Hydro Flask 16 oz All Around Tumbler Review

If you peeked inside the cupboards of nearly anyone here at Pack Hacker, you’d see a plethora of bottles, mugs, tumblers, and other ways of carrying our drinks from here to there. We love reusable bottles because they help prevent dehydration—the enemy of travelers everywhere—and they’re better for the environment than disposable ones. So, naturally, we were happy to test yet another option from Hydro Flask, one of our favorite bottle brands.

With great color options, a base that fits into cup holders, and a lid you can open with one hand, the Hydro Flask 16 oz All Around Tumbler has a lot going for it. Will it be our new go-to for drinking our morning coffee, afternoon tea, soda, or water? We’ve been using it at home and taking it around town to find out.

The Rundown

The Hydro Flask 16 oz All Around Tumbler looks and feels like other bottles from the brand, which isn’t surprising considering that it’s made with the same 18/8 pro-grade stainless steel as many of its other options. The powder coat on the exterior feels smooth to the touch and comes in 15 colors at the time of this review. Hydro Flask changes colors at least seasonally, though, so if you see one you want, get it; it might not be there later. For example, we love the Rain blue we’re testing, but it’s no longer on the brand’s site.

There’s the Hydro Flask name and logo in white on the front, and a slightly-rounded stainless-steel lip at the top that’s comfortable to drink from if you don’t want to use the lid.

We prefer to use the lid, though, to prevent spills and splashes. It’s a plastic press-in lid that closes on top with a slider. You can open and close it with one hand, which is nice for driving, and the silicone gaskets keep your morning coffee from splashing out into your cup holder as you commute. It’s comfortable to drink from, though we can slightly feel the lid’s lip at times. It hasn’t leaked, but as the primary tester, I sometimes thought I didn’t push it down all the way because it felt like there was a gap.

There’s another thing to mention that may bother you if you’re like me and need as much coffee as possible in the morning: the “16 oz” in the name is a bit misleading. The tumbler technically has a capacity of 16 ounces, but it’s only that much if you fill it to the brim. We’re talking “take your first sip before picking the tumbler up off the counter,” not “pick it up and move it to your mouth without spilling it first.” Adding the press-in lid means you’ll have to forgo about 3 ounces of drink, whether it’s your 16-ounce Pepsi or all the coffee in your pot. That’s not a deal-breaker for everyone, not even here at Pack Hacker, but it’s something to be aware of if it would bother you. Just think of the tumbler as having a 12-ounce capacity instead of 16 and you’ll be OK, or upgrade to the 20 oz version to get a full 16 ounces inside.

You can wash it by hand or in the dishwasher, and we haven’t noticed the lid or bottle hanging onto tastes or smells when switching from coffee to water. There aren’t tons of extra pieces to take apart for cleaning, either, which we appreciate.

Packability

The 16 oz All Around Tumbler only weighs 8.8 ounces, which isn’t a bad ratio of weight to capacity (unless you consider its actual usable capacity is less than 16 ounces …). It has a tapered bottom to fit easily into cup holders and bottle pockets, yet it’s still comfortable to hold. The taper makes it more like a standard width at the bottom while allowing you to drink from a wider mouth at the top, which is the tumbler style, of course, but we like it. We’ve used it in different vehicles and had no issue drinking from it while driving or as a passenger, and we’ve also tossed it into the side pockets of different daypacks without a problem. If you want a smaller, lighter bottle to bring on a trip and you don’t care about it being leakproof, this isn’t a bad option.

Quick Comparison

How does it stack up to the competition? Pretty favorably, unless you’re hung up on that capacity issue.

There are similarities and a few differences when stacked up to the Corkcicle Classic Tumbler. They’re both ostensibly 16-ounce tumblers with press-in lids, but Corkcicle allows for headroom at the top to fit its lid while still giving you 16 ounces of space. Plus, it has a silicone bottom that makes it quieter and less likely to slip when you set it on a table. On the other hand, its clear lid stained quickly from my morning coffee, whereas the Hydro Flask doesn’t have that issue. Both keep your drinks hot or cold for hours, so functionality is similar, and both have an easy-to-hold shape that fits into most cup holders and bottle pockets.

Next up is another Hydro Flask, the 16 oz Coffee Tumbler with Flex Sip Lid. It has a leakproof lid and a handle, which is nice for travel, though the lid separates into four pieces for cleaning, which isn’t as easy or convenient. It’s wide from top to bottom, so it’s not quite as nice to hold, but the difference is really only noticeable if you pick up the bottles one after another. On the other hand, despite the fact that its lid screws on (so it doesn’t need extra space inside the bottle to fit), the Coffee Tumbler has enough space for 16 ounces of drink while still allowing enough headroom to move it without spilling. In the case of both it and the Corkcicle, you get at least an inch of head space, which is lacking on the All Around Tumbler.

While we’ve spent a bit of time on that issue, it’s really the only nit to pick with the All Around Tumbler. If it were simply called a “12 oz” All Around Tumbler with the same dimensions, we’d be having an entirely different conversation (and this would be a shorter review).

So, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use, comfortable-to-drink-from tumbler for hot and cold drinks that doesn’t weigh much and opens one-handed—and you don’t have to worry about pouring exactly 16 ounces into it—this is really a great option. Pour your soda from a 12-ounce can instead of a 16-ounce bottle (or buy your drinks outside the United States, where they’re naturally smaller) and you’ll have no issue. You can even buy a press-in lid with a built-in straw from Hydro Flask if you want. As for the coffee, we should probably cut back on our caffeine anyway, right?