The olympia airpot is essentially a thermos, made of stainless steel, with double layering, and all that sort of vacum packed magic that means you get to keep hot things hot all day... or cold thing cold all day. What seperates this from other thermos flasks though is the pump mechanism attached to the top.

This pump mechanism folds away, as shown in the picture. To unfold, you flick up the top part (you can see in the photo a circle shape bit on the top, that bit flips up), which is then connected by a plastic supporter bit (There is a lock mechanism to hold this bit down, so before you can fold it out you have to unlock it). Once out, you simply push down on the paddle to squirt whatever liquid you have stored inside.

To refill the flask, there is another button which you press, and the whole of the pump lid comes off. This is how you refill the flask, and because it doesn't screw on like most other thermoses, its actually very water tight, you get no leakages (also because of the way a pump works, you need it to be airtight, so believe me, this thing doesn't leak.

However, the pump doesn't get on well with things like thick soups, so if thats what you carry in your thermos, look elsewhere. Its not that it can't do it, its just it gets clogs, and you end up with thinner soup in your plate, and a thick mush in the flask.

Cleaning can be done in a diswasher, but its a tad more fiddly compared with a normal thermos, as you have to take the top bit apart.


Anyway, overall, this is a very well made product, and feels like it is going to last. Its a bit more costly I think than equivelent flasks (I estimate you are paying an extra 5-10 pounds for the pump alone), but it does make the device a heck of a lot easier to use when in a bumpy environment, say the car, with less spillages, because it comes out of a nossle. Its also very watertight, but less easy to clean.

Overall I give it a 3/5, because I am not sure just how useful having the pump is, if you keep tea, hot water, or coffee, then this is great, but this is not so good for soups, noodles and the like, thus making it less adaptable.