Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

On a recent project, I measured the heat loss on various size stainless steel insulated containers (Thermos bottles, coffee cups, etc.). I started by filling each container to its capacity with 200 degree water. Below are the temperatures for containers in the 16-24 oz. range after a 3 hour & 10 hour period - numbers shown after the item are: temp. after 3 hrs and temp. after 10 hrs. The list includes this item as well as the others listed. I also included a pretty much standard (larger size) 32 oz. Thermos bottle and a "no-name" 16 oz. insulated container with sealing cap & cup/lid that I got free for subscribing to a magazine for comparison. Items are listed in order of the content temperature after 10 hours. 32 oz Thermos 193,178 24 oz Thermos Direct Drink 180, 152 16 oz Thermos Backpack bottle 177, 143 16 oz No-Name publication give-away bottle 178, 142 21 oz Hydro Flask 177, 139 16 oz Thermos Cup rotating seal 169, 130 20 oz Kleen Kanteen 167, 125 24 oz Oxo Good Grips LiquiSeal 150, 104 16 oz Kleen Kanteen 151, 103 16 oz Starbucks Cup 144, 100 Over time, heat loss occurs through the double stainless walls with a vacuum between them. However, most heat escapes due to poor design, location, and sealing of the lid and/or stopper. Specifically the lid or stopper should seal at or below the upper end of the double wall vacuum section of the stainless portion of the container and the lid/stopper should have some kind of insulation itself, if only an internal air space. For instance the stainless steel Starbucks cup itself has pretty good insulation qualities on its own and the lid seals just at the upper end of the double wall vacuum section. But the cap is a single piece of plastic that just bleeds heat off the surface of the liquid inside. The Oxo is even worse in that it has the same lid configuration the Starbucks cup has but in addition has a band of about an inch between where the lid seals and where the vacuum insulation starts - BIG heat loss here. A note on the measurements: some have commented that they would never have coffee at 200 degrees, a certain temperature is hot enough, etc. The point of the measurements is not to infer that we need 200 degree coffee, but to show relative heat loss over time from the various insulated bottles. The starting temperature could have just as easily been 190, 180, 165, etc.