Review of Liberty Water Bottle designed and purchased through Zazzle.com

I’ve never liked drinking out of plastic cups or bottles, so I knew I’d be ordering a custom water bottle soon after they were introduced on Zazzle.com. At some point, you have to let go of those plastic freebie water bottles, right? And buying disposable water bottles over and over again is wasteful and expensive. And we keep hearing that some mysterious chemical in ordinary water bottles will haunt you if you re-use them! So, I’m giving aluminum a try. Plus, with custom water bottles, you never worry you’re drinking out of someone else’s bottle by mistake! (Yes, I’m an admitted germaphobe – aren’t you?)

Liberty Bottle Works

The new aluminum water bottles are manufactured in the USA by Liberty Bottle Works in Yakima, Washington from recycled materials. They’re the only aluminum water bottles manufactured in the United States. And Liberty supports artists! You can’t beat that. Liberty and Zazzle recently partnered for Zazzle to offer gazillions of custom designs by Zazzle designers on two sizes (24 and 32 oz) and thirteen colors of bottles.

My Experience

So, I ordered a 32 oz water bottle with a design that matches this blog and it arrived almost exactly two weeks later.

UPS dropped it off in a compact (read: minimal waste) package. Good start.

I was delighted with the brightness of the colors and the clarity of the design! The colors are very true to what I have on my monitor, which is sometimes tricky with such a bright red as I chose.

I took the bottle to a meeting tonight and showed it to a couple of people who also liked the printing. We were all surprised by how it is raised just bit from the actual surface of the bottle. I have no idea how the printing is done. However, it really does look nice. Awesome, even!

I wrote my name out in Photoshop and uploaded it as an image to Zazzle to apply to the side of the bottle – a fun touch if you want to try it yourself! (Put it on a transparent background and upload as a PNG file.) I’m not sure why it came out with a few extra pixels. That could very well have been because I didn’t use a very big file. It was 195 px high and only 150 ppi. I’d make the file at 300 ppi when I make another one.

You see the orange and white sticker that describes the sealing mechanism? I was a bit surprised because the top does not get threaded on. This makes for more pleasant drinking experience and top feels pretty secure. It’s a patent pending process to do the “feel the click” turning. I wonder if this would be easier for people with wrist problems or who are older? The sticker peeled off cleanly, too, if you’re wondering.

These bottles come with a standard cap. If you really like a sports cap, Liberty does offer them as accessories.

Finally, there’s a handy-dandy how to card included with recommended care instructions.

The Bottom Line on my Liberty Water Bottle

Would I recommend a Liberty water bottle? Yes, I think they’d make great personalized gifts for graduates and commuters and outdoor people. I drink a lot, so I was pretty sure the 32 oz size was right for me. You may want to consider both sizes however.

Here you can see that the larger size is just a wider bottle, it doesn’t appear any taller than the other one.

I am wondering how the paint will hold up to abuse and how I will like an aluminum bottle when the summer temps hit 100º. Of course, I am always afraid of cooked plastic, so I’m pretty sure this will be better. I’ll post any updates!

Want to Design Your Own Water Bottle?

Start here: Create Your Own

Want to Shop for Water Bottles with great and/or customizable designs?

Start here: Shop Liberty Water Bottles