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review

Water-to-Go Go! bottle

7
£12.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Reasonably priced, effective water filter bottle, spot on for travel and workplace use but not quite perfect for cycling
Weight: 
98g

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Water-to-Go have been around for a good number of years, offering water filtration solutions for genuinely hostile conditions. Until recently, though, their bottles have been more orientated towards military and expedition use, with rather more bulk than is useful for cycling. The 500ml GO! Bottle is aimed at fitness users of all types and for general travel.

This isn't merely a home-use style water filter, taking away bad tastes and some chemical bits and pieces. The GO! Bottle uses a 3 in 1 filter to eliminate over 99.9% of all bacteria, viruses, chlorine, fluoride and heavy metals such as lead, leaving clean, safe drinking water. The bottle itself is BPA free and comes with a handy indicator band that allows you to keep tabs on how long the filter has left – each filter is designed to last for around 2 months, or 130 litres of filtration.

A bottle style water filter such as this makes touring in more exotic climes a much easier thing to consider, giving easy access to safe and drinkable water. Even in the UK and Europe, it's always nice to know that should things get desperate, that nearby stream is a feasible option as a water source.

First off, the time band gizmo does cause some trouble fitting the bottle easily into a bottle cage. The rubberized band is designed to allow the bottle to be held securely, but it also wedges quite firmly and not easily into most styles of cage. It is definitely better suited to side access cages.

That aside, the bottle is easy to use and results in great tasting water. It is slightly slower to drink than most bottles, given the small dimensions of the drinking spout, so you'll want to save it for more relaxed paced rides rather than sporting efforts. It is however, also spot on for overnight hotel stays before events, allowing easy hydration from bedroom taps, with no fear of pollution from pigeons in the water tank and so on.

I'd be inclined to take this bottle on more wild and woolly touring adventures, but would probably use a normal water bottle in other circumstances, given the niggles of using this one as it stands. It's an excellent and cost effective bottle for office and travel use, a far more ethical alternative to bottled water, but it needs a bit of tweaking to make it genuinely easy to use for cycling adventures.

Verdict

Reasonably priced, effective water filter bottle, spot on for travel and workplace use but not quite perfect for cycling

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Water-to-Go Go! bottle

Size tested: White

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Designed to filter out bacteria, viruses, chlorine, fluoride and heavy metals in any situation, to give clean, safe drinking water

Great for all sorts of active and travel use, but the time display band and water delivery spout make it quite fiddly for bike use.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Lightweight BPA free bottle

Filter lasts approximately 2 months (130 litres filtered)

Filter life span indicator in band around bottle

Eliminates over 99.9% of bacteria, viruses, chlorine, fluoride and heavy metals

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
7/10

Drinking spout very small

Bottle well made

Filter life indicator fiddly to use

Rate the product for performance:
 
6/10

Delivered clean and pleasant tasting drinking water. Spout was very small and allowed for quite slow drinking.

Bottle tended to stick in most bottle cages, caused by filter lifespan indicator band.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10

Well made and durable enough to last its 2 month predicted lifespan

Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10

A good weight for a proper filter bottle.

Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

Good value for 2 months of clean drinking water, wherever you drink it.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Performed well as a filter bottle for active and travel use, but not perfect for cycling bottle cages and water flow through not quite quick enough.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Shape, weight, efficacy, value for money, versatility, convenience.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

The way the indicator band caused it to not fit easily into many bottle cages, the slow flow of the water from the small spout.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Probably. Definitely for travel and overseas use.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

A well-designed lightweight filter bottle for active pastimes, but in need of a few minor tweaks to make it truly perfect for cycling use.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 42  Height: 1.65m  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: Boardman Hybrid Fi  My best bike is: Specialized Ruby Elite

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, sportives, general fitness riding, mtb,

 

Lara has been riding bikes for longer than she'd care to admit, and writing about them nearly as long. Since 2009 she has been working as part of the road.cc review team whilst championing women's cycling on the side, most notably via two years as editor of the, sadly now defunct, UK's first and only women's cycling mag, erm, Women's Cycling. 

Believing fervently that cycling will save the world, she wishes that more people would just ride a bike and be pleasant to each other. 

She will ride anything with two wheels, occasionally likes to go fast, definitely likes to go far and is always up for a bit of exploring somewhere new and exciting. 

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1 comments

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The_Bedford_Cyclist | 3 years ago
0 likes

Worth checking out their new Active bottle that fits in a bike cage - https://watertogo.eu/product/75cl-active-bottle/

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