Customer Reviews

Thermos Nissan 14-Ounce Stainless-Steel Travel Tumbler

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As with many other products on Amazon.com, the "Ultimate" earned pretty much of a bimodal distribution: People seem to basically love or really dislike the "Travel Tumbler." Either the quality control at Nissan is terrible (i.e., people are getting tumblers that differ greatly in quality), or the reviews themselves are just not very reliable. Coffee lovers may be a pretty emotional bunch when it comes to their preferred caffeine delivery method, and some of the complaints seem steeped more in emotion than practicality. I'll try clarifying the bases of my own evaluation, which places the "Ultimate's" performance somewhere between the very good/very bad polarity I see here.

1. LEAKING: Unlike what one person said, it does NOT leak like a "colander." When you squeeze the handle-like mechanism, a small hole at the top of the lid depresses. The problem is that this coffee will drain though the "covered" hole, albeit very slowly: If I lift the cup WITHOUT squeezing the "HANDLE" as if to take a sip, a slow, very small stream of coffee comes out the apparently sealed top. Although the product description above touts that the container is spill-proof, rather than leak-proof, this slight leakage is psychologically annoying given the price and the expected performance. Practically speaking, however, it's not that important: You won't leak or spill a hot beverage if the "tumbler" is basically upright. The rubberized grip surrounding the center provides a comfortable and secure grip.
2. COFFEE NOSE: Other Nissan beverage holders have drinkers complaining that residual liquid on the top of the lid leaves a spot on their noses when they go for their next sip. It's true that a small amount of liquid is left (and this, too, will spill if, for some muckraking reason, you choose to hold the tumbler upside-down to disprove the anti-spill claims of Nissan), but it settles down far enough from where you drink that it leaves your nose alone, which is exactly what it should do.
3. TEMPERATURE: I found that it does NOT keep my beverage very hot for hours. At 45 minutes, my coffee was still very hot, but noticeable cooling occurred after about an hour. You can minimize temperature reduction by pre-warming the tumbler with very, very hot water, and filling it with the hottest possible drink possible. However, even the double steel container doesn't hold in the heat nearly as well as the Nissan thermos. This is probably the biggest disappointment, although a fairly negligible one personally (my longest drive is generally about an hour). Those who insist on very hot coffee for periods of one hour or more, however, may be disappointed.
4. CLEANING: Yes, there is a small white ring around the top of the container for insulation. I have not had any problem with accumulated debris, odors, or with other nasty things that reviewers have described. Simply cleaning it after each use should do the trick; I'll update this review if I find the tumbler particularly resistant to cleaning. However, other Nissan travel mugs either have similar problems or don't have the convenient squeeze handle.

Recommendation: Resistant to leaking and unlikely to spill, the Nissan still fails to meet expectations, especially given the cost. A more important problem, then, is that its heat retention is unsatisfactory for periods much longer than an hour. My recommendation (one that I wish I had heard before) is to wait for more current reviews of the commuter mug rated #1 by the venerable "Wall Street Journal," but not yet available due to current demand: The Zojirushi Tumbler (http: //www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004S57G/qid=1137462602/sr=1-25/ref=sr_1_25/103-7519344-0327817?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=284507). The Nissan 14-Ounce Leak-Proof Insulated Travel Mug, though not without its critics, also looks promising.

This particular Nissan model keeps cold stuff cold and hot stuff hot for *hours* (which is great if you like to drink your coffee or cocoa slowly over the course of a long meetig or classroom seminar), the plastic rim protects your lips from scalding when you go to drink hot liquids, and the narrow body with the rubber grip makes it easy to hold, even for very small hands. I also like the non-spill lever (note it is NOT a handle, and don't try to hold the cup by the lever!) and it keeps the liquid in the mug for all but the most extreme upturns.
The one downside to this model is keeping it clean--I find I have to wrestle it a bit to clean it. The narrow body sometimes poses a challenge for handwashing, and I usually soak the mouthpiece overnight in soapy water. You do have to pull the white ring out to get it really clean. But, franklyu, most of the commuter mugs require special handling to reduce bacteria build-up. All in all, I think it is a good buy. I've enjoyed drinking my daily coffee out of this model for years.

At first I was extremely satisfied with the purchase of this tumbler. However, little did I know what was growing in the little crevices of this deceptively clean and sleek looking mug...
If you don't put milk in your coffee and tea then this is probably the travel mug for you. It keeps drinks cold or hot for hours.
BUT...after just a few weeks of drinking my coffee and cream, I realized how hard it was to clean this mug. It has so many little corners that are IMPOSSIBLE to get to. (I don't understand why someone can't make a travel mug that you can take apart completely to wash thoroughly.) Basically, I had to resort to jabbing knives and forks into these corners to remove the gunk (probably from the fatty content of milk) that quickly started to infiltrate. There is this rubber ring towards the top of the inside of the mug that has a small gap on the underside. If you have one of these mugs but never thought to look under it, I warn you...you will never look at your mug the same way again. I finally decided to rip off the rubber ring, and the contents were disturbing...milky, brown, jelly looking gunk. It was a horrible moment... I dare you to buy this mug, drink from it for a few weeks and then be brave enough to peer into the dark corners of your pure (so you think) java utopia....

This is a great tumbler. I love it's sturdy construction and how it seals in warmth for so long. My only gripe is that it is a little bit too small for me.

The solution is to put the top from this tumbler on a "Nissan 18-Ounce Stainless-Steel Insulated Travel Tumbler"! These two have the same size threaded tops! Then you can have an 18-ounce tumbler with the "Ultimate"-style spill-proof spring lever top.

About ten months after purchase, the mug developed a leak at the seal between the lid and the tumbler. No amount of tightening stops the dribble. Now looking for a stainless steel insulated bib.

This mug is not worth $5 much less the current price listed. It insulates well, but not noticeably better than more commonly available mugs. I was expecting the mug's lever to make a leak-free seal. However, I've found that it only resists leaks when *slightly* jostled. If you hold it upside-down, a steady-stream of liquid emerges for several seconds-it does stop, but the stream will return after righting the mug and re-tipping. Coffee leaves a distinct smell even after hand-washing. So, if you are looking for a mug that doesn't leak and can be washed in the dishwasher, continue looking!

First of all let me say that I love this tumbler and it is the best one I've ever owned. It keeps liquids hot or cold for an amazingly long time. The first time I used it I was astounded that even an hour later the liquid was still hot enough to burn me. It feels like good quality from the moment you pick it up. The lid stays on very well. I think that the capacity of this tumbler is just the right size. It is not totally leak proof but unless you try to get it to leak it will not. The lever on the side is not a handle and you should not try to pick it up by this lever. although the lever is very strong and sturdy. this is all around a very sturdy and high quality tumbler and I would recomend it to my friends.

Although the sides are well-insulated with vacuum/mirror technology, that doesn't help much when the lid is plain plastic...and not very thick at that. (It's like having the best quality insulation in the walls of your home, but leaving the front door wide open!) This fault is clearly evident by just feeling the exterior of the tumbler when it is filled with hot liquid (coffee): the sides are cool to the touch, but the top third of the tumbler gets hot. I returned mine because of this design flaw. On the positive side: it is an attractive tumbler, its size is perfect for auto travel, and I liked the feature to open a convenient drinking port with a lever. However, my nose hit the lid with every sip. Thermos/Nissan needs to realize there is a HUGE market for a decent vacuum tumbler, and stop cutting corners. Do some market research, guys!

I would never have believed I'd think so highly of a cup, but I love this tumbler! I mainly use this for my AM coffee, and it stays HOT for about an hour, then warm for another hour. Doesn't seem long, but our usual coffee mugs only kept my coffee hot for about 15 minutes. I love this so much I travel with it. On an overnight flight to Europe, I filled it with iced root beer before boarding. After landing 10 hrs later, although I'd drunk all the soda, the ice cubes hadn't melted yet! This was definitely worth the money (especially since I bought it on sale). I gave one to my brother as a gift, and now his family fights over who gets to use it each day.

This is the best travel mug you will find out there. It will keep stuff hot for hours, it wont break, keeps spills to the bare minimum, and it lasts years. I have had mine for 4 years now. Still works and looks great. I haven't had too much of a bacteria problem with mine at all, then again, Im not as paranoid as some people. Highly recommend it.

7/20/06 UPDATE: After (ahem) misplacing my dearly loved coffee mug, I went out and bought another just a few months ago. I have to say I am a little disappointed at the new one. It still looks great, its still fairly spill resistant, if you knock it over it doesn't cause much damage and easier to clean up than others, and still no mildew issues. But compared to the one I owned before, this mug is not nearly as good at keeping things hot. The interior of my old mug used to look like a single sheet of stainless steal gently curved on the bottom, that looked very much like the outside of the mug. On the new one it looks shinier as if it were aluminum, and it appears as if it was made of multiple pieces that were combined. It just doesn't hold heat like my old one. I'd maybe rate it a 3.5 now.