CamelBak Podium Ice Insulated Water Bottle (Discontinued Styles)

I ride my bike in California where summers can be hot thus I regularly fill my bottles with ice before a ride. The standard insulated Camelbak is my go-to bottle, I was hoping this would be an improvement on an already great product--my experience is mixed. Compared with the standard Camelbak insulated water bottle, it is definitely better insulated. The standard insulated bottle with ice does feel cool to the touch, the Ice Water Bottle does not feel nearly as cool in comparison--meaning it is better insulated. The big question is whether it is significantly better to justify double the price of the standard Camelbak insuated? Beside the warmer touch, I haven't noticed it keeping ice significantly longer as I was hoping. Whether it is worth it to you will depend on how much you are willing to pay for a little improvement. My biggest complaint from a cyclist point of view is that the shape of the bottle unlike the standard insulated Camelbak, it does not conform to water bottle holders as well--it does not have the standard cage indentations like most cycling bottles do. It works and I use it regularly, but can't give it 5 stars for this seeming oversight. If it had the indentations, I would probably give it 5 stars even though I think it is a little pricy for what you get. If it comes down in price, its value definitely goes up.Update:Okay, now I love this bottle except the price. Took it golfing on a very warm day, filled with ice and water, after 9 holes, still had ice. Refilled it with Gatorade and drank that down, still had ice left over. I bought another one. As for it not fitting the bike holder like the older version, it actually does fine.

My experience is that it does not keep cold 4x longer as advertised. I carry this in one cage and a podium big chill in the other. This stays only marginally colder. The physical size is the same as the big chill but holds 3oz less liquid due to the extra insulation. Its not a bad product, but in the future I will stick with the standard podium big chill

We love the Camelbak Podium bottles. Our family has several, Including the Chill and Big Chill and now the Podium Ice. The Podium Ice water bottle is 21 oz, but it's size is about the same as the Big Chill 25 oz. bottle. This might make a difference for you if you are concerned about space on your bike. The Podium Ice bottle is taller than the typical 21 oz. bottle. Out of curiosity, I placed the same number of ice cubes and measured out cold water in the Podium Ice and Big Chill bottles I have. I left them on the counter for a couple hours and then measured how much water I had from the ice melting. The amount of water was the same from both bottles, which indicates to me that the Podium Ice did not significantly insulate the water more than the Big Chill. This difference may be more measurable when riding out in the hot sun, though.

I wish I could give partial stars because I'd give this product 4.5 or even 4.75. It performs as expected and far outperforms my Polar water bottles. I'm in Dallas and have now used this bottle on numerous 2 - 3 hour rides in our summer heat, and by the end of the ride, the liquid is still cool, with even tiny vestiges of ice cubes still present. With the Polar bottles, by the end of my rides, any liquid left is very warm, which is not what you want as a long, sweaty ride draws to a close. As for cold weather performance, I'll leave those reviews to folks in colder climates. So why not 5 full stars? First, there's no carrying loop to help pull the bottle out of its cage, and while that's minor, it's still an improvement I'd like to see made (luckily I was able to improvise because the loop from my Polar bottles fits perfectly); second, the bottle is a bit pricey; but No. 3 is my biggest wish: volume. It only comes in the smaller 20 oz. size, which is too bad because a 24 oz. capacity would make this bottle ideal.

I bought this together with the Camelbak Big Chill as a kind of heads up test. While the Podium Ice gives up a bit of capacity, the extra insulation is more than worth it. During several hot rides (upper 90s), the Podium Ice kept ice inside from melting entirely and kept the water cold. The Big Chill, while much better than a standard bottle, was unable to stay nearly as cold nor retain any of the ice I loaded up at the same point in the ride. Definitely worth it and for hot rides I will be taking two of these.The only slight mark against (not enough to knock a star) is I did find the outer surface to be quite slick at first. Wet/sweaty hands meant I had to pay attention using it while riding. This seems to have gone though, probably from being slightly scratched up from going in and out of my bottle cage.

Bottles are great and definately keep water colder for longer period of time than any other bottle I've tried.I only have two negatives about these bottles...1) The price...$25 for a freaking water bottle? really? 2) The outside surface is too slick/slippery to safely handle in wet conditions. When my hands are wet because of sweat (I live in the hot south and sweat a lot....I mean a lot! Hence the desire for a bottle that keeps liquids cold longer) or rain I have trouble grasping the bottle from my bike cages...and then holding onto the bottle when taking a drink can also be challenging. This may not sound like a big deal but when you are riding more than 18mph, especially in a group, fumbling for your water bottles and then tying to avoid dropping it because of an unsure grip is both dangerous and unnecessary.This is not a case of my lack of dexterity or inexperience...I have decades of road cycling experience and have never experienced this slippery bottle issue before..My suggestion for Camelbak is to make the top half of the bottles slightly textured to help grip-ability. I may try to rough up the surface some with sand paper or something.