For a long time I would simply refill an old water/coke bottle with some juice to put into my lunchbox for work however, some of these bottles were starting to look at little worse for wear, and when I noticed TK Maxx selling these Thermos Hydro Sports Bottles for £4.99 I thought it was the right time to buy one. I actually bought my bottle in pink, because TK Maxx were only selling that colour at the time, however I do believe there are a variety of colours for this product.

Thermos is a recognised name so I was confident in the effectiveness of this product. My bottle has a 450ml capacity, which is ample for my lunchbox or if you are going out for the day. I took this bottle on our recent holiday and filled it everyday, and found it to offer enough to drink throughout the day.

This flask also claims to be free from BPA which I like. It is only suitable for non carbonated drinks, which may be a hindrance to some people, but is ideal for me as I only ever put water or diluted juice in my bottle. This bottle is also dishwasher safe - we don't have a dishwasher but I have found the bottle to be easy to wash out and it drys quickly.

Probably the feature that most attracted me to this product was the refillable ice tube that you can chose to insert into your bottle after having froze it beforehand. Now, with the early summer weather, even when we were away on holiday, there wasn't much need for me to add the ice tube to my bottle, but with the better weather last week, I got a chance to try it out, and I was very pleased with the outcome. The ice tube which was easily inserted into the bottle did keep my drink cool for a good part of the day, so this is a big plus if you are likely to be somewhere with a lot of good weather. No one likes there water to go warm in the heat and my husband was rather envious when I showed him this bottle, as his work bottle only holds liquid and has no ice tube facility.

When I was thinking about buying this product, the only slight concern I had was the lid at the top of the bottle didn't feel that secure when I closed it, and I honestly wondered if this bottle would be one that easily leaked. However, I decided to take the chance given that Thermos claim this bottle is spill resistant. Now when you are actually using the bottle, the lid is a lot tighter when you close it than it looks, and when we were away on holiday, my little girl managed to grab this bottle sometimes to play with and never once did she manage to spill this, or in fact get the lid open.

The final feature of this bottle which I think is good is that it has a rapid flow lid, so it isn;t the kind of bottle that you have to suck liquid out of, meaning if you are desperate for a drink, the opening of the bottle is wide enough so you take a good drink out of it to quench your thirst quickly rather than some token sips. I find this particularly useful if I have been out and walk and desperately need a drink, I can take a good amount quickly and feel refreshed very quickly.

All in all, this is a great bottle, and I have been very impressed so far. It hasn't leaked, it keeps my drinks cool and even cooler when I add the ice tube, it has a good opening, and I like the fact it is BPA free.