Jenna K.
This thing is the reason that those around me consider me to be an authoritative source for the best products in the world.
Everything disassembles so easily, yet nothing comes apart accidentally. The neck of the bottle and the lid give you a perfect gripping point for carry the thing around...I'm getting ahead of myself...
Let's start with the cup and cup lid. It is easy to remove from bottle lid, thanks to a perfectly tensioned magnet and a pull that gives plenty of grip without introducing any strange crevices to hinder cleaning. Cleaning which is made wonderful by thoughtful placement of seals on the drinking flap which, in all it's amazing design, allows you to place the lid upside-down on a surface without getting the drinking surface dirty. The flap also covers the air intake, which most lids (needlessly, based my time with the Hitch cup) place at the opposite end of the cup, resulting in the lid being completely sealed when it is closed. The lid simply screws onto the Hitch cup and does so without too much, or too little, twisting. The cup itself fits onto the Hitch bottle perfectly, keeps my coffee hot, and manages not to get too hot in the process. It has almost nothing but clean lines making cleaning a breeze. Furthermore, since the bottom has a silicone ring, you never have to worry about heat/moisture transfer to furniture or cup holders as a result of your drink. The little tab on the bottom of the cup works perfectly as an anchor and a twist tab when it comes time to join or remove the cup from the bottle, or its lid. Furthermore, the textured paint surface offers perfect grip for separation, connection, and assisting you in inserting the cup into the bottom of the bottle without dropping the cup by accident. Lastly, the cup also seems to help the bottle content hold their temperature when it is nested.
The bottle is also fabulous, though, like with the cup, I'll start with the bottle lid. Again, this lid can be sat down in almost any orientation without having to worry about a drinking surface being directly affected as a result. The plus sign locking mechanism does an amazing job of holding the cup, without being to tight, and holding the cup lid by benefit of the centrally placed magnet. Miraculously, while it would appear to be hard to clean, it never seems to pool up water in the corners or anything. It may be witchcraft, but I am going to chalk it up to brilliant design and quality control. The underside of the lid is also just brilliant - it seems the underside of so many lids are made in a way that makes them difficult to clean, but this one is not - there's not one bit of material that seems even remotely out of place and cleaning the thing is a breeze. Then there's the bottle - it just seems seamless - it's not, there are seams, but there is a quality to the bottle that would lead you to doubt that. The mouth is not the widest, but it is in that perfect space where it is comfortable to drink out of, but still takes larger ice cubes. It is 532ml in size, which is the same size as my previous favourite water bottle, and is plenty of space. Turning it over exposes the bottom where the outer, removable, sleeve of the water bottle is also adorned with a silicone ring. This fills in when the cup is elsewhere and continues to keep the actual bottle from touching any countertops or anything else. One the lid is off, you can push the water bottle down from the top to separate the sleeve, an action that is neither too hard, nor too easy. This all adds another ingenious level to the thing as the presence of the lid ensures there is no unnecessary sliding or wear on the sleeve retention clips which, while it doesn't appear to be needed, is a great testament to the longevity and sustainability of this product.
Which leads me to the last thing...the fact that Hitch have planned for the end-of-life of this product and will recollect and recycle it is awesome. I keep finding more little things to like about this bottle and I've already highlighted more benefits than were advertised during the creation of the bottle. Everyone I know wants one, too, and they are all down for dropping the full price on one to get it!