The people that would most benefit from this type of devices are those that want to (or need to) keep track of how much water they drink, such as the outdoor workers (which are often vulnerable especially during the summer) or those that work in an office (especially if you’re a programmer, professional gamer or working in any other IT-related job, where you are required to focus for longer periods of time, so it’s easy to forget you have to drink or eat). The elderly are also one of the most vulnerable category of people to dehydration, that actually poses a serious threat for their health and may need to be regularly kept in check and, lastly, a smart water bottle will be suitable for people that like to keep track of everything that happens with their body (such as active people that practice outdoors sports – there actually are smart water bottles that will work with FitBit for more detailed stats – when will we actually see a FitBit water bottle?).

UPDATE 03.13.2023: The Hidrate Spark 3 bottle has been added to the best smart water bottles list

Hidrate Spark 3 Smart Water Bottle	LifeFuels Smart Water Bottle	REBO Smart Water Bottle
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H2OPal Smart Bottle	Ozmo Active Smart Bottle	Noerden LIZ Smart Water Bottle
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We’ve already gotten accustomed with these new smart devices and having a smart home has pretty much become the norm, so since we’ve already had a look at the best smartphones on the market (at an acceptable budget), as well as the best waterproof smartwatches, some smart speakers (such as this one from Edifier) and had a slight incursion into the world of the smart smoke detectors, it’s now time to have a look at which manufacturer managed to create the best smart water bottles.

1. Hidrate Spark 3

Read the full review

The Hidrate Spark 3 is the third iteration from the main series of smart water bottles developed by the US-based manufacturer and, while the side Steel series went with a stainless steel container, the Spark 3 continued to use a Tritan plastic bottle, just like its predecessors. But, the manufacturer has improved some of the key elements, making sure that there is now a better syncing between the device and the app, the bottle is sturdier and that the glowing LED is better at letting the user know it’s time to take a sip.

One of the main selling points of the Hidrate Spark 3 is the design of the smart bottle. I know that most other manufacturers of smart bottles (which are not that many) did prefer to use stainless steel containers, the Hidrate Spark decided that their plastic bottle is safe enough, considering that it’s BPA and BPS-free, and it does not use phthalates. And the Hidrate Spark 3 did not go with the traditional bottle look, but it preferred to use a cylindrical container with a geometric pattern all around that will improve the grip. The Hidrate Spark 3 tracks the water intake using a sensing stick which lies inside the bottle and is attached to the base section (which is powered by a single CR2477 coin cell battery).

And inside this sensing stick, the manufacturer has embedded a series of LED lights which will glow in specific patterns, its intensity and brightness being able to be set from the app. The bottle that I purchased is yellowish-green and the light inside is green – that’s the only color available. A multicolored LED can be found on the Hidrate Steel smart water bottle, while the Spark series seems to be more limited in this regard.

The Hidrate Spark 3 reads how much water you have drank only when you put the bottle down on a flat surface, so I suppose it can frustrate some users that want to check their stats while jogging or practicing any other outdoor sport, but then again, you are going to put the smart water bottle down at the end of the exercise, so the app will update then (minor compromise, I guess). Obviously, a smart bottle is usually better suited for people that work in an office environment because when concentrating for long periods of time, it’s easy to lose track of time and forget to hydrate, so a glowing smart water bottle on your desk will help you have a more healthy life style. If you don’t ignore its glowing LED.

The Hidrate Spark 3 has a 20 ounces capacity (slight cut from the 24oz of the Spark 2.0) and, if you want to wash it, know that only the lid is dishwasher safe, while the rest needs to be washed by hand. It is advisable to remove the sensor stick before washing the device to avoid any damages. Also, know that the bottle is not insulated, so the water will eventually have the room’s temperature. The Hidrate Spark 3 has an app which will work with iOS and Android smartphones and, similarly to most other smart bottles on the market, the setup process is simple and straight-forward: create an account, pair the bottle and then calibrate it.

The app will also want to know your location, compulsively – the reason that’s stated is that it will help you find your bottle easily, as well as create a more personalized goal based on the temperature and humidity in the area you live in.

The app will let you see how much water you need to drink, check the History logs (Week and Month), to Add Water manually (it is possible to add from other sources than the smart water bottle) and the Settings. It includes setting up the Profile, changing the Goal, the option to configure the Notifications, change the Units, and more.

2. LifeFuels Smart Water Bottle

Read the full review

LifeFuels has recently entered the smart water bottle market and, while its device does offer the expected set of features, such as a water intake tracking system and a reliable mobile app, the manufacturer decided to also include a nutritional layer to the device. I am happy to see new players entering this market since there really aren’t enough manufacturers to constantly support their product series – there is currently only one (Hidrate Spark), but the way LifeFuels built its smart water bottle suggests that they’re here to stay. Of course, I am talking about the FuelPods which can fill the water container with various types of vitamins (and not only) to both improve the taste of the beverage (those that don’t drink water very often probably aren’t that fond of it being tasteless) and to help boost your immune system and energy level. And yes, you can buy more FuelPods when the included ones are finished (or subscribe to a monthly plan).

You don’t necessarily have to purchase any additional FuelPods and the bottle can be used as a regular smart water bottle. That being said, the device itself is larger than expected and also a bit heavy, so at its 10.0 x 3.0 x 3.0 inches and 1.1 lbs (2.2 lbs when filled), you’re going to definitely feel the difference between it and a regular bottle (or even an insulated one). LifeFuel knew that the bottle will be a bit on the heavy side, so it added a lanyard for an easier carrying. But there is a reason for its weight and that is the bottom half of the device (the base) which is covered by anodized aluminum and if you turn it upside down, there’s a cool transparent cover that let’s you have a sneak peek to the three dedicated areas for the FuelPods (yes, these add quite a bit to the total weight).

That cover can be removed and needs to if you intend to turn the bottle on (the Reset and the Power button rests within that area). The top half of the smart water bottle is made out of transparent BPA-free tritan (with a dark tint) and it can be removed from the base to clean it (only this part is dishwasher safe, while the bottom part is to be cleaned with a soft cloth only), but, to pour water, I suggest to simply unscrew the cap since the mouth of the bottle is big enough to ensure that the water is not spilled everywhere (has a diameter of 1.37-inch).

The bottle can be recharged using the provided cable which gets connected to the front-facing microUSB port (yes, no USB-C here) and the battery can deliver up to 5 days on a single charge, but it will be heavily dependent on how much you’re using the FuelPods since the mechanism uses an internal motor and there are lots of LEDs that do take a toll on the battery life.
Note: The FuelPods that come with the device are Lemon Lime (rich in electrolytes), Blackberry (rich in antioxidants) and Peach (rich in multi-vitamins).

The LifeFuels smart water bottle has a dedicated app available for both Apple and Android users (be aware that the app can’t be installed outside USA – I tried it with an Android device) and, after installing the application, you will have to enter some personal info (regarding your well-being and body measurements) to create a personalized profile. After logging into the app, you can immediately see the status of the bottle, what type of FuelPods are already installed (each with the remaining amount of content) and you can also see a FuelLog to get a better understanding of your progress. You can dispense a dose of a specific FuelPod from the app or directly from the bottle itself (there is a central button for this specific reason) and each pod should suffice for about 30 beverages, but you will need to adjust the dosage from the app. And that’s another interesting aspect of this device because it allows you to create personalized beverages by specifying the amount of each type of pod content that will get into your water.

I also do have to talk about the water tracking accuracy which is decent, relying on a continuous level sensor to detect any change in the liquid quantity at a certain place within the bottle, so it won’t really register any ounce of water that you drink, but only when the water gets to a certain level – and you can see it in action in the app, where the icon of the bottle gets updated every quarter. It’s also worth noting that the app updates the icon almost instantaneously.

3. REBO Smart Water Bottle

Read the full review

Even though the smart devices market is in full bloom right now, only a few manufacturers are willing to give the smart water bottle niche a try, so we are still left mostly with start-up companies that rarely find the balanced formula between the design, functionality and the price point. One of the latest available smart water bottles comes from a new company which mainly wants to associate the idea of using a reusable bottle with helping the environment. And, of course, it’s a solid argument since you are using less plastic. Additionally, I noticed that the app that comes with the smart bottle also helps you find nearby fountains, helping you refill it for free.

While it’s good to know that there is more to the bottle, we still need to get a proper device that will accurately track how much water is being consumed and to have a good notification system. Otherwise, what’s the point of an IoT device? – there are already plenty regular reusable bottles on the market.
The REBO smart water bottle looks pretty unassuming and you could hardly differentiate it from the regular reusable water bottle, if it wasn’t for that large cap. The device itself features two main parts, the stainless steel recipient (SUS304) and the aforementioned fairly large lid (BPA free plastic and Food Grade PP). The bottle capacity is 20.29 ounces and it measures 10.0 x 2.9 inches, so it isn’t the most compact, but should still easily fit in a bag.

Also, because of its ergonomic shape and the matte finish, the bottle has a decent grip. The most interesting part of this device is, obviously, the bottle cap which contains the entire electronic circuitry. The lid can be opened by pressing on the dedicated plastic piece (it’s a bit stiff) and I saw that the mouth of the bottle is fairly big. I don’t think you’ll easily push ice cubes through there, but you can easily detach the lid from the bottle to allow the cubes to slip in. At the top of the lid, there is an LED ring which lights up to let you know the status of the device and to remind you when it’s time to drink again. Unfortunately, there is no sound effect included, just the light and the mobile notifications.

If the LED disturbs you during the night, then you can schedule when it’s going to be active from the app. The LED will also let you know when the battery needs to be recharged and yes, the manufacturer has included a USB-C port on the side of the lid. It’s obviously covered by a protective silicone piece.
The way the REBO smart water bottle is detecting how much water is left in the container is by pointing some laser beams (from inside the cap) and trying to guess how much you added or drank. It’s not a perfect system, especially when left uncalibrated. After calibration, it does become a bit better, but it can also miss the mark by up to 10% (which is kind of acceptable).

The aluminum part of the smart bottle can be washed and fully immersed under water, but the cap should only be cleaned with a soft cloth. The app that comes with the smart bottle is called REBO and it’s compatible with both iOS and Android devices. The GUI is simple and I liked the fluid animation that followed the movement of the bottle. Here, you can see if you have reached your daily goal, check a longer-term progress, check the map for nearby fountains and you can also sync it with Apple Health.
REBO says that the battery should last up to two weeks on a single charger and, after a disappointing first experience, the bottle does seem to hold a lot better. It’s been a bit over a week since I last charged it and I have 45% of battery left, so yeah, two weeks seem to be realistic.

4. H2OPal Smart Bottle Hydration Tracker

The H20Pal smart bottle is the latest product (and the only one, so far) to come from the technology-based startup ‘Out Of Galaxy’, a device that was designed to challenge the smart bottles from the competition by choosing to go for a different approach: instead of incorporating the electronic parts into the bottle itself (some have LED indicators or a small display to show you how much water you drank), the manufacturer decided to leave it as a separate part, so it can be used with different types of bottles.

So, H2OPal consists of two separate parts, one is the bottle itself, which is a borosilicate glass bottle (it’s transparent, so you can see how much water you’ve sipped) with various silicone bands positioned towards the top and on the middle for a more sporty look and, connected to the bottom, lies the second part of the H2OPal, which incorporates all the electronic parts and has the role of tracking your water intake.

The H20Pal smart bottle can be filled with 18.6 ounces of water (the mouth of the bottle is a bit narrow, so it may be a bit difficult to insert ice), it is dishwasher safe (you need to remove the bottom part) and it comes in two color variants: pink and yellow or black and blue. If you fear that the bottle may break (and it will if you drop it), you can take off the silicone sleeve (towards the bottom part) and add it to a plastic bottle (for a perfect fit, it needs to have approximately a 3-inch diameter and it needs to weigh at least 2.9 oz when empty) and then simply reconnect the bottom mechanism to regain the smart features (it works fine with gym bottles which are usually made of plastic and it will give you some peace off mind if you think glass is too heavy, slippery and fragile).
Note: The smart bottle uses a single coin cell battery, which should be able to last up to 6 months.

The H20Pal can be connected to an iOS device and all you have to do is download and install the app (an Android app is currently in the beta stage) – the H20Pal app will work with Fitbit, the Apple Health app and will also sync with the Apple Watch.
After you’ve installed the app, you will be required to enter your name, choose your gender, set your birthday, height and weight, and you will be asked to select ‘How active are you?’ (can be Not very active, Lightly active, Normal active and Very active). Afterwards, you can enable some Additional Services (such as Location Data – can use the weather reports to adjust your daily goal, the Motion Data and Health Data) and add your H20Pal Tracker (you will be given instructions on how to activate the device which includes activating the Bluetooth and pairing the smart bottle – you will need to insert the PIN number).

After the process is done, the H20Pal will ask you if it should send you notifications and you can visit the user interface (the menu includes Home, Profile, Statistics, Levels and achievements, Entry log, H20Pal Tracker, Tutorial and Settings (here, you can also enable Fitbit sync)).
Note: The H20Pal smart bottle can also be connected to Amazon Alexa, which will give you the possibility of asking Alexa to tell you the amount of water that you drank today.

Be aware that the way this smart device works is that you need to put the bottle down every time you fill it with water, so the tracker can take all the necessary measurements and, after you drank the water, you have to put the bottle down once again, so it can measure the changes in the quantity. This means that it is less suitable for joggers and more for people that work in an office or those who go to the gym. If you don’t want to keep the Bluetooth enabled all the time or simply don’t have your phone nearby, the H20Pal will also work offline, so, even if you refill the bottle several times, after it can be re-synced to the app, it will take into account all the data.
Note: Every time you add a new bottle, you have to re-calibrate the tracker: it can be done by going to the H20-Pal Tracker option on the app, selecting Advanced settings and choosing calibrate (you will need to enter the volume of the bottle, calibrate it empty and then calibrate it when it’s filled).

5. Ozmo Active Smart Bottle

The Ozmo Active Smart Bottle is one of the two devices available from the Hong Kong-based startup company ‘Groking Lab’, especially created for people that need to keep track of their water consumption and, in order to bring a unique feature to the table, it has sensors that can detect whether you have filled the bottle with water or with coffee. The manufacturer decided to steer clear of the fragile glass bottle and the material choice for the Ozmo Active was ABS plastic, which should provide better protection in case you accidentally drop it and it will look more at home while you’re jogging or biking (although it’s not transparent, so you won’t see how much water is left inside the bottle). That being said, the smart bottle doesn’t really have an attractive design, but it does make up for it with the robust built quality (the bottle also weighs 12.7 ounces and it has a 16 ounces capacity).

The smart bottle comes in blue, grey, purple, red, seafoam green, pink and white, it has a top handle for easy carrying and, towards the bottom, there is a removable tab which exposes the recessed Reset button and the micro-USB charging port (to fully charge the battery, it should take roughly two hours and the battery life is rated at about 3 weeks).

On the side of the device, you’ll notice three LED lights: if the middle LED is enabled, then the lid isn’t properly closed, so the bottle won’t be able to track your drink; if one light is enabled, then you’re reached 20% of your hydration goal, otherwise, if two LEDs are active, then you’re reached 50% of your goal and three lights indicate that you’ve reached your goal (the three LED lights will also become active to let you know when the device is fully charged). Furthermore, the Ozmo Active smart bottle will let you know when the lid is securely closed by vibrating once, will alert you that the lid is open by vibrating three times and, if you haven’t been drinking water for over an hour, it will vibrate six times.
Note: Unlike the H20Pal, which has the tracker and the bottle separately, the Ozmo Active doesn’t have two separate parts, which means that you’ll have to clean the device as a whole: you’ll have to do it by hand, as it is not dishwasher safe.

While the Ozmo Active Smart Bottle will work fine on its own as it has integrated inside the bottle a way of notifying you on your progress (the LED lights), you can connect the bottle to either an Android or to an iOS device using the Ozmo app (the app won’t send any notifications and you’ll have to rely solely on the bottle’s LEDs and vibrations). The Ozmo Active is also compatible with FitBit, Garmin, Misfit and Apple Health apps, and it has an integrated barcode scanner which can be used to scan the nutritional info from all the new food labels.

To do so, you need to download, install and open the app, and tap Get Started: this will open up the Profile window, which will ask for your gender, age, height and weight (all this info will help the app determine your daily water intake goal). Afterwards, you will have to connect the Ozmo bottle to the app: keep the mobile phone close to the bottle and wait until it vibrates and until the trio of LED lights will blink.

After the pairing process is done, you can start adding water (you’ll see a live representation of the amount of water that’s being poured inside the container). From now on, every time you take a sip out of the bottle, the sensors will automatically detect it and you can see in the app how much close you are to your goal. You can also add coffee inside the container and the sensors will immediately pick it up and you will be able to see in the app that a different interface is loaded, especially designed for the coffee intake (the system is not perfect as sometimes, the sensors can mistake water for coffee or vice versa).
Note: After you’ve added the necessary quantity of water, make sure that the lid is securely closed to activate the Bluetooth (when it is tightly sealed, the middle LED will turn off).

6. Noerden LIZ Water Bottle

Read the full review

The French-based start-up company Noerden has recently released their first take on a smart water bottle and it’s quite different than its main competitors, offering an unusual set of features than we are accustomed with the likes of Hidrate Spark or DrinKup. Instead of an app and the tracking of the water intake, the LIZ bottle can sterilize the water using UV, it can tell the temperature of the beverage (if it’s cold, warm or hot) and it will notify you every two hours to drink water through a pulsating LED.

The HydraCoach was another smart water bottle that lacked an app, so it also couldn’t connect to a smartphone, to a FitBit device or to a smart home environment, but it did have a small built-in display to help you keep track of your progress, but the Noerden LIZ doesn’t have any of these elements and the only way to interact with it is through the touch-sensitive lid (for this reason, I did have some trouble seeing it as a smart water bottle and, as I said in the full review, it’s more like an enhanced water bottle).

The bottle itself is made of 304 stainless steel on the exterior and out of 316 stainless steel on the inside, while the only plastic element (food-grade BPA-free polycarbonate) is the thick lid. The LIZ bottle comes into two variants, one has a volume of 16 ounces and measures 9.8 x 2.9 inches, while the other, which is shorter, has a volume capacity of 12 ounces and measures 7.6 x 2.9 inches. The model that I tested is covered by a white glossy finish (doesn’t seem to retain visible fingerprints), while the lid is matte white and, thanks to its weight (0.7 lb) it’s not easy to tip it over (even when it’s empty) – there is also a silicone anti-slip pad attached to the bottom of the bottle to keep it from moving around.

Just like with most other smart water bottles (except for the H2OPal), the lid is the part that contains all the sensors and other circuits and the same is available for the Noerden LIZ which has a couple of exposed pins on the outside to which you can attach (magnetically) a small piece of plastic that contains a micro-USB port. If you remove the lid (counter-clockwise movement), you’ll be able to see the UV emitter and the temperature sensor, both pointing downwards and to activate either of these functions, you will need to use the touch-sensitive top section of the lid (where rests the LED). After taking the water bottle out of the package, make sure to remove the plastic cover from the bottom of the lid and then tap and hold for a couple of seconds on the top of the lid.

This way, the LED will flash white and every two hours, the LED will flash a few times to let you know that you need to drink water. To see the temperature of the beverage, tap once on the lid: blue will mean that the liquid is cold (underneath 98 degrees F), yellow will mean that its warm (between 98 and 140 degrees F) and red means that the beverage is hot (above 140 degrees F). If you were wondering whether the UV emitter can actually kill the bacteria and remove the odor, the answer is yes, considering that the rays should easily penetrate such a small quantity of water (it may not work that well will colored beverages, such as coffee or juice).
The manufacturer says that the battery should last for a full month when using the UV sterilization once a day and I have been using it for about a week and, so far, it’s still working fine – there is no indicator for the battery life, but the LED will flash red when it goes below 5%.

Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

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Well, the Hidrate Spark 3 keeps the same soft plastic body with lights shining through, so that hasn’t really changed that much over the years, but the developers did work at making the sensors more accurate and at offering a better integration with the mobile app.

And it’s clear that the public appreciated these changes due to the brand’s popularity, but it’s still a relatively under-served niche, so the manufacturer is pretty much on the front lines to convince more people about the usefulness of a smart water bottle. And I think that despite being considered an accessory for the fitness-conscious people, those that work long hours are the more likely candidates to benefiting from a smart water bottle.

I don’t really tend to forget to drink water when working out or generally when I am not very busy with projects. No, I need a device such as the Hydrate Spark 3 when I go through crunch times at work and need to be reminded to stay hydrated. I suppose the elderly could also benefit from a smart water bottle, so let’s put the smart water bottle to the test and see if it rises to the hype.

Design and Build Quality

I usually prefer using stainless steel bottles since they manage to feel more robust and the idea of microplastics has really made me more conscious on how I handle both my food and my beverages. The interesting thing is that the manufacturer actually makes a case against single-use plastic bottle for containing phthalates, trihalomethanes and the even more ill-famed microplastics, but is the all-plastic container of the Hydrate Spark 3 better?

The smart water bottle is BPA-free, but that’s not really enough because BPS remains harmful to people. The good news is that the device is also BPS-free and it also has no phthalates, which is good to know. The Hydrate Spark 3 smart water bottle unit that I got is yellow and it can be filled with 20 ounces of liquid (or a bit over half a litter) which I suppose is enough for a few hours to stay hydrated. The bottle itself can be divided into three main parts.

And we’re going to start at the bottom, where there’s a base containing sensing rod which is basically a long plastic piece that goes towards the lid. And, if you check at the bottom, you will see a metallic locking mechanism which holds a plastic cover into place. Removing it will reveal a compartment for a battery and yes, there is one provided in the package (alongside a lanyard). The lid can also be removed (rotate it counter-clockwise), so you can easily fit ice cubes or anything else that’s similarly sized.

The mouthpiece is not too large, just enough to allow a good flow for the beverage and the open/close mechanism is spring-operated which means that it should last for quite a bit. I have tested some bottles over the years that only had plastic holding plastic, and that approach had a high rate of failure after a few months. The container of the bottle is actually covered by the soft plastic material, while within (the part that gets in contact with the water), it’s actually transparent and of different consistency.

I think that this could have been the perfect opportunity to add glass which would then be covered by the same soft plastic to protect it from shattering. Perhaps this would be an option in the future, although it’s not going to be easy to implement and it would raise the price tag substantially more than when using only plastic.

The LED status light

The Hidrate Spark 3 has the LED embedded within the sensor rod from inside the bottle and, since the plastic is slightly transparent, the light forms a very nice pattern. And the developers made sure that it’s not just a turn on and off effect, the brightness changes in intensity. The light is just green and from the app, there is no way to change it to something else, so yes, it’s not as colorful as on the Hidrate Steel, but I think that the effect is nicer on the Hidrate Spark 3.

There is still some degree of customization since you can change the glow intensity and how often the LED will activate during the day, but yes, the options are a bit limited.

How does the Hidrate Spark 3 smart water bottle work?

The Hidrate Spark 3 uses the sensing stick to detect how much water is left in the container. It’s a fairly simple concept and most likely more accurate than a sensing base which measures the weight of the bottle.

There are other approaches, such as the sensing cap of the REBO smart bottle which shoots a beam of light to detect any changes in the water level and there’s also the continuous measurement system of the LifeFuels bottle. So, in a sense, the approach of the Hidrate Spark 3 may seem a bit more antiquated and some may not like that the bottle needs to stay flat for a few seconds for the water amount to update in the app, but overall, it’s a good system, so why fix what’s not broken?

The Installation

The app that you need to download and install is called Hidrate and it’s available on both Android and iOS. After installing it, it asked if I would let it use Bluetooth for connecting to the bottle (I said yes), which was then followed by the prompt to create an account. It wants an email and then it wanted for me to accept the Terms and Services, as well as the Privacy Policy. Let’s see what data is collected.

The app will use some data from the social networking websites if you signed up this way, but the data collected from the device is the liquid consumption amount, the time when it was consumed, the location when it happened, as well as the IP address, the time and the battery level. Furthermore, the reminders will also be stored, the geolocation data and a few more. At the moment, the company does not offer a ‘do not track’ option so that the users can opt out anytime they want.

About the data sharing with third-parties, Hidrate Spark may share your personal info with companies that provide them with services (fulfillment, email management and credit card processing). Also, they will share you data if requested by a legal entity and in case of corporate restructuring. Lastly I saw that there is more about sharing collected data with third-party companies because they said that it is possible for them to enter in agreement with other companies where your data may be shared. And they said that they do not hold any control for how your data will then be used. Overall, it’s your standard privacy invasive app that undergoes the now normalized practices of collecting data and sharing it with whomever they want.

We are not done yet because the app asked if I wanted to receive notifications, if I wanted it to track my activity across apps (absolutely not!) and then I got to the profile setup. After inserting the necessary data, I gained access to the app interface and it was possible to add a new bottle. At this point, the installation wizard required that I chose the type of bottle that will be paired (I chose Bluetooth) and before the connection was done, I was asked if I wanted Hidrate to use my location.

I know that they asked me because there is a ‘locate my bottle’ tool, but I didn’t need it so I set the location precision to off. Now, it was time to calibrate the bottle and the process is incredibly simple. First, put the empty bottle on a level surface, wait a few seconds (as instructed by the app), add water and let it sit flat once again. That’s it, now the bottle will glow when you need to take a sip of water.

The Mobile Application

The app will immediately show if you are near reaching your daily goal and you can see your progress across the days of the week. Scroll down a bit and you should be able to see a Drink Log and the Hourly Goals, as well as the Breakdown.

What I really liked was the possibility to add a Drink – if you drink from a different bottle or glass, then you can manually insert it into the app, so that it aligns with your daily goal (and you can choose between different types of beverages). The next main section is the Social, where I could apply to various challenges and see how other people did (it can include my Friends as well). This is a very successful approach and it worked wonders for Peloton as well.

Moving forward, we can check the Bottles section where I could change some basic aspects about the smart water bottle, including the type of beverage, the Glow Reminders, I could Snooze the program and it was also suggested that I could but the GlowStudio. I didn’t need it (and I am not sure it will work for the Hidrate Spark 3), so I moved forward to the Settings section. Here, I could change the Account settings, adjust the Goal (as well as change between Ounces and Mililiters), set Reminders, see Trophies and more.

How accurate is the water level measurement?

The water amount measurement is actually surprisingly accurate and that’s without constant calibration; just the initial empty bottle – full bottle seems to be enough.

But, as we saw on the LifeFuels smart water bottle, the app only showed how much water was consumed only after the amount went after a certain level. So, taking a couple of sips would not register – drinking a glass of water would change the water amount in the app. The Hidrate Spark 3 went for a more continuous representation of the water amount that’s left in the bottle and, after taking some sips of water, I could see that the daily goal would change, even by less than a couple of ounces.

But there is a minimum which will trigger the communication with the app, so don’t expect to take a very light sip and see it being registered. Even so, it’s still a more accurate system than on most other smart water bottles.

It is easy to clean?

The sensor stick needs to be hand washed only and the manufacturer says that the outside of the bottle should also be washed by hand. You can rinse the interior side of the bottle after every use and it’s recommended to so to avoid bacteria from developing. The rest (the lid and the bottom ring) are top-dishwasher safe.

Battery life and some final tests

The Hidrate Spark 3 does not have a rechargeable battery, it uses a replaceable CR2477 battery which the manufacturer says that it should last about 2-3 months, but it will depend on how you set up the smart water bottle. How often the light will glow, the brightness and more. I have not used the Hidrate Spark 3 for that long (only a couple of weeks), so I can’t yet confirm that it will last for at least a couple of months, but I will update the article when I reach that milestone.

The Conclusion

The Hidrate Spark 3 is one of the best smart water bottles on the market and it’s not because it offers more features than other similar devices. The first important factor is the longevity of the brand which means continuous support for its products and secondly, the bottle actually does a decent job at keeping track of your water intake. There are some shortcomings because the Hidrate Spark 3 is not that great at keeping beverages cold or hot since it’s made of plastic, and the design may not be on everyone’s taste, but overall, if you want a smart water bottle, then I guess you already know that the Hidrate Spark devices are one of the safest choices.

Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

It’s better for both the environment and for your wallet. And I noticed that REBO is focusing its advertising campaign mainly towards this point, the environment, calling its device the ‘first smart water bottle that cleans the planet as you drink’. It’s a bit cheesy, but it’s true that they do seem to fund the collection of bottles every few ounces of drink that you consume. No idea if they’ll keep their promise, but if they do, it’s cool and creates a nice precedent.

The reusable bottle has been quite popular for a while and to get people to give the smart features a chance, you do need to create a proper app integration with suitable functions. Was REBO able to do so with its first bottle? We’ll put that to the test. But before going forward, know that very, very few manufacturers bother to continuously support their smart water bottles and even fewer have created a series of such devices. The only one that comes to mind is the Hidrate Spark. The LifeFuels is a close second since it still supports its smart bottle even after a few years have passed.

Design and Build Quality

The REBO smart water bottle consists of two main parts, one is the bottle itself which is made of SUS304 stainless steel and the second part is the cap which contains all the circuitry. The stainless steel container doesn’t seem to be thicker than your usual reusable water bottles (such as the Super Sparrow or 64Hydro), so expect a similar performance in terms of insulation. This type of bottles do quite well with cold beverages, but tend to get cooler far easier with hotter beverages (we’ll put it to the test in the following sections). The water container is covered by a grippy matte finish (mine was a darker blue which they call atoll turquoise or something) and inside, the metal has a special coating as to ensure that no toxins are released in the water.

The volume capacity is 20.29 ounces and the dimensions of the entire bottle are 10.0 x 2.9 inches (25.5 x 7.3cm). This means that it should enter most car cup-holders since it’s a taller and narrower bottle than other bottle from the market. Is it going to easily fit into a bag? It depends on the size of your bag, but yes, it’s going to be a bit heavier and taller than a regular plastic bottle.
The lid is made of plastic and it’s food-grade BPA-free; it also seems that it’s RoHS and REACH certified which means that it should also be phthalate-free, which is great. The lid is a bit on the larger side and it’s covered by a soft matte finish that’s nice to the touch.

The lid rotates inside the bottle (there is a red seal to prevent water from slipping out) and there is a silicone loop that helps carrying the REBO smart bottle around with relative ease. The opening mechanism is not that easy to operate (it’s very stiff) and I had to really push the finger on the plastic piece to get the lid open. So I am not entirely sure about the longevity of the mechanism – they could have used some spring-operated mechanism instead of a piece of plastic that can fail after a few months of constant use. I did like that there is a locking mechanism on the other side of the lid, so you won’t accidentally open the bottle and spill water everywhere. In any case, after opening up the lid, I could see that there’s a fairly large mouth and, towards the top, there seems to be a sensor (with two beams) for detecting the amount of water that’s left in the bottle.

At the top of the lid, there is a narrow LED ring which will light up to show the status of the bottle and to let you know that you need to drink water. Above the already mentioned locking mechanism for the lid, there is a silicone cover which, once removed, it will expose the USB-C charging port. And yes, there is a USB-C cable inside the box that you can use to charge up the REBO smart water bottle.

The LED status light

The ring LED will light up solid green when the bottle is fully charged up and it will flash blue to remind the user to drink water. If you lag behind with the water consumption (according to the set plan), the LED will start flashing white. Since this can be annoying during the night, it is very much possible to create schedules in the app. While charging the bottle, the LED will stay solid orange, it will flash orange when the battery is low and it will flash red if the battery is close to be depleted (it will flash red only if the bottle sits vertically on a flat surface). If the LED flashes purple, it means that the bottle has been disconnected from the app.

How does the REBO smart water bottle work?

The manufacturer says that it relies on a proprietary algorithm for measurement (a bit vague, I guess), but it has disclosed that there is an accelerometer embedded into the cap which has the role of detecting when the bottle is positioned on a flat surface and the lid is closed. At that point, the other sensor, called ToF (Time of Flight) is going to shine a laser light beam towards the surface of the water and attempt to calculate the amount of water that’s left inside the bottle. I know that some smart water bottles used to rely on a long sensor that sat inside the bottle and was attached to the lid (a sensor stick) to track the water intake – Hidrate Spark 2.0.

But I noticed that the manufacturers have moved away from that system and either prefer to use a sensing base to check the amount of water that’s left or what the REBO smart water bottle is using, a lid with sensors. LifeFuels went with a different system which detects changes in the water level (using a continuous level sensor) and it updates the app when the water reaches every quarter of the container.

The App and some Major Issues

Before anything else, make sure that the bottle is fully charged, so connect a USB-C cable and wait until the LED light gets blue. Then, you can download and install the REBO app which is available on both Android devices and iPhones. You will need to create an account (or use your Facebook, Google or Apple account – I wouldn’t), but please make sure to red the Privacy Policy since there is some data collection. The app will collect your name, email address, your picture, gender, age, height, weight, lifestyle, whether you’re pregnant, how many plastic bottle you used before the REBO smart water bottle and the amount of beverage that you drank in association with your location (lovely).

It’s worth noting that REBO says that they do not share your data with third parties, unless you expressly agreed to it. After creating the account, you can create a profile (doesn’t have to be that precise..) and then you can agree to a few app permissions. These include the Location, Bluetooth and Notifications. Since I was using an Apple device, the REBO app asked whether it could write and read some info into and from the Health app and I could finally Connect the bottle!

The process is very simple: just make sure that the LED flashes blue (meaning that it’s charged enough) and the bottle should be discovered by the app. I noticed that there are some instructions that say to keep the bottle vertical for about 10 seconds to get accurate readings, but I noticed that the data would appear after as little at 3 seconds. Also, the reading is not made in 25% increments as it happened on the LifeFuels, which means that you’re going to get a better idea about how much water you drank from the REBO smart water bottle. And everything was great and all until I decided to close the app and went on my merry way. About three hours and a few sips later, I decided to check the amount of water that was left from the app.

Apparently, the bottle was disconnected, so I tapped to reconnect it. Which was in vain, the app would not connect to the bottle again. The weird thing was that the app kept saying that the bottle needs to be charged, but it couldn’t have lost that much over the last three hours, right? Wrong! The bottle needed to charge for about half an hour before the ring turned from orange to green, so it lost about 17 percent.
It’s not a small number, so there is some battery drain that’s going on and the interesting thing is that I could reconnect to the app after the bottle was again fully charged. I think this is an error in the coding and there may have been a battery level limit way too high for the connection to the app. That or the manufacturer used an incredibly under-powered battery to keep everything up and running.

Returning to the now-working-again app, I could see that they went with a cool animation where the water would flow in the direction of how you moved the phone. I could also see the battery percent and could enable the LED ring. The next tab showed how much of my goal I had achieved in that day and the third tab showed the impact that my new habit had on the environment. It’s a nice touch and could help keep people motivated, I suppose. The last tab took me by surprise and it kind of made sense why they wanted my location. They have a map which shows the closest public fountains to where you are located, so you can refill the bottle without needing to buy bottled water. Tapping the cogwheel (from the top right corner), it will open the Settings.

Here, you can set Notifications and Reminders, set the Goal, adjust the Profile (includes Units), Calibrate the bottle and more. I don’t know if I need to clearly state it, but yes, the REBO smart water bottle works nicely with Apple Health.

How accurate is it?

Out of the box, the bottle is not very accurate and it would think that half of the bottle was full, while it actually was 3/4, so it was way off the correct values. There is a way to fix this by calibrating the bottle. This options can be found in the app and, after following the instructions, the REBO smart water bottle did get better at approximating the amount of water that was inside the container. I noticed that it’s still between 5-10 percent inaccurate, but it’s better than before.

It is easy to clean?

The plastic cap needs to be clean with a soft cloth and should not be submerged under water, but the metallic bottle can be thoroughly cleaned. And it should be done periodically. It’s also dish-washed safe (only the bottle container, not the lid), so that’s a bonus.

Battery life and some final tests

I have been monitoring the battery life of the REBO smart water bottle to see if the issue that I encountered when checking out the app resurfaced and so far, a couple of days later, it did not. The battery drain issue is also not present, but I will keep my eye on the matter and update this article as soon as I get new info. – A small update would be that the bottle now loses about 20% per day, so you should charge it every 4-5 days. It’s worth mentioning that to charge the battery from 0 to 100% requires about 3 hours. Before the finishing up, I decided to check how well insulated the bottle is, so I put some ice cubes with some water inside the REBO smart water bottle and left it overnight (the mouth of the bottle is large enough to easily fit ice cubes).

As I anticipated, the ice cubes melted completely after about 18 hours, so the water kept its coolness close to an entire day. With hot water (120 degrees F), things stood a bit differently, since the water was already only warm after less than 6 hours, so it’s quite far from the promised 12 hours.

Conclusion

The REBO smart water bottle does suffer from the usual issues that plagues its competitors as well. And that’s mainly in regards to the app and the tracking system. It certainly can get better, but it can take away from the experience especially if you’re an early adopter of this technology. The REBO smart water bottle clearly relies more on the mobile notifications that on anything else since the LED ring doesn’t really do that much, so an audible sound could have been a good addition. And yes, if they get the app right, it’s a good smart water bottle, especially since their mission for improving the environmental is a great cause.

Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

I have been complaining that the manufacturers either build a smart water bottle and then completely vanish from the face of the earth (the only exception so far, being Hidrate Spark) or that the big manufacturers just don’t seem to care about this market segment, leaving it up to the startups to figure things out, but LifeFuels seems to be in it for the long run, continuously developing new FuelPods that you can buy separately (the device comes with three pods), so that’s pretty much their business model.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy product to develop, especially when you add so many technological layers to the product (it did took them about four years) and they had to put more thought in the development of the app due to the FuelPods customization, but, if they got it right, this could be the best smart water bottle available.

ALSO CHECK OUT: BEST SMART WATER BOTTLES OF 2020

Design and Build Quality
When you design a smart water bottle, you can’t really stray that far from the traditional look, so, the LifeFuels does have the same shape as the basic bottle, but there are some buttons and LEDs to let you know that you’re actually dealing with an electronic device. And it gets even stranger when you look at the bottom of the bottle, where the transparent plastic reveals the place where you should insert the three FuelPods: it looks like a mini torpedo bay.

The bottle itself can be divided into two main sections, the upper half where you store the water and the bottom part which contains the electronic parts. The upper section is made of transparent BPA-free tritan (with a black tint) which is very similar to plastic, but has a better shatter resistance than glass and polycarbonate, while at the top, the mouth is covered by a reasonably sized lid (far more compact than the Noerden LIZ and it does have an expansion bulb inside it). There is also a loop attached from the top to the middle of the smart bottle to easily carry it around, but it’s worth noting that this is not a lightweight device, especially when it’s filled with water and with three FuelPods – when empty, it weighs 1.1 lbs and, when full, it weighs 2.2 lbs – also, the beverage capacity is 16.9 fl oz.

The bottom section is made of anodized aluminum covered by a black matte finish (it does retain fingerprints, but they’re barely visible) and, when coupled with the tritan upper part (and the transparent bottom), you get quite a rugged smart water bottle, able to withstand the occasional tumbles to the floor (and even on rocks, if you decide to take it with you while exercising outdoors, although I would still be careful about the internal motors). While you can detach the transparent section from the metallic bottom by rotating it counter-clockwise, that’s not how you’ll be able to pour water inside the bottle (well, you can, but it’s difficult, so it’s more for cleaning purposes), instead, you need to use the mouth of the bottle (it’s large enough, so you don’t spill it everywhere – 1.37-inch diameter).

In case you do remove the upper part to thoroughly clean it (this section is dishwasher-safe), when you put it back, make sure that the silicone seal is properly seated and that one part of the lanyard in its place, otherwise, you won’t be able to add it afterwards – do make sure that the two parts are properly sealed before pouring water inside the container. On the front of the smart water bottle, there is a large button which, along with the three LEDs, is an alternative way to operating the bottle without relying on the app: press to toggle between the three attached FuelPods (one LED will light up for each pod) and press and hold to inject a small quantity of vitamin inside the water container.

On the other side of the metallic base, there is a small cover which, once removed, will reveal a micro-USB port for charging the inner battery. I would have preferred a type-C port, but this one does its job just as well – I don’t know the capacity of the battery, but LifeFuels says that a single charge should last for up to four days. Which is not a lot by any means and, during my test, the smart water bottle lasted for 5 days, since it depends a lot on how many times you use the FuelPods; I assume that the reason for this performance is the multitude of LED lights (especially the bright ones from the bottom of the bottle). Since the LifeFuels bottle is supposed to be a reusable replacement for the multitude of plastic bottles that we use everyday, it is expected to be easy to carry along to the office or on long journeys.

At its size (10.0 x 3.0 x 3.0 inches HxLxW), I found that the LifeFuels is a bit on the large side (the manufacturer had to make room for the FuelPods, so the bottle is a bit thick) and there is a high chance that it may not fit in your car’s cup holder, but it can be carried around in a small baggage and even attached on the outside of a bag thanks to the lanyard (it would have been better if, similarly to the LIZ bottle, the LifeFuels bottle was available in more than one size).
As for cleaning the smart bottle, as I said before, the top part is dishwasher-safe, but the base is not and, for this reason, LifeFuels has added a dedicated cleaning tool inside the package that can be used to reach the deeper side of the dedicated FuelPods cavities (from the bottom of the device).
Note: The LifeFuels smart water bottle is not intended to be used with hot beverages.

The FuelPods
The smart water bottle is well designed and does allow you to carry 16.9 ounces of water (the app also seems to be very accurate in tracking the water intake), but the main focus is on the FuelPods which LifeFuels hopes will become the means for a long term engagement with its customers.

The premise is that not all like to drink just water, so LifeFuels decided to ‘spice it up a bit’ by including three FuelPods along with the bottle, the first being called Lemon Lime and it contains electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium), as well as some vitamins (B and C) – the purpose for this FuelPod is to help you quickly recover from a workout. The second and the third FuelPods are the Blackberry Acai which contains antioxidants, as well as some vitamins (A, C and E) and the Peach, filled with multi-vitamins (A, B, C and E), both being ideal for strengthening your immune system. All these supplements won’t really help you if you’re already getting enough vitamins and have a very healthy lifestyle, but that’s not really the case for the large majority of us, so, yes, the FuelPods can make a significant difference for some people, while less for others.

The problem is that each of these FuelPods should suffice for about 30 beverages or 90 in total, so, if you were to drink 6 times a day, each time infusing some type of flavor, the pods will be done in about 15 days. Of course, LifeFuels does have a larger assortment of FuelPods available for purchase immediately from the app. It’s also interesting that the communication between the pods, the bottle and the app is encrypted, so you know where the FuelPod product came from (if it’s original, otherwise it won’t work).

Note: The FuelPods are recyclable through the send-back program which uses prepaid USPS postage: just add up to 20 used pods in the provided recycling bag and drop it in your mailbox.

The Installation, the App and the Functionality
After taking the LifeFuels bottle from the package (which is very fancy, by the way), you need to first recharge the battery and after that’s done, it’s time to install and run the LifeFuels app on your phone (compatible with iOS and in beta stage for Android – it’s worth mentioning that the app can be installed only in the US). The app will ask you to create a new account and it will also require some additional info about you in order to be able to calculate how much water you need daily: your gender, your height and weight, your birth date (age) and how much sleep you get every day. At this point, the app will tell you how many bottles of water you need to drink daily (in my case, it was 6) and then you will be asked to allow LifeFuels to access to the device location (for the Bluetooth connection and for the Find My Bottle feature).

Afterwards, you need to remove the transparent bottom part, press the Power button and wait until the LEDs start flashing (the same button can be used to return the bottle to its factory settings – press and hold it for 4 seconds). As the LEDs continue flashing white (they’ll eventually start flashing blue), you need to locate the Serial Number (also on the bottom) and confirm that the last four digits are correct. After you wait a bit, you will gain access to the app’s user interface, where you’ll be able to see the remaining battery, the Last Dispense (the time and which FuelPod was used), whether you added any FuelPods and the amount of water remaining in the bottle. Now it would be a good time to add the three pods and to do so, you need to remove the plastic wrapping, as well as the cap and rotate the pod into one of the available dedicated holes from the bottom of the device.

Depending on the type of FuelPod, the LED will light up the corresponding color and almost immediately, the app will detect it, displaying the remaining amount. When I tested the Noerden water bottle, despite also being marketed as smart due to its ability to sterilize the water via UV, it didn’t have an app, nor any means of tracking the water consumption. That’s because it’s very hard to accurately determine the amount of water that’s left in the bottle and I know that the manufacturers either rely on a weight measuring base (H20Pal), on a long sensor that goes all the way down to the bottom of the bottle (Hidrate Spark 3) or on a smart lid that detects the amount of water you drink (Thermos Hydration Bottle) and, as expected all these implementations have their shortcomings. LifeFuels decided to rely on a continuous level sensor that detects any change in the liquid quantity at a certain place – as you can see in the app, the bottle icon is updated every quarter (the tracking is not done for every ounce of water).
Note: The communication between the sensor and the app is done very quickly and the updates to the water quantity are almost instantaneous.

Returning to the main app window (the Bottle), if you have added any FuelPods, you will be able to see them on the left side, each with the corresponding name (as well as the amount remaining in the pod) and, if you tap on any, it will take you to a dedicated window, where you can see each type of vitamin contained in that specific FuelPod, while towards the bottom, you can choose between Light, Normal and Strong, and Swipe to Dispense – you are basically choosing whether you want a stronger or lighter flavor and can dispense it directly from the app. The next section is the FuelLog (see the menu on the bottom), where you can check if you reached your goal Today and over the last week (you can select another time period using the Calendar from the top right) and you can also check out what type of FuelPods you used in that day (tap on any to see the quantity of vitamins, sodium, calories and carbohydrates that you consumed).

One of the most interesting features of this smart nutrition bottle is the ability to create custom Beverages where you can choose the type of pods that you want to use and the amount (in mL) that will be dispensed in the water, so you can get as creative as you like. I have mentioned before that you can purchase new FuelPods directly from the app (using the Shop section, where you can also set a subscription) and the last section is the Settings, where you should be able to see the status of your bottle, the Profile (only one is available, but you can customize it any time you want), use Find My Bottle option to locate your LifeFuels bottle in case you lost it, configure the Notifications, pair the device to a Google Fit account, view Video Tutorials, check the Help section or Log Out from the current account.

The Conclusion
LifeFuels have developed its first smart water bottle for about four years and you can definitely tell that it’s a far more polished device that any other smart bottle released by its competitors. The app works fine, the water tracking is done properly (it doesn’t track every ounce of water that you drink, but it is fairly accurate) and the FuelPods are exactly as advertised: they do indeed make you want to reach for the bottle more than when it’s filled just with water. I know that the subscription prospect may raise a few eyebrows, but it doesn’t promise something that it can’t deliver and you can always simply use it only with water (or go for a more inexpensive option). But, if you do need a smart water bottle which can also help you keep track of your nutrition (and improve it) and aren’t bothered by the relatively high price tag, then LifeFuels is perhaps the best option available on the market right now.

Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

I still have a hard time calling the Noerden LIZ a proper smart water bottle and, probably the most correct term would have been enhanced water bottle, but Icewater also calls its Bluetooth speaker water bottle smart due to a single LED that pulsates once an hour, so what do I know. What Noerden calls smart is the aforementioned UV sterilization technology, the hydration reminders and the temperature indicators, so, without further ado, let’s have a closer look and see how does the Liz bottle stand when put next to its main competitors.

ALSO CHECK OUT: THE BEST SMART WATER BOTTLES

The main problem of the smart water bottle department (or enhanced bottles – I should trademark the name) is that it’s still too young and doesn’t have a larger, more seasoned manufacturer to create a blueprint for all to follow and we’re left with lots of start-ups which more often than not have a terrible app, that is, when not being busy copying each other, so, after I took the Liz bottle out of the package, I was happy to see that the design was, let’s say, relatively unique since it still closely resembles an insulated bottle (as it should). The bottle itself is slim and tall, measuring 9.8 x 2.9 inches, while the volume capacity is 16oz and Noerden decided to use 304 stainless steel on the outside of the device, while on the inside, the bottle is made out of 316 stainless steel.

This is the larger version of the LIZ bottle, but there is a smaller, possibly more travel-friendly variant that has a volume capacity of 12oz and measures 7.6 x 2.9 inches. The exterior of the water bottle is covered by a white glossy finish (other colors are available, such as red and black – the smaller variant also comes in blue and pink), but it doesn’t feel slippery, although there is a bit of weight to it (0.7lb for the larger version and 0.6lb for the smaller one).

The lid is also similar to that on the insulated bottles, so it’s a bit thicker and the material of choice was food-grade BPA-free plastic. As with most other smart water bottles, the lid is the center-piece of the entire device and it’s where you’ll going to find all the electronic parts.

The most evident one is the recessed section with the two exposed connectors which are magnetic to allow you to easily attach the small piece of plastic (that you can find in the package). This is an interesting concept considering that one of the most common points of failure on the smart water bottles is around the port and a proprietary magnetic piece to which you can connect any microUSB cable could promise an increased longevity for the device. That is, unless the magnetic piece fails and you can’t find replacements – it’s also incredibly easy to lose.

The lid can be removed with a counter-clockwise rotation and after doing so, you’ll be able to see both the UV emitter and the temperature sensor pointing downwards; unlike other smart water bottles, there is no probe going to the bottom of the bottle to measure the quantity of remaining water.

Instead, the only available functions available are linked to the two aforementioned sensor and emitter. This way, you can use the Noerden Liz as a proper insulated bottle (it can keep your beverages cold or hot for more than 12 hours) and, to check the temperature of the liquid, all you have to do is to tap the top of the lid once and the LED underneath it will become blue when the temperature is below 98 degrees F, yellow when the temperature ranges between 98 and 140 degrees F and red when the drink temperature is above 140 degrees F. I did notice that after I poured some relatively hot water, the LED still said blue (which was incorrect), but, after I put the bottle upside down once (so the water touches the sensor), the LED immediately became yellow (which was correct).

The top of the lid is touch-sensitive and it’s pretty much the only way to interact with the bottle (there is no app): to turn it on, tap and hold on the lid for about 2 seconds until the LED flashes white once and, to turn it off press and hold it again for 2 seconds – the LED will also flash every two hours to let you know that you need to drink water. The UV sterilization process can be started by tapping the top of the lid twice: at this point, the LED will slowly flash white until the process is done – you can stop the process by tapping twice on the lid; also, if you decide to suddenly open the bottle while the sterilization process is running, the UV emitter should automatically turn off (in case of malfunction, it can remain active, so it’s important to not point it at your eyes or skin and to try and turn it off from the top lid).

I have seen this concept before with the CrazyCap lid which would fit on some types of bottle and would also try to sterilize the water via UV rays, but does it actually manage to kill 99.9% of harmful viruses and odor-causing bacteria as the manufacturer claims? The UV sterilization has been used for cleaning fish tanks for a while now and if you’re worried about penetration, it has been determined that UV can go as deep as 30 feet into the ocean (or 10 meters) – the purer water is even easier to penetrate, so yes, it should work just fine with 12 or 16 ounces of water. There could be a problem with other types of beverages, such as tea, coffee or cola.

To clean the bottle, the lid has to be removed and the only section that can be hand-washed (with a non-abrasive soap) is the insertable section (so you don’t damage the battery port), while the rest of the bottle is dish-washer safe. As for the battery life, the Noerden LIZ is rated at one month (with one UV sterilization a day) and I haven’t had the bottle that long, but, so far, about a week in, it seems to be holding really well (when the battery is low, the LED will flash red).

Note: It’s worth noting that on the bottom of the bottle, there’s a silicone pad which makes sure that the Noerden LIZ doesn’t move anywhere.

Conclusion
Even if more than 4 years have passed since the first smart water bottle hit the market, this type of devices is still not as widespread as one may expect and its understandable considering that most of us don’t need a constant reminder of when to drink water. Noerden LIZ does have the potential to solve a problem that a lot more people can relate to thanks to its UV sterilization, which can ensure that the water is cleaner and odorless. It’s also clear that the focus wasn’t towards the usual smart elements (app integration) and the truth is that I am a bit torn on whether to call the LIZ a smart bottle. But, considering that it does notify you when to drink water and the touch-sensitive lid does have some interesting functions, I suppose it can have a place next to some other smart water bottles – although, I do wish to see an app with the next generation of water bottles.

Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com