The LARQ Bottle PureVis 2 has develop into my emotional assist water bottle, particularly because of its hydration-tracking characteristic.
Any time I felt drained rising up, one of many first questions my mother would ask me was, “Have you ever been drinking enough water?” On high of this, I have been a wellness author for the final decade, which has additional cemented my information of simply how essential it’s to take care of adequate hydration day-after-day. But, I would by no means truly saved monitor of the quantity of water I drank. I assumed my physique would inform me when it was thirsty and that ingesting water then could be sufficient.
I used to be mistaken. After I began testing the hydration-tracking LARQ Bottle PureVis 2 for CNET’s best self-cleaning water bottle list, I noticed my former hydration technique wasn’t reducing it. Now that I’ve a water bottle to trace my water consumption, it is clear I in all probability wasn’t ingesting sufficient water earlier than, and that it was negatively affecting my well being.
What I really like about my hydration-tracking water bottle
The LARQ PureVis 2 was primarily designed to maintain your water sanitized with UV-C LED expertise to take away 99.999% of Salmonella and 99.99% of E. coli. It additionally comes with a filtered straw that removes prescribed drugs, chlorine, PFOS and PFOA. The latter two are lab-made chemical substances that may have harmful health effects.
Nonetheless, my favourite characteristic is that it connects to the LARQ app, which helps you to monitor your water consumption.
To ascertain how a lot water you have to be ingesting every day, LARQ asks in your birthday, intercourse, peak, weight and exercise stage. You can even regulate this quantity your self.
The LARQ Bottle PureVis 2.
A number of water consumption visuals
On the LARQ app’s primary display screen, there’s a share, a fraction and a line graph displaying how a lot you drank at this time. Based mostly on the time of day, a curved standing bar additionally reveals whether or not you’ve got been ingesting sufficient water at a tempo that can mean you can meet your every day objective. Within the app, you may set your “awake” and “sleep” hours so it is aware of your timeline.
You may simply see within the LARQ app for those who’ve been ingesting sufficient water to satisfy your every day objective.
I really like that this bottle gives a number of visible indicators to indicate how a lot water you’ve got been ingesting, so I can simply inform at a look if I have to take extra sips. You can even arrange hydration reminders that can immediate the highest of the water bottle to glow through the hours you are awake, nudging you to drink extra water. This glow is surprisingly brilliant, so you will not miss it.
In the course of the app’s two tabs on the backside is a plus signal you may click on so as to add drinks that did not come out of your water bottle. Admittedly, typically I overlook to do that. Six choices are included — water, espresso, tea, soda, juice and milk — for which you’ll add the variety of ounces and the time you drank the beverage.
Dive into your hydration historical past
On the high, it reveals the times of the week, every surrounded by a curved standing bar, so you may look again at how a lot water you’ve got drunk. If I have been feeling off or low-energy for a couple of days, I will usually look again at this schedule and notice that I did not drink sufficient water, as dehydration can cause fatigue.
Along with your historical past, you may view your private finest and present streaks.
Beneath the road graph is a “Streak” part that shows what number of days in a row you’ve got reached 100% of your hydration objective and your private finest. On the very backside is the “Historical past,” the place you may view every time you drank water from the bottle and the way a lot you drank.
Eco-friendly analytics
Once you click on on the “Gadgets” tab on the underside bar, you may see your system, its battery stage, the final time it was purified with UV-C LED and details about the filter in your straw, for those who select to make use of it. If you happen to click on the filter, you may see its age, the filtered quantity, the share it is depleted and the choice to order a three-pack of new filters ($30+).
My favourite part within the LARQ app reveals your environmental affect.
On the high proper, there’s an analytics button that reveals a few of my favourite knowledge. There’s a bar graph displaying what number of gallons of water you’ve got drunk over the previous week, month or six months. Under that, you may see your environmental and monetary affect: how a lot cash you saved on bottled water, your diminished carbon footprint and diminished plastic waste.
The lengthy battery life
One full cost with the included USB-C cable lasts two to 3 weeks. Often, mine lasts about three weeks, however I do not use “journey mode,” which requires extra energy and takes 3 minutes to self-clean the bottle with the UV-C LED. It’s best used with much less dependable water sources within the backcountry, reminiscent of on hikes.
As a substitute, I enable my bottle to robotically clear itself in regular mode, which prompts each 2 hours for 10 seconds. Typically I additionally press the highest button as soon as (twice triggers journey mode) to activate regular mode for 1 minute.
The LARQ Bottle PureVis 2 with its high button glowing to indicate it is in a standard cleansing mode.
What I do not love about this water bottle
Value: As for the rationale why I hate how a lot I really like this water bottle, it is primarily the worth. The 23-ounce model prices $129, whereas the 34-ounce bottle (the one I’ve) is $139. That is costly for a water bottle. A less expensive various could be a bottle with time and ounces markers, however you’d have to trace the every day complete your self. This one additionally has motivational phrases.
Handbook cleansing: One other draw back is that you just nonetheless have to wash the bottle by hand. Though it’s “self-cleaning,” that solely applies to the water and elements of the bottle that the UV-C LED expertise can attain. So, LARQ nonetheless recommends giving the bottle — and particularly the cap the place buildup could happen — a heat, soapy rinse on occasion.
The straw: Uninterested in cleansing the straw, and since I have been having bother conserving it in place within the bottle’s mouth, I made a decision to take away it. I am already filling the bottle with filtered water and avoiding utilizing it with much less dependable sources, reminiscent of working water on hikes, so I do not really feel the necessity to hold the straw.
Dimension: Lastly, the one different draw back I can consider is that the 34-ounce bottle does not slot in my automotive cup holder, so I’ve to slip it into the compartment in my automotive door or lay it on the passenger seat. Nonetheless, it does slot in my backpack’s facet bottle pocket after I journey. It did fall out of the pocket as soon as and survived the autumn with solely a small dent on the chrome steel bottle and a tiny scrape on the BPA-free plastic cap.
The ultimate verdict
Even with the cons I discussed, I nonetheless love this water bottle. The hydration-tracking characteristic has helped me guarantee I drink sufficient water every day, which helps my well being and, particularly, my vitality. I additionally love that it provides me knowledge about how a lot plastic waste I’ve prevented by ingesting from this reusable bottle.
Basically, this has develop into my emotional assist water bottle. I am grateful that it provides me one much less factor to maintain monitor of through the day, albeit some of the essential: my hydration.
