Are you accusing Polar of lying about their bottles being BPA free? If so, what evidence do you have to suggest that’s true?

I’ll also point out to you that being metal does not, alone, assure of being BPA free, as many aluminum bottles are plastic lined. Unless an Al bottle specifically states BPA free, like Kleen Canteen for example, I’d presume it does contain the chemical.

Melting ice
Sure, the insulation works "both ways". But warm water is different than ice water. As ice melts, it absorbs a lot of heat energy, so the water stays cold a long time in the insulated bottle. On hot days, If I pack in ice cubes and fill with water, I expect ice for about 30 minutes and cool water for less than an hour. I never tried "no ice".

The better warm water comparison would be to cool water, like 35F from a pitcher in the fridge. That wouldn't stay cold nearly as long as adding a bunch of ice would.

I do use insulated bottles in the winter with room temperature water, but haven't tried warming it first.

I have one of those polar "insulated" water bottles. I would expect it to be equally ineffective at keeping warm liquids warm as it is keeping cold liquids cold.

For hot beverages in winter I use a stainless steel double-walled thermos, a Reduce Cold-1 that fits a standard water bottle cage. It's a bit heavier than Camelbak or Polar but worth it for the luxury of hot coffee, tea or whatever after 3 or 4 hours into a ride.

And in summer it'll stay cold even longer if I pre-freeze half the bottle. If I freeze the entire bottle it'll never thaw out in time for even a ride lasting several hours.

That's with the original solid top insulated cap. It'll take a standard water bottle lid with drinking nozzle, Camelbak or Polar, but the contents won't stay hot/cold quite as long.

Interesting. Is it hard to drink from with a cycling bottle nozzle since you can’t squeeze it?

No problems, just suck it like a straw or baby bottle. Works best with Camelbak nozzles with those rubber diaphragms. I rarely squeeze water from my plastic bottles anyway -- after surgery for thyroid cancer a few years ago my swallowing reflex was screwed up a little, so I find it easier to control swallowing with suction and lots of small sips.

If you don't mind a little extra weight a stainless steel double walled insulated bottle is a treat on those long winter rides. The weight of the empty stainless bottle, compared with a Camelbak or Polar, is about the same as the weight of a spare 700x32 or so inner tube. I'm already carrying two or three of those tubes anyway on my hybrid for long casual group rides with friends, so the weight is negligible on my 30 lb hybrid.

And I ain't fast enough for a little extra weight on my featherweight carbon fiber road bikes to matter, so I might as well be comfy with some hot coffee or tea on a road bike workout session.

Arrggghhh... I dropped my insulated stainless steel thermos today and cracked the lid. Fortunately the thermos takes a standard bicycle water bottle lid so it can be replaced, sort of. The original lid was also insulated and sealed well enough to keep drinks cold/hot longer than with a bike water bottle nozzle lid. But it'll still work okay with a replacement.

I use Hydroflask bottles for my liquid needs weather that be hot or cold. I fill the bottles full of hot water about 30 minutes before I pour my coffee in to pre-warm the cold aluminum. It keeps my coffee hot for a full 10 hour day of outdoor adventures.
I will also pray chill the bottles when I am going to put cold liquid in them.

I've been using a Starbucks thermal mug for about a year and absolutely love to use it. The mug keeps ice in the mug all day in the summer and tea hot for about 4 hours in the winter. It fits well in a bottle cage and the lid pops and seals as needed. I've dropped the mug several times and the liquids have never spilled. On the flip side, if weight is an issue it's not going to be for you but I'd rather take the weight hit and enjoy my latte without BPA.

yes but they may get cold, faster than cold things warm up
because the temperature differentials are more
winter : 165 F - 32 F = 133F difference
summer: 45F - 95F = 50F difference

over twice the differential temperature

also putting hot stuff in plastic may cause leaching of plasticky chemicals

any vacuum bottle will work better than the plastic ones, though they will weigh and cost more too

I’ve done the experiment with Polar bottles. Heat destroys them. That would be coffee made fresh and only a few minutes past max coffee temps. The old TA insulated bottles were far better. If you could find one of those at all it would be pricey and I’d not trust fifty year old plastic. Stainless steel as other posters say.

Interesting, I have these bottles and had never considered that people would use them to keep liquids cold, but I guess I never looked at their website either. I've only used them to keep my water from freezing on winder fat bike rides. A warm bottle of the spiced cider mix is pretty great.

Rather than wait for an email reply though, just check their website FAQ and they say it is OK as long as the liquids aren't boiling (DUH)

awesome!

And no, Polar haven’t bothered to reply to my inquiry. Quite poor customer service, IMO.

A suggestion coming from not so great experiences. If you have 2 openings in your beverage holder (the drinking from hole and the fill hole), when adding hot or pretty warm liquids, open the drink hole before you tighten the lid. Twice I didn't do that and the lid blew off.

I put very warm (almost hot)water in my insulated Camelback Podium bottles all the time in the winter.

I wash these bottles in hot water so I can’t see why filling them with that same water would be an issue.

By way of follow-up, Polar returned this from my inquiry:

Thank you for contacting Polar Bottle. While the Polar Bottle is designed to insulate cold liquids, it can safely handle warm liquids and the insulating properties will keep your hot drinks warmer longer as well. The insulation also help prevent water from freezing in the winter. We do not recommend using the bottle for liquids that are boiling.

Polar Bottle Customer Service

Honestly it’s probably worth the 20ish dollars to get the thermos

Vacuum insulated Elite Deboyo Race 550ml bottle

Thanks to a tip from badger1 , I picked up an Elite DeBoyo Race 550ml bottle which I took out for a quick spin this evening. This thing might revolutionize my winter riding!

It was 28°F when I went out, and a few things became immediately apparent:

1. Alloy Supacaz cages and DeBoyo don’t mix for gravel. I think it’s the metal-on-metal thing which is just too slippery and could easily let the bottle fly out. I also don’t like the sound and feel of the metal-on-metal. I can’t believe I’m considering new, nylon cages for seasonal use, but I think that’s the ticket.

2. hot stays hot. I accidentally let the kettle boil, and though I let it sit off the heat in its glass carafe for five minutes or so before pouring it over a teabag in the DeBoyo, it was still too hot to drink comfortably 20 minutes down the road. That’s probably a “no sh*t” thing for experienced thermos users and hot bev drinkers, but I’m a rookie.

3. I could get used to this! Having warm tea to chase the cold was so nice! I wasn’t gettin’ after it today, just easy cruising around town, so I dunno if it would be the same were I working hard, but it’s worth giving it a go since I’m usually chilly at some/several points during cold rides.

I couldn’t find this on Amazon or any other domestic retailer, so I ordered it out of Spain, shipping from which added quite a bit to the cost. It got here in five days, which was quick, but the flip close nozzle cap got cracked in transit because the bottle slipped out of its retail packaging inside the shipping envelope and got banged. It might have been nice to keep the nozzle clean, but a) it was kind of awkward to have in place, so I removed it, and b) I usually ride a fendered bike in the winter, so my bottles are protected.

Anyway, I’m kinda smacking myself for not trying an insulated bottle sooner, but hey, I’ll still use and appreciate it!

From the looks of things, you should have hot mulled wine in there not tea

the thermos
it keeps things cold
​​it keeps things hot
but how does it know?