Customer Reviews

Contigo Double Wall Vacuum Insulated Travel Mugs in Silver and Green -

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

These mugs are pretty great. A mug, stainless steel, inside and out, that is vacuum insulated, with a spill proof lid: is the only way to carry hot liquid (hereafter known as coffee). The coffee flows freely once the button is depressed (which is an issue with one spill-proof mug I've had), and is kept hot for quite a while (which is an issue with most regular mugs). There aren't really any quantitative reviews on these mugs, so I decided to try to give one a try.

I decided to do a test on the heat retention properties of these mugs starting by heating up some water to 199 degrees (even though the recommended maximum temp is 194). At a 199 starting temp the water after 1 hour was 169 degrees vs the control test of a non-insulated container holding the same amount of water heated to the same 199, after an hour was 90 degrees. The lid was quite hot throughout the experiment, so most of the heat is transferred out the top. After 4 hours (starting completely over without ever removing the lid) the temperature was only 130 degrees. Pretty much still perfect! (The control was room temp after 2.5 hours). `s Wonderful.

As one of the other reviews of Contigo mugs pointed out, there is no intermediary place to have the coffee pool to sip from (normal mugs that have high lips or recessed lids allow for this). This means that if your coffee isn't the correct temperature for putting directly into your mouth, it could burn quite a bit. Reading about this at first I thought it wasn't very important, but, I'm starting to think it is. Only more time will tell.

I believe that these are the same "16 oz" mugs that are also sold in individual units. The moral of the story is yes, they are 16 oz when the lid is off and they are filled past the threads, but in order to put the lid on to take advantage of main desirable properties of the mug, one must pour out (or leave off) two oz. This means these mugs are effectively 14 oz. The maximum amount of coffee you can put in without the lid displacing it is 14.5 oz. Therefore, if you're at Starbucks and you want room for cream, don't let them charge you for a Grande, tell them it is a Tall.

Overall this is an excellent investment in mug.

This mug does an incredible job of keeping your beverages hot or cold. It is comfortable to hold. It doesn't leak. It is an attractive design.

First complaint--it is difficult to clean the lid. It has nooks and crannies that are nearly impossible to clean by hand, so it must be put in the dishwasher.

Second complaint--I send my wife to work each morning (she is a nurse) with a mug of coffee. She has small hands, and found it to be a little uncomfortable and a nuisance to have to hold down on the button in order to drink from the mug. I solved this problem by doing a little grinding and handyman engineering so that she can now prop the button open to more easily drink from the mug. I have posted some pictures on Picasa showing how I did this.

[...]

Contigo Travel Mugs are just about perfect for long road trips. My wife bought us two of these mugs on a whim and we are both very pleased with them. Here are my observations:

+ These are well insulated, keeping my coffee hot and her water cold for many hours
+ Comfortable shape with well positioned control
+ Spill proof, has never leaked despite several good falls
+ Large capacity, holds a lot of liquid
+ Fits in standard cup holder

While they are a little pricey, they do work very well and are worth it if you spend a lot of time behind the wheel.

Highly Recommended!

CFH

At first this product is great. The valve in the lid is great, the lid seals well. The mug looks nice and is pretty well built. But... all these features don't matter when the mugs are not really vacuum insulated. I used my two mugs for two weeks and they now have water between the insulated walls of the mug. The water sloshes around and causes hot spots due to the water conducting heat from the inner liner to the outside of the mug. If these mugs were truly vacuum insulated this would not be possible. I am very disappointed. Their design is great in theory, but they should not be advertised as vacuum insulated when they are not. I cannot recommend these mugs to anyone for this reason. And just for the record, the only time the water has chosen to seep out of the "not-so-vacuum-insulated" liner is when I set it down on leather seats in my car. Nice.

I work graveshifts in an IT environment so no open cups due to electrical equipment and I need a mug that keeps my hots hot and my colds cold for a LONG time. There is no other mug for me! :)

These thermal tumblers are fantastic! They keep coffee hot for hours and even if knocked over, there is no leakage. None. The lids are easy to clean and apply - no cross-threading like other mugs. And I love that my mouth never touches metal. The sipping edge is formed well and completely plastic so there's no metalic taste. Well worth the cost! These will last for years if I can keep the family from stealing them.

The one gripe I have about the mug is that it is impossible to clean the lid. The path the liquid travels from mug to mouth is not direct so it it is impossible, even with a pipe cleaner type tool, to properly clean the mug. If I fill the mug with hot water, turn upside down, press open the valve and shake up and down all kinds of black coffee scale nastiness comes out. I simply can't get inside the lid to clean. I'm thinking this isn't sanitary. The company suggests rinsing immediately after use. But a travel mug by description goes with you to places where you do not have immediate access to a sink. Even if I could rinse immediately after use rinsing alone does not adequately clean. I don't rinse my dishes I scrub them. I have stopped using mine all together for this reason alone. It otherwise was a great mug.

I love that it does not spill when my almost 2 year old throws something at it or picks it up!

I received a mug for Christmas and fell in love with it. However lack of coffee one morning found my mug sliding off my car and hitting the pavement. The lid was broke but the body of the mug only showed slight road rash. I ordered this set as replacements as I loved my other. Then I thought what about a replacement lid? The company website does sell them so I ordered one and will have 3 working mugs. My family is excited and fighting over who gets to use them.

My 1 year old son cannot dump out my hot coffee - this is great. He will eventually figure it out, but for now it works.
My coffee stays hot for hours - perfect for when my coffee stays on my desk while I am in a long meeting.