stylish. I have always been one to buy new water bottles whenever I see a cool one, but I can gurantee that from now on, I will only be buying Siggs. And yes, they do get dents and scratches if you drop them on concrete, which I have several times. But they still look cool, I just consider them battle wounds. Buy a Sigg and you wont be dissapointed.
Interesting I think I am going to go out and buy this bottle would be great to fill up with water and be able to have a clean sanitary way of enjoying it as well.
Hi all,
I have alot of time to kill at work so I was surfing the internet the other day and discovered that the Nalgene company actually makes devices used for animal testing. There is a terrible pic of a bunny in a nalgene labeled trap. Turned me off of em…that is why I’m at this site looking for info on the aluminum bottles. Thanks guys!
Thanks Cory for the info about Nalgene and animal testing. That is a HUGE turn off.
I’ll take a look to see if I can find out more info about Nalgene, thanks for the info.
[...] Reina: Thanks Cory for the info about Nalgene and animal testing. That is a HUGE turn off. [...]
i got mine at http://www.metalwaterbottlestore.com
[...] to test, seven in total. Reusable bottles are a great alternative (we’ve previously looked at SIGG) and these plastic bottles represent many different styles and uses so it was great to test [...]
I have used Siggs for my 2 kids for the last few years and have been very happy with them, too. I also like Klean Kanteens–I just bought a 27 oz one for myself for iced tea during the day. One advantage of Klean Kanteens is a wider top so you can fit normal sized ice cubes in the top. I just posted an article on my site about a couple of other safe reusable bottles, too, if you are interested in more information.
Thanks, I’ll take a look.
I found sigg to be very expensive.
Check this out. Discountmugs.com has the best prices on BPA free Aluminum water bottles. They have free shipping also.
http://www.mysigg.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=758
http://www.discountmugs.com/nc/category/sports-bottles/
http://momguru.com/content/when-bpa-free-isnt-siggs-dirty-little-secret
Sigg’s CEO just issued a statement revealing that bottles manufactured by the company prior to August 2008 had a liner that contained BPA.
NOT SAFE, EVEN WITH NEW LINER!
I do not trust this company. The bottles have a chemical liner and the company does not disclose the composition. Some bottles sold still contain the old copper-colored liner which contains BPA, as the company admitted recently. The newer bottles have a different liner, but the company again does not disclose the composition and when I purchased my bottle, after thorough washing, I could detect a weird taste in the water. If the new lining is truly non-toxic, then the company should come clean and reveal the composition. I do not trust that the new liner is any better than the old. I bought mine directly from the SIGG website and their 30-day return policy is a joke (only store credit, $5 restocking fee per item, $10 if it has been used, plus of course you pay for shipping). So now I am stuck with a possibly toxic bottle that I cannot use. I recommend you buy stainless steel bottles like those from Klean Kanteen, which even SIGG’s research posted on their website showed that they do not leach anything toxic.
I was very disappointed with the company too. I haven’t even tried their new bottles as I don’t feel they deserve the publicity yet. I’d be extremely surprised if the new liner was anything but 100% BPA free and non-leaching though, after the years spent developing it and it being made to replace the previous one. I too will stick with another manufacturer like Klean Canteen or Eco Canteen.
i bought a sigg over the summer and i dropped it recently and is has a dent on the top. i want to know if it’s okay to put it in the freezer or how to fix it.
NO!!! Never put this bottle in the freezer. The water bottle is tough, it can be filled and thrown or shot by a cannon with only dents. However, water expands while being frozen and will crack the bottle. It is tough, and my Sigg is beautiful, but it cannon stretch like plastic.
I love these bottles. I threw mine out of a moving car at 45 mph at my friend and it hit the concrete first and didn’t break.
I’ve used a SIGG for about a 8 months now, I use it daily to bring water to work. I really like the bottle, the look is great and it’s very light wight. There is one problem though, I used own several Nalgene and used them extensively for several years, they were virtually unbreakable, I remember once while running to Dragonboat practice and the bottle fell out of my hands, it hit the cement and bounced righted in front of my foot and I booted it 20 feet down the sidewalk, and the bottle survived with scratches only.
My filled SIGG recently fell out of my locker at work and the bottom of the bottle is now permanently dented, it’s just a cosmetic thing but looking inside the bottle with a flash light revealed that the lining has cracked, since the SIGG is made of aluminum, and I drink 2 litres from it everyday, I will be replacing my dented one.
I love SIGG water bottles. One of my friends got me hooked! As mentioned before, it’s light weight, durable, and it doesn’t leach. They’re also very well designed. The lining is very trustworthy, especially now that they’re BPA free. I will continue to use SIGG as a part of my everyday eco-friendly lifestyle
. Thanks for the article!
-Emily.
I’ve been meaning to get one of these forever now. I guess the ones that I’ve tried in the past were aluminum because they always had the metallic aftertaste that you mentioned.
Thanks for the informative post. I’m finally going to “breakdown” and buy one.
-Matt