Best all stainless steel thermos bottle?

I had a Thermos brand stainless steel bottle for many years working as a construction worker. It kept warm things warm and cold things cold. I cannot tell you how many times this bottle was dropped or knocked down, but it still always worked, and still does to this day.

There may be a better one, but I yet to find it.

 

I had to get up and go check the brand. I have an L.L.Bean stainless steel thermus, made in Korea. It has a punch in lid so you don't have to unsrew the top to open it. I used it for my coffee when I taught school. I liked it so well I bought a large one for when we went on trips and a smaller one to take soup in for my lunch at school.

 

DH used to be an over the road or longhaul trucker. He used several different brands but stuck with a green Stanley for the last several years til it died in a truck wreck that thank God he was spared in. I went looking for a new Stanley to replace old green. Couldn't find one so I got the all stainless version of Stanley. DH says he can fill up with coffee in the evening and it will still be hot for breakfast. Sounds good enough to me. I know the old green one didn't preform that well.

Life is good!
Halo

 

Tis an excellent question, I have a 2 quart Stanley about 10 years old, a 1 litre nissan medium mouth about 7 years old, a Thermos brand 1 litre about 17 years old.
I had a uno-vac that was old when i bought it at a yard sale 20 years ago, sold it in another yard sale about 5 years back [replaced it with the nissan] to keep anything warm for any length of time i used a pair of old poly propolene socks on it and used the coffee out it first during the day... the whole unit outside was stainless, and would be toasty warm not to long after the boiling coffee was placed inside.... the vaccum seal probably was not proper on it although when submursed it never gained any water inside.

The 2 quart stanley was purchased because my mother worked at a hardware store and could get it for cost [then $35] instead of retail of $55, thought it would replace 2 - 1 liter/quart bottles.... wrong.... coffe stays hot, but as it is drank, the remaining coffee gets cooler and over 8 hours for the going home drink of coffe at the end of the day is luke warm. Mom bought 3 of those, and 2 of the 3 were that way, the other one held a few degrees better... of course she sold that one cause dad and i did not need 3 units!!!! A friend had one fall off his back hoe, and 3 days later it was just as hot as it was the day he buried it [found it when he was back filling the ditch] again showing that if insulation is added, it holds heat longer.

The nissan was purchased actually for taking soup out overnight on hound hunts, when I figgered out that noodles swell larger if left over night, i did not use noodle soup in it again.... however it holds heat the best of all the jugs I have, the lid on this model has a problem, it is not a one piece and it pops apart for cleaning, and has an additional pour spout screw in lid, if the lids do not fit just right it pops apart when tightening them down.... and of course mine is warped but that has not affected its preformance in retaining heat..... I chose it over the wider mouth stanley at the time because of the additional pour spout even though it was to be a soup jug.

The thermos jug was a gift, and still holds heat better than the big stanley 2 quart, the Thermos has a lift out pour tab, that can be pulled apart and washed when it starts to leak, I generally do not use it and just unscrew the lid to pour, from fear of breaking the tab off or wearing it out... which is probably unfounded but a person ever knows.

The cup that came with the Thermos actually is the biggest of all the units, with the uno-vac being a close second followed by the nissan. The stanley cup is the small traditional looking cup ..... i should say i hardly ever use any of the cups except for holding in heat, i have a stanley/alladin [could be prejudice here] insulated "go" cup ive had for about 10 years... gets washed once a year unless wife finds it sooner, and then it tastes bad [like soap] for a month.

So in answer as to which is best, from my limited experience with only one of each, I have to say over all the Thermos has held best, And i know of people who hav had the 1 quart Stanleys that wore the cup out and the units still hold heat better than the 2 quart models.

And i still want to try the 1 litre Stanley wide mouth for rice cooking and such www.kurtsaxon.com <---- site you suggested a couple years back... and the reasoning behind the wide mouth is that a spoon can get into one of those easier.... i still think heat loss might be a problem with the wider mouth as they are only plastic/nylon construction for the lids. and at $20 +/- it really would not be a bad investment and problably could be sold for at least half at a yard sale ifin it didnt work out.

The "stop and robs" around here have stainless pump pots that see to keep the coffee hot, and are larger, can be purchased at resaurant supply houses, do not know anything of the cost except that usually the cost of commercial equipment is somewhat higher than consumer units.

 

Only one Ive used is the stanley.I like it,sure is durable,mine is 15 years old,but i dont use it a lot anymore.Seems very well built.
BooBoo

 

I've only had four differnent thermos bottles in my life, and aside from a leaky Stanley I bought in a yard sale ($2 - j.r., you was had ), all performed to spec. Isn't nothing like getting up a 4:30 a.m. in deer camp and getting a hot cup of coffee right from your sleeping bag.

I like that cooking with thermos method - saves a bunch of time, both preparing in morning and not having to make a fire later on to cook with. Oatmeal is my favored dish for this. To clean in the field, a cup of water and a hand full of clean rocks rocked gently back and forth to scrub for a minute or so, and empty out.

 

I agree with vickinell-I forgot my LL Bean thermos in the car, and three days later, the coffee was still very warm. Mine came with a big cover to use as a mug, as well as a little white plastic bowl that fit inside it, in case you wanted to share.
Biggest bonus-if it ever breaks, even if your great-grandson runs over it with his first car 50 years from now, LL Bean will replace it, no questions asked.

 

Hermitjohn, campmor.com aften has several brands in several styles for decent prices, including Nissan and Thermos.

That said, I have a Stanley green which is fine for my purposes. But I think it is heavy and awkward sometimes. I am thinking of buying a different brand and sized bottle to make it easier for me to drag around with me when walking.

 

I vote for the LLBean thermos too. We take ours camping, and when I dump out the coffee on Sunday night, it is still warm. Ours must be ten years old, and it still looks good and works great.

 

One thing to remember on any thermos is to preheat or precool the thermos prior to placeing anything in it. If you want it hot then put the hottest water you can get and fill the thermos, leave the top off and let it sit for about 10 minutes. This will keep things hotter - longer. Do the same for cold, just use ice water if you want to keep liquids colder.

 

Hermitjohn-maybe you'd feel better if you ran the numbers. As you are probably good at making things last this figure will be much higher, for guesstimating, figure a useful life of 5 years (what most warranties seem to be). Let's say you use it 50 weeks a year, 3 times a week (150 times in a year X 5 years= 750 times). At $40 for 750 happy uses, that's under 6 cents a use. Now is it worth it? I think it will last longer than that.

Check out some well written reviews about the Nissan products on Amazon. Lots of good input there.

 

My Stanley with the corroding base is still going strong, but as someone mentioned, the weak point will always be the opening, size-wise, or the cap is not sturdy enough after repeated twisting on and off. I'm sure many of the steel ones that start to go would be fixed with a new cap.

 

OK a 1.5 litre vaccum bottle for $40 pequed my interest....... http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.travelmugs-bottles.shtml was actually where i found it...... perhaps HJ was hiding the fact of where to git one cause he was figgering on cornering the market to hisself!!!!! <-----joke I say that was joke, put down that thar machete!

I shall have to ask the misses if i can can have one of these..... and one of those.... and some of them coffee beans too!!! [hot air popcorn popper works for roasting coffee beans on the frugal scale]

William

 

Bought a Stanley in '77, sold it today in a yard sale. Kept coffee hot for at least eight hours, just stopped being able to get the bottom clean.

Had one of my forklift operators run over his, he used it for the rest of the week with no problems other than ribbing from the crew.