Originally Posted by UnCruel

Well, I have a review on the CamelBak Podium Steel vacuum insulated bottle. This is the 18oz (530 ml) variety in unfinished stainless steel. The larger bottle is supposed to have slightly better insulating capability, and the titanium one less effective.

The bottle itself seems nice, good fit and finish, etc. The bottle fits in my cages perfectly (a plastic Bontrager thing). The metal bottle can't be squeezed, so instead there's an internal venting mechanism with a straw that sends air back up to the bottom of the bottle (while it is upended). With the valve open, you just tip the bottle up, and very little suction gets a good flow going. It seems to work well, no dribbling or air bubbles. My only complaint is that the end of the label was glued to the bottle, and nothing I've tried (goo gone, acetone, mineral spirits, soapy water, and elbow grease) has gotten it off.

I tested its ability to keep hot drinks hot. I'm not a coffee drinker, so instead I made proper hot chocolate. After pouring it into the bottle, I let the temperature equalize with the bottle for a couple minutes, and then measured it (with my Thermapen). 158°F (70°C). It's not cold today, so I placed the bottle in the freezer. I haven't measured the temperature of the freezer, but it is theoretically set to 5°F (-15°C). As far as I know, there is no wind in my freezer. After an hour, I took it out and measured it, and it was 146°F (63°C), still hotter than the optimal serving temperature for hot chocolate. After three hours total, it measured 125°F (52°C), a little cooler than the optimal temperature. (I drank it then. Let me just say that 18oz is a lot of hot chocolate.)