Contigo AUTOSEAL Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tumbler, 16 Ounces, Silver
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Contigo AUTOSEAL Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tumbler, 16 Ounces, Silver
Customer Review: Hot coffee, no drips! A little challenging to clean.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had my Contigo steel cup for well over a year, and it continues to tote my coffee to work every day in a bag that sometimes gets turned over and knocked about on the commuter train. No spills! Stays pretty hot for a good hour and a half. And the mouthpiece is the least annoying I've ever used, being well-contoured with good strong springs on that thumb button. After being banged around, the top squeaks a little, but works great. The stainless steel cup body has held up quite well.
I started putting mine in the top rack of the dishwasher now and then, and the top now shows the wear more than it did, but that doesn't seem to have hurt it a lot and it gets it a bit cleaner on average.
As for cleaning that crazy top: it's challenging but hardly impossible. I recommend soaking it in soapy water overnight, and then carefully digging into the crevices, of which there are many, as the springs are attached under a kind of strut, and the levers to the plug in the mouthpiece are small. I have used Q-tips, toothpicks, and even a curved dental pick (you can get them in the drugstores) to gently dislodge the build-up. Use hot water; the gunk will rinse out in chunks. (Oddly satisfying, this, in a creepy way.) You don't have to do this too often if you soak the lid overnight on a regular basis, however. It's never smelled bad...but then, I keep it clean and I use soy milk, which doesn't go sour the way real milk does. Given the way the top accumulates milk protein, it's probably best not to share your mug.
And really, the mugs that keep liquids hottest all have mechanisms in the lid that will trap said liquids, so...you pays your money and you takes your choice. I still like this cup!
Customer Review: FYI: Easy to Clean if You Drink Your Coffee Black!
Summary: 5 Stars
I received this travel mug as a gift 3 months ago and actually just came on to Amazon to get one for my Mom this Mother's Day. I was really surprised to find poor reviews; this mug keeps coffee hot all morning, never drips even when it's up-side-down in your purse, and dare I say... easy to clean!? However, after seeing that pretty nasty consumer picture with the gunk I decided to meticulously clean my lid only to find that I had no gunk! Before I washed it I smelled it too, deeply taking in the sweet aroma of delicious coffee. So I was both relieved and surprised that there was no "distinct garbage stank" that other reviewers complained about, especially when you find out how I "wash" the mug.
Now for the details, I use my mug every week day and occasionally on the weekends. In the three months that I've had the mug I've washed it by hand, usually just rising it with hot water (I'm clearly Holden's "Secret Slob."), and I've put it in the dishwasher only twice. NB: Despite the fact that I'm gross and have been drinking out of a barely washed mug for three months, I haven't gotten so much as a minor cold (and I never get flu shots either... I only have "catastrophe" health insurance, so unless this filthy mug gives me something ER worthy I don't get any check-ups). I digress.
Most importantly, I never ever put anything in my coffee. No milk. No sugar. Nothing. So I think it's safe to assume that if a nasty person like me who barely washes the darn thing ends up with a junk-free lid then really ya'll should become real coffee drinkers or vegans and just drink your coffee black. Oh I tease, but seriously if you drink your coffee black you will love this travel mug!
Customer Review: Unsanitary! Needs a better way to clean the lids!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I normally don't write reviews but Contigo needs to design the lid a bit better. I bought this at Costco as a two pack. It works great in that it will keep your drink hot or cold for a good amount of time. It works great at preventing spills also. My only gripe is that the lid collect build up in areas of the lid that you can't get to with a cleaning tool. My wife drinks coffee with 2 sugars and 1 instant creamer. I drink mine black. Her lid seems to collect more build up than mine. I think it's the sugar and cream that allow the lid to collect the buildup.
This build up will get around the threads and will not seal the lid properly. You will start to notice your coffee tasting a little off. I tried to let the lid soak in soapy hot water and used a tooth brush to try and get all the coffee buildup off. It is pretty nasty. It looks like chunks of mildew. I even placed hot soapy water in the cup, put the lid back on and shook the container as violently as possible. I opened it up and poured the water out. You could see black little pieces come out. I thought I had spent a lot of time cleaning out her lid.
This morning I made her coffee her usual way. She said it tasted off. As soon as I opened it there was a long black strip of coffee residue that came from the underside of the lid. NASTY and UNSANITARY There is no way to get to this part of the lid unless you have a toothbrush that has a handle shaped like a J and the bristles pointing up towards you.
I am now looking for a new mug for the both of us. I really like the no spill aspect but feel that the inability to clean this makes this product unsanitary.
Customer Review: Very good, but needs some tweaking
Summary: 4 Stars
In general, these mugs beat the other travel mugs I've used. They are extremely effective at trapping heat, are completely leakproof under normal operating conditions, and they also take a laser mark beautifully (I had Laser It All put my company logo on one for me.) The button-based drinking/sealing system works very well, and eliminates the need to flip something on the lid back and forth or to unscrew a cap, features that are common in other designs. It also eliminates the need for a breather hole, which I've found to be a frequent source of leaks.
That being said, they have a few minor flaws, which is why I gave them four stars instead of five. First, it's easy to put the lid on in a slightly crooked/cross-threaded fashion, which defeats the seal (I had coffee spill down my jacket and onto my pants on one occasion when I put the mug under my arm without checking it.) Drinking from them takes some getting used to, as you have to suck up any extra liquid that comes out after you release the button (There's no rim to trap it on the top of the cup.) The gray mug got a coffee stain on the plastic where my lips go after a few days of use; it's been impossible to remove so far. They also trap heat so well that my coffee is too hot to drink for the first 15-20 minutes, and I can't blow on it to cool it off (I've taken to slipping in a cube of ice before sealing it up in the morning.)
One other thing worth noting: The inner workings of the lid (where the sealing mechanism is housed) are inaccessible, meaning you can't clean them thoroughly, as far as I can tell. So far, this hasn't been a problem for me, but your standards may be higher than mine.
Customer Review: Beats the Hell Out of Starbucks' Cups
Summary: 5 Stars
I work at a Starbucks and commute to college everyday. Needless to say, I'm an avid coffee drinker. Working at Starbucks I've been through countless of their travel mugs. By and large I'm really not a fan of Starbucks' cups, some of them I got for free and I still wanted my money back. Several of them have lids with leaky hinges on the flaps, some of them don't seal well, others don't retain heat. For a long time I settled on a very decent Starbucks mug made of dense polycarbonate, which had adequate heat retention for a plastic cup. Having lost that, I set out in search of something better. Came across this on Amazon and was very impressed with it's reviews. Having had it for a couple of weeks now I can attest to it's quality. First, it really is completely spill-proof, no little drips, no screwing around with the lid to make sure it's on tightly enough. Second, it's heat retention is fantastic, coffee stays hot for hours. Third, it looks cool. As someone with an appreciation for shiny objects, I can tell you it looks awesome. I love the button mechanism, easy to press, and it enables you to open the cup and take a drink with only one hand. If there is one drawback to this cup it is that the lid can be something of a bitch to clean, having messed with it for a while I can tell you the best way to clean it. Find small object (I use a small, wire brush) to wedge in the cups spout to hold it open, and submerge the lid in hot soapy water for ten or twenty minutes. Do this once a week or so and it will work like a charm. Absolutely the best travel mug I've ever had, would recommend to anyone.