06-16-05
LiquiSeal Travel Mug
I had been looking for this travel mug for ages. I like to be able to toss a mug into the side pocket of my bag, but still easily grab a sip. Most travel mugs have openings in the top, making the bag-toss impossible and the bus ride extremely messy. Most Thermos-type mugs solve this with an actual closed top, but it's hard to just take a quick sip in class without going through the rigamarole of unscrewing all the parts. This mug solves all of those problems. It keeps a beverage warm or cold for a decent amount of time, there are no tops to unscrew and drop, and there is no spill. I've recommended it to all of my fellow grad students.
-- Stefibles
OXO Good Grips LiquiSeal Travel Mug
$22
Available from Amazon
Also from Oxo
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adam r.
I owned this mug, and while the design is pleasing and the seal great, the 'open' button is very loud, attracting attention in quiet spaces. The real failure of this travel mug is the inability to clean its internal ducting. After two or three months of use, I picked mine up and was stricken by it's rancid odor. Mind you, I had cleaned it when I put it away. It stunk. I soaked it in a light bleach solution, I left it out in the sun... with no success. Into the garbage it went. Other designs may not be as sexy, may not seal as well, and may not have the OXO build quality, but their useful life will be far greater than this one's. Avoid this mug.
Oryctolagus habilis
Never had a problem with odor, but I don't use mine intensively. I find that the button can stick a bit, though.
Odor Eater
You were on the right track with soaking in bleach solution. That killed all the creepy crawlies. To eliminate the odor, simply do a second soak/scrub in a vinegar solution. Guaranteed to eliminate all odors. Finally, a third soak/scrub with plain soap will eliminate any lingering vinegary taste. A fair amount of work but you shouldn't have to do this too often maybe every six months or so...
Howler
Love my OXO cup! The only downside is the -tiny- air intake hole, which means that you have to suck the drink out of it (dangerous if it's a piping hot drink), or tilt your head forty-five degrees back to get it to pour (also dangerous, if driving).
The solution? Bore out that sucker. Using a basic home drill and a pretty narrow drill bit 3/8ths-inch, I think?), I carefully bored out the air intake hole. Worked much better.
For the adventurous/clumsy, there is a bright side to "messing up" the bore: cracking the -inner- seal on the lid means air can absolutely cascade into the mug, the lid can be cleaned "inside and out" much more easily (fixing the problem you guys have mentioned above), and does -nothing- to hurt the wonderful sealing system which is, after all, all the way on the bottom of the lid. If you don't drill past about halfway deep, you'll be nowhere near the actual sealing mechanisms.
Happy sipping!
zilbbew
I used this mug daily for 6 months and it is absolutely leakproof. However, I became concerned about the design of the lid because I didn't think it was getting clean and I like half and half in my coffee. Not recommended, but I pried off the button, unscrewed the assembly and cannot adequately describe the nastification I found inside. It's a wonder I'm still alive.