This review is from: GSI Outdoors Glacier Stainless Bottle Cup/Pot (Misc.)
The GSI Stainless Steel Cup is an excellent addition to your gear. I use this cup nested with a Guyot Designs Stainless Steel Water Bottle – The Backpacker placed inside of a Maxpedition Bottle Holder. This is a great and convenient system to carry a cup, water bottle, and water along with some extra gear.
The GSI Stainless Steel Cup holds 18 fl. oz., is relatively lightweight and very durable. The cup is great to boil water for tea or hot chocolate on those cold days hiking or camping. One bit of caution is that the handle will get hot so you will need to use something to protect your fingers from burning or give it time to cool down before touching.
I use this cup on a regular basis and am very happy with this product. I recommend the GSI Stainless Steel Cup as a great addition to your gear.
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If you are using a 32oz Nalgene bottle, then this cup is a must have item. It is big enough to nest on the bottom or top of any standard size water bottle. It’s the perfect size to boil water in for dehydrated meals or to just make some hot chocolate on a winter hike. The only thing about this cup that I would change would be to make the handles able to lock in the open position. I’ve used a military canteen and canteen cup for years and never thought that I would use anything different. Now that I’ve tried using the 38oz standard size Guyot Designs water bottle and the GSI cup, they have become my new standard.
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Of all my backpacking gear, one of the things that give me the most fits is the lowly cup. I just can’t seem to find the perfect cup, or even one that comes close enough for me to be happy and give up the search. Plastic cups/mugs have cracked and don’t do temperature extremes well; single-wall stainless steel cups are versatile and tough but in the cold will take your coffee from scalding to tepid in about 4 seconds flat; titanium cups are nice, save you a gram or two over stainless, and cost about as much as your kid’s braces. So, I gave this GSI single-wall stainless cup (see above) a try…
Size and Shape: are good. As described, a 32 oz. Nalgene bottle will nest nicely into this cup. That’s a potential space saver, but only if you carry your bottle in your pack (probably not) or if you can fit the cup at the bottom of your bottle holder. The cup easily holds 16 fl. oz. with about 1/2 inch of space left at the top. That’s pretty good capacity, to me, and allows for small ramen noodle meals on the go as well as extra large sizes of morning java or evening hot cocoa. The size also means a decent bottom, which is slightly indented, that will fit on most backpack or camp-stove burners. (I would have preferred a perfectly flat bottom without indent, but this is a nit-pick) So, this cup can double as a tiny pot, too, and that’s nice.
Handles: Meh. It comes with curved handles that do a pretty good job of hugging the cup when stored and can be folded out to hold when the cup’s too hot. They are not spring loaded, which I suppose is fine, but when folded out they do not meet cleanly or ‘lock’ together, so when you are holding the cup, the two sides of the handle are constantly shifting in your grip. While it doesn’t make the cup unusable, it is certainly annoying. Every time. It puzzles me that GSI, maker of such well-designed campware, could put their name on such clumsy and ill-conceived handles.
Quality and Construction: The cup is bright and smooth on the outside and has a brushed finish on the inside. The lip is curled over and smooth. Weight and thickness are typical of a stainless camp cup and this one is plenty strong. Going back to the handles: Each curved handle is basically bent wire, hooked into a bracket that is tack welded onto the cup. I tend to prefer rivets over tack welds even though I know in my heart that I’m more likely to win the lottery than have my cup fail due to tack welds. Still. If you really, truly, hate the handles – as I do – you can simply spread them apart and take them out of the brackets.
So would I recommend this cup? Well, I’m not sure. I really like the size and shape of it, but I HATE the handles. Honestly, I like it a lot better after I’ve taken the handles off, though now I’ve got to use gloves, or a multitool, or a pot-grabber to deal with the thing when it’s hot. Also, it’s still single wall stainless steel, making it problematic when it’s cold. I think I’ll put a neoprene sleeve over it, salvaged from my Nalgene bottle holder when it gives out Cool Stuff Neoprene Carrier – 32oz, which would make it better still. Really this is between three and four stars, for me, for a product that has potential but ultimately misses the mark.
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Excellent cup that can be part of a nested system,
The GSI Stainless Steel Cup is an excellent addition to your gear. I use this cup nested with a Guyot Designs Stainless Steel Water Bottle – The Backpacker placed inside of a Maxpedition Bottle Holder. This is a great and convenient system to carry a cup, water bottle, and water along with some extra gear.
The GSI Stainless Steel Cup holds 18 fl. oz., is relatively lightweight and very durable. The cup is great to boil water for tea or hot chocolate on those cold days hiking or camping. One bit of caution is that the handle will get hot so you will need to use something to protect your fingers from burning or give it time to cool down before touching.
I use this cup on a regular basis and am very happy with this product. I recommend the GSI Stainless Steel Cup as a great addition to your gear.
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The New Standard In Cups,
If you are using a 32oz Nalgene bottle, then this cup is a must have item. It is big enough to nest on the bottom or top of any standard size water bottle. It’s the perfect size to boil water in for dehydrated meals or to just make some hot chocolate on a winter hike. The only thing about this cup that I would change would be to make the handles able to lock in the open position. I’ve used a military canteen and canteen cup for years and never thought that I would use anything different. Now that I’ve tried using the 38oz standard size Guyot Designs water bottle and the GSI cup, they have become my new standard.
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OK Cup – Could Be Better,
Of all my backpacking gear, one of the things that give me the most fits is the lowly cup. I just can’t seem to find the perfect cup, or even one that comes close enough for me to be happy and give up the search. Plastic cups/mugs have cracked and don’t do temperature extremes well; single-wall stainless steel cups are versatile and tough but in the cold will take your coffee from scalding to tepid in about 4 seconds flat; titanium cups are nice, save you a gram or two over stainless, and cost about as much as your kid’s braces. So, I gave this GSI single-wall stainless cup (see above) a try…
Size and Shape: are good. As described, a 32 oz. Nalgene bottle will nest nicely into this cup. That’s a potential space saver, but only if you carry your bottle in your pack (probably not) or if you can fit the cup at the bottom of your bottle holder. The cup easily holds 16 fl. oz. with about 1/2 inch of space left at the top. That’s pretty good capacity, to me, and allows for small ramen noodle meals on the go as well as extra large sizes of morning java or evening hot cocoa. The size also means a decent bottom, which is slightly indented, that will fit on most backpack or camp-stove burners. (I would have preferred a perfectly flat bottom without indent, but this is a nit-pick) So, this cup can double as a tiny pot, too, and that’s nice.
Handles: Meh. It comes with curved handles that do a pretty good job of hugging the cup when stored and can be folded out to hold when the cup’s too hot. They are not spring loaded, which I suppose is fine, but when folded out they do not meet cleanly or ‘lock’ together, so when you are holding the cup, the two sides of the handle are constantly shifting in your grip. While it doesn’t make the cup unusable, it is certainly annoying. Every time. It puzzles me that GSI, maker of such well-designed campware, could put their name on such clumsy and ill-conceived handles.
Quality and Construction: The cup is bright and smooth on the outside and has a brushed finish on the inside. The lip is curled over and smooth. Weight and thickness are typical of a stainless camp cup and this one is plenty strong. Going back to the handles: Each curved handle is basically bent wire, hooked into a bracket that is tack welded onto the cup. I tend to prefer rivets over tack welds even though I know in my heart that I’m more likely to win the lottery than have my cup fail due to tack welds. Still. If you really, truly, hate the handles – as I do – you can simply spread them apart and take them out of the brackets.
So would I recommend this cup? Well, I’m not sure. I really like the size and shape of it, but I HATE the handles. Honestly, I like it a lot better after I’ve taken the handles off, though now I’ve got to use gloves, or a multitool, or a pot-grabber to deal with the thing when it’s hot. Also, it’s still single wall stainless steel, making it problematic when it’s cold. I think I’ll put a neoprene sleeve over it, salvaged from my Nalgene bottle holder when it gives out Cool Stuff Neoprene Carrier – 32oz, which would make it better still. Really this is between three and four stars, for me, for a product that has potential but ultimately misses the mark.
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