Customer Reviews

Spiderman Funtainer Bottle

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

When I was shopping for my son to start preschool, I was thrilled to find these thermos bottles. He will only drink ice water, so I thought the straw design was wonderful for him. We wanted to be kind to the environment by NOT sending a plastic bottle every day. When the Thermos cups work properly, the cups do keep the ice water cold all day long, and the straw design is okay. Plus, they do give you an extra straw when you purchase it. I thought it was the perfect cup...

HOWEVER, I am so frustrated with the Thermos lid design that I could scream!!! These cups, by the cute character designs, are geared towards younger children. My son dropped this cup once, and the lid broke. When the lid breaks, the cup is no longer spill-proof, and it cannot be used in a lunch box again (water leaked everywhere). These cups are very expensive--around $15 each. I bought him one replacement cup, and he had it for about 3 weeks before he dropped that one, and the lid broke on that one also. I cannot find any place to purchase replacement lids. And I am never going to buy another one of these cups until they change the design of the lid--or make them easier for young children with small hands to carry by adding a handle or something.

If you are lucky enough to never drop this cup, then it's great! If you ever drop it on a hard surface, then it's terrible.

UPDATE: I did contact the THERMOS customer care line 1-800-831-9242, and I was able to order replacement lids for the thermos cups. They only cost $2 per lid and were shipped quickly with replacement straws as well. Since you can order replacement lids, I would update my review back to 3 stars.

We don't have the "Spidey" version of this product, but two other designs --one for a girl, one for a boy. I bought them last year because I was sick and tired of buying expensive box/bag drinks, the exteriors of which are not recyclable.

And I have to say I'm pleased with these. They didn't fall apart through a year of hard use by a second grader and a kindergartener. They also kept their drinks cool. Even milk that came home at the end of day wasn't spoiled (although it was tepid).

Both the exterior and inside liners are stainless steel. The cover is hard plastic, while the sippy-parts are human-grade plastic.

The only downside to these little thermoses are that it's hard to keep track of the little plastic sippy part and the internal straw. The Thermos people give you an extra set but we've still managed to loose two sets, and as far as I can see there are no replacements offered.

Anyway we're going to buy two more for this year as we expand our no-plastic containers policy.

There is a major hassle getting these clean. I wash these in the dishwasher too, they are certainly a nuisance to disassemble and position properly in the dishwasher, but there isn't anything out there that isn't. Once washed, the metal containers go into the freezer so that it is ready for drinks in the morning. The caveat with this method is that as the liquid starts to warm up a bit during the day, pressure builds and liquid can shoot out if you open the lid too quickly...minor issue.

The bottom half of the straw is polypropylene, the sippy part is silicone and there is a silicone ring sealing the lid to the container. All these parts need to be disassembled gently for cleaning. If you yank and pull, the silicone straw can rip, its happened to me once, but I've learned to twist rather than yank. As for the general durability of the straw? Its fine. You just have to watch your kids and explain to them that its not a good idea to chew on things that isn't food and then replace the straws as soon as they show teeth marks. My kids use to chew the heck out of the playtex straw sippy cups too, but they are older now and we no longer have this issue.

When assembling the parts together, you must be sure to line the sipping straw to the front where the lid clamps down, this will also cover the air pressure release hole so that nothing leaks. Otherwise it will leak, but once positioned, it isn't likely to budge out of position. So just be careful to position it properly. Our containers never leak once I figured this out.

Sometimes I'll add a couple of ice cubes to their milk or drinks to keep it extra cold. Lately I started bagging their containers in the NYBUILT neoprene bags for the 1 liter size bottles before putting into their insulated lunch bags. It keeps everything extra cold for a long time. This way if my kids don't finish their milk at lunch, they can still sip cold milk after school. Otherwise the milk will warm up if the container is half empty.

The straws do become stained and they do wear out after repeated use. I purchase extra sets directly from Thermos for a dollar a set. This includes the top and bottom portion of the straw. I'll purchase a half dozen at a time and start fresh every school year.

Btw, keep the straws away from the dishwasher if you are cleaning anything with tomato sauce, the tomato pigments are highly attracted to plastic and can stain the insides of the straws.

If you are trying to avoid using bpa plastic products out there to transport drinks, you can't go wrong with these. I've purchased 7 of these over the last 4 years and use it daily for my kid's milk for school.

It sounds crazy that I go through this daily so my kids can take milk to school, especially since the school provides milk practically for free, and I can afford to buy the tetra pak milks.

But I am very particular. I insist on Organic, Grass Pastured, non UHT, Whole milk. Since my kids drink so much milk, its the best I can do for them and there is no other way for me to provide it without these containers. To try and avoid the daily hassle of disassembling and cleaning ---- I've looked high and low for alternatives --but this is it.

update --- 10/06/08
I went to get the star wars design b/c my kids are crazy for star wars just realized that thermos has updated the design of the thermos. its a little easier to clean now. 2 pieces instead of 3 and much easier to remove.

We like our Thermos. I did have to glue the plastic bottom cap back on as it kept falling off. Once I used industrial glue to glue it on it stayed fine. The straw inside is easily detached and cleaned or sanitized. I use a pipe cleaner to clean inside the straw with soapy water. I do not run through the dishwasher as it would probably take the picture off. It has held up to our 3yo sons use quite well. I however, only paid around $15.00 for it at Wal-Mart. If I had paid $39.99 as it is priced here now I would have been very upset that I had to glue it back together. Otherwise our son won't live without it.

My 3 year old son had this thermos and loved it and so did I b/c it kept his water cold for even longer than the 12 hours it states if you put ice in it. Unfortunately I lost it and had to replace it but didn't recieve the same black thermos with the cool "Spidey" on it. They shipped a blue one with a different picture - not a big deal to me but to my 3 year old it's a VERY big deal. I'm sure he'll get used to it and love this one too. I just didn't like that the seller (Deals Only Web Store) showed a picture that was not the item that they were selling.

I absolutely love Thermos Funtainers. We fill it with ice then water and the ice doesn't melt for hours. It also does not condensate so I can put it on my 4 year old son's wooden nightstand and not worry about water marks. Spiderman is great for my son and my daughter and husband and I also have ones in different styles. Highly recommend. Great transaction through amazon as well.

We have several funtainer beverage cups. LOVE THEM! This one arrived and I noticed a different shaped release button on the lid. It is a dash-shape opposed to the circular button. The straw is on the top of the lid instead of bleeding through from the bottom. Little children sucking on the straw can suck a 3" piece right down their throats. There is absolutely nothing to prevent the straw from sliding off. THIS LID STYLE SHOULD BE RECALLED FOR SAFETY. It is the most dangerous, ignorant design for a child's product I've ever seen--and I've seen some pretty awful designs out there. Make sure you are buying the lid with the circular button and NOT the dash-shaped button.

My son got this thermos for kindergarten this year. It did a great job of keeping his milk cold for hours. However, it fell out of his backpack to the sidewalk one morning, and the platic trim shattered. Now it has sharp edges where the plastic remains, and I am having to replace it. I would have expected a thermos to handle a little beating!

Great thermos, except you should connect it to your child with a bungee cord because if it falls, the lid may break. We bought two, one for each child within the past month. Both were dropped at some point, but isn't that what kids do? Each bottle broke the lid at the hinge, now they're both useless. Bad design? Poor choice of plastics? I'm no product designer so I don't know the "why", I just know the problem.

I had to chose one star, because Amazon doesn't let me chose zero stars.

Having owned this Funtainer since September, I can attest to what all the other reviewers have stated, since I've had each of the problems described. Let me first say, I've only handwashed it, never put it through the dishwasher, so it has been gently treated. Despite this, however, the lids on these things are poorly designed, break with the slightest pressure, and are impossible to fix once they do. I've had to return two Funtainers for this reason. I returned another because it leaked, for no apparent or visible reason, on the very first day my daughter took it to 1st grade. As another reviewer stated, the bottom cap came unglued after only about a month of owning it, and my husband used Gorilla glue to reattach it after every other adhesive we tried failed miserably, but he made a horrible mess of the bottle in the process. This week the straw shredded because my daughter has admitted to chewing on it. I'm currently trying to find a replacement straw -- another near-impossible task I've had to deal with related to this one water bottle.

I paid $15+ for a Thermos product because I expected more from the brand. Don't be misled. This product is not top quality at all. When it works, it works exceptionally well, but it breaks too easily and then you're out a good chunk of money. I won't buy another.