Review of the Hydro Flask 12oz Coffee Mug with Flex Sip Lid

Can you get replacement parts? Other accessories?

You can buy a replacement Flex Sip lid on the Hydro Flask website for NZ$24,99 . You can also replace this with a Wide Mouth Flex Cap which looks similar except that it’s just a cap without the rotating closure and sipping hole. This could be great for soups or if you want to fully open your lid to save having to wash the inside of the sipper.

The Hydro Flask 12oz Coffee Mug is compatible with their Wide Mouth Straw Lid, which features a flip-open spout and a rubber straw. However, they state that it’s not leakproof and isn’t designed for hot liquids. Handy for cool drinks when storing in an upright holder like a car’s cupholder or a bike’s bottle cage.

You can also purchase a rubber boot that the mug sits in. This makes for a nicer feel when placing the metal mug down on hard surfaces (and also makes it very quiet – imagine placing a hard metal mug down on a glass-surface tabletop) and helps to prevent any dents, scuffs, and scratches. Especially if your mug is going to be used by kids, or if your mug is going to be in a pack alongside other hard items that could get damaged.

You’d never need a coaster, and I imagine it would be nice on walks when you want to place the cup down on a rocky surface – it would probably also help the mug from sliding away – but it could be a hassle if you put your cup into a tight side pocket on your pack as it could make it more difficult to pull the mug out.

If you go down this route for this 12oz mug, make sure you get the small instead of the regular. There are a number of colours to choose from on the US website, or just black and ‘watermelon pink’ on the New Zealand website.

What’s Hydro Flask Like as a Company?

If you read my post on the Patagonia Torrentshell 3L, you’ll know that I’m making an effort to purchase from ethical and sustainable businesses.

As a company that makes reusable bottles, it’s too much of an easy win for Hydro Flask to take the angle of ‘reduce and reuse’ as their only mantra. Making and selling bottles is their business, so obviously they’re going to say this shows they care about the environment. But Hydro Flask have taken this to the next level with their lifetime warranty, showing that they’re interested in making products that last.

On top of this, they’ve established a chartiable program called ‘Parks for All’. This program has so far supported more than 92 non-profits with donations amounting to US$1.5 million and counting. Nice.

Other than that, the only thing lacking from their website was information about the manufacturing process and the materials used. I couldn’t find info on where the products are made, whether the people making the products are paid a reasonable wage, and no reference to where the materials come from. That’s not to say this is because there are areas for concern here, but it’d be great to see Hydro Flask show some more transparency here.